Problems with IET trains from April 2021

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

CrossCountry apparently not accepting GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) tickets  -  someone has raised the very good point about people at the end of their trip who need to get home and are now stranded in the absence of GWR making alternative arrangements, rather than those who were planning to embark today.

GWR remaining silent on that one, but I suspect a lot of taxi drivers will be eyeing upgrades to Aston Martins after this weekend.

[Incider]

Being covered on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) News now.

Virtually no notice for those intending to travel and no alternatives provided

Another self inflicted injury and a dreadful advert for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)/the railways as they attempt to recover some business and attract new customers - these trains are, by railway standards, brand new.

This type of regular chaos is one of the reasons why the car will always be king.

I wouldn’t say this is a regular type of chaos, can you remember the last time something similar happened?

[Richard Fairhurst]

Posting this from the comfort of an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) between Charlbury and Hanborough... so at least some are still running!

[grahame]

Hindsight being marvellous ... what an excellent day to extend 387 services to Cardiff ... even if that reduces their frequency between Paddington and Didcot.  And what an excellent day it would be for all tickets to be "any reasonable route, any operator" in the circumstances!

I wouldn’t say this is a regular type of chaos, can you remember the last time something similar happened?

The time all HEX trains were taken out of service?   When was that?

The question, is though, whether you consider "Something similar" from a train operators viewpoint (i.e. all trains of a class suddenly out of service) or from a customer's viewpoint (my train and alternative services also not running)

[broadgage]

Being covered on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) News now.

Virtually no notice for those intending to travel and no alternatives provided

Another self inflicted injury and a dreadful advert for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)/the railways as they attempt to recover some business and attract new customers - these trains are, by railway standards, brand new.

This type of regular chaos is one of the reasons why the car will always be king.

I wouldn’t say this is a regular type of chaos, can you remember the last time something similar happened?

No it is not the REGULAR type of chaos, but is instead a new and improved type of chaos.
The more usual types of chaos are large scale signaling failures resulting in no effective service, and moderately adverse weather. Over-Head Line Equipment (OHLE) faults safety inspections were added  to the traditional cock ups, and now we have fatigue failures on the new trains.

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronym

[REVUpminster]

Had another look at dawlish warren 1A60 as a 5 car 802 went through. Not listed on Realtime trains.

A 166 hurtled through operating 2T14 to Paignton and a shuttle 5Z42/43 etc using the 2 car 165 between Newton Abbott and Exeter

[BBM]

There's currently an additional hourly fast Paddington-Didcot service stopping only at Reading and formed of 387s - departure times are at xx.30 from either end.

[broadgage]

CrossCountry apparently not accepting GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) tickets  -  someone has raised the very good point about people at the end of their trip who need to get home and are now stranded in the absence of GWR making alternative arrangements, rather than those who were planning to embark today.

GWR remaining silent on that one, but I suspect a lot of taxi drivers will be eyeing upgrades to Aston Martins after this weekend.

Presuming that this is accurate, and I have no reason to doubt it, I wonder what would happen to a passenger with a valid GWR ticket who boarded a Cross Country service and refused to pay again.

If the case went to court, I suspect that a jury might not convict the accused. A judge or jury MIGHT take the view that the passenger had already paid for the service, and should not be required to pay twice.
A court MIGHT rule that GWR and Cross country should sort it out among themselves and not blame the passenger.

[Lee]

Interesting to note that the disruption map at the top of the forum front page currently looks like the old BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) logo chopped in half.

Perhaps it's a sign...

[phile]

Had another look at dawlish warren 1A60 as a 5 car 802 went through. Not listed on Realtime trains.

A 166 hurtled through operating 2T14 to Paignton and a shuttle 5Z42/43 etc using the 2 car 165 between Newton Abbott and Exeter

Don't know what the 165 shuttle is because they are running with 5xxx Headcode

[didcotdean]

Cross Country are accepting GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) tickets now, at least according to GWR twitter. (As well as Avanti West Coast, West Midlands Railway, & Chiltern)

[grahame]

Now covered on the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) - "most read" there ! - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57036247

Services on two of the country's busiest railways are facing severe disruption after cracks were spotted on some high-speed trains.

Most Great Western Main Line trains to and from London Paddington have been cancelled.

London North Eastern Railways is asking passengers not to travel on the East Coast Main Line today.

Hitachi has apologised after hairline cracks were found in the suspension units of some of its 800 series trains.

Some of the trains have been taken out of service as a "precautionary measure to allow for thorough investigations", the company said, adding it was working to resolve the issue as quickly and safely as possible.

"We would like to offer our sincerest apologies to passengers for the impact this may be causing for their travel plans."

Hull Trains and TransPennine Express services are also affected by the problem.

Passengers have been advised to check train operators' websites before travelling.

On GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) it says more ...

All high-speed Great Western Railway services between London, Bristol, Cardiff and Penzance have been cancelled and customers are advised not to attempt to travel today.

It has warned the problem could affect services on Sunday too.

The company said cracks were detected on "more than one" Hitachi 800 train, so all 93 in its fleet are being inspected as a "precaution".

The spokesman added that the issue is affecting long-distance journeys between cities, which are being refunded, but that suburban and rural GWR services are still running as normal.

GWR passengers affected by cancellations can use their tickets on the following operators' services instead:
* Avanti West Coast trains between Birmingham New Street and London Euston
* London Northwestern Railway trains between Birmingham New Street and London Euston
* West Midlands Railway trains between Hereford/Worcester and Birmingham New Street

No mention on the BBC of either Cross-country or SWR^» (South Western Railway - about), though an alternative Bristol to London route would be via Salisbury (pity about the buses between Warminster and Salisbury, but just about the only public transport option ...

[grahame]

From Greatest Hits Radio

... Great Western Railway is advising passengers not to travel amid reports of cracks found in some trains ...

Surely "Passengers for Chippenham and Swindon should change at Trowbridge, from where there is a limited onward service ..."

[a-driver]

Interesting, but I do not find the linked reports entirely clear.
Are the originally reported cracks now believed to be due to the lifting jack pockets, and not due to the yaw damper fixings ?

Or are there now two different sorts of cracks, yaw damper related and lifting pocket related ?

Two totally unrelated issues

[grahame]

Surely "Passengers for Chippenham and Swindon should change at Trowbridge, from where there is a limited onward service ..."

Hmmm ...

12:05 Westbury to Swindon due 12:47
12:05 Westbury to Swindon due 12:47 has been delayed at Westbury and is now 30 minutes late.
This is due to a fault on this train.