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

[whole diary]

[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?

Arrived 08:11 - 1 minute late.  Top mark (nearest prediction) to Real Time Trains.  JourneyCheck - and it's a pattern woefully pessimistic which means that if someone turns up to catch the train at the time it predicts later on the journey, they will miss it!

[grahame]

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.

There was a discussion yesterday about "atrocious" and "poor" and how to qualify the performance.  And over the last 7 days now cancellation rates at Melksham are 16.1% (plus in my view trains cancelled but re-instated very late) but "Shortage of Train Crew" is now far less common.    Contrast, perhaps, to other services where today (a lovely Bank Holiday Monday) there are around 30 cancellations and short runs, the majority of which are attributed to lack of staff.   On that basis, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) locally to us have been doing a little better - though train faults, signalling problems, and congestion have been unusually rampant and seem to have taken "a while" to fix ...

[IndustryInsider]

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

A slightly rushed post yesterday.  I meant to refer to the TransWilts year so far as upgraded from 'woeful' to 'poor', not GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) wide as I said - though that has also improved quite significantly with the cancellation percentage down 38% on last year...perhaps from 'atrocious' to 'woeful'?

As for the TransWilts, you can indeed use the word 'woeful' for a two consecutive trains cancelled scenario, much as you could use the word phrase 'very good' for the 21 day stretch early in the year (according to Graham's stats) where there were no cancellations at all at Melksham, and a 16 day period within that with no delays over 15 minutes.

So, for me, the year so far on the TransWilts has improved from 'Woeful' to 'Poor'...but that's only my description.  It would be interesting to hear Graham's thoughts on that.

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

I think it's largely due to a general improvement from Network Rail in terms of providing more reliable infrastructure in general.

Please don't paraphrase that into suggesting I am saying the infrastructure is reliable.

[TaplowGreen]

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

A slightly rushed post yesterday.  I meant to refer to the TransWilts year so far as upgraded from 'woeful' to 'poor', not GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) wide as I said - though that has also improved quite significantly with the cancellation percentage down 38% on last year...perhaps from 'atrocious' to 'woeful'?

As for the TransWilts, you can indeed use the word 'woeful' for a two consecutive trains cancelled scenario, much as you could use the word phrase 'very good' for the 21 day stretch early in the year (according to Graham's stats) where there were no cancellations at all at Melksham, and a 16 day period within that with no delays over 15 minutes.

So, for me, the year so far on the TransWilts has improved from 'Woeful' to 'Poor'...but that's only my description.  It would be interesting to hear Graham's thoughts on that.

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

I think it's largely due to a general improvement from Network Rail in terms of providing more reliable infrastructure in general.

Please don't paraphrase that into suggesting I am saying the infrastructure is reliable.

Wouldn't dream of it!

I don't think even you would attempt to polish that particular turd II^▸ (IndustryInsider - a respected member of this forum), especially given performance today and over the last week or so! 

[grahame]

Oh dear ...

16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:06
17:45 Swindon to Westbury due 18:26

17:45 Swindon to Westbury due 18:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[TaplowGreen]

14:18 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01
14:18 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01 will be terminated at Chippenham.
It will no longer call at Swindon.
It has been delayed at Westbury and is now 35 minutes late.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58
15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58 will be started from Chippenham.
It will no longer call at Swindon.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

[JohnM]

17:45 Swindon to Westbury due 18:26

17:45 Swindon to Westbury due 18:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Now running as normal.

[JohnM]

17:45 Swindon to Westbury due 18:26

17:45 Swindon to Westbury due 18:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Now running as normal.

...well, it was - now cancelled again because of a fault on the train.

[TaplowGreen]

18:37 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21
18:37 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21 has been cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 21:46
20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 21:46 will be started from Gloucester.
It will no longer call at Westbury, Trowbridge, Melksham, Chippenham, Swindon, Kemble, Stroud and Stonehouse.
This is due to a fault on this train.

20:12 Swindon to Westbury due 20:56
20:12 Swindon to Westbury due 20:56 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

[grahame]

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:10

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:10 is being delayed between Kemble and Swindon and is now expected to be 6 minutes late.
This is due to engineering works not being finished on time.

[JohnM]

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:10

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:10 is being delayed between Kemble and Swindon and is now expected to be 6 minutes late.
This is due to engineering works not being finished on time.

Just heard its horn - showing as 06:57 at Melksham, should have been 06:29.

[JohnM]

The 06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street is running about 13 mins late, Melksham 07:21 -> 07:34.

[grahame]

The 06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street is running about 13 mins late, Melksham 07:21 -> 07:34.

Looks like it - just - made the connection at Chippenham into the Bristol train - the new one - from Oxford.

[grahame]

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 13:01
13:14 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57

13:14 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57 will be cancelled.
This is due to a road vehicle colliding with a bridge

Not a bridge that's anywhere between Westbury and Swindon, mind you 

Double track the line again - like wot it was before - and no need to cancel trains!   I suggest this cancellation might be to give priority to other services.

[bobm]

14:18 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01

14:18 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01 has been cancelled.

This is due to a road vehicle colliding with a bridge earlier today.

15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58

15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58 will be cancelled.

This is due to a road vehicle colliding with a bridge earlier today.

20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 21:46

20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 21:46 will be cancelled.

This is due to a fault on this train.