Thames Valley infrastructure problems causing disruption elsewhere - 2017

[whole diary]

[bobm]

I have to say communication by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) was much improved during the incident with proper regular updates posted on Twitter and the website. Perhaps some good came out of last weeks chaos, not that it takes away from the inconvenience and disruption that is caused when things go wrong.

GWR have announced tickets dated yesterday are valid today following the fire alert at Paddington last night.

[lordgoata]

It's a hell of a lot more difficult to pubically attack an organisation that you effectively have direct control over...........

That statement brought tears to my eyes   

That sort of attack is definitely below the belt.

Why is that? 

DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) starts asking questions to Network Rail about their performance. Network Rail responds by telling the DfT "you control our budget and you sign off our major engineering projects". The ball lands back in the DfTs and they've no where to return it to
Passengers blame the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company), as far as the DfT are concerned them being distanced from any blame works for them.

Or it could be due to the "location" of said attack:

pubically attack

 

[a-driver]

It's a hell of a lot more difficult to pubically attack an organisation that you effectively have direct control over...........

That statement brought tears to my eyes   

That sort of attack is definitely below the belt.

Why is that? 

DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) starts asking questions to Network Rail about their performance. Network Rail responds by telling the DfT "you control our budget and you sign off our major engineering projects". The ball lands back in the DfTs and they've no where to return it to
Passengers blame the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company), as far as the DfT are concerned them being distanced from any blame works for them.

Or it could be due to the "location" of said attack:

pubically attack

 

Oh............... I see!! 

Pretty much all services out of London Euston are currently cancelled due to a total loss of signalling.  Need I say anything more?

[SandTEngineer]

Pretty much all services out of London Euston are currently cancelled due to a total loss of signalling.  Need I say anything more?

Hah....easily restored back to normal within 45 minutes.  Its not the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) you know...

[a-driver]

Pretty much all services out of London Euston are currently cancelled due to a total loss of signalling.  Need I say anything more?

Hah....easily restored back to normal within 45 minutes.  Its not the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) you know...

So I hear thanks to the replies to the sarcastic messages from my former colleagues at Euston!  I think I was a bit too hasty in trying to get my own back.

[TaplowGreen]

According to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s Twitter team, Wednesday and Thursday have been declared void days:

"Last Wednesday and Thursday are void you can get a refund for those days from Monday 17 July. -Andy"

A good decision there. Can't replace the time that people lost that evening but at least there is a bit of financial compensation for the inconvenience caused.

Not much choice really if GWR want to retain the few tattered shreds of credibility they cling on to?........the surprise is that it's taken a week for Hopwood et al to decide that the level of service last Wednesday/Thursday evening was unacceptable.

[Birdie100]

If I were a cynic I'd say that time period would be just about long enough for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to get a data analyst to figure out whether it's better to pay out either:

A) 2 void days or
B)  the (possible) 5% discount for missing reliability too on season ticket refunds in the next twelve months.

[TaplowGreen]

......another day.....

Cancellations to services between Oxford and Didcot Parkway
Due to a fault with the signalling system between Oxford and Didcot Parkway fewer trains are able to run on all lines.
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 08:30 14/07

[charles_uk]

......another day.....

Cancellations to services between Oxford and Didcot Parkway
Due to a fault with the signalling system between Oxford and Didcot Parkway fewer trains are able to run on all lines.
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 08:30 14/07

Disruption now expected until 10:00.

I'm on holiday for two weeks after today - two weeks without waking up & wondering what GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and/or National Rail have got in store for me 

[IndustryInsider]

Delays on Reading bound services now getting on for 60 minutes as congestion between Oxford and Didcot gets worse.  Many trains currently forming an orderly queue.  Services going the other way unaffected by delays, but some may be cancelled as the service is being thinned out a little.

[DidcotPunter]

Delays on Reading bound services now getting on for 60 minutes as congestion between Oxford and Didcot gets worse.  Many trains currently forming an orderly queue.  Services going the other way unaffected by delays, but some may be cancelled as the service is being thinned out a little.

Currently 11 trains backed up between Culham and north of Oxford station on the up line at the time of posting! 

[IndustryInsider]

And delays now building to 90 minutes.  Another almighty mess to add to GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line)'s July month of hell!

[Jason]

Disruption expected until 11:00 - still appears overly ambitious.

[IndustryInsider]

Things are starting to clear now as the signalling is now up-and-running again thankfully.

[charles_uk]

And once again, it shows the value of this thread.

From a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) user perspective, it appears the service has deteriorated significantly over the last five-six weeks. Is it just an impression or are there hard facts to prove it? This thread confirms that the service really hasn't been acceptable.