Great Western Coffee Shop

Over the past month, excluding Christmas, I believe the 16:15 from Bristol TM to Bristol PW must be awarded the most unreliable service award.

Reasons accummulated

• no driver (stuck on a late train, or non available)
• no guard
• problems on the line
• maintenance issues (the new trains for GWR London apparently are in a terrible state and not enough maintenance staff are available to get them in order)

CrossCountry must be losing it with GWR, the severe overcrowding on their next service (16:30 Plymouth to Edinburgh) makes their staff job very difficult.

I am sure others, especially Grahame, could nominate equally bad services over the last few months, but is there any light at this end of this tunnel?

Are the trains relocated from London to GWR West fit for purpose, or broken rubbish as described to me tonight? They appear to have problems getting them ready and reliable for service.

I probably could, but won't.

There are certain trains which are more liable to cancellation than others and you may have found one of them.  Where resources are short and the shortage is known well in advance, quiet services and services that run just a short while ahead of another are first to go.     It's better to delay people by 15 minutes rather than 120 (and that last costs GWR more too, because they'll have to provide taxis or buses)

Yes - there is what appears to be light at the end of the tunnel.   I just hope it doesn't turn out to be the headlights of an oncoming train.


"New" (new to area) is not always going to be liked - especially when the old has grown to be loved.  And the service and repair folks will take a time to get used to the new kit so will be slower in their work and probably not turn out quite such reliable trains.

I would not be totally surprised if some of the services on the Severn Riviera Express since the Turbos took over give the above nominee a run for it's money. Late running, cancelled services and early turnbacks at Clifton Down have been regular occurrences since summer. I cannot identify any service in particular but the may actually be more than one candidate.

Although there are still delays, it is nothing like the scale it was on at first.   Teething troubles, perhaps, due to new Traction.

As a regular user of the line it can't come soon enough, July feels a long while back now! ☺