Swindon <-> Westbury service updates and amendments, ongoing discussion - 2026

[whole diary]

[Mark A]

Wednesday, the day of the WWRUG^» (West Wiltshire Rail Users Group - about) meeting in Trowbridge (for which the trains were unperturbed by that time) a friend had headed for Weymouth for the day. After a remarkably cool and blustery but enjoyable day by the sea, they headed back to the station to find the 17:28 back to Bristol cancelled (the next being 20:14). For some reason they were given the impression that travel via Southampton was out of the question. After a short bit of hanging around, put in a taxi, they "enjoyed" a somewhat edge of seat ride to Westbury, from where there were trains back to Bristol, and they were back only around 15 minutes late.

*Significant detail* - a number of passengers for the Bristol train had been relying on there being a loo on the train once they were at the station - and the station loos were found to be locked - however a member of staff on request unlocked the accessible loo there and the day was saved.

Mark

[grahame]

14:19 Westbury to Swindon due 15:06 will be terminated at Chippenham.
It will no longer call at Swindon.
It is being delayed at Melksham.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58

15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

[grahame]

16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:05
18:35 Westbury to Swindon due 19:20
19:38 Weymouth to Swindon due 22:00

19:38 Weymouth to Swindon due 22:00 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system earlier today.

I am - relieved - that I did not go to Weymouth today.

[grahame]

There are some repeats here - a growing list of cancellations.

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 19:20
19:38 Weymouth to Swindon due 22:00
19:44 Swindon to Westbury due 20:29
22:12 Swindon to Westbury due 22:55

22:12 Swindon to Westbury due 22:55 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system earlier today.

Why should a signalling fault earlier today result in cancellations for the next six hours?

As I write, journey check says nothing about alternative arrangements - just offers delay/repay which is 'nice' but does not help you reach your objective of getting home

[ChrisB]

If all trains cancelled for the day, taxis will be provided. They can't leave you stranded

[TaplowGreen]

16:43 Frome to Swindon due 17:34
24/05/26 16:43 Frome to Swindon due 17:34 will be terminated at Westbury.
It will no longer call at Trowbridge, Melksham, Chippenham and Swindon.
This is due to a shortage of train crew



17:44 Swindon to Salisbury due 18:55
24/05/26 17:44 Swindon to Salisbury due 18:55 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

If all trains cancelled for the day, taxis will be provided. They can't leave you stranded

Indeed - if you know to ask ... the industry systems that talk to passengers should as a matter or course (IMHO^▸ ('in my humble opinion')) suggest practical alternatives to tell people how they can make their journeys and not leave it up to the wannabe-passengers to say "oy!".  The systems for this have improved, but remain patchy as illustrated yesterday.

In the end, the final round trip train ran yesterday, and indeed the [Melksham time] 08:02 and 09:09 that were "cancelled" earlier in the week had been re-instated, giving a 11.8% cancellation rate for the last week.  There are two more cancellations already flagged up for today, so the stats in this report will get worse unless the cancellation are then reversed.

[IndustryInsider]

In the end, the final round trip train ran yesterday, and indeed the [Melksham time] 08:02 and 09:09 that were "cancelled" earlier in the week had been re-instated, giving a 11.8% cancellation rate for the last week.

What's the TransWilts cancellation rate so far for the year?  Is it worse, the same, or better than the same point last year?  And is there any trend to the rate for each individual month, year on year?

[grahame]

In the end, the final round trip train ran yesterday, and indeed the [Melksham time] 08:02 and 09:09 that were "cancelled" earlier in the week had been re-instated, giving a 11.8% cancellation rate for the last week.

What's the TransWilts cancellation rate so far for the year?  Is it worse, the same, or better than the same point last year?  And is there any trend to the rate for each individual month, year on year?

Last ...
7 days - 11.9%
14 days - 6.3%
28 days - 5.1%
56 days - 4.0%
112 days - 3.7%
From 1st January - 3.8%

I am wondering if the last - back to the 2025 sub-standard running rate - is a glitch or the system creaking again for the summer, and the jury is out on that. 

My monitoring URL is https://www.wellho.info/sh4.php?daze=56  (replace the final number with the number of days you want to look back)

Notes

* The stats given are actual running and , and my view is that once a train is cancelled and notified as such it should be included in the failures.  Four trains in the last seven days have been advertised as cancelled but have ended up running - not much good to passengers who have made other arrangements based on advice given, or been put off travelling.

* These are MELKSHAM calls - and where a train is terminated short, for example at Chippenham and it never reaches Chippenham, it shows up above as running AOK

* Where an alternative train makes a call at Melksham - this now sometimes happens when our train in cancelled to make way for a longer distance diverted service - it does not show up in the report / stats

We have already been informed of 2/14 (14%) cancellation rate for today ... let's see what the next week brings before we make any longer term judgement.

[TaplowGreen]

20:38 Westbury to Swindon due 21:23
20:38 Westbury to Swindon due 21:23 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

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]

We have already been informed of 2/14 (14%) cancellation rate for today ... let's see what the next week brings before we make any longer term judgement.

And as soon as I write that, 4/14 = 28% ... seems to happen disproportionatly on nice sunny Bank Holiday weekends ...

[IndustryInsider]

Very interesting stats, Graham.  Thanks for providing them so quickly.

I think that means that the TransWilts is now broadly in line with the rest of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) in terms of cancellations, which is broadly in line with the rest of the country.

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/newbury-weekly-news/20260514/281689736443730

So, GWR wide they're gone from a woeful position in 2025, to a poor but much better position in 2026.  Still much to be done, but encouraging nonetheless.

A disappointing couple of days, but given the heat arriving very suddenly after a period of low temperatures, and the fact it's a Bank Holiday weekend, that's probably not too surprising.  Expected, if not to be accepted.

[TaplowGreen]

Very interesting stats, Graham.  Thanks for providing them so quickly.

I think that means that the TransWilts is now broadly in line with the rest of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) in terms of cancellations, which is broadly in line with the rest of the country.

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/newbury-weekly-news/20260514/281689736443730

So, GWR wide they're gone from a woeful position in 2025, to a poor but much better position in 2026.  Still much to be done, but encouraging nonetheless.

A disappointing couple of days, but given the heat arriving very suddenly after a period of low temperatures, and the fact it's a Bank Holiday weekend, that's probably not too surprising.  Expected, if not to be accepted.

So what would you say GWR has done/is doing differently to upgrade performance from "woeful" to "poor"?

[John D]

Very interesting stats, Graham.  Thanks for providing them so quickly.

I think that means that the TransWilts is now broadly in line with the rest of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) in terms of cancellations, which is broadly in line with the rest of the country.

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/newbury-weekly-news/20260514/281689736443730

So, GWR wide they're gone from a woeful position in 2025, to a poor but much better position in 2026.  Still much to be done, but encouraging nonetheless.

A disappointing couple of days, but given the heat arriving very suddenly after a period of low temperatures, and the fact it's a Bank Holiday weekend, that's probably not too surprising.  Expected, if not to be accepted.

So what would you say GWR has done/is doing differently to upgrade performance from "woeful" to "poor"?

Personally I would use a worse than poor description for things like 2 consecutive trains not running.   Woeful seems as good a word as any.

If > 3% cancellations, or less than two thirds on time, 19% not within 3 minutes, and what appears to be increasing numbers of short forms, can be described as upgraded from woeful to poor, is debatable in my mind

https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-website/files/publications/performance-report/gwr-performance-report-period-2701.pdf

[grahame]

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:10

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:10 is being delayed between Warminster and Salisbury and is now expected to be 14 minutes late.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

15 late into Salisbury ... where the 12 minutes timetabled to be spent in the station is more than is needed, and so it left there just 3 minutes late. Scheduled into Southampton at 08:10. Journeycheck suggests 08:24, Real Time Trains suggests 08:12.    Personal educated guess - around a quarter past eight.   We could open a book and have great fun betting on the final arrival times of delayed trains, couldn't we?