IETs into passenger service from 16 Oct 2017 and subsequent performance issues

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

I suspect mechanics get COVID too.

[IndustryInsider]

56 short formed IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) today, a particularly poor performance.

Can you list the 56?  I can count less that half that currently on JourneyCheck.

[broadgage]

Did not make a list, but there were definitely that number listed in the early hours when I posted.

[IndustryInsider]

Best not to trust journeycheck at 3am.  Best not to trust it at all in fact.

[Lee]

So to summarise - broadgage didn't make a list, but Industry Insider checked it twice anyway...

[IndustryInsider]

So to summarise - broadgage didn't make a list, but Industry Insider checked it twice anyway...

Fact-checked it twice. 

[jamestheredengine]

Well, Maliphant have really excelled themselves today. 0628 cancelled because they couldn't find any staff. So naturally they decide to short-form the 0657.

[IndustryInsider]

Well, Maliphant have really excelled themselves today. 0628 cancelled because they couldn't find any staff. So naturally they decide to short-form the 0657.

Was it busy?  Very quiet this morning generally.

[ellendune]

Well, Maliphant have really excelled themselves today. 0628 cancelled because they couldn't find any staff. So naturally they decide to short-form the 0657.

Do you really think Maliphant made this decision?  No that decision was made by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) control.

Or even that they deliberately or even negligently contrived that the staff were not available? No so lets have a bit more seasonal good will. 

[jamestheredengine]

Well, Maliphant have really excelled themselves today. 0628 cancelled because they couldn't find any staff. So naturally they decide to short-form the 0657.

Do you really think Maliphant made this decision?  No that decision was made by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) control.

Or even that they deliberately or even negligently contrived that the staff were not available? No so lets have a bit more seasonal good will. 

Okay, let's rephrase that. They're telling us that at 0628 they don't have enough drivers and half an hour later that they don't have enough trains to avoid running those awful 5-car units on their own. Those really ought to be mutually exclusive types of cancellation/half-cancellation on any sensible railway, whether we inhabit a world where staff in the depot are empowered to put out the 9-car set from the 0628 half an hour late, or if some Dickensian miseriguts in Swindon has the right to decide whether or not to generate designer congestion by leaving the bigger units parked in Swansea.

(As it happens, because enough people are panicking more than me, it didn't matter. I had visions of First Class full by Bridgend. Actually only one other passenger briefly joined me in there. Epic win on the biscuit front!)

[broadgage]

64 Short formations reported this morning.
Not all are IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) but a lot are.

05:23 London Paddington to Swansea due 08:58
05:25 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 06:59
05:28 Swansea to London Paddington due 08:16
05:37 Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach due 06:15
05:52 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads due 06:40
05:53 Bristol Temple Meads to Cardiff Central due 06:42
05:58 Westbury to Cardiff Central due 07:48
05:59 Maidenhead to Bourne End due 06:10
06:10 Bristol Temple Meads to Great Malvern due 08:10
06:16 Bourne End to Maidenhead due 06:27
06:31 Severn Beach to Weston-Super-Mare due 07:53
06:40 Penzance to Cardiff Central due 12:21
06:46 Bourne End to Maidenhead due 06:57
06:52 Westbury to Weymouth due 08:23
07:01 Maidenhead to Bourne End due 07:12
07:07 Worcester Shrub Hill to Weymouth due 11:00
07:16 Bourne End to Maidenhead due 07:27
07:23 Taunton to London Paddington due 10:07
07:28 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour due 10:52
07:31 Maidenhead to Bourne End due 07:42
07:32 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 09:10
07:43 Swansea to London Paddington due 10:34
07:46 Bourne End to Maidenhead due 07:57
08:01 Maidenhead to Bourne End due 08:12
08:16 Bourne End to Maidenhead due 08:27
08:28 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour due 11:52
08:31 Maidenhead to Bourne End due 08:42
08:45 Great Malvern to Westbury due 11:32
08:46 Bourne End to Maidenhead due 08:57
08:48 London Paddington to Swansea due 11:31
09:22 Swansea to London Paddington due 12:12
09:30 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 11:06
10:32 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 12:06
10:40 Weston-Super-Mare to Bristol Temple Meads due 11:10
11:18 London Paddington to Cardiff Central due 13:17
11:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central due 14:47
11:32 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 13:09
12:23 Swansea to London Paddington due 15:12
12:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central due 15:47
12:30 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 14:05
12:48 London Paddington to Swansea due 15:32
13:00 Cardiff Central to Penzance due 18:41
13:30 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 15:08
13:53 Cardiff Central to London Paddington due 15:41
14:16 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01
14:32 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare due 16:40
15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58
15:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour due 18:54
15:32 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare due 17:42
15:48 London Paddington to Swansea due 18:34
16:18 London Paddington to Swansea due 19:25
16:23 Swansea to London Paddington due 19:14
16:27 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour due 19:52
17:28 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington due 19:39
18:29 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington due 20:36
19:22 Swansea to London Paddington due 22:09
19:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central due 22:58
19:48 London Paddington to Swansea due 22:35
20:02 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 21:34
20:22 Swansea to London Paddington due 23:09
20:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central due 23:58
21:02 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 22:39
22:48 London Paddington to Swansea due 02:05
23:30 Cardiff Central to Bristol Temple Meads due 00:39
0 Catering

[brooklea]

64 Short formations reported this morning.
Not all are IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) but a lot are.

Indeed.
Less than half are IETs (30/64), and of those only 14 (less than half) could really be considered to be a significant issue (5 car vs 10 car). The other 16 are 9 cars instead of 10 cars, which in capacity terms makes very little difference, and has the advantage of giving passengers easy access to the whole length of the train.

Not seeking to downplay the negative impact to those unfortunate enough to be travelling on the Bristol - Paddington route and finding only half the booked train turns up, but a little balance doesn’t hurt

[REVUpminster]

The wife and I were booked on a Newton Abbot -Paddington Monday before Christmas and the five coaches due to be added, which had our reservations, at Plymouth to make the Penzance 10 coaches were not added. All reservations were cancelled but the train was only quarter full.

The return that evening had 10 coaches but far from even half full.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) can probably tell from reservations how many coaches needed.

Very few local Devon trains have been cancelled although a couple of 158 two cars have been operated attached to a 150.

[grahame]

The wife and I were booked on a Newton Abbot -Paddington Monday before Christmas and the five coaches due to be added, which had our reservations, at Plymouth to make the Penzance 10 coaches were not added. All reservations were cancelled but the train was only quarter full.

The return that evening had 10 coaches but far from even half full.

Says it all really ...

As I see it, provided that there is no compromise on crowding / social distancing at any point on the diagram, there is no big problem if trains are shorter than originally planned.

There might be some sense in tweaking the reservation system for booked 5+5 services so that the same seats are not reserved in both units.

[IndustryInsider]

Yes the reservation system should really be sorted out to cope as best as can be with 5 vice 9/10, but with around 50% of the normal passenger loading currently I doubt short forms (of any of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)’s traction types) are causing too many issues.