Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[UstiImmigrunt]

I was waiting at Didcot for that service when it was announced as being cancelled at Reading. Managed to catch the 387s in front to Reading then via the land of the stabiliser rail to Vauxhall for the Blunderground to Kings Cross and my Eurostar to Brussels.

[grahame]

I was waiting at Didcot for that service when it was announced as being cancelled at Reading. Managed to catch the 387s in front to Reading then via the land of the stabiliser rail to Vauxhall for the Blunderground to Kings Cross and my Eurostar to Brussels.

Sensible alternative ... but not what I would have thought of.   How did you come up with that - natural knowledge of did something / someone waymark you to it?

[ChrisB]

It's certainly the way I would have thought of going in those circumstances too - although I wouldn't know how long it would take - and whether I would have caught a particular Eurostar - without sitting down & working it through.
Has to be quicker than DID^▸ (Didcot Parkway)->RDG^▸ (Rail Delivery Group, or Reading station, depending on context)->Ealing Broadway & Underground

[grahame]

It's certainly the way I would have thought of going in those circumstances too - although I wouldn't know how long it would take - and whether I would have caught a particular Eurostar - without sitting down & working it through.
Has to be quicker than DID^▸ (Didcot Parkway)->RDG^▸ (Rail Delivery Group, or Reading station, depending on context)->Ealing Broadway & Underground

I might have wondered about Oxford - Marylebone - 205

[UstiImmigrunt]

I was waiting at Didcot for that service when it was announced as being cancelled at Reading. Managed to catch the 387s in front to Reading then via the land of the stabiliser rail to Vauxhall for the Blunderground to Kings Cross and my Eurostar to Brussels.

Sensible alternative ... but not what I would have thought of.   How did you come up with that - natural knowledge of did something / someone waymark you to it?

Natural knowledge. I have always used my free travel facilities.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Some recent posts from this topic have been moved to Frequent Posters Club, due to concerns from our members over the terminology used in them.

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=29501.0

[grahame]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3e8y2xxldlo )... is this even news any more??

Rail passengers in the West are being warned of "significant disruption" to train services on Sunday.

Great Western Railway (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) said a combination of engineering work and uncertainty over crew availability means services will be severely affected.

No trains will operate between London Paddington and Reading before 11.15 GMT, and afterwards reduced services will run between London and Bristol, Devon and Cornwall.

GWR said tickets for Sunday would be valid on Saturday 23 or Monday 25 November.

It also said that journey planners will not show all the changes to their timetables before Sunday morning because of the complexity of updating the timetable.

On Sunday morning, services will start from or end at Reading, where travellers can change for services to Waterloo station, or local trains to Slough and replacement bus services to Ealing Broadway to access the London Underground.

Travellers are being advised to only travel if absolutely necessary.

[TaplowGreen]

......here we go again! Another weekend......so.....

The message on Twitter/X makes specific reference to crew shortage.....and as seems usual now GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have turned off the ability to reply with any questions etc....Great customer service!

[ChrisB]

Just quote reply. They can't turn that option off

[Timmer]

You can’t keep telling people every weekend We advise customers to only travel if absolutely necessary yet that’s what GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) keep saying.

…is this even news any more??

Sigh, not really. I saw what TG^▸ (TaplowGreen - a respected member of this forum) posted above on the GWR website on Wednesday evening but couldn’t be bothered to post it as I think the expectation is that mass cancellations will continue to happen for the foreseeable.

My wife has to travel to Stansted airport on Sunday afternoon. Just booked the ticket but in the knowledge that come Sunday morning the train she’s booked on to London may be cancelled and we’ll have to adjust plans accordingly. Pathetic that we won’t know until then. I know we’re not the only ones.

[grahame]

Out and about this morning ... and the train departure screen has a rolling message telling you that trains will be disturbed tomorrow due to "Engineering works between London and Reading and crew availability".  It goes on to tell you to check your journey on Sunday morning and I wondered and I wonder whatever has happened to things like the 12 week notice of disruption to plan ahead.   There ARE lots of signs already about the engineering closure from Chippenham through to Westbury and Frome from 24th December to 24th January.

[TaplowGreen]

............similar story with the Reading-Gatwick service too..........although no road replacement there, customers being told to travel "much earlier"


Cancellations to services between Reading and Basingstoke

Due to a shortage of train crew between Reading and Basingstoke fewer trains are able to run on some lines.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice

Due to crew shortages between Reading to Basingstoke (return) fewer trains will run. Rail replacement transport has been requested. However, transport is limited and will be running late. Where possible please speak to station staff.

[IndustryInsider]

............similar story with the Reading-Gatwick service too..........although no road replacement there, customers being told to travel "much earlier"

With four return trips being cancelled so far (with no successive cancellations) on a twice per hour service, there is only a delay of 30 minutes to most prospective passengers, less on parts of the route that SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) overlap. 

I would imagine any form of road replacement would be of little use given how much slower it generally is?

[TaplowGreen]

............similar story with the Reading-Gatwick service too..........although no road replacement there, customers being told to travel "much earlier"

With four return trips being cancelled so far (with no successive cancellations) on a twice per hour service, there is only a delay of 30 minutes to most prospective passengers, less on parts of the route that SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) overlap. 

I would imagine any form of road replacement would be of little use given how much slower it generally is?

Just quoting GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).............SWR also have a number of cancellations on their Gatwick services.

[Ollie]

......here we go again! Another weekend......so.....

The message on Twitter/X makes specific reference to crew shortage.....and as seems usual now GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have turned off the ability to reply with any questions etc....Great customer service!

I agree with having replies turned off, means GWR can put their own updates to the thread if need be without it being flooded with responses that may not be relevant. Anybody that wants to ask them a question can obviously still do so in the usual way of using X.