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

[whole diary]

[grahame]

I have spent a bit of time trying to find the specifics of the cancellation and reinstatement of these services without success.

However it seems GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are in a bit of a no win situation when it comes to cases like this.   When the services were cancelled it was in the earnest belief that they would not run.   They could have delayed the announcement but then run the risk of being criticised for making it even more short notice.  Control and the rosters staff are eternal optimists and always hope they can pull something out of the hat and run a service.  So work continues behind the scenes to rescue a service or reduce a shortform until they run out of all options.   If they waited until they reached that point there would be a rash of last minute cancellations/alterations.   The current situation is not ideal, but personally if there are going to be cancellations I'd rather know as early as possible, even if it is later reinstated.

Thanks so much for that Bob - I have to agree that leaving it to the last minute is NOT the way to go.  And indeed the very good and often successful work of those involved to getting a service back, which is appreciated, leads to them being criticised for a false "the xx:xx train is cancelled" but it ends up running.   The very last thing  I would want encourage is a mentality that says "once a cancellation is broadcast, it is never re-instated".

I guess that a sizeable minority of cancellations are reversed - if only there was a tag line that could be added "but we are still trying to find a way of running it"; my understanding is that's a systemic problem - the options available don't include that ...

As for this morning's service from Gloucester, the confusing messages are down to the way the automated system works.  Once it went off its booked route at Standish Junction the system lost it and so defaulted to delayed.   It was only when it approached Swindon and picked up its planned route that the system started to update again.

Again - a systemic option.   Journeycheck assumes once delayed, always delayed.  It is often "hilariously" wrong on certain trains such as the sleeper ... and the very train in question in this thread - the 05:11 from Gloucester to Southampton can be as much as 20 minutes late as it passes Standish Junction, projected as 08:30 rather than 08:09 into Southampton and yet arrive there on time.   Real Time Trains makes rather better predictions, by various methods like taking the time that trains sit at intermediate stations (Swindon, Salisbury and a little at Westbury on the 05:11) and trimming then back as it predicts.  In reality, once a train is significantly delayed, it comes down to a complex mesh of factors such as platform availability at Westbury which can add significantly to the delay, together with factors already mentioned like timetabled intermediate dwells, and it's pretty unpredictable by current algorithms as to whether the delay is recovered, maintained, or gets worse.

[grahame]

Until just now when I went to quote Graham's message did I spot his postscript about solving the root cause - clearly (pardon the pun) my eyesight isn't up to seeing that colour against the background.

My naughty little postscript in orange was supposed to point out that [they/we] are treating the symptoms and not the cause / disease - easing the pain when what is needed is action to fix the causes as far as possible. 

My guesstimate is that 75% of the problems are fixable at source. Whilst that would cost money to do, it would also bring about a huge saving on the work stress of those who are trying to ease the pain, a big saving on delay/repay, and a boost to confidence in the system so that people who are wary about using the train because of its unreliability would (re)turn to rail.

I am disappointed that these fixings at source have not been done - it almost defies logic that they have not. I do have indications that much background work has been done so "they" know what to do.  Perhaps they are waiting for GBR^▸ (Great British Railways) for it to be a flagship policy of improvements once the government takes over the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company)? 

[bobm]

I don't disagree with the message, my point was as orange on cream I didn't spot it.   It was only when I went to quote the message and it was black on white that I saw it.

[matth1j]

Real Time Trains makes rather better predictions

I tend to use National Rail for checking for delays etc., and on the odd occasion I've tried RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) I've found it's not showing the problems being reported by the National Rail app. Like on Monday, while NR^» (Network Rail - home page) showed the diversion via Bristol Parkway and a delay, RTT didn't.

So while RTT is great for history, I'm sticking with NR for predictions.

[grahame]

08:44 Swindon to Weymouth due 11:08
05/07/25 08:44 Swindon to Weymouth due 11:08 will be terminated at Westbury.
It will no longer call at Frome, Bruton, Castle Cary, Yeovil Pen Mill, Maiden Newton, Dorchester West and Weymouth.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 13:01
13:13 Swindon to Westbury due 13:55
14:19 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01
15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58
16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:05
17:35 Swindon to Westbury due 18:18
18:35 Westbury to Swindon due 19:17
19:44 Swindon to Westbury due 20:29

05/07/25 19:44 Swindon to Westbury due 20:29 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

14:05 Frome to Swindon due 14:58
15:44 Swindon to Frome due 16:38
16:43 Frome to Swindon due 17:34
17:44 Swindon to Salisbury due 18:55
18:10 Castle Cary to Swindon due 19:34
19:43 Swindon to Westbury due 20:25

06/07/25 19:43 Swindon to Westbury due 20:25 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[TaplowGreen]

21:34 Swindon to Westbury due 22:16
21:34 Swindon to Westbury due 22:16 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

Not fit for purpose ...

[grahame]

06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street due 09:47

06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street due 09:47 will be terminated at Swindon.
It will no longer call at Kemble, Stroud, Stonehouse, Gloucester, Cheltenham Spa, Ashchurch For Tewkesbury, Worcester Shrub Hill and Worcester Foregate Street.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[Mark A]

Not fit for purpose ...
**Images removed that log a multi-hour break caused by cancelled train services.

It's striking that this is now commonplace. Historically, the railway ran on the principle of infrequent services with a lot of thought put into ensuring that these ran to time - and this carried over into the age of more frequent train provision: the quieter parts of the network didn't experience multi-hour gaps in service caused by cancellations.

As far as certain parts of the rail network goes, in the south west in particular, this principle seems to have gone out of the window. Given the inflexible costs involved in a railway operation, the industry's position on this is... odd.

Mark

[grahame]

It's striking that this is now commonplace. Historically, the railway ran on the principle of infrequent services with a lot of thought put into ensuring that these ran to time - and this carried over into the age of more frequent train provision: the quieter parts of the network didn't experience multi-hour gaps in service caused by cancellations.

As far as certain parts of the rail network goes, in the south west in particular, this principle seems to have gone out of the window. Given the inflexible costs involved in a railway operation, the industry's position on this is... odd.

Mark

Commonplace indeed.   There was no shock over the weekend that half the service was lost, and no external cause - "act of god" - to explain it.

The industry's position is indeed odd, and frustrating.

[TaplowGreen]

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:09

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:09 was terminated at Swindon.
It will no longer call at Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Dilton Marsh, Warminster, Salisbury, Romsey and Southampton Central.
This is due to a fault on this train.

[matth1j]

This morning's Gloucester-Southampton (Melksham 6:32) service was cancelled after reaching Swindon due to a fault on the train. Hopefully delay/repay will cover the cost of the 271 bus I'm currently waiting for...

[grahame]

This morning's Gloucester-Southampton (Melksham 6:32) service was cancelled after reaching Swindon due to a fault on the train. Hopefully delay/repay will cover the cost of the 271 bus I'm currently waiting for...

and

06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street due 09:47

06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street due 09:47 will be terminated at Westbury.
It will no longer call at Trowbridge, Melksham, Chippenham, Swindon, Kemble, Stroud, Stonehouse, Gloucester, Cheltenham Spa, Ashchurch For Tewkesbury, Worcester Shrub Hill and Worcester Foregate Street.
This is due to train crew being delayed by service disruption.

Yeah, right ... the southbound train failed at Swindon, stranding a crew there ... so at Melksham, that's 06:32 cancelled, 07:21 cancelled ... first train (we hope) 08:02. It's not a Saturday, it's not a Sunday, and the train to form the 07:21 was in working order ...

[matth1j]

For what it's worth, the bus was surprisingly prompt - managed to catch the 7:33 Cardiff train at Bath instead of the expected 7:47 Weston (would have been on the 7:10 Bristol service without the cancellation). So only 20 mins later than planned into the office.

Good job I hadn't waited for the 7:21 at Melksham.