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grahame
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« on: March 06, 2014, 19:14:10 » |
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What happened today? Two trains cancelled due to safety checks and 2 due to staffing issues. Question to me on Facebook ... Could you look in to the cancellation of the 18:38 from Trowbridge to Melksham please?
The announcement said staff issues!
I can accept flooding, trees falling and even the occasional signal issue but a member of staff not turning up isn't acceptable!
It's hard to recommend a service to friends that live in Melksham if service isn't reliable.....
I would look in to claiming but I have been refused in the past because I have a monthly season ticket.
Thanks I'm pretty sure it wouldn't simply be "not turn up", rather sick, delayed on an incoming train, or pulled off to run another service. Can anyone tell me  ... I'm pretty sure that a good explanation will satisfy the enquirer ... |
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Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member
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John R
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« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2014, 19:24:47 » |
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More to the point, what did FGW▸ do to assist passengers? I was on the 1730 departure from SWI» (actual departure 1735 1/4) towards Chippenham, and didn't see or hear any information advising passengers for the 1736 to board our train. Nor any on train announcements.
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Network SouthEast
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« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2014, 20:07:21 » |
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I note that the previous 16:15 Westbury to Swindon was also cancelled. "A member of traincrew being unavailable" is a very vague explanation. It is highly unlikely a member of traincrew didn't just turn up.
Given that just the one return trip was cancelled, this is only a guess, but a possible cause may have been the driver and/or guard being late from somewhere else on another journey and the spare crew(s) being used on other services. Sometimes a member of traincrew being unavailable is also a euphemism for a rostering cock-up. It could also be because of illness or something else such as an operational incident.
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Lee
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« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2014, 20:45:32 » |
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Is it not 2 return trips that were cancelled?
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Network SouthEast
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« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2014, 03:04:07 » |
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Is it not 2 return trips that were cancelled?
Yes my bad, I got a little muddled up. One return trip because of a train fault, the other because of no traincrew available. |
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Andrew1939 from West Oxon
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« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2014, 10:01:06 » |
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On the Cotswold Line and other services out of Worcester we very frquently get cancellations due to unavailability of staff. I think there can be many reasons apart from staff sickness but it is often that the train crew cannot get to their boarding point because because they rely upon another train to get them there and it is delayed or cancelled. So many rail problems are "knock on" from previous problems. The more frequent your Trans Wilts rail service becomes the likely that you will see these problems.
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grahame
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« Reply #6 on: March 07, 2014, 13:06:18 » |
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From Facebook (name quoted since the name is there in public) Ryan Swann commented on his post.
Ryan wrote: "I spoke to the 7:38pm train driver and apparently the driver on the 6:38pm had to make an emergency stop due to a signal issue. The emergency stop shook him up so he went home! Although I have no idea if this sort of thing is normal, it doesn't sound that bad.... certainly not a good enough reason to cancel the train! I'd also like to add, when I arrived in Melksham at approx. 7:50pm, I noticed (on the help point screen) that the 8:38pm train was also cancelled! I'd say yesterday was way off the target?!!" Rather explains why the first pair was "emergency checks" and the second pair "staff" |
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Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member
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grahame
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« Reply #7 on: March 07, 2014, 13:15:38 » |
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My reply, for the record ...
Emergency stops where a signal goes back to red in front of a driver, or he finds a red after a green without any yellows in between, are VERY rare (a). They can't swerve to avoid any obstruction (b), and it takes longer to stop than a car would (c) - so it is a real shock that's different to having to slam a car's brakes on. One of the questions that arose from our (Community) end was "what alternative arrangements were made / how did they work?". I see you dropped back to the following train; it's an important question that we're taking further with regards the trains from Swindon, where the gap is longer / overnight in terms of the return working from the 6:38.
Edit to correct typo - Lee
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« Last Edit: March 07, 2014, 14:13:12 by Lee »
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Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member
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bobm
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« Reply #8 on: March 07, 2014, 17:27:55 » |
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Taxis were laid on for the two later trains from Trowbridge/Chippenham. Not sure what arrangements were made for the earlier pair of trains.
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grahame
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« Reply #9 on: March 07, 2014, 20:00:37 » |
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And again ... 20:12 Swindon to Westbury due 20:55 This train will be cancelled. This is due to a train fault. ... and I believe the up train cancelled too Ryan Swann The 18:38 is cancelled again.......... |
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Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member
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bobm
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« Reply #10 on: March 07, 2014, 20:12:39 » |
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Hmmm..and the 16:15 from Westbury was 18 late into Swindon following reports of a trespasser on the line between Westbury and Trowbridge.
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bobm
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« Reply #11 on: March 07, 2014, 21:21:06 » |
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Oh dear and the 19:32 from Westbury was over 15 minutes late into Swindon on its way to Cheltenham after "waiting for a member of train crew" at Westbury.
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