"The 0710 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington has been cancelled. Customers are advised to travel on the 0730 service, customers travelling from Bristol Parkway are advised to travel on the 0731 departure. This is due to a train fault."

I can't count the number of times I've seen this service cancelled .... anyone have any details?

I have just updated the "cover page" for this line (my thanks to Caroline Shenton for the extra information / writing):

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/cotswolds.html

Travel Watch South West is a forum for travel groups to meet one another and to learn from guest speakers. It's open only by invite to travel interest groups ... so "your rights and redress" is probable not the ideal place to talk about it ... but it was the best category I could find.

There's a meeting this Saturday in Taunton, and I'll be going along to represent "Save the Train" - the campaing that I'm involved with for the provision of better services on the TransWilts line.   Amongst the speakers are Chris Green (Now with Network Rail, formerly CEO^▸ (Chief Executive Officer) of Virgin Trains), and Glenda Lamont from First Great Western who has replaced Alison Forster (their MD) who can't make it.

If you represent a travel group who is NOT a member of TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website), and if you're based in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Bristol, Dorset, Somerset, Devon or Cornwall ... this is probably a good one to get involved with; their web site is at http://www.accesssouthwest.org/. If you are not a member of a travel group, then contact your local one .... where appropriate they should be members.

I make that 3 separate diagrams

That's one you don't see very often .... cancellation of a train up from Westbury?

Charlbury commuter blog ...

http://www.charlbury.info/cgi-bin/dtrains.cgi

On so many occasions, it's not the train operating company that's the culprit.

Unfortunatley, we've seen a tendency for them to blame others when they should take a share of the blame (e.g. when moving from Canton, the blame was placed on the previous maintainer with no admission that First weren't fully ready to take over either).   And when we here now of staff of train shortages, the question has to be raised "have they cut down so much that they can't provide a robust service any longer?".

The suspisions raised by this blame and resource cutting will take a while to blow over ... but I'm sure that after a return to an appropriate service, our jaded views would mellow.

The basic timetable was set by the SRA^» (Strategic Rail Authority - about) (strategic rail authority) before it was disbanded late in 2005 ... and much of the information in it was based on reports such as Jacobs from April 2004, which looked at traffic figures from up to 2 years previously and then made growth assumptions based on the number of travellers requiring to move in general, rather than railway growth history and projections.

This may all sound a bit "nit picking", but it resulted in some information on which decisions that turned out to be the wrong ones were made. 

For example, the West Wiltshire to Swindon train service had been enhanced in 2000, and was growing at a compound rate of between 8% and 35% per annum depending on what measure you take. However, Jacobs used a 0.8% per annum figure.   Looking forward from 2002, five years to 2007 and then through to the end of the franchise in 2016, there's a huge difference between 0.8% and 35% compound - so a huge difference in what's appropriate and what's been provided.

Footnote -
0.8% compound growth for 15 years - traffic levels rise to 1.12 times the original figure
8.0% compound growth for 15 years - traffic levels rise to 3.17 times the original figure
35.0% compound growth for 15 years - traffic levels rise to 90 times the original figure

Susan, Under Freedom of Information from the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), we received a draft copy of proposals for our area - the regional train service lines operated from St Phillip's Marsh, Bristol. I'm unsure whether these are just an idea or a probable or nearly cast in stone .... but it's probably worth your while to ask.  Email me (via graham@wellho.net) if you would like to know who we asked what (and that message applies to  all areas!)

I suspect that First did the full consultation last year because they knew what a disaster the DfT suggestions would be in some quarters and they wanted to be see distancing themselves from the original propoals that I heard some experts desribe as "unworkable" and "not fit for purpose".  Also because the changes were so fundamental.    This year, I have evidence that they HAVE been listening and have based much of the December 2007 plans on prior feedback; the changes shouldn't be anything like as dramatic, so perhaps the consultation doesn't need to be so dramatic either?  And - at least in the area that I use / know about, the suggestions are positive (we had a huge negative hit last December and have lost over 60% of services and about 90% of passengers).

Whoops - 2 weeks later and it's gone. 

Sensible objectives there, and I've heard / read some of the press stuff.   Question - have they got the evening peak rather more correct?  I note you're talking "morning" both in this post and on your site and Google Group.

Susan, delighted to have you here.   Although the peak flows / metrics of the issues vary from area to area, line to line, many of the underlying causes and players involved in decisions and changes are the same ones, on the same game board. 

We can learn from each other and by talking we can try to co-ordinate / ensuring that we're not working against each other's interests.  I'm minded of a situation where a certain resident of [Somerset Town] suggested that a Wiltshre service be withdrawn and the train that was freed up used to provide him with a service, and another incident where one of our own "TransWilts" people suggested a train be freed up from Devon ....

I'll look at / carry on under other topics ... just wanted to say "Hi" and Welcome.   With the intrinsic network nature of the whole railway system, perhaps you already know Max and Penny and some of the others ...

I couldn't resist some crunching .. 2 hours per month from 1st April last year as a whole, rising to 5 hours per month since 10th December.   All the more shocking seeing as I've not made any allowance for the Christmas holiday period when, I suspect, Mike, you didn't travel every day?

"The remaining services will be more reliable once we start the new timetable, so although you'll have fewer trains, some things will improve ....".   I must go back and find that quote, in an email to me from a senior FGW^▸ (First Great Western) person, last Autumn.  Seems a little hollow.

Any evidence of "teething troubles" Mike, or is it too early to look at the figures month by month?

Hello, and welcome to the forum.   We very much appreciate all perspectives / all views, and there's so much that (my view) can / could be gained from seeing things from "the other sides". Actually, I have huge admiration for the majority of front line railway staff struggling through the system as it is now constituted, and also (but very much more patchily) for certain of the senior staff - even those who's task it has been to give us the "no - we will NOT provide an adequate service because ... message".

I'm in agreement with you that, yes, a private company can provide a good railway service. Also that the current woes are very much caused by the system and how it's operated rather than uniquely by the private company.  But I don't think you'll find that any party is completely faultless if you look to aportion fault.

The big question is not "how did we get here" but "how can we move forward to an appropriate situation for all the interested parties, including but not limited to the customers of the railway" and much of the answer relates to how the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) / DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) balance short term financial and long term development goals.   

Strategy one: Take off peak hour trains now to save money outgoing, raise fares to generate money incoming, and withdraw / render unusable by condition changes cheap fares that sell well.

Strategy two: Ensure good capacity for popular services in order to grow those services, look after customers with excellent trains and responsive and helpful staff, and if there's a case where a customer is morally right but has acceidentally got caught by the complex fare system (for example) don't charge a penalty fare, have him pay again, or have the police march him off the station like a criminal.