Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

With Sunday ‘in the working week’ proposals still sitting with the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), a similar to last year enhancement has been given to staff for today and next Sunday.

A near normal service operating as a result today, and it was agreed in time to avoid any negative headlines which is an improvement on last year.

Good news for those travelling today.

It's a pity the same urge to avoid "negative headlines" at Christmas doesn't apply to inconveniencing customers on Sundays all year round.

[IndustryInsider]

Indeed.  Let’s hope the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) make some progress on the proposals sitting in their inbox soon.

[TaplowGreen]

Whilst GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have their own issues with crew shortage, spare a thought for Crosscountry customers who'd planned on using their long distance services today, numerous cancellations & shortened journeys due to crew shortages leaving many hopelessly stranded for Christmas.

Detailed discussions in other forums.

[IndustryInsider]

With Sunday ‘in the working week’ proposals still sitting with the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), a similar to last year enhancement has been given to staff for today and next Sunday.

A near normal service operating as a result today, and it was agreed in time to avoid any negative headlines which is an improvement on last year.

And the same again today.  Hardly any cancellations due to crew shortages on probably the busiest day of the holiday.

Not that the whole Christmas period has been perfect by any means, but I will upgrade GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s performance this year to the official II^▸ (IndustryInsider - a respected member of this forum) rating of 'poor'.  One step up from last years 'P**s poor'! 

[IndustryInsider]

An update from the ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) regarding Sunday’s in the working week:

‘In a recent meeting, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) informed DDC that progress is being made with our 7 day railway submission to the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), but these discussions currently need to be managed with a small team focusing on completing the deal. There are a number of stages still to go and meetings have been diaried with key stakeholders in the coming weeks which are important in taking this forward. We will keep you informed when firmer details are available.’

Expect this to drag on and on and don’t expect there to be enough drivers to crew the summer Sunday service again this year.

[ChrisB]

According to Mark Hopwood yesterday at Travelwatch Southwest, further cuts are being made to the Summer Sunday timetable at the May timetable change, as part of the management of this problem.

[John D]

According to Mark Hopwood yesterday at Travelwatch Southwest, further cuts are being made to the Summer Sunday timetable at the May timetable change, as part of the management of this problem.

All the cuts do is take out some of the unpredictability of which trains might be cut.  But there is already uncertainty as GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) latest figures shows over 1 in 20 trains cancelled.   

It's not like anyone has a crystal ball and can tell me which 5% of trains will be cancelled this week.  So even thinning a timetable still makes cancellations a lottery.

https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-website/files/about-gwr/what-you-can-expect/our-performance/GWR-Periodic-Web-Report-P2611.pdf

And of the trains that do run, more than a third are late

[TaplowGreen]

According to Mark Hopwood yesterday at Travelwatch Southwest, further cuts are being made to the Summer Sunday timetable at the May timetable change, as part of the management of this problem.

........as part of the failure of management of this problem - fixed it for you! 

[grahame]

According to Mark Hopwood yesterday at Travelwatch Southwest, further cuts are being made to the Summer Sunday timetable at the May timetable change, as part of the management of this problem.

........as part of the failure of management of this problem - fixed it for you! 

I have some disquiet over service reductions though in certain instances they can make sense.   

At Melksham, we lost two round trips on Saturdays "so that the others can be more reliable".  The services lost were the ones that had been running pre-2013 and we were left with just the Westbury - Swindon shuttle with extended gaps in the middle of the day where those previous skeleton services had run.   In some ways a logical cut, as the trains cut had been run at times the stock wasn't really needed on other lines either - quietest time of day.  However, I spite of us being told they were being cut to help reliability, the reliability of the remaining service got worse.    This broke the promised message we had been sold - "fewer trains but more reliable" though of course we don't know if it would have been even less reliable had they remained.   As a result of this failure to deliver what we were sold on, we find it harder to trust GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) these days.

GWR services on the South Coast to the east of Portsmouth - to Brighton - were also lost.  Two round trips a day.  There was sadness rather than retention campaigning as they were lost.  Again, comment / promised that it will "let us do better / be more reliable with the other services" which has had a hollow ring, and I'm not sure that the promises - or implicit promise of the marketing hype - has been delivered.

In December, GWR cut a peak train from Warminster to Westbury in the interest of "the reliability / time keeping of other busier trains".  Problem is that as a result, they then offered no route home for students and working people from Salisbury from 16:42 to 19:13 - for sure, there are fewer passengers on the train culled than on the one it held up, but should they really be prioritising saving a couple of minutes delay over getting people home at all?   With an extra call on the train that was got in the way of sometimes,  the issues could have been compensated.  But, no, in spite of their being three minutes of extra allowances in that train, they won't add the call and seem to be intent on performance stats one serving their existing customer base.   And - we were presented with a "fait accompli" on this one - no notice at all of the significant change prior to it happening and the train just disappearing from the timetable.

So - whilst we appreciate the need to update timetables, and to provide a reasonable level of service overall that may be a lessening for some, we treat planned cuts with extreme unease and we don't trust (sorry) GWR to deliver the benefits to us that they promise.

[grahame]

According to Mark Hopwood yesterday at Travelwatch Southwest, further cuts are being made to the Summer Sunday timetable at the May timetable change, as part of the management of this problem.

I am very relieved from today's central timetable briefing that the Sunday timetable changes for the summer are not further cuts - they are a continuation of the cuts already made last December - and indeed there is an extra IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) running up and down between Bristol and London, tuned towards the busiest gaps.

[TaplowGreen]

Judging by the number of cancellations in and around the Thames Valley area (amongst others) today due to "crew shortage", it would seem that BBQ season is underway!

[John D]

According to Mark Hopwood yesterday at Travelwatch Southwest, further cuts are being made to the Summer Sunday timetable at the May timetable change, as part of the management of this problem.

........as part of the failure of management of this problem - fixed it for you! 

ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road, formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) have issued new quarterly figures, and according to table 1.3 GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) has planned to cut 2% of services compared to previous year.

https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/4pmhex4x/performance-stats-release-jan-mar-2026.pdf

So all the PR^▸ (Public Relations) spin of increasing services to Newquay, and introducing Bristol-Oxford there is an overall cut (which has rather been kept under the radar)

[ChrisB]

Agreed that they haven't yelled from the rooftops about it, but we've discussed here in the forum the removal of late night/early morning services to thin out the service....

[TaplowGreen]

According to Mark Hopwood yesterday at Travelwatch Southwest, further cuts are being made to the Summer Sunday timetable at the May timetable change, as part of the management of this problem.

........as part of the failure of management of this problem - fixed it for you! 

ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road, formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) have issued new quarterly figures, and according to table 1.3 GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) has planned to cut 2% of services compared to previous year.

https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/4pmhex4x/performance-stats-release-jan-mar-2026.pdf

So all the PR^▸ (Public Relations) spin of increasing services to Newquay, and introducing Bristol-Oxford there is an overall cut (which has rather been kept under the radar)

Robbing Peter to pay Paul (...........or perhaps Mark in this context)

[grahame]

According to Mark Hopwood yesterday at Travelwatch Southwest, further cuts are being made to the Summer Sunday timetable at the May timetable change, as part of the management of this problem.

........as part of the failure of management of this problem - fixed it for you! 

ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road, formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) have issued new quarterly figures, and according to table 1.3 GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) has planned to cut 2% of services compared to previous year.

https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/4pmhex4x/performance-stats-release-jan-mar-2026.pdf

So all the PR^▸ (Public Relations) spin of increasing services to Newquay, and introducing Bristol-Oxford there is an overall cut (which has rather been kept under the radar)

Robbing Peter to pay Paul (...........or perhaps Mark in this context)

I am going to be - very - careful in what I write here.

1. I believe it is utterly wrong and destructive of passenger's confidence to advertise (timetable) a service and then fail to provide it in all but exceptional circumstances.  To have a failure rate over "x"% on any line or service, where "x" is a very small number indeed, indicates a failure of management and the system to plan for and provide what they are paid to provide.  Whether that management element and the decision makers are part of the public or private sector and what constraints they are under does not matter.

2. I also believe that the railways provide a service, and that withdrawal of a service that's advertised, especially one that's been established for a very long time and for which there is no adequate alternative is also utterly wrong - especially where (and we have examples from last December) where the change has been sneaked in. 

However

3. The rail network and services should not be and cannot be set in stone for decades and need to fit current needs, and at times that may result in a moderate inconvenience / reduction in service to certain places.  Not a withdrawal of the only practical way for people to lead their lives / travel though.  And I'm going to risk defining that as a train at least every hour where the service has been hourly or better.

Can a 2% service reduction be achieved?   I don't know.

Risky suggestion coming up ...

Of an evening ... have the Cardiff -> Portsmouth service call at all stations (as far as Southampton anyway) in place of the local trains along the same line.  Taking care not to add in a gap at the interface before the first slower train.   Where a train goes on to serve another line (I'm thinking of Weymouth, and Romsey via Chandler's Ford) start that other line's service at the junction - Westbury or Southampton Central - and ensure for through passengers it connects.

That is very much a personal view / a question / suggestion to address.    I see the Railfuture strapline calling for a "Bigger and better railway". I totally agree with the "better" and that may well mean "bigger" in some places / elements - bravo for Portishead, Tavistock, and the Bath and Wiltshire metro. But "better" must be the primary objective, and should "bigger" apply it's as a result of providing better and not as an objective in its own right to my mind.  I see no reason (sorry!) why Dilton Marsh, Dean and Mottisfont cannot be served of an evening by the longer distance train, which only has a few passengers on board late at night, resulting in (in that area) a better (priced)  but thinner ("smaller") service