South Western Railway services, winter 2022/2023

[whole diary]

[Mark A]

It might be underpublicised that various factors has resulted in South Western Railways timetabling few trains to run before 8am in many areas, and also to close some stations/lines entirely until January 3rd.

Mark

[grahame]

It might be underpublicised that various factors has resulted in South Western Railways timetabling few trains to run before 8am in many areas, and also to close some stations/lines entirely until January 3rd.

Mark

Indeed not well known - here's the SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) map (link from https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey ); click on image to enlarge

[Timmer]

Thanks for bringing this to the attention of the forum Mark.

Details can be found here: https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey

Here’s the much reduced schedule for today Sunday 18th:

Due to the knock-on impact of RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) strike action and long-planned engineering works, you are urged to only travel if absolutely necessary on 18 December.

There will be a severely reduced service on a very limited number of routes, from 07:00 to 22:00 only, consisting of:

Four trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Woking
Two trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Basingstoke
Two trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Southampton Central
One train per hour between Basingstoke and Salisbury
Trains will not stop at all the stations on these routes. There will be no SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) services across the rest of the network on 18 December.

Here’s the schedule for next week 19-23:

Due to industrial action by the RMT and TSSA^» (Transport Salaried Staffs' Association - about) unions, you are advised to check your whole journey before you travel.

This action includes a ban on members working overtime or on rest days and affects people in a variety of roles, including guards on trains as well as dispatchers on platforms and shunters in our depots. This means that our ability to operate train services is significantly limited.

There will be a reduced service from 07:00 to 22:00 only, with some routes closed, consisting of:
Four trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Woking 
Two trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Basingstoke
Two trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Southampton Central
Four trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Windsor & Eton Riverside 
One train per hour in each direction between Woking and Portsmouth Harbour
One shuttle train per hour in each direction between Eastleigh and Portsmouth Harbour
One train per hour in each direction between Southampton Central and Weymouth
One train every two hours between Basingstoke and Salisbury (on alternate hours to the Basingstoke to Exeter service) 
One train every two hours between Basingstoke and Exeter St Davids (on alternative hours to the Basingstoke to Salisbury service)
Two trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Reading via Twickenham
One train per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Shepperton 
Two trains per hour in each direction between London Waterloo and Guildford via Leatherhead
Some peak time services in each direction between London Waterloo and Alton

[grahame]

Amazingly, some of the connection at Salisbury for Trowbridge to London (Waterloo) passengers look half decent. Here are typical hours:

12:54 from Trowbridge
13:32 to 13:47 at Salisbury (change of trains)
14:30 to 14:38 at Basingstoke (change of trains)
15:26 arrival into Waterloo

16:30 from Waterloo
17:16 to 17:38 at Basingstoke (change of trains)
18:21 to 18:42 at Salisbury (change of trains)
19:18 arrival at Trowbridge.

Of course - for the luggaged student / leisure / senior traffic that the through services were so heavily by until this time last year, two extra changes (from those times) along the way are pretty off-putting

[grahame]

Some draconian service reductions ...

Alton to Waterloo only at 07:44 and 08:14
Waterloo to Alton only at 17:27, 18:02 and 18:32

Balancing workings from / to Farnham in passenger service, but that's the sum total - just five arrivals and five departures all day.

[stuving]

Here in Wokingham (and to Reading) we have precisely no SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) trains today. While we got almost a full service during the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) guards' dispute strikes, this time we are not treated as a spine service.

Oddly, perhaps, we have pretty much a normal GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) service - that's the new normal of almost half the trains being cancelled.

SWR are now saying today's service will be cut even further due to the weather (not that it will affect us here of course).

Incident created              18/12/2022 13:58
Last updated                   18/12/2022 14:06
Route affected                 Across the South Western Railway network

Following a period of significant cold weather, South Western Railway have now been made aware of heavy rain and forecast high winds that will impact the outer part of their network.

In order to make sure you can travel safely, trains will have to travel at a reduced speed on some parts of the following routes:

    Southampton to Weymouth, with delays of up to 20 minutes expected for trains along this route
    Salisbury to Exeter St Davids, with delays of up to 20 minutes expected for trains along this route
    Eastleigh to Fareham
    Guildford to Havant, with delays of up to 15 minutes expected for trains along this route
    Ash Vale to Alton

South Western Railway are running a number of empty trains in the morning to make sure that the tracks are clear before passenger services run in order to avoid more restricting speed limits, but trains on these routes will need to travel at 40mph. This means that your journey will take longer than normal.

The speed restriction is expected to be in place from 18:00 on Sunday 18 until 12:00 on Monday 19 December, but may need to be extended based on weather conditions on the day – we’ll update this message when we know more.

For further information or onward travel advice please speak to a member of staff or use a station help point.

[JayMac]

The service reductions, and very late updates to journey planners, have been well noted here in Templecombe Towers. It has made my Christmas travel arrangements to and from Taunton very fraught. Not knowing if or when I can travel until yesterday, less than a week before. The late start up and halving in frequency has severely limited my options. Such that I'm still seriously considering getting a taxi to Castle Cary and travelling from there on the 23rd.

[Surrey 455]

No SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) trains for me today at Bookham. NO RRBs^▸ (Rail Replacement Bus) were shown on the planner either. On the plus side, next week we get twice as many trains as usual. Two trains an hour instead of one, although the first train to Waterloo is 20 minutes later than the one I would normally get.

[JayMac]

Bespoke? Are SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) suggesting this offering was made for just one customer? Or that it is somehow a tailor made offering of excellent quality?

Someone buy SWR a dictionary. 

[JayMac]

The drastic reduction in services this week on SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) in the west hasn't help timekeeping at all this morning. All trains so far between Basingstoke and Exeter St Davids have run, or are running, late. Up to 40 minutes in several cases.

What Bruvver Mick hasn't affected is now being affected by the weather.

[ChrisB]

Bespoke? Are SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) suggesting this offering was made for just one customer? Or that it is somehow a tailor made offering of excellent quality?

Someone buy SWR a dictionary. 

Bespoke - for one *day* (not passenger) only....

[Surrey 455]

No SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) trains for me today at Bookham. NO RRBs^▸ (Rail Replacement Bus) were shown on the planner either. On the plus side, next week we get twice as many trains as usual. Two trains an hour instead of one, although the first train to Waterloo is 20 minutes later than the one I would normally get.

Not a great journey. Standing all the way this morning. I normally get a near empty train which fills up by Ewell West. This evening I stood most of the way from Waterloo. I was going to get the next one until I discovered it had been cancelled. I suspect tomorrow may be worse as Mondays and Fridays are normally not as busy.

[bradshaw]

Paul Clifton on Twitter

. An @SW_Help person tells me they have 495 train guards on roster today. 143 have duties, leaving 352 - an astonishing 70% - being paid to sit around as “spare.” Because only 47% of the timetable is operating, trains parked idle.
How can the railway function like this?

https://twitter.com/paulcliftonbbc/status/1605852085387395072?s=61&t=UfLE_kuI_l2YDwNrXZ6XyQ

[ChrisB]

AQs mentioned in another thread, one cause could be lack of servicable units.

The RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) strikes include depot staff servicing units & performing exams. If a unit isn't serviceable, it can't run.

Chiltern have this issue. Both the overtime & days strikes have reduced the number of available units such that they can only run about 20 units in service, formed up of 4 tph to all 4 served destinations - so 1tph each in both directions.

I realise SWT^▸ (South West Trains) have more depots & more staff, but I suspect this is one of the major reasons that they haven't been able to put out more units & thus leaving operations staff sitting available in depots.

[bradshaw]

Updated on Twitter

  I’m told officially by @SW_Help that a few extra services are running and “only” 150 guards are spending all day on duty drinking tea as “spare” turns, as “40 something %” of trains are operating, with Clapham depot closed entirely.

https://twitter.com/paulcliftonbbc/status/1605890141502853121?s=61&t=UfLE_kuI_l2YDwNrXZ6XyQ