Great Western Coffee Shop

I see from live departures board 6.43 cancelled yet again.

Looks like I am on 7.17

why why why why why are you cancelling this service again  :-[

now 7.17 is cancelled 100% failure rate for today on AM services

The FGW web site says "signalling problems" but there are no signals all the way from Bradford Junction to Thngley (which is why two trains can't follow at intervals of less than 20 minutes!) and no other trains seem effected.

That is not technically correct, there are some repeater signals.

I saw this leaving Westbury, apparently it was reinstated at the last minute. Clearly too late for those who had checked live departures and made other plans.

Grrr!!! And you watch them take a count of passengers on that train this morning and present it as part of a case that indicates low usage.   ((Please excuse my cynicism; past form (and including the time before First were the TOC so I am not taking a stab at them) is that statistics are often gathered just before and after holidays or close to times of major disruption.   We've seen it done in Easter week, just after the August bank holiday after the line had been shut for 10 days ....))

Example contained in the link below.
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/reason6.html

Yes the 7.17 did run & I was on it.

3 poeple got on at Melksham.

My daughter would have been on it, as she now lives here in Melksham and commutes to Swindon each day (where she works near to the railway station, having recently transferred from Cardiff where she was previously living and working) - but the train from Melksham has proven so completely unreliable in the past few weeks that she was getting stressed out and depressed and threatened to pack her job in altogether. The one time she took the First Bus instead, it arrived 25 minutes late and then broke down on the way to Chippenham and they had to wait for a replacement. So now I have to drive 20 miles out of my way to drop her off at Chippenham station each morning, and again to pick her up again each evening (since the only train to Melksham departs 45 minutes later than she needs it to). Sodding FGW.

First Bus isn't always that bad!

All being well there should be a better service to Melksham this December (2008), fingers crossed  :)

Thanks, Vacman.  I certainly hope so. 

On one hand I'm very happy indeed to be hearing the comments such as these, on the other hand I'm very much aware that similar comments were made last year, draft timetables produced, a virtual-announcement made at the Melksham Railway Development Group in May of an extra 3 round trips each day.   The it fizzled; the woolly element of the "should" meant that it didn't become a "will" and we're left with virtually no change - a service that I have yet to hear anyone defending as being appropriate for passengers on this transport corridor.  Credit where due - I am happy to see the one new train a week - Southbound from Swindon on a Sunday (at least that's what the timetable says but I don't think it's actually run from Swindon yet!)

Feedback appreciated.  Please forgive my nervousness though which will probably remain all year until I can actually stand on Melksham station in December and take a weekday photograph of a train in the daylight!