2023 Delays and Cancellations

[whole diary]

[Witham Bobby]

10:59 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 13:24 will be terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill.
It will no longer call at Worcestershire Parkway Hl, Pershore, Evesham, Honeybourne, Moreton-In-Marsh, Kingham, Charlbury, Hanborough, Oxford, Reading and London Paddington.
This is due to train crew being delayed.
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 5. Toilet facilities are not available.
Last Updated:17/11/2023 11:17

As reported above, the 1632 Great Malvern to Paddington isn't getting very far today - to be terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill.  No mention on Journeycheck at present about the 1350 from Paddington which provides the stock for it

[charles_uk]

10:59 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 13:24 will be terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill.
It will no longer call at Worcestershire Parkway Hl, Pershore, Evesham, Honeybourne, Moreton-In-Marsh, Kingham, Charlbury, Hanborough, Oxford, Reading and London Paddington.
This is due to train crew being delayed.
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 5. Toilet facilities are not available.
Last Updated:17/11/2023 11:17

As reported above, the 1632 Great Malvern to Paddington isn't getting very far today - to be terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill.  No mention on Journeycheck at present about the 1350 from Paddington which provides the stock for it

There is now...

13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 16:15 will be cancelled.
This is due to train crew being delayed.
Last Updated:17/11/2023 11:58

[charles_uk]

15:23 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 17:47
Facilities on the 15:23 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 17:47.
This is due to a late running train being in front of this one.
This train will now be formed of the usual number of coaches.

[charles_uk]

There is now...

13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 16:15 will be cancelled.
This is due to train crew being delayed.
Last Updated:17/11/2023 11:58

The GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) app is reporting that the following 14:53 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street has no unoccupied seats!

[Witham Bobby]

I suppose cancelling a few services each day and ramming passengers onto the remaining trains is one way of making the railway less costly to run

[Richard Fairhurst]

The GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) app is reporting that the following 14:53 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street has no unoccupied seats!

I was on it from Oxford. Standing room only to Hanborough and very busy on to Charlbury. Haven't checked but it looks like maybe the Cotswold Line was down one diagram - there were cancellations either side too.

[ray951]

Given the recent level of reliability of the Worcester line services its good that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) haven't decided, from the December timetable change, to halve the number of services on the Didcot to Oxford shuttle and replace them by stopping the Worcester services at Didcot parkway instead.

Oh wait......

Given that when fares go up the standard line 'about paying for investments in services' is trotted out maybe we will see a reduction in fares to match the reduction in services.

[ChrisB]

If reliability gets too bad, hopefully they'll move that Didcot stop to the other half-hour Oxford service, which frankly is where it should go anyway (yes, I have had the explanation as to why its in the Worcester service, but I don't agree with it)

[Worcester_Passenger]

5 late at Reading, right time Evesham

Who needs 125mph IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) anyway?

The rolling stock substitution has disappeared from GW^▸ (Great Western) journeycheck, btw

The idea of Retro Friday didn't actually work:

07:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 10:12.
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 5.

- worked OK.

10:59 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 13:24.
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 5.
Last Updated:17/11/2023 03:50

RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) reports "This service was cancelled between Worcester Shrub Hill and London Paddington due to a planning error (TI)."

13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 16:15.
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 5.
Last Updated:17/11/2023 03:50

RTT reports "This service was cancelled due to a decision by the train operating company (TR)."

16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 19:29 will be terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill.
It will no longer call at Worcestershire Parkway Hl, Pershore, Evesham, Honeybourne, Moreton-In-Marsh, Kingham, Charlbury, Hanborough, Oxford, Reading and London Paddington.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 5.
Last Updated:17/11/2023 03:51

RTT reports "This service was cancelled due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI)."

[ray951]

If reliability gets too bad, hopefully they'll move that Didcot stop to the other half-hour Oxford service, which frankly is where it should go anyway (yes, I have had the explanation as to why its in the Worcester service, but I don't agree with it)

Or just reinstate the Didcot to Oxford shuttle service to run every half an hour.

Of  course if they hadn't cancelled the half-complete (maybe more) Didcot-Oxford electrification then none of this would have been happening.

[ChrisB]

No way to reinstate as the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) has thrown the toys out & won't pay for the turbo used to run it. It's going elsewhere.

[Worcester_Passenger]

From JourneyCheck:

06:43 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington due 08:43 has been delayed at Worcester Shrub Hill and is now 24 minutes late.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.
Last Updated:21/11/2023 07:59

This train (and the 07:25 Shrub Hill - Paddington via Stroud, also delayed) start from Shrub Hill sidings, so the fault seems to have only affected these sidings.

The train was held at Charlbury for the single line (crossing the 06:50 Paddington - Great Malvern, on time), and is now reported as 33 late at Oxford.

Meanwhile, the 'halts' train, the 07:01 Shrub Hill - Didcot, is now at Charlbury, 17 late.

[Worcester_Passenger]

And an odd pair of reasons for delays:

08:51 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 11:14 will be terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill.
It will no longer call at Worcester Foregate Street, Malvern Link and Great Malvern.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Last Updated:21/11/2023 10:44

11:57 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 14:22 will be started from Worcester Shrub Hill.
It will no longer call at Great Malvern, Malvern Link and Worcester Foregate Street.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Last Updated:21/11/2023 10:44

The 08:51 was on time to Shrub Hill.

[ChrisB]

Maybe a travelling Hitachi fitter needed stationary time to fix a problem?

[IndustryInsider]

It was a 9 vice 5 IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) and so can’t fit within the turnback at Malvern Wells. So it would have to shunt onto the single line…but test train 1Q15 was going to be occupying that section.