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

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

Possibly, but given the factthis is now becoming a daily occurrence it smacks more of very poor workforce management - but for your theory I'd say tomorrow is the day to watch - BBQ Sunday and England playing later in the day.

Across GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) today is horrendous.  On TransWilts I bring you

20:38 Westbury to Swindon due 21:23

20:38 Westbury to Swindon due 21:23 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

14:22 Frome to Swindon due 15:35
14:22 Frome to Swindon due 15:35 was terminated at Westbury.
It will no longer call at Trowbridge, Melksham, Chippenham and Swindon.
This is due to a fault on this train.

15:44 Swindon to Frome due 16:38
15:44 Swindon to Frome due 16:38 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

21:34 Swindon to Westbury due 22:18
21:34 Swindon to Westbury due 22:18 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[Mark A]

17:44 Swindon to Salisbury due 18:55

Taxis have been arranged departing Chippenham at 18:10... calling at Melksham (18:28), Trowbridge (18:41) and Westbury (18:53).
-
The taxi company is Bath Taxis.

I'd be interested to know what decision prompted the blanket use of Bath Taxis in circumstances such as this. I used to regularly - three times a month at least, if not quite weekly - get stuck at Westbury, and occasionally at Chippenham, needing to complete my journey to Melksham, and the station staff were always helpful and called a local taxi company where available. In the past year or so it's invariably been Bath Taxis or nothing. Rather than wait an hour or more for a taxi to get from Bath to Westbury in order to take me to Melksham I've tended to ring round and find my own taxi company and try, not always successfully, to subsequently recover the cost from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway). I assume there's been a corporate decision to always use Bath Taxis, but I'd be intrigued to know more. How much of the rail network do Bath Taxis cover? Did they win the contract in a transparent tendering process in which other firms were invited to apply? Are there any circumstances when common sense dictates that it might be more sensible to use a different taxi company that's already waiting outside the station in question rather than impose a long wait while a taxi is despatched all the way from Bath?

It's anecdotal (and may not apply to Melksham): experiences with taxis local to Bath are increasingly mixed, allegedly, with poor terms for drivers and effective mechanisms to book in advance have withered. (This not applying to the longer distance stuff such as airport and cruise ship transfers as there are several firms that specialise in that, but it bites, say, reliability for shorter journeys to say Bath Spa railway station.)

Mark

[grahame]

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06
 
Facilities on the 17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 2.

[GBM]

Alterations to services between Swindon and Westbury via Melksham
Due to a road vehicle colliding with a bridge at Trowbridge all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 16:00 20/06.
Train services between Swindon and Westbury via Melksham may be delayed or revised.
Customer Advice
We've received reports of a vehicle striking a railway bridge in the Trowbridge area, so we are currently unable to operate services over the affected area until the bridge has been inspected by railway staff, to ensure that it is safe for trains to operate.

Network Rail have staff heading to site to inspect the bridge. We will update this message with more information when we have it.

[grahame]

Alterations to services between Swindon and Westbury via Melksham
Due to a road vehicle colliding with a bridge at Trowbridge all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 16:00 20/06.

Added now / more specific

13:15 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57 has been delayed at Melksham and is now 39 minutes late.
This is due to a road vehicle colliding with a bridge.

14:18 Westbury to Swindon due 15:00 will be terminated at Chippenham.
It will no longer call at Swindon.
It is being delayed at Westbury.
This is due to a road vehicle colliding with a bridge.

15:15 Swindon to Westbury due 15:59 will be started from Chippenham.
It will no longer call at Swindon.
This is due to a road vehicle colliding with a bridge.

[grahame]

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:07

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:07 was terminated at Swindon.
It will no longer call at Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Dilton Marsh, Warminster, Salisbury, Romsey and Southampton Central.
This is due to engineering works not being finished on time.

[grahame]

Interesting contrast between the performance with overrunning engineering on Swindon-Westbury and on London - Bristol, when (as I read it) the engineering works are on the main line

[grahame]

Cancellations to services between Bath Spa and Swindon
Following engineering works not being finished on time between Bath Spa and Westbury the line has now reopened. Disruption is expected until 08:00 21/06.
Train services between Bath Spa and Swindon may be cancelled or delayed.

Err - thank you.  Things be slowwww in Wiltshire, though "until 08:00" means that cancellation continue until 09:26

07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:34
08:45 Swindon to Westbury due 09:26

08:45 Swindon to Westbury due 09:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to engineering works not being finished on time.

[bobm]

The problem was at Thingley Junction. 

The London bound line was handed back but the down remained blocked.  Trains on the main line can share the up line but trains off the single line need to run on part of the down line before crossing to the up at Thingley East.

[grahame]

The 07:21 at Melksham (northbound) left at 08:15 - that's 54 minutes late

The first running southbound service isn't expected until 11:31!

Disruption is expected until 08:00

Operationally, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) may have been able to run trains and diagrams starting at that time, but disruption to the passenger experience rumbles on for hours thereafter, and the railway is there for the passengers!

[Bob_Blakey]

.....Trains on the main line can share the up line but trains off the single line need to run on part of the down line before crossing to the up at Thingley East.

So Swindon-bound trains from Westbury have to travel 'wrong line' for approximately 1.1km (0.7 miles) which surely qualifies as operational stupidity and is something that could be rectified relatively easily.

[grahame]

.....Trains on the main line can share the up line but trains off the single line need to run on part of the down line before crossing to the up at Thingley East.

So Swindon-bound trains from Westbury have to travel 'wrong line' for approximately 1.1km (0.7 miles) which surely qualifies as operational stupidity and is something that could be rectified relatively easily.

I'm sure it *could* be done, but not as simple as you think.   The main lines have been re-aligned with a camber on them to allow fast trains to pass from Chippenham to Bath at speed.  I am told that the crossover is situated on the straight track and you can feel the up-and-over, like a micro-rollercoaster as you head out from Chippenham towards Westbury on the main (  ) line to Weymouth.

Solutions?   

1. A conventional double junction as per the olden days is probably not on - not sure how you would do a diamond crossing on a cant.  A second turnout from the Bathbound line to give an up track from Weymouth / Westbury / Melksham, with a rock and roll crossover between the two, would make capacity sense and would give a refuge on the "branch" for trains clear of the London to Bristol line, even if the double track extended only to the end of what was formally the triangle junction

2. I would love to see the lines at Thingley electrified - after all there is a recent thumping great substation trackside for the purpose.  Then with the better acceleration, perhaps the cant and line speed could be reduced a bit and the crossover moved.

[grahame]

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

[TaplowGreen]

Getting these in early!

Sat, 22 June 12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 13:01
22/06/24 12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 13:01 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Sat, 22 June 13:13 Swindon to Westbury due 13:55
22/06/24 13:13 Swindon to Westbury due 13:55 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

 

15:44 Swindon to Frome due 16:38
16:43 Frome to Swindon due 17:34

16:43 Frome to Swindon due 17:34 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Frome.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.