Service meltdown - advice is to use other means to travel

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

Don't think any staff have transferred to Crossrail yet (don't think anyone operationally from anywhere has yet, other than the TfL^» (Transport for London - about) Rail drivers working out of Liverpool Street?), though a lot at Paddington where the majority of the 387 training has been concentrated on have moved from the LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) sector to HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) (the salary difference has now risen to circa £8k for an easier job, so you can't blame them!).  That should allow the IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) training to not leave HSS so short, but at the expense of LTV services perhaps?

[bobm]

For the record the services affected are:

16:33 Westbury to Swindon
17:36 Swindon to Westbury
18:32 Westbury to Swindon
19:36 Swindon to Westbury

All due to a lack of guards.

17:36 now re-instated

[grahame]

For the record the services affected are:

16:33 Westbury to Swindon
17:36 Swindon to Westbury
18:32 Westbury to Swindon
19:36 Swindon to Westbury

All due to a lack of guards.

17:36 now re-instated

Thank goodness ...

a) How on earth have they managed to do that - but THANK YOU if you're one of the ones who has done it for us.

b) I wonder how many Swindon fans have already planned not to travel by train

c) I'm aware we have very few Stevenage fans in Melksham ;-)

[bobm]

I'm guessing - but as the 16:33 from Westbury is still shown as cancelled a driver will be bringing the unit up empty stock from Westbury to form the 17:36 back with a guard available at Swindon, either after being relieved on an incoming service there or sourced from elsewhere and travelling on the cushions to Swindon.

[grahame]

I'm guessing - but as the 16:33 from Westbury is still shown as cancelled a driver will be bringing the unit up empty stock from Westbury to form the 17:36 back with a guard available at Swindon, either after being relieved on an incoming service there or sourced from elsewhere and travelling on the cushions to Swindon.

Popped down to Melksham Station to record (library purposes) 153 going through nonstop - replacement for public service, no train manager available so no passengers being carried.



Lady waiting on the platform; asked her what train she was waiting for - 16:49, which she showed me on the engineering changes page.  Explained to her it was cancelled; didn't believe me, pointing out these were the changes and it said "these trains will run" instead of the normal service.  Help point saying "please wait while the system restarts", but I suggested she press the help button and ask, because that bit of the help point doesn't have to be waited for.

Various bits of translation by me; lady's comprehension of times and timetables was good, but English weak.  Customer Service Clerk had reasonable English but a difficul accent, and needed to be persuaded to go beyond "it's cancelled" to asking GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) what they could do instead. Ended up with a taxi ...

What a good demonstration of how things can go wrong for even a single passenger - the micro - which is often forgotten in the macro of passenger numbers. Lady had a bus to catch (last one of the day) to rural Swindon - "what if it the taxi doesn't make it" when told she would have to change at Chippenham too. And what a lot of extra people had to be involved and extra hassle when it was just ONE train manager we were short of!

Utterly good call today to get the 17:36 re-instated. But also a lesson about the individual problems caused when a train is cancelled - especially one that's infrequent.  "This is a sh*t service" says the lady. "I won't be using it again".

[Timmer]

That video just about sums up how pathetic the rail network can be at times. The train runs but no one can use it. Small wonder the lady said what she did. Sad.

[John R]

Wouldn't it be nice to have a service where the train didn't need to be cancelled if the train manager was not available for any reason?

[rogerw]

Problems on the Cardiff - Portsmouth service this evening.  1630 ex Cardiff started at Bristol 45 minutes late awaiting train crew (presumably the 1454 Bristol Cardiff was also cancelled).  Following service noted 15 minutes late at Westbury and the next service (1954 ex Trowbridge) shown cancelled.  This will also affect services tomorrow morning as there will be insufficient stock at Fratton unless they double up units on the last service

[JayMac]

Wouldn't it be nice to have a service where the train didn't need to be cancelled if the train manager was not available for any reason?

DOO^▸ (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard)) you mean?

[ellendune]

Wouldn't it be better that the train was not cancelled because there was a train manager available.

[John R]

Of course it would, but that doesn't appear to be the situation we have just now.

[ChrisB]

Wouldn't it be better that the train was not cancelled because there was a train manager available.

Wouldn't it be *far* better if both options were available?!!

[bobm]

Sadly not to be again today....

14:35 Westbury to Swindon due 15:21 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[Timmer]

The usual raft of Sunday cancellations or terminating short on the Cardiff-Portsmouth/Brighton line again today. I notice both the 1308 and 1408 both terminating at Westbury meaning a 2 hour wait for anyone heading South. Are GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) laying on replacement transport for those unfortunate to be travelling on either of these two services? Bearing in mind going via Reading is not an option today.

[phile]

The usual raft of Sunday cancellations or terminating short on the Cardiff-Portsmouth/Brighton line again today. I notice both the 1308 and 1408 both terminating at Westbury meaning a 2 hour wait for anyone heading South. Are GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) laying on replacement transport for those unfortunate to be travelling on either of these two services? Bearing in mind going via Reading is not an option today.

Many more also on that route, seems to be a weekly event now.    I feel Mark Hopwood should come and openly speak out about this and the "more trains than usual under maintenance".    This comment would give the impression that it is just an odd day event but has been going on day in and day out since May.