Great Western Coffee Shop

"Because of the severe weather conditions, we will be running a revised timetable on Friday 18 January throughout the South West Trains network."

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SnowPlan2013.aspx (http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SnowPlan2013.aspx)

Interesting stuff.  We'll see whether the weather scuppers these plans, but at least it shows some form of advance planning and not a total make-it-up-as-you-go-along job!  Perhaps this is a good example of the NR/SWT alliance working in the common interest of dealing with an expected disruption to the normal service?

The Dutch have been doing this for three days now.  Essentially they have made half hour frequencies hourly (etc).  I get an email update from NS as their goings on interest me.  Don't anyone ask me what my daughter, who lives there, thinks of the Fyra!   ::)

For more info please see http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/alerts.aspx

i'm really sorry i have just started another post on this as i couldn't see anything in the swt thread

If you take the Bournemouth line timetable as an example, they are running what is effectively a modified Sunday service, with the key difference being that trains won't run through Bournemouth, and that should allow Weymouth - Bournemouth to run independently if the weather is totally different down there, as is often the case.

They explained last time this happened that across the network, all the stock diagrams are modified to remove interworking across different routes, and traincrew diagrams also get modified to keep the crew (driver and guard as a pair) on the same discrete routes, to try and cut down on delays caused by crew or stock not getting to the same place together. 

(This is what causes most of the disruption following random incidents apparently - but it obviously isn't an efficient way to diagram stock or crews on a normal day to day basis.)

Paul

"Because of severe weather"

It hasn't happened yet!!

That seems to be the general consensus on twitter  ;D

Putting that to one side it seems that both swt and southern are trying a very different plan of action to fgw who intend to run services as normal so if the snow is as bad as predicted it will be interesting to see who copes better, mind you first dont have the 3rd rail issue

True about the third rail, but to Exeter?

Given the reputation of the British transport networks of all types with even a light dusting of snow, it's good to have a backup plan. It does seem an over-reaction to implement it just in case. Still, you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't.

i cant say for sure, but stopping the Bristol services and reducing the west of England ones would ensure more staff are available closer to London and free up diesel units incase there are issues with the third rail

Yes, I've had another look and NS was actually more often cutting down 15 min services to half hour frequency but they run more frequently anyway (generally).  Funnily enough they have decided to go back to normal tomorrow (brave).

They had 30,000 good and bad tweets but were generally pleased with commuter reaction.  They served 50,000 gratis cups of coffee to moaning delayed pax, which must have helped.  85% of pax were already informed via email and mobile, they discovered.

The Exeter service for tomorrow looks very sensible and is two hourly west of Salisbury and they cancelled Salisbury to Bristol, also sensible.

Don't worry, lad: I've now moved and merged both topics here, as they cover exactly the same issue. CfN.  ;)

The SWT west service has a lovely simplicity to it,  see here.

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/uploads/table4-westofengland[2].pdf

Their front page 'service updates' does not tell you anything (normally is coloured green, orange or red -very effective) but blue with see the special timetable on each line they operate.

Probably more sensible to do that.


Edit note: The square brackets used on that page appear to cause problems with the hyperlink: I can only suggest 'copy and paste' the full address in order to read that timetable. CfN.  :)

THE are still moving, I'm on the very delayed 9.16 to Showjumping,but glad to be moving.Should get to work in time to go home.

...and where is Showjumping in non-predictive text?   ;D

I'm guessing 0916 to Shirehampton.

A new SWT destination?  Enough of this horseplay and nay-saying.

Near Shirehampton. Once you get the hang of predictive text, it's a piece of pass.

Meanwhile, at Showhumping Shirehampton station, one passenger has waited too long for the delayed 13:08 to Temple Meads...

(http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/Boyamijealous_7108a707/2013-01-18132018_zpsbee12366.jpg)

And no Help Point/CIS at Shirehampton for Mr Frosty to check on train running.

At times like this you wish FGW weren't baulking at the ^12,125 each replacement cost. A figure a little birdie told me some time ago and one which was confirmed by the 2IC at Temple Meads. Severn Beach and Montpelier are also without these (no) Help (whatsoever) Points.

They were fine until some local low-life took exception to their funtionality, as was the TVM at Clifton Down. Hopefully, the next generation of help point will have a built-in wide-angle webcam, set to start taking pictures as soon as it is attacked. And spray purple dye over whoever's doing it, followed by 20,000 volts applied by special wires fired at groin level, before a dramatic finale involving Semtex and nuts and bolts. Be just my luck to slip and fall on one.

With more and more people having internet enabled phones, I wonder how long it will be before there's considered to be no need to provide such a facility at smaller stations where this sort of problem exists. We're not there yet, but surely it won't be that long.

That's true. I found the NR Live Departures Boards on my phone, and it gave me more info than the help line, like where the train actually was. There isn't coverage everywhere, though.

Dragging this back round on topic, I know we're not out of the woods yet as we're still very much in the evening peak, but I would say SWT made a very savvy decision yesterday to implement the snow timetable. Of course the service hasn't been without problems, but for the most part it has been fairly robust in terms of the advertised timetable, and regular.

The only real problems were this morning when there wasn't any snow yet. A lot of severe overcrowding reported in the morning peak because of the reductions to frequency. Off peak the reduced frequencies are offset by longer trains, but at peak times trains are only as long as normal, they are just running less often.

Yes, back to the topic. And yes, it was a very good call. Or is it no, it wasn't a very good call?

FGW made the decision to proceed with the normal timetable, unless things got in the way, which they did. SWT made the decision to go to an emergency timetable, whether things got in the way or not. FGW had a number of delays, and made their usual extensive use of the internet to advertise them. I don't know how SWT did with their emergency timetable, others no doubt will.

So the question to put to the house is which approach works best?

My own experience is with FGW. I was due to work in Shirehampton today, and normally drive. I awoke at 6.15, saw the snow, and decided the car was staying at home. I figured I had time for a shower, shave, and shampoo, plus breakfast, prior to a 30 minute walk to Temple Meads to catch the 8:36. Then I remembered what I get paid, and got back into bed.

I'm glad I did. I made it in time for the 9.16, and was told by a lady who got on that the 8.36 didn't happen. The 4-car train rolled into platform 5 about 15 minutes late, ready to depart as a 2-car in either direction. It wouldn't separate normally, and a maintenance guy with a long spindly pole with a hook on the end eventually had to sit midway, pulling with all his might on the coupling, with another guy with a blow torch on standby. It worked, and we set off about 9.50. I'm not in the sort of job where someone dies if I'm late, and was one of few who actually made it, so I am not bothered by the delay, just pleased that I got there.

By the time I left work for home, services were back to just a few minutes behind schedule. Throughout the entire process, I had up-to-the-minute information at my fingertips, through the medium of Twitter (thank you Paul et al), as well as the Journey check on FGW's website, plus the departure boards on my mobile, courtesy of National Rail Enquiries.

Did SWT's emergency schedule cause less disruption, more, or were both equally effective / ineffective in dealing with the weather?

Off topic again, but only briefly I promise.

I found it rather amusing to hear that the ski slopes at both Telford and Pontypool were closed today due to snow!

I had heard they were going downhill. Was a snowplough of no use to them?

As an aside I heard people were skiing down Park Street in Bristol.  Urban skiing, who'd have thought it although of course this feature of Bristol is that which makes rail transport provision a challenge.

The SWT performed reasonably well and even decided to lay on an extra Waterloo to Exeter to cope with the peak at about 1645.  At least that was what the web site said.   I already opined that it was better to start modestly and go reliably.

I must say, looking at the FGW site, there seemed to a huge number of cancellations, which surely must upset more people than a reduced service that actually works.

From First Great Western JourneyCheck:


So, First Great Western do seem to have found their weather problems to be so widespread that they have issued such a blanket 'de-restriction' - but they're apparently still insisting that "customers are still expected to hold a valid ticket prior to boarding train services."

How does that work at Melksham, then?  ::) :o ;D

Well for me, I was one of those unfortunates without any SWT service from my station today (Bookham). Nice of them to cancel this mornings trains when the weather was still ok.

Returning home from Waterloo this evening I was hoping to connect with a Southern train to Bookham from Leatherhead but of the 3 or 4 that run each weekday one was cancelled, another disappeared off the live progress screen on my app presumably cut short at Epsom and the other was running 61 mins late having left Victoria 14 mins late but did go to Bookham although I'd already given up at that point and did a bus/long walk combo.

It's annoying that Southern tried to run their services through Bookham today but SWT who are the main provider didn't bother. My SWT journey from Waterloo to Leatherhead was pretty uneventful.

Except there was. In Dorset and the Portsmouth area there was heavy snow from 04:00 onwards and many London bound trains originate from or turn around there. The snow plans also removed most (if not all) attachments and splits which are a major contributor to delays in snow and ice conditions (plus improved pathing, spare staff and stock availability). All in all it looks like the right decision was made given the weather forecasts available on Thursday.

And so they were, as the video in this article from the Bristol Post (http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/VIDEO-Skiers-Park-Street-make-snow/story-17894100-detail/story.html) demonstrates. More Eddie the Eagle than Lance Armstrong, but shows adaptability.

Some of the roads between Portsmouth and London were in quite a bad state this morning.  Not sure how the rails held together?

Isn't the aim of SWT's (or the 'Wessex route') snow plan that the route through Bookham gets sacrificed to allow the junctions at Leatherhead and Effingham Jn to be left set to their respective main through routes all day - because the points are the likeliest cause of problems due to compacted snow?

So if SWT are not running through Bookham for that reason, why are SN attempting it - you'd think that under NR's overall control both TOCs would be singing from the same song sheet?

Paul

I am sure several large lumps of pre-stressed reinforced concrete together with a few Pandrol clips manage that quite well even with a bit of snow. NR and SWT probably have other things to worry about keeping the trains going rather than that.  

.... I will get my coat.