Great Western Coffee Shop

Have you seen the roads on a Sunday?  They're busy!

Here's a shocking statistic from the TWSW meeting at Taunton on Saturday ... Sunday is now the BUSIEST travel day of the week, with 15% of joourneys made on that day; the railways SHOULD be a seven day operation - especially away from commuter services - yet they're not.

Source - Chris Green, formerly Scot Rail, Network South East, Virgin Cross Country - Each of which he has turned around. Now with Network Rail ...

Having worked 9 hours yesterday (Sunday), I'm not quite sure what you mean ??? ;D

It is hard enough for traincrew as it is, let alone with another WHOLE day of passengers :P

I think a lot of Chris Green's reference was to weekend / engineering works spreading so that the passenger trains only run a proportion of the time, and at a lower level ... yet it's a time that more passengers wish to travel.

Example - looking back from September '05 to August '06 inclusive, there was "bustitution" of some of the Westbury - Swindon trains the MAJORITY of weekends.   But, weekdays in those days most services ran, and at the higher scheduled level than on Saturday or Sunday too.

The difference at weekends is that most journeys are for leisure and are non-urgent, whilst on weekdays they are mostly for business. I doubt that you commuters would appreciate train-bus-train diversions on your work journey.  If you are travelling at the weekend it is probably a one-off trip and diversions can be planned for.

Most engineering work is done at night and you don't even know about it.  Weekends is the second best option and weekday closures are reserved for major upgrades.  I don't see any alternative, really.

As for the Melksham route, it is an important line for both freight and diversions.  The Westbury-Reading  line has been closed for engineering for the last few weekends and Paddington trains are diverting from Westbury via Melksham to Swindon and Reading.  So with HSTs and freight trains using the single track line in both directions (and the extra traffic it generates on the mainline) it makes sense to keep the local trains out of the mix.

Yes, I understand this if you're looking in the box.  Chris Green on Saturday last was suggesting some "out of the box" thinking - comparisons to the Japanese model, for example.


Also (picking up on one of your other points), we're very used to the Swindon to West Wiltshire service being cancelled at the drop of a hat - over 40% cancellations for the 06:19 off Swindon in the first few weeks of this year. "At least when you have fewer services we'll be able to run them more reliably" we were promised.  Sorry - but I'm starting to let my anger take me off topic  ;)  and people cannot ride on excuses.

I wouldn't normally associate "out of the box thinking" with the Japanese ;D  The infamous "pushers" in Tokyo to squeeze more commuters on trains might be a relevant but unwelcome example of original Japanese thinking.  Or the fatal crash where the driver was speeding because he was on a final warning for late running.

I've never found the Japanese Railways particularly innovative.  Clean, efficient, fast and reliable - yes!  But the infrastructure is not that much different to our own.  Stations, tracks, crossings, points, bogies - all instantly recognisable.

Could you elaborate on what Chris Green meant by the Japanese model, Grahame?  How do they solve their maintenance problems without disrupting their business, leisure and freight customers?