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

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

[grahame]

21:16 Westbury to Swindon due 21:58
22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12

Facilities on the 22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12.
Toilet facilities are not available. Disabled toilet facilities are not available.
This is due to a fault on this train.

[TaplowGreen]

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 more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

[grahame]

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 more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

20:12 Swindon to Westbury due 20:56
21:16 Westbury to Swindon due 21:58
22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12

22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12 will be cancelled.
This is due to a broken down train.

[TaplowGreen]

Cancellations to services between Westbury and Swindon

Due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time between Westbury and Swindon fewer trains are able to run on the line.

Train services running through these stations have been cancelled. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice
Due to a shortage of trains this evening, we have unfortunately had to suspend our Westbury to Swindon service, meaning Melksham station will not be served.

[Chris from Nailsea]

That's actually a very formal acknowledgement of their failure to provide a rail service at Melksham.

[grahame]

That's actually a very formal acknowledgement of their failure to provide a rail service at Melksham.

Interestingly, the final train of the day appears to have run, but that is indeed a formal acknowledgement.  I would tend to ask if GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) has bitten off more than it can chew with the extra trains running Bristol - Oxford and Par - Newquay for the last 10 days, and is prioritising those.  However, there were cancellations on both of those services as well yesterday.

Rolling stock and heat issues are getting a lot of the blame with it being the "hottest May on record" but I do note that it's a May record and not a year-round record, so is that something of a more generic excuse that about trains not coping with the new UK^▸ (United Kingdom) weather patterns?

Rather off "Melksham" I got a phone call from Keynsham yesterday, where passengers had been waiting "an hour and a half" for a train and "could not get through to National Enquires".  Old people and babies waiting ... no information about what was happening ... trains flashing through non-stop but nothing calling.   It would appear that after the 14:11 called (at 14:20), the 14:49 was cancelled (though Real Time Trains was just showing nothing for it while this was ongoing) and then the 15:11 had failed to show as well - in turned out that it had got stuck at Temple Meads for 25 minutes and then skipped stations including Keynsham ... presumably to make up time ... the next train due at 15:52 did eventually call, more or less on time.   Good illustration of the lack of customer support / information that reaches people as things go wrong.

This morning ...

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:10
05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:10 will be terminated at Westbury.
It will no longer call at Dilton Marsh, Warminster, Salisbury, Romsey and Southampton Central.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

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.

[TaplowGreen]

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06 will be terminated at Westbury.
It will no longer call at Dilton Marsh, Warminster and Salisbury.

This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

[grahame]

Just for the record, but hopefully everyone will be pleased that all the Oxford<>Bristol’s ran again today…as well as all of the services through Melksham!

Yes - and thank goodness.  How it should be.

As a separate note, the 20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa via Swindon (2G91) was flagged up as cancelled ... "This service was cancelled due to the planned cancellation (was not planned to operate) (PD)". However, a train 2Z91 ran in its path ... and from my logs looks like that's been the case earlier this week too.  Not an Oxford <-> Bristol issue / even for comparison, so I'll let's comment further (if we want) on the TransWilts log.

[grahame]

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06

Facilities on the 17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06.
Toilet facilities are not available.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Additional Information
Toilets are not available on this train - There will be Toilet stops at some stations on your Journey

[JohnM]

Just noticed that tomorrow morning's 6:29 Melksham departure is 6:31. It was same as usual on Monday, haven't checked whether tomorrow is a one off.

[bobm]

There are some minor changes to TransWilts timings all day, all week this week.  Some mainline services also affected. 

[JohnM]

There are some minor changes to TransWilts timings all day, all week this week.  Some mainline services also affected. 

Arrived at the usual time, 6:27, so just a couple of extra minutes taking in the Melksham station scenery

[JohnM]

There are some minor changes to TransWilts timings all day, all week this week.  Some mainline services also affected. 

Arrived at the usual time, 6:27, so just a couple of extra minutes taking in the Melksham station scenery

...and not only that, the 6:46 Trowbridge-Bristol service was 4 carriages instead of the usual 2. Happy days

[JohnM]

There are some minor changes to TransWilts timings all day, all week this week.  Some mainline services also affected. 

Arrived at the usual time, 6:27, so just a couple of extra minutes taking in the Melksham station scenery

...and not only that, the 6:46 Trowbridge-Bristol service was 4 carriages instead of the usual 2. Happy days

Same today - perhaps the 2 are related?