2022 - TransWilts cancellations and amendments log

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Sadly, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) can and do claim it adds too many extra delays (and their noses look, to me, to grow longer each time they do so).   They also tell us that the times the diverted trains are passing through may not be close to the times of the trains they've cancelled and question whether they would be an appropriate substitute.

Surely, common sense would suggest that you don't cancel a service that would not have any impact on a diverted service ?

Indeed - but as it's a single track, and at times it's a northbound service none-stop that steals the path from a southbound train to get people home from Swindon and Chippenham to Melksham and Trowbridge.

A diverted Plymouth service is going to call at Swindon at around 18:30 and then Westbury at 18:58 but not currently Chippenham - which currently has no service because of a separate incident near Bristol.

One cheer but not three - there are 10 journey opportunities on the line and that meets one of them, and it's one of the lowest flows by volume.

[grahame]

Meanwhile, the preceding westbound train, 1C86 has reversed at Woodborough and is now (17:34) running back towards Reading.

15:04 London Paddington to Penzance due 20:10 will be diverted between Reading and Taunton.
It has been previously delayed, is being further delayed between Reading and Taunton and is now expected to be 232 minutes late.
This is due to flood water making the railway potentially unsafe.

JourneyCheck suggests a Penzance arrival at just after midnight!

[Timmer]

15:04 London Paddington to Penzance due 20:10 will be diverted between Reading and Taunton.
It has been previously delayed, is being further delayed between Reading and Taunton and is now expected to be 232 minutes late.
This is due to flood water making the railway potentially unsafe.

JourneyCheck suggests a Penzance arrival at just after midnight!

Just scraped through under the bar arriving 23.50. A long time to be on an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) if you went all the way to Penzance!

[grahame]

A long time to be on an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) if you went all the way to Penzance!

Indeed - 8 hours 46 minutes. Wonder how the catering coped.

King's Cross to Inverness - by comparison - is 8 hours 7 minutes normally, though I note it's 9 hours and 50 minutes scheduled next Sunday, diverted via Hertford North and diverted again through Leeds

 

[grahame]

15:05 Westbury to Swindon due 15:50
17:02 Swindon to Westbury due 17:45

17:02 Swindon to Westbury due 17:45 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Additional Information
Customers at Swindon should travel on the 18:29 Weston-super-Mare service and change at Chippenham. Road transport has been requested to run at 18:45 from Chippenham to Westbury, calling at Melksham and Trowbridge.

Incredibly disappointing, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)!

We are still 6 round trips per week (12%) down on the service we should have because some services were "temporarily" withdrawn in January because of the Omicron spike and to make the remaining services reliable. But this cancellation today is one of a number this week and the service is not reliable.

I am open-mouthed at the alternative.  People are being asked to wait almost an hour and a half after the time their train was scheduled to leave Swindon and (knowing how much slower the bus is) they'll be two hours later by the time they get home.   Not good enough, GWR!

[IndustryInsider]

I’m sure that’s human error as the 18:29 from Swindon to Chippenham has been cancelled as well!  The 17:29 with a 17:45 bus connection would be the obvious choice (or the 16:55 if there in time).

Worth a tweet to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)?

[bobm]

We all failed to spot that today, as well as the cancelled 17:02, there is a TW service at 17:46.

Journeycheck advice has been updated

17:02 Swindon to Westbury due 17:45

17:02 Swindon to Westbury due 17:45 will be cancelled.

This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Additional Information
Customers should use the next service, the 17:46 from Swindon to Westbury, which calls at Chippenham (18:01), Melksham (18:11), Trowbridge (18:20) and Westbury (18:28).

[grahame]

14:16 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01
15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58
 
15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58 will be cancelled.
This is due to a late running freight train.

[Trowres]

RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) attributes the cancellation to a late inbound service.

Seems to be a challenge to find a delayed freight train that could be responsible.

[bobm]

Seems the cancellation arose due to a breakdown in communication between a driver and the signaller which left a freight train blocking the set for the TransWilts service in the sidings at Westbury.

[grahame]

18:34 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21
20:45 Swindon to Westbury due 21:26

20:45 Swindon to Westbury due 21:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

Lots of this sort of thing today. It will be interesting to see how the local service stands up.

13:43 Exeter St Davids to London Paddington due 16:10

13:43 Exeter St Davids to London Paddington due 16:10 will be diverted between Westbury and Reading.
It will no longer call at Pewsey and Newbury.
It will be delayed due to the diversion and is expected to be 22 minutes late.
This is due to signalling staff being taken ill.

[grahame]

18:24 Frome to Swindon due 19:17

18:24 Frome to Swindon due 19:17 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Frome.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

14:16 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01

14:16 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58

15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.