2025 - Service update and amendment log, Swindon <-> Westbury

[whole diary]

[grahame]

18:10 Castle Cary to Swindon due 19:34

18:10 Castle Cary to Swindon due 19:34 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Castle Cary, Bruton and Frome.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

With crew shortages all over the place, so far the Westbury to Swindon service is doing far better than most today, having said which even a single cancellation on that line leaves a huge gap.   I have to personally wonder at why, after so many years, crew shortages seem to be almost routine and look to the management and direction (from inside and outside the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)) for having failed to avoid such issues being so frequent, or to cynically have passed them off as an acceptable lack-of-service level.

[TaplowGreen]

18:10 Castle Cary to Swindon due 19:34

18:10 Castle Cary to Swindon due 19:34 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Castle Cary, Bruton and Frome.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

With crew shortages all over the place, so far the Westbury to Swindon service is doing far better than most today, having said which even a single cancellation on that line leaves a huge gap.   I have to personally wonder at why, after so many years, crew shortages seem to be almost routine and look to the management and direction (from inside and outside the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)) for having failed to avoid such issues being so frequent, or to cynically have passed them off as an acceptable lack-of-service level.

Succinctly, because those at the upper reaches of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) tend to be Managers rather than Leaders, and there are few better examples than this long running issue.

[TaplowGreen]

06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street due 09:47
06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street due 09:47 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Salisbury and Warminster.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 2.