Swindon <-> Westbury service updates and amendments, ongoing discussion - 2025

[whole diary]

[bobm]

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06 will be terminated at Swindon.
It will no longer call at Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Dilton Marsh, Warminster and Salisbury.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:06

20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:06 will be started from Swindon.
It will no longer call at Westbury, Trowbridge, Melksham and Chippenham.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06 will be terminated at Swindon.
It will no longer call at Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Dilton Marsh, Warminster and Salisbury.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:06

20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:06 will be started from Swindon.
It will no longer call at Westbury, Trowbridge, Melksham and Chippenham.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Is that a shortage of crew in general, or a shortage of crew who know the line?    Couldn't the 17:50 from Gloucester run to Westbury at least - arriving 19:26, then form the 20:06 back to Cheltenham Spa?  That leaves time for the personal needs breaks of the train crew at Westbury.

Rumour has it that Gloucester staff are no longer able to work south of Swindon. Crew changes at Swindon may work on perfect days when no-one is sick and enough people want overtime, but it feels dangerous to rely on days being perfect.   I did ask about timetabling and staffing, and their interaction, at last Friday's GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) briefing.  We were reminded of the confidential nature of what GWR told us at that meeting, but then as they told us nothing that seemed to address the question, I think I can share that fact.

[matth1j]

FWIW^▸ (for what it's worth) I've submitted another complaint to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) via their online form.

Today's (prompt!) reply below. Note that it misses the fact that the service was also cancelled today, which is what prompted my complaint; I thought they'd have gathered that from the journey details I had to provide. I've emailed a follow up pointing that out. I'm looking forward to when they start using IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) for the TransWilts services

Dear John

Thank you for getting in touch with us.

I’m sorry to hear you were caught up in the disruption on your journey on Monday – and that this isn’t the first time it’s happened. We work hard to run our trains to schedule, but we know we do have problems with delays and cancellations sometimes and it’s disappointing you feel we’ve let you down. I appreciate it must be especially frustrating due to the low volume of services that operate on this route.

Our aim is to get to the bottom of why delays occur and work out how to prevent them. Our focus is also on the things we can directly control, like:

·        our timetable,

·        how many trains we have and how reliable they are,

·        and our train crew and their availability

Good performance also comes from working proactively and collaboratively with our industry partners, and we are we are working with Network Rail (who are responsible for the railway signals, the track, and traffic management) and their Performance Improvement Team to make sure that we continue to drive down delays. We are engaging in an Every Second Counts campaign to focus all our teams on the importance of an on-time railway as we know that is really important to our customers.

Our fleet of Intercity Express Trains deliver improved performance and increased reliability. Coupled with the extensive track improvement and electrification programme undertaken by Network Rail we are confident we can provide a service that is not subject to regular delay, and again, I’m sorry that hasn’t been your recent experience.

Thank you again for getting in touch, and I’m sorry you’ve been disappointed. I hope I’ve reassured you that performance and reliability are really important to us, and that we’re committed to delivering a better service.

[grahame]

Our aim is to get to the bottom of why delays occur and work out how to prevent them. Our focus is also on the things we can directly control, like:
·        our timetable,
·        how many trains we have and how reliable they are,
·        and our train crew and their availability

For sure, a form letter - and so quickly-out that it had to be.

If the three big issues on the service through Melksham were sorted ...
* Crew availability
* Train availability
* Timetabling for robustness
were worked out and then the steps taken to implement the solutions, much much happier days.  It is excellent to see GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s confirmation that "these are things we can directly control"

[Mark A]

FWIW^▸ (for what it's worth) I've submitted another complaint to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) via their online form.

Not that their web software is antiquated or anything but you can't even put brackets or semicolons in the complaint text - "We are unable to submit your form with some of the special characters you’ve used entered" 

EDIT: and I've just noticed how that (copy/pasted) sentence ends!

Could be a precaution against this sort of thing:

https://xkcd.com/327/

Mark

[matth1j]

EDIT: and I've just noticed how that (copy/pasted) sentence ends!

Could be a precaution against this sort of thing:
https://xkcd.com/327/

Like I said, "antiquated"

[grahame]

FWIW^▸ (for what it's worth) I've submitted another complaint to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) via their online form.

Not that their web software is antiquated or anything but you can't even put brackets or semicolons in the complaint text - "We are unable to submit your form with some of the special characters you’ve used entered" 

EDIT: and I've just noticed how that (copy/pasted) sentence ends!

Could be a precaution against this sort of thing:

https://xkcd.com/327/

Mark

I love little Johnny ...

We had a member sign up to the forum with the user name NULL at one time, and I'm certainly aware of special characters and injection attack issues (which I will not describe here!).   Some sympathy with GWR though simple enough coding wise to filter and change - "cook" - special characters.

[TaplowGreen]

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 shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:05
17:35 Swindon to Westbury due 18:18

17:35 Swindon to Westbury due 18:18 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:05
17:35 Swindon to Westbury due 18:18

17:35 Swindon to Westbury due 18:18 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

I caught the 08:02 Melksham to Chippenham this morning ...4 off and only 3 on at Melksham; 17 passengers onward.  21/7

Most users are out for the day - and that includes Saturdays.  The numbers this morning are lower than I would have expected and I have to wonder how much that's because people have been altered that there's no way home that fits their plans ... except ... it looks like the train is uncancelled now!

[grahame]

14:05 Frome to Swindon due 14:58
15:44 Swindon to Frome due 16:38

15:44 Swindon to Frome due 16:38 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

and

11:32 Swindon to Weymouth due 13:45

12/10/25 11:32 Swindon to Weymouth due 13:45 will be terminated at Westbury.
It will no longer call at Frome, Bruton, Castle Cary, Yeovil Pen Mill, Thornford, Yetminster, Chetnole, Maiden Newton, Dorchester West, Upwey and Weymouth.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Not that at this time of year there will be much through traffic. I make that comment as I am logging this on the Swindon to Westbury board - it is still a significant issue for people who were wishing to travel between / to / from the named stations and leaves a huge gap in their service.

[Timmer]

11:32 Swindon to Weymouth due 13:45

12/10/25 11:32 Swindon to Weymouth due 13:45 will be terminated at Westbury.
It will no longer call at Frome, Bruton, Castle Cary, Yeovil Pen Mill, Thornford, Yetminster, Chetnole, Maiden Newton, Dorchester West, Upwey and Weymouth.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Not that at this time of year there will be much through traffic. I make that comment as I am logging this on the Swindon to Westbury board - it is still a significant issue for people who were wishing to travel between / to / from the named stations and leaves a huge gap in their service.

Replacement bus being provided from Westbury to Weymouth.

There are other Heart of Wessex services cancelled as well. Not ideal with Weymouth Motocross taking place on the beach today.

Another shining example of the decision to stop Bristol train crew signing Westbury to Weymouth.

[bobm]

According to the departure screens at Swindon there is the train to Westbury at 11:32 AND a bus to Weymouth departing at 11:45 and calling at all stations.  Due into Weymouth at 15:31.

[TaplowGreen]

15:44 Swindon to Frome due 16:38
15:44 Swindon to Frome due 16:38 will be reinstated.

It will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

15:44 Swindon to Frome due 16:38
15:44 Swindon to Frome due 16:38 will be reinstated.

It will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Like ordering fish, chips and mushy peas and "sorry - we're out of fish and chips - but we have supplied you the mushy peas.  Oh and the good news is that we've given you tartare sauce".

The simile is not my best - comparing mushy peas to Frome seems a bit of a stretch.