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

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

 

[ChrisB]

We are expecting some road transport to operate from Bath Spa station. However, the first of these is not expected until about 19:30. Customers at Chippenham are advised to travel to Swindon and change for diverted services to Bristol Temple Meads.

Isn't the road outside Bath Spa shut too?

[grahame]

We are expecting some road transport to operate from Bath Spa station. However, the first of these is not expected until about 19:30. Customers at Chippenham are advised to travel to Swindon and change for diverted services to Bristol Temple Meads.

Isn't the road outside Bath Spa shut too?

Manvers Street (opposite) is.   Dorchester Street which leads past the bus station to Bath Spa railway station is basically a cut-de-sac at present.

In an emergency / with rail replacement buses they could be running from the bus station.  There are a number of free bays at the moment because of bus services cut back to the Hilton Hotel

[Mark A]

Ouch, this has coincided with an open day at Bath University and an event at the racecourse.

Mark

[grahame]

Ouch, this has coincided with an open day at Bath University and an event at the racecourse.

Mark

Yeah ...   From Wiltshire 999

Horrendous scenes at Bath Spa railway station — where hundreds of people are stranded due to delays and cancellations.

[froome]

I have heard that Bath Spa station has been shut. We were caught up by this problem as we were on the 17.00 train from Freshford to Bath which eventually ended up returning to Freshford. Certainly amongst the group I was with, many ended up walking back to Bath (about 7 or 8 miles along the canal). We rang for a taxi.

I cannot believe that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) cannot run trains slowly past the signals that are causing the problem. They couldn't have picked a worse day for this to happen.

[froome]

Just to add to that. If running slowly though the signals isn't possible, why are trains not running as far as the previous station and then returning, on all lines? At present, nobody can get from Bath to Bristol by train, and I very much doubt whether anyone can by bus either as the services would already have been packed. And yet this line, as far as I know, isn't where the signalling problem is.

[TaplowGreen]

Ouch, this has coincided with an open day at Bath University and an event at the racecourse.

Mark

Both dwarfed in significance by events at the Rec, where Exeter Chiefs secured a glorious victory over Bath, only for many of their fans to find that their journeys home were scuppered.

There's going to be some pretty chunky compensation claims going in...........on the upside it may help to pay for Twickenham next weekend! 

[Bob_Blakey]

.....where Exeter Chiefs secured another glorious victory over Bath.....

Fixed it for you! 

[Mark A]

I don't know nearly enough about how train running is managed / what broke. One factor in this might be that in the fairly recent past, wasn't a mobile operations manager based at Bath Spa station, but either this post was removed elsewhere or abolished entirely?

Mark

[John D]

Just to add to that. If running slowly though the signals isn't possible, why are trains not running as far as the previous station and then returning, on all lines? At present, nobody can get from Bath to Bristol by train, and I very much doubt whether anyone can by bus either as the services would already have been packed. And yet this line, as far as I know, isn't where the signalling problem is.

In the old days was hand signalling, but in 2019 ESW^▸ (Emergency Special Working - an alternative to Temporary Block Working (TBW^▸ (Temporary Block Working)) which allows trains to be moved more quickly and more safely following a major signalling failure) (emergency special working) was created to get stranded trains past defective signals.   Not clear to me why this wasn't used to get people past the defective area.   

Stranding thousands of people for 2-4 hours should not really have been seen as a serious option by Control once they realised they couldn't source alternative road transport due to multiple events at Bath, and congested roads in the area meaning local buses weren't an alternative either. 

[grahame]

Hold it!

09:45 Swindon to Westbury due 10:26
10:52 Westbury to Swindon due 11:35
11:43 Swindon to Weymouth due 13:55

Facilities on the 11:43 Swindon to Weymouth due 13:55.
Toilet facilities are not available.

[grahame]

Guess what ...

16:43 Frome to Swindon due 17:34

16:43 Frome to Swindon due 17:34 will be reinstated.
It 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

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

[IndustryInsider]

Another decent week last week for Melksham, with one cancellation each way on the Saturday and Sunday giving a 96.6% reliability score from the Monday to Sunday.  100% of weekday services ran.

[grahame]

Another decent week last week for Melksham, with one cancellation each way on the Saturday and Sunday giving a 96.6% reliability score from the Monday to Sunday.  100% of weekday services ran.

Indeed - and I have updated our own logging system to reflect / highlight the percentage running more strongly than the percentage cancelled.  Page from https://www.wellho.info/sh5.php



Still being aware that customers are being advised that there are cancellations but then trains run.  From my inbox from Saturday """  ... arrived back at Chippenham station at about 19:50 having cycled to Calne and back and swung by the Chippenham pride event.. to be told 'no trains'. Checked RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) and open train times and could see the 20.00 to Westbury sitting in P2 at Swindon. Crossed fingers and yes, it ran, quite busy too """ - fortunately a knoweldgable user.