Split off from http://www.passenger.chat/26576 which started off as a thread about Dilton Marsh but has grown into a discussion on the awful shortfalls on the Cardiff to Portsmouth trains.

For today (from 09:23 from Portsmouth, hourly train service lengths to Cardiff

3-3-3-3-5-2-3-3 = 25 carriages; 40 needed for 5 car service

The continued presence of lots of turbos between Reading and various places from there such as Basingstoke, Gatwick and some Oxford, London and Berks and Hants services means, as I understand it, continued unfinished business on the Wessex Main Line ... good to hear Mark Hopwood yesterday considering that the current state of play on this line remains "unfinished business" and indeed that (as I understand it) he will still consider it "unfinished" even if all the trains go up to five carriages.

Mark was talking about future direction - enhancing the service into an hourly express from Cardiff to Portsmouth, and updating the patchwork of other services into an hourly Bristol to Southampton service calling at (? all) intermediate stations, with an extra MetroWest service Bristol to Westbury each hour.  He was also talking of "Operation Churchward", replacing the second generation DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) across the patch with new trains capable of running on the various electric sources along the way, jumping short gaps with batteries, and only burning fossil fuel as a last resort.

Will this happen?  Knowing Mark, if anyone could achieve it, he could. BUT the $64000 question is "who's going to pay for it?". With revenues so much down, the country short of money, a government who don't see the railways (or climate) as a priority, and appalling reliability issues due to industrial relations and infrastructure problems, it's a brave vision, Mark, and I hope you can achieve it, but I'm not going to bet on it.

I was on that train on Thursday - can't have been the same day because it was a four car 158 consist that day.  Yes, there was plenty of space when I joined it at around 18:30 a bit later on its route - but how it would have been an hour earlier when it set off from Portsmouth, I don't know - and services have to be "sized" for the busiest part of their diagram.

Some of those repeated - I make ing 25 carriages available out of 40 needed.


Ah yes - a lack of OHLE from Patchway to Portsmouth meant that class 332 could not be cascaded when withdrawn from services from Paddington in 2020.

Especially on a Friday.  The busiest day of the week.

I saw a 769 on its way from Reading to Oxford ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) on Monday.  It sat down in Kennington Loop for many hours with what looked like techs trying to get it going again!

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) did at least (and it's the very least they're doing) nominally put ticket acceptance with SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) in place, allowing for journeys between the south coast and Bath/Bristol/South Wales via Basingstoke and Reading. I say nominally, as its mentioned internally but I can't see mentions on public facing online sources.

No acceptance with XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) between Southampton and Reading though, as far as I can tell.

Off Portsmouth Harbour, pattern from 08:23.  3-4-2-3-3-3-3-3 carriages (and starts repeating) - 24 on the service, 40 would be needed for a 5 car service.

Here's a sample of the reports - noting that some aren't even pretenting to be 5 cars in the first place.




Not just the "primary" trains - some of the secondary ones too:


Probably no issue off Weymouth but along the way that becomes the 17:38 off Bristol Temple Meads - peak train - will that be a bit crowded??

So where are the carriages that should be on these services but aren't?  Are they out-of-service (broken down), out-of-service (awaiting routine maintenance), out-of-service (not being paid for, so not running), out-of-service (not enough staff to shunt and couple them), running other services (for example what should be Castle diagrams).

The week before last my wife came back from Portsmouth Harbour to Warminster in a grossly overcrowded 3 car train - displayed as being 5 cars.  Six days later she went down with Covid (after succesfully "shielding" for over 2 years). 2 + 2 = 3.99999 ? ?

Off topic, but related.
Far too many daily short forms on Cornish services, been going on for years now.
'More trains than normal needing repair'.
Well, bring in many of the laid up stock around the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).  Oh wait. we can't, the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) won't pay for that.
Be assured we feel your pain cramped in a reduced 5 car set, but at least you have a train - what more do you want!