2024 - Service update and amendment log, Swindon <-> Westbury

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Twitter......

"Due to flooding between Westbury and Swindon, this line is closed.

Train services running through these stations have been cancelled.

Please check your journey at gwr.com/check.

Disruption is expected until the end of the day."

Which, as we all know, isn't really true. That tweet shoud say something along the lines of:

"Due to flooding elsewhere we are using the line via Melksham to divert our services to and from the west country. Consequently we've had to cancel the local services between Westbury and Swindon due to capacity constraints on the single line."

[AMLAG]

“Those Westbury/Swindon cancellations are largely unnecessary.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) removed a lot of route knowledge from its HSS^▸ (High Speed Services)▸ drivers preventing diversions via Bristol, and the GWR drivers operating that route have zero diversionary route knowledge.
This issue highlights how out of touch with reality the decision making within the company has become.”

This certainly hits the nail on the head.

Such important operational policy decisions, in this case on restricting diversionary route knowledge, seem now way above the heads of the Managers of TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company)/GWR and are dictated by the Government’s enlarged Dept. for Transport; no doubt heavily watched over by HM Treasury.

[TaplowGreen]

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Twitter......

"Due to flooding between Westbury and Swindon, this line is closed.

Train services running through these stations have been cancelled.

Please check your journey at gwr.com/check.

Disruption is expected until the end of the day."

Which, as we all know, isn't really true. That tweet shoud say something along the lines of:

"Due to flooding elsewhere we are using the line via Melksham to divert our services to and from the west country. Consequently we've had to cancel the local services between Westbury and Swindon due to capacity constraints on the single line."

I'm shocked...............I'm sure you wouldn't wish to suggest that GWR would be anything other than 100% honest with their valued and respected customers? 

[Timmer]

Even the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) are reporting the line between Westbury and Swindon is closed:

Westbury to Swindon railway line closed due to flooding
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-68693214

[Trowres]

I'm shocked...............I'm sure you wouldn't wish to suggest that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) would be anything other than 100% honest with their valued and respected customers? 

Journeycheck/greatwesternrailway:

17:03 St Ives to St Erth due 17:14 will be cancelled.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.

One service each way lost due to flooding? Or would you rather believe RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website):

This service was cancelled due to a planning error (TA).

[IndustryInsider]

I'm shocked...............I'm sure you wouldn't wish to suggest that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) would be anything other than 100% honest with their valued and respected customers? 

Journeycheck/greatwesternrailway:

17:03 St Ives to St Erth due 17:14 will be cancelled.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.

One service each way lost due to flooding? Or would you rather believe RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website):

This service was cancelled due to a planning error (TA).

Depends how far you want to trace back a delay?

The TM^‡(resolve) for that round trip from St. Erth to St. Ives travels on 1A96, the 16:15 from Penzance which was 32 minutes late arriving at St. Erth, so if it had run it would have been with at least a 10 minute delay. 

The 16:15 from Penzance was delayed by late arrival of the inward working from London, which was delayed by the flooding.

[Trowres]

Thanks, II for that insight into the complexity of staff rostering.

I guess that calling it a planning error could be justified as the late running of the inbound train from Paddington would have been predictable from about 13:15. Time sufficient to organise a taxi for the crew?

However, the recent posts of the thread have been to draw attention to the reasons given to the public and their less-than-credible nature sometimes. Communication of delays has for a long time been something flagged for "must do better".

Please don't take this as personal criticism. I value your input to the forum.

[TaplowGreen]

Signals now.....apparently... .

Cancellations to services between Westbury and Swindon

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Westbury and Swindon all lines are blocked.
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

[Trowres]

Network Rail advise that a signalling problem has now blocked the railway between Swindon and Westbury. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) long distance services between London and the Westcountry and vice versa, had been diverting on this route but cannot now use this route. Services will now divert on a different alternative route, which will further extend journey times.

Does that mean pilots to provide the route knowledge via Bristol?

[grahame]

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Twitter......

"[snip]

Disruption is expected until the end of the day."

Not sure what's happening today either

07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:28
08:45 Swindon to Westbury due 09:26
09:52 Westbury to Swindon due 10:36
11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:48
12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 13:01
13:13 Swindon to Westbury due 13:55

13:13 Swindon to Westbury due 13:55 will be starting late from Swindon.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.

If that is an indiction that the trains WILL be running but may get held back to allow the passage of a long distance train over the single line section, it makes sense.   

Reading the JourneyCheck Line Update, I am somewhat less optimistic

Cancellations to services between Westbury and Swindon
Following a fault with the signalling system earlier today between Westbury and Swindon the line has now reopened.
Train services running through these stations are returning to normal but some services have been cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice

Apologies for the disruption to your journey today.

Network Rail advise that a signalling problem had blocked the railway between Swindon and Westbury. This has now been rectified and services are returning to normal.

In addition, due to flooding elsewhere on the railway, local GWR services between Swindon and Westbury have been cancelled.

>Passengers from Westbury and Trowbridge are advised to await the next service towards Bath Spa and then change there for services towards Chippenham and Swindon.

>Passengers from Swindon and Chippenham are advised to await the next service towards Bath Spa and then change there for services towards Trowbridge and Westbury.

>Passengers to/from Melksham:-Road transport has been arranged to shuttle between Chippenham and Westbury via Melksham and Trowbridge and vice versa.

Please check the stations Onward Travel Information poster and wait for the replacement road transport at the designated stop.
The replacement road transport may run later than the advertised train times owing to the additional time taken by road between stations and the time required for loading and unloading at each stop.

[IndustryInsider]

Thanks, II for that insight into the complexity of staff rostering.

I guess that calling it a planning error could be justified as the late running of the inbound train from Paddington would have been predictable from about 13:15. Time sufficient to organise a taxi for the crew?

However, the recent posts of the thread have been to draw attention to the reasons given to the public and their less-than-credible nature sometimes. Communication of delays has for a long time been something flagged for "must do better".

Please don't take this as personal criticism. I value your input to the forum.

I quite agree, and no personal criticism taken - it’s nice to have the opportunity to help explain sometimes.

To be fair to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) the level of detail in explaining disruption in layman’s terms has become much better over the last year or so.  As a forum our collective knowledge is better than most of the passengers that GWR provides for, and I think we need to remember that when deciding what the best way of explaining a delay is that is sufficient for most people to understand.  That being said, there are examples when I think they have got that balance wrong.

The TM^‡(resolve) yesterday booked on duty to travel on that train so I don’t know how long a taxi might take to St. Erth but it might not have been in time for the train that ended up being cancelled anyway?  It’s also quite possible that nobody realised it might be an issue due to the general levels of disruption and a small team trying to oversee it all from within control.

Local supervisors in days gone by would have been more likely to notice it.

When things go wrong, there are several things that now make it worse: 

• The aforementioned lack of local supervisors.
• The slow erosion of route knowledge that a-driver mentioned.
• And the stupid rostering of staff in the last few years meaning small efficiency gains that result in multiple unnecessary changes of crew enroute.  Looks fine on paper, but in reality makes managing disruption far harder.
  

[TaplowGreen]

07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:28
07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:28 will now run as scheduled.


...............along with the others where delays were suggested initially.

[fintan_stack]

Don't post here very often but a staff member has just told me that the branch is re-suspended UFN^‡(resolve) after dislodged ballast was found by the checking train.

[TaplowGreen]

Don't post here very often but a staff member has just told me that the branch is re-suspended UFN^‡(resolve) after dislodged ballast was found by the checking train.

I spoke too soon!

All cancelled due to "urgent repairs to the railway"

09:52 Westbury to Swindon due 10:36
11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:48
12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 13:01
13:13 Swindon to Westbury due 13:55
14:19 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01
15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:57
16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:05
17:35 Swindon to Westbury due 18:18
18:35 Westbury to Swindon due 19:17
19:44 Swindon to Westbury due 20:26
20:08 Westbury to Swindon due 20:54
21:10 Swindon to Westbury due 21:52

[bobm]

All now re-instated.   Staff have been to site between Melksham and Bradford Junction and carried out repairs.   There were initially delays in finding staff, such have been the demands on permanent way staff over the last few days.