Cotswold Line - 2018 cancellation and amendments log

[whole diary]

[charles_uk]

A few minor irritants this evening:

16:22 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 19:26 will no longer call at Slough.
It has been delayed at London Paddington and is now 24 minutes late.
This is due to this train being late from the depot.

17:52 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill due 20:06 has been delayed at London Paddington and is now 18 minutes late.
This is due to train crew being delayed by service disruption.

and

18:34 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 21:29 will be started from Worcester Foregate Street.
It will no longer call at Great Malvern and Malvern Link.
This is due to a fault on a train in front of this one.

with the outward 15:22 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains):GMV^▸ (Great Malvern station) being terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill. This service ran as a Turbo for the third day running with no first class available.

[charles_uk]

05:47 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 08:15
05:47 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 08:15 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.

.......and the 0825 return trip cancelled

Same again today.

And again today. It does feel like this was a planned cancellation for the whole week rather than an on the day decision.

Also:

09:21 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 11:31 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.

Further Information
Customers are advised to travel on the 10:22 London Paddington to Hereford service.

and

12:00 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 14:27 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.

Further Information
Customers are advised to travel on the 12:09 Hereford to London Paddington service.

I'd never have thought of travelling on the following service!

[Witham Bobby]

"GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)" have obviously given up on even pretending to run the service properly now.  They should acknowledge that they can't do it, and let another operator have a go with the route.

[TaplowGreen]

"GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)" have obviously given up on even pretending to run the service properly now.  They should acknowledge that they can't do it, and let another operator have a go with the route.

At the very least, if specific services are not going to be resourced on a daily basis this week it should be publicised as such so that regular travellers can consider alternative arrangements.

[charles_uk]

"GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)" have obviously given up on even pretending to run the service properly now.

Hard to argue with the above:

14:21 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 16:44 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.

Further Information
Customers are advised to travel on the next available service.

(later edit)... "the next available service" being three coaches instead of five

16:22 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 19:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.

Further Information
Customers are advised to travel on the next available service.

17:26 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 19:59 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.

Further Information
Customers are advised to travel on the next available service.

19:42 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 22:31 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.

Further Information
Customers are advised to travel on the next available train service.

[Timmer]

Seriously how can you call this a service? It's pathetic day after day. I feel for people who use this line I really do.

[IndustryInsider]

Mostly services supposed to be covered by the new depot at Worcester again.

Seems to be little appetite from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), local politicians or the local press to try to do anything about it though.  Perhaps we need a new forum catchphrase of “Oooooos gonna do something about it?”

[charles_uk]

Seems to be little appetite from... local politicians... to try to do anything about it though.

I can but hope. My letter to Robert Courts MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) is on its way.

[charles_uk]

And the filleting of today's "service" continues:

13:55 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 16:27 will be terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill.
It will no longer call at Pershore, Evesham, Honeybourne, Moreton-in-Marsh, Kingham, Charlbury, Hanborough, Oxford, Reading, Slough and London Paddington.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.

Further Information
Road replacement transport will operate between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford.

This has disappeared from JourneyCheck and, according to Realtime Trains, has recently left Evesham on time.

[charles_uk]

05:47 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 08:15
05:47 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 08:15 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.

.......and the 0825 return trip cancelled

Same again today.

And again today. It does feel like this was a planned cancellation for the whole week rather than an on the day decision.

And same again for the fifth day running.

Also, from earlier:

04:47 Hereford to London Paddington due 07:52 will be diverted between Worcester Shrub Hill and Didcot Parkway.
It will no longer call at Pershore, Evesham, Moreton-in-Marsh, Kingham, Charlbury, Hanborough and Oxford.
It has been delayed at Hereford and is now 50 minutes late.
This is due to train crew being delayed.

[Buckham]

I'm in London twice next week and live 5 minutes from Honeybourne, but, reading this thread, will clearly have to drive to Warwick Parkway - no one in their right mind would dream of planning to use a Cotswold line service at the moment. Chiltern must be enjoying their increased revenues!

[Witham Bobby]

I'm in London twice next week and live 5 minutes from Honeybourne, but, reading this thread, will clearly have to drive to Warwick Parkway - no one in their right mind would dream of planning to use a Cotswold line service at the moment. Chiltern must be enjoying their increased revenues!

Likewise - Honeybourne Station is really handy for me.  Unless I actually want to catch a train, that is.  I've taken to driving to Oxford Parkway when I need to go to London.  It's been the sane thing to do on cost grounds ever since Oxford Parkway opened, to be honest.  But the recent disastrous service level makes it even more sane (if that's a thing)

[Timmer]

I'm sure many others have 'defected' from the North Cotswold line to using Chiltern's service to London, particularly over the past 2-3 months.

[IndustryInsider]

Can’t blame anyone along the Cotswold Line at the moment using Chiltern, though anybody travelling yesterday evening had a horrendous journey following a fatality at Denham.  Rather ironically many hundreds of people for places like Warwick were directed to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) at Paddington.

Thoughts as ever for the family and friends of the deceased and those on the ground that dealt with the incident.

[Worcester_Passenger]

05:54 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 08:27 will be started from Worcester Shrub Hill.
This is due to a shortage of train guards.
Last Updated:17/02/2018 05:01