The report is very possitive, and I don't want to undermine any of it, but - how many of the additional users are  'locals'?
The recent weekday closure for engineering work saw quite low loadings on the replacement buses, and  the single 153 on the branch can easily cope through the winter. Loadings on the seasonal trains from Paddington/Reading have been higher this year than last I believe, with probably the same on the services from the North. The summer 'extras' will always be there, and the extra local 'all-year' services are obviously working, but I would question if the sucess is as good as some of the other 'rejuvinated' branch lines in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom). I remain, however, firmly in support of local initiatives such as the Atlantic Line, and have great respect for the local action groups.

..and this continues for all of this week at least. Officially, SWT^▸ (South West Trains) say they hope to 'bridge the gap' (sorry) between Feltham and Staines by next week, but I have a creditable sorce telling me this could go on for a further two weeks on top. Slough-Windsor will remain 3 car until further notice. Reading will be trying to suggest some SWT die-hards go via Basingstoke (FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have allowed this and the Guildford line on ticket acceptance) to relieve the pressure on Wokingham. SWT have not helped thoughh by changing the bus/rail plan again from tomorrow (forget Virginia Water; think Feltham!)

Unless I am missing something (due to exhaustion!), this is our standard wording on CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) for 2+7 sets not on booked diagram. The trolley should be in Carriage A, but we don't advertise that because sometimes it actually uses its wheels and goes up and down  the Standard Class coaches!

West Ealing 12:57 Paddington - Oxford. NOT suicide. Gentleman was 'swept' off the platform into path of train. Investigation will be on-going despite being non-suspicious. As always, thoughts with the driver and station staff, especially due to the circumstances of this one.

Today was not one of our finest in being able to recover from the incident. A series of bad coincidences led to a large number of train crew being out of hours on arrival at Reading/Paddington, and despite sterling efforts by the crew rostering teams, the problems just grew like a mushroom. I started at 12:00 and we had stabiised an emergency Turbo timetable and a 90% HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) service. We wanted a full PM Peak, but just could get enough stock and crew in the right place. As always with these events, displaced stock/crew is the biggest headache. Although diagrams have recovery/turn round times, they are finite. For example, sourcing the 12:06 Pad-Pnz was hard - it left 60+ late and made the 17:37 Pnz-Pad tonight run 30+ late, with all the associated 'missed connections' off the last train to London!

It was the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) or nothing!!! We had already lost the path for 1W47 which terminated at Oxford, but we needed the seats to go through to Worcester, so 2E95/2E96 became an HST complete with catering. Maximum use of the SDO^▸ (Selective Door Operation) at Combe, Finstock etc

...and yet again I was on duty in Control. As with Ealing last week, this was a very dramatic fatality with a lot of counselling now needed for colleagues involved. Because this was the start of the evening rush, the knock on effect was much more dramatic, with over 100 services effected. As before, thoughts must be with the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) driver and those who witnessed the events.

Yes Grahame - we are a common carrier. As far as I am aware, we have to prove that they are either not fit to travel or could represent a serious threat to public safety. The latter could have applied yesterday, but with the police unable to send anyone to the station, it was felt that the situation would be easier defused by letting them travel - hindsight is a wonderful thing.
The 03:59 ex Swansea is a popular service believe it or not - it provides an 0700 arrival in London ahead of the main rush hour on Mons-Fris as well as quite a bit of local use within South Wales (not sure to/from where and why). Saturdays is a lot quieter apart from the clubbers, although yesterday had at least one retired lady in the same carriage as the unruly group!
Having thought about this a bit more, there can not be many services anywhere in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) apart from London, where clubbers can stay until the club closes on a Saturday morning and have a train home within an hour!

The problems of today's society showed very clearly at 04:00 this morning when the TM^▸ (Train Manager, or Ticket Machine, or Temple Meads (Bristol), depending on context) on the first Paddington of the day (1L05) was confronted by a group of very intoxicated men (presumably who had missed their last train home last night). Local Police had 'nobody available to deal', so regretably the train had to set off - albeit 50+ late. Someone at Swansea forgot to tell this group that HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) don't stop at Pyle as the pass-com was pulled as the train shot through adding more delay. Not sure where this group of apologies for men got off, but Paddington was reached exactly one hour late.

On the contrary. As soon as I had the report, I arranged a pager message and contacted conductors of the next up and down services. Bristol Temple Meads also ensured that advised the next few trains.

Have just checked with the office - it has been reported, and train managers have been paged out to warn arriving customers. Hopefully will be fixed tomorrow.

Sad reflection of the times - two men and a woman ejected from 2Y12 at Nailsea this morning for unsocialble behaviour (and that is an understatement!) responded by turning on the female conductor and spitting in her face. The spit kits that the crews carry may indentify the culprits, and if they do, I hope the courts punish them properly.

Just a quick word of support to the driver and on-board staff on the 7:29 Swansea-Paddington, and station staff at Ealing Broadway following this morning's fatality. Too many people witnessed a particularly nasty suicide, and  thoughts go to everyone involved.

Apologies to any customers caught up in the vandalism at Severn Tunnel Junction last night. 6 major signalling cables cut at the same time brought the whole area to a standstill for nearly 4 hours. Because only one cable was initially discovered, we hoped that NR^» (Network Rail - home page) could fix quite quickly, but as more vandalism was found, the delays grew. A huge vote of gratitude to the staff at Bristol Parkway who had the 20:15 Paddington-Swansea in their care from 21:40-01:15 + the 21:15 ex Paddington terminating there and the 22:45 ex Paddington also have a rest in the platforms. The 21:15 became an 01:45 back to Paddington to cover the 20:29 ex Swansea that had terminated at Newport with customers bussed to BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains).
And, of course, we had to reorganise the Temple Meads to Cardiff services as well
All customers arriving late in South Wales were given taxis home, but it was not a night I would like to see again in a hurry.
Worst delays were to 20:15 ex Paddington - 236 minutes late into Swansea at 03:27!

Believe me, Control tried everything to hire in on Friday to haul the up sleepers, but no other TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) was able to help at short notice. As noted, the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) was better than no train at all.