London - Reading - Newbury - Bedwyn

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Journey Check

With effect from Tuesday 11th May 2021 - CUSTOMERS FOR ALL THE AFFECTED ROUTES ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO CHECK THEIR INTENDED JOURNEY PRIOR TO TRAVEL.
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The main routes affected are individually detailed together with any advice in regard of additional / alternative arrangements for ticket holders.
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We have had to adapt many of our High Speed service timetables into a series of separate shuttle services. This has been done to ensure that we are able to advertise and operate a limited but robust service using the resources that we have available to us. As a result, certain journeys which were previously through services will now require one or more changes of train to cover the same journey. For example, a Bedwyn to London Paddington journey will now require a change of train at both Newbury and Reading.


Many of the services on the London Paddington - Reading - Newbury - Bedwyn route are scheduled to operate through to / from London Paddington via Reading using Hitachi Class 800 carriages. As a result of the unavailability of these trains the through services between London Paddington and Bedwyn will be withdrawn. A shuttle train service will operate between Newbury and Bedwyn with the scheduled Reading - Newbury all stations services providing a connection between Reading and Newbury; a further change of train will be required at Reading if travelling to / from London Paddington.
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Note that the additional peak hour through services to / from London Paddington serving certain stations on this route, together with the services between Newbury and the West Country have all been withdrawn.

[grahame]

From JourneyCheck for Friday 14th May

Train services between Bedwyn and London Paddington, will require a change of train at both Newbury and Reading.

[grahame]

Saturday 15th May 2021

[All trains from Paddington appear to be cancelled on JourneyCheck - summary of alternatives not listed this morning]

[GBM]

Not sure which area to post this in.
Please move to appropriate area - thank you

Cancellations to services between Newbury and Bedwyn
Due to a fault with the signalling system between Newbury and Bedwyn fewer trains are able to run.
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Customer Advice
Apologies to customers, due to a fault with the signalling system at Bedwyn we are unable to terminate trains at the station. This means we cannot run a shuttle service between Bedwyn and Newbury. Services between Devon/Somerset and London Paddington that are due to call at stations between Bedwyn and Newbury will continue to do so.
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Replacement road transport has been requested and where we can we will endeavour to call some non-stop high speed services at these stations.

[grahame]

Not sure which area to post this in.
Please move to appropriate area - thank you

Very much the right area - may be split to a separate thread if it sparks a discussion which I can feel coming on

Cancellations to services between Newbury and Bedwyn

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Newbury and Bedwyn fewer trains are able to run.
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice

Apologies to customers, due to a fault with the signalling system at Bedwyn we are unable to terminate trains at the station. This means we cannot run a shuttle service between Bedwyn and Newbury. Services between Devon/Somerset and London Paddington that are due to call at stations between Bedwyn and Newbury will continue to do so.
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Replacement road transport has been requested and where we can we will endeavour to call some non-stop high speed services at these stations.

An immediate comment - "where we can we will endeavour to call some non-stop high speed services at these stations" - an excellent intent though phrased in conditional works that read more like an aspiration than something that will make a substantive difference.  Goodness I wish that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) would do the same at Trowbridge, Melksham and Chippenham when they "pull" the local trains.

A longer term comment - the shuttles really should not be shuttles, but clock face calls on a through service extending both to the east (as they used to) and to the west.

[CyclingSid]

At risk of being shot down, I assume that if other trains are stopping the problem is getting into the siding at Bedwyn.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Very much the right area - may be split to a separate thread if it sparks a discussion which I can feel coming on

I agree with grahame - this is the right board for these posts.

I've merely simplified this topic's heading, removing the reference to 2021, simply because that could cause confusion to our current readers.

CfN. 

[bobm]

At risk of being shot down, I assume that if other trains are stopping the problem is getting into the siding at Bedwyn.

Yes a points failure affecting the turnback siding.

[grahame]

So much can be learned from watching when things don't go quite as planned

Logged at 11:15 ...

08:03 London Paddington to Penzance due 13:07
08:03 London Paddington to Penzance due 13:07 will call additionally at Newbury and Hungerford.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

11 late at Reading, next scheduled stop Taunton where it was 13 minutes late

08:35 Plymouth to London Paddington due 12:04
08:35 Plymouth to London Paddington due 12:04 will call additionally at Bedwyn, Hungerford and Kintbury.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

2 late at Pewsey, 18 late at Newbury, both scheduled calls

10:35 London Paddington to Exeter St Davids due 13:07
10:35 London Paddington to Exeter St Davids due 13:07 will call additionally at Kintbury and Bedwyn.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

5 late at Newbury, 8 at Hungerford, 11 at Pewsey - all scheduled calls

Logged at 13:45

10:55 Paignton to London Paddington due 14:16
10:55 Paignton to London Paddington due 14:16 will call additionally at Tiverton Parkway, Bedwyn and Kintbury.
This is due to the train making extra stops because of service disruption.

17 late at Pewsey, 27 late at Newbury.  Scheduled call at Hungerford

12:35 London Paddington to Exeter St Davids due 15:08
12:35 London Paddington to Exeter St Davids due 15:08 will call additionally at Kintbury and Bedwyn.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

13 late at Newbury, 30 late at Pewsey. Scheduled call at Hungerford

Very interesting ... on some occasions it was less than 8 minutes delay for the extra stops, but that appeared to balloon to 17 at lunch time.  I suspect other traffic was in the way, or the train crew was not familiar with the extra calls, resulting in a slowing.   Certainly one late several trains had lost there paths and limped.  And later in the day there were no fewer that 5 line notifications on Journeycheck with disruption far from limited to the Berk and Hants.