Great Western Coffee Shop

Here's a nice list of all the disruptions from yesterday:

Train: 05:41 Penzance to London Paddington
Details: This train has been revised. This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.Brasserie service not available, buffet service only from Plymouth.

Train: 05:58 London Paddington to Oxford
Details: This train will run short formed with 6 carriages. This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

Train: 06:24 Redhill to Reading 4AB
Details: This train has been cancelled. This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

Train: 06:59 Gatwick Airport to Reading 4AB
Details: This train has been revised. It will additionally call at:Betchworth, Dorking West, Chilworth, Shalford and Wanborough. This is due to train crew having been unavailable earlier.

Train: 07:02 Reading to London Paddington
Details: This train has been cancelled. This is due to a train fault.

Train: 07:30 Oxford to London Paddington
Details: This train will run short formed with 6 carriages. This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

Train: 08:04 Reading 4AB to Redhill
Details: This train has been started from Guildford. It will no longer call at:Reading 4AB, Wokingham, Crowthorne, Sandhurst, Blackwater, Farnborough North, North Camp and Ash. This is due to train crew having been unavailable earlier.

Train: 08:13 Bristol Temple Meads to Swindon
Details: This train will run short formed with 1 carriages. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Train: 08:15 London Paddington to Reading
Details: This train has been reinstated.

Train: 09:54 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa
Details: This train will run short formed with 1 carriages. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Train: 10:15 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
Details: This train has been revised. This is due to an earlier train fault.Light refreshments available in carriage A.

Train: 10:22 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
Details: This train has run short formed with 2 carriages. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Train: 11:25 Paignton to Exmouth
Details: This train has been terminated at Exeter Central. It will no longer call at:Digby & Sowton, Topsham, Lympstone Village and Exmouth. This is due to a train fault.

Train: 11:38 Cheltenham Spa to Swindon
Details: This train will run short formed with 1 carriages. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Train: 11:51 London Paddington to Hereford
Details: This train will run short formed with 3 carriages between Oxford and Hereford. This is due to a train fault.

Train: 11:51 London Paddington to Hereford
Details: This train will be terminated at Ledbury. It will no longer call at:Hereford. This train is run short formed with 3 carriages between Oxford and Hereford. This is due to a train fault.

Train: 12:50 Exmouth to Barnstaple
Details: This train will be started from St James' Park. It will no longer call at:Exmouth, Lympstone Village, Lympstone Commando, Exton, Topsham, Digby & Sowton and Polsloe Bridge. This is due to a train fault.

Train: 12:55 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
Details: This train has been revised. This is due to an earlier train fault.Light refreshments available in carriage A.

Train: 13:20 Exmouth to Paignton
Details: This train has been revised. It will additionally call at:Lympstone Commando, Exton and Polsloe Bridge. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Train: 13:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
Details: This train has been revised. This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.No catering service between Salisbury and Portsmouth Harbour.

Train: 13:54 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa
Details: This train will run short formed with 1 carriages. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Train: 14:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
Details: This train has been revised. This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.No catering service between Portsmouth Harbour and Salisbury.

Train: 15:00 Plymouth to London Paddington
Details: This train has been revised. It will additionally call at:Ivybridge. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Train: 15:19 Hereford to London Paddington
Details: This train will be started from Ledbury. It will no longer call at:Hereford. This train will run short formed with 3 carriages. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Train: 15:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
Details: This train has been revised.Light refreshments available in carriage A.

Train: 16:00 Penzance to London Paddington
Details: This train will be started from Plymouth. It will no longer call at:Penzance, St Erth, Camborne, Redruth, Truro, St Austell, Par, Lostwithiel, Bodmin Parkway and Liskeard. This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

Train: 16:22 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
Details: This train has been revised.No catering service between Salisbury and Cardiff Central. This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

Train: 16:42 Gloucester to Weymouth
Details: This train will run short formed with 2 carriages. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Train: 17:05 Taunton to Cardiff Central
Details: This train will be started from Bristol Temple Meads. It will no longer call at:Taunton, Bridgwater, Highbridge & Burnham, Weston-Super-Mare, Weston Milton, Worle, Yatton, Nailsea & Backwell, Parson Street, Bedminster, Lawrence Hill, Stapleton Road and Filton Abbey Wood. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Train: 17:22 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
Details: This train has been revised.No catering service between Portsmouth Harbour and Salisbury. This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

Train: 17:37 Penzance to London Paddington
Details: This train has been revised. It will additionally call at:Lostwithiel, St Germans and Saltash. This is due to train crew having been unavailable earlier.

Train: 18:00 London Paddington to Reading
Details: This train will run short formed with 4 carriages. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Train: 18:09 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
Details: This train has been revised.Light refreshments available in carriage A.

Train: 18:16 Reading to London Paddington
Details: This train has been cancelled. This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

Train: 18:22 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
Details: This train will run short formed with 2 carriages. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Train: 18:51 London Paddington to Oxford
Details: This train will run short formed with 3 carriages. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Train: 19:01 Banbury to London Paddington
Details: This train has been reinstated. This is due to train crew having been unavailable earlier.

Train: 19:15 London Paddington to Oxford
Details: This train has been reinstated. This is due to train crew having been unavailable earlier.

Train: 19:54 Reading to London Paddington
Details: An additional train service has been planned to operate as shown 19:54 Reading to London Paddington due 20:28 run on 25/07/08.

Train: 19:55 Cardiff Central to Taunton
Details: This train will be started from Bristol Temple Meads. It will no longer call at:Cardiff Central, Newport South Wales, Severn Tunnel Jn, Patchway and Filton Abbey Wood. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Also South West Trains 18:10 EXD-Waterloo cancellation, due to an earlier train failing at Newton Abbot I believe.  One coach was put on for EXD-Salisbury and passengers for London & Basingstoke were put on the 1800 EXD-PAD.  Coach apparently didn't pick anyone else up as it was full and standing at EXD  :o.

I should add most trains ex-PAD to the South-West early evening were full and standing.  One TM told me he had 120 standing at Castle Cary for his PAD-PNZ service  ;).

Sounds like a serious safety risk, rotten travel experience all round, whether standing or seated, and once again does nothing for the reputation of the railway. This is a key weekend for summer holiday travel, so surely someone could have predicted this would happen.

I know compulsory reservations only (TGV system) is difficult to enforce on our railway, because people aren't used to it, but if that's not possible, couldn't some sort of relief service have been planned in advance - a 67 and coaches starting at Reading, say, departing soon after the 17.32 or 18.32 for Penzance so passengers from there and stations on the Berks and Hants could get on board, as they would have struggled to join the service mentioned above - and others if they were as heavily loaded.

1506 Padd - Penzance is always a killer during school holidays.

A loco and coaches could have been provided, just seems they choose not to! 

No, it costs too much money.  ???

So far today (26/07/08):

Service: 05:12 London Paddington to Oxford
Details: This train has been cancelled. This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

Service: 06:03 Salisbury to Gloucester
Details: This train has been revised. This train has run short formed with 3 carriages. This is due to a train fault.

Service: 07:00 Oxford to London Paddington
Details: This train will run short formed with 3 carriages. This is due to a train fault.

Service: 08:42 Gloucester to Weymouth
Details: This train has been revised. This train will run short formed with 4 carriages. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Service: 10:27 Exeter St Davids to Gunnislake
Details: This train will be terminated at Calstock. It will no longer call at:Gunnislake. This is due to a train fault.

Service: 11:00 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington
Details: This train will be started from Gloucester. It will no longer call at:Cheltenham Spa. This is due to an earlier problem with line-side equipment.

Service: 11:45 London Paddington to Swansea
Details: This train has been revised.Regret no Brasserie service. Buffet service only.

Service: 13:51 London Paddington to Great Malvern
Details: This train will be terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill. It will no longer call at:Worcester Foregate Street, Malvern Link and Great Malvern. This is due to signalling problems.

Service: 14:21 London Paddington to Oxford
Details: This train has been revised. This train will run short formed with 3 carriages. This is due to a train fault.

Service: 15:06 London Paddington to Penzance
Details: This train has been revised.Buffet service to Plymouth only on this service.

Service: 15:21 Oxford to London Paddington
Details: This train has been revised. It will no longer call at:Twyford, Maidenhead, Slough, Langley, Iver, West Drayton, Hayes & Harlington, Southall and Ealing Broadway. This is due to waiting for a train crew member.

Service: 15:23 Hereford to London Paddington
Details: This train will be started from Worcester Shrub Hill. It will no longer call at:Hereford, Ledbury, Colwall, Great Malvern, Malvern Link and Worcester Foregate Street. This is due to signalling problems.

Service: 15:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
Details: This train will be terminated at Fratton. It will no longer call at:Portsmouth & Southsea and Portsmouth Harbour. This is due to a delay on a previous journey.

Service: 15:30 Oxford to London Paddington
Details: This train has been revised. It will no longer call at:Slough. This is due to waiting for a train crew member.

Service: 16:22 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
Details: This train will be started from Fratton. It will no longer call at:Portsmouth Harbour and Portsmouth & Southsea. This is due to a delay on a previous journey.

Service: 16:45 London Paddington to Swansea
Details: This train has been revised.Buffet service to Cardiff only on this service.

Service: 17:00 Oxford to London Paddington
Details: This train has been revised. This train will run short formed with 3 carriages. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Service: 18:51 London Paddington to Oxford
Details: This train has been revised. This train will run short formed with 3 carriages. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Service: 20:06 London Paddington to Plymouth
Details: This train has been revised.Buffet service to Exeter only on this service.

Service: 20:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
Details: This train has been revised. It will additionally call at:Severn Tunnel Jn and Patchway. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Service: 20:30 London Paddington to Exeter St Davids
Details: This train has been revised.Buffet service to Bristol Temple Meads only on this service.

Service: 20:30 Oxford to London Paddington
Details: This train has been revised. This train will run short formed with 3 carriages. This is due to an earlier train fault.

Service: 23:45 London Paddington to Penzance
Details: This train has been revised.Regret no buffet service.

Are you being serious? FGW know it's a busy weekend.  1.  There are no more trains. 2.  How many 53 seater coaches do you think FGW are going to shell out for, out of the kindness of their hearts?  ???

Here's another idea:  Every man and his dog knows how busy this weekend is.  Perhaps instead of spending hours on trains/motorways/airplanes whinging about how busy it is, perhaps holiday makers should use some common sense and not travel this weekend if they don't want a 'rotten travel eperience' ::)

(Looks out of window into distance to see M5, Devon gridlocked...... on second thoughts clearly that's never going to happen  ;))

Oh! where would that have come from?
It's not just a case of picking one up from the depot you know, then there is crew and their reliefs at various points along the way to think of!

Don't understand the point of your post. Was simply stating that the 1506 gets very busy...

Those are some LONG update lists!

I have been reminded that making short quotes from other web sites for critical comment is allowed, but reproducing huge chunks without permission is another matter.  I'm sure that one day's logs are fine and won't be a problem, but can I ask everyone not to start copying large chunks of the data, still with FGW's words used to describe the events, on a regular basis?   You might do the copying ... but the team running this site will be the ones who get it in the neck if there's a copyright question!

P.S. I came across this issue and looked quite deeply into it about 6 months ago when the cancellation rate was around 30% on the TransWilts ... and the solution I came up with as a regular thing was to read the data and produce a new report in my own words.  Being on the "Save the Train" site it's got a TransWilts bias, of course, but you can always see a summary of each incident in the last 48 hours at http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/running.php (http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/running.php)

 ???

That would suggest that I could write something, publish it on the web and "sue" if it was reproduced elsewhere. I don't see a copyright © symbol next to the live updates...

You could indeed take legal action if it were more than a short section quoted for comment / critical review.  I've been around and seen some things along these lines ... at times rather closer than I might have wished.  You'll find there's a copyright statement at the base of each page on the FGW site (though the information posted may in fact come from another site) and a link to the full copyright statement.

Slightly adjusted for reality. ;)

Yes, very serious. I certainly wasn't suggesting putting people on the roads, if that's what you mean by 53-seat coaches. They have chosen to travel by rail and surely that's where we want to keep them? Or are these passengers just an operational inconvenience, who should just have to lump it?

No more trains? So where do the 67s and Mk2s for Bristol-Weymouth come from? Outer space? That looks like a train to me and not, so far as I'm aware, doing anything much of a Friday evening, nor for that matter is most of the country's charter train fleet. FGW thought it was worth running the 67 set on a Swindon-Taunton shuttle for the Glastonbury festival to ease the pressure that weekend, so why not this weekend just gone? Or you could just pinch the HST from the 17.51 from London-Worcester and put an Adelante on that run instead - a swap that does take place on occasion if an HST fails on some other evening peak turn - freeing up an HST for an extra service west.

And I'm not appealing to the kindness of FGW's heart. I'm making the (not too outrageous for you, I hope) suggestion that if people have a good travel experience they will come back to FGW. If not, and that train clearly wasn't, then they may try Ryanair if they're off to Cornwall in future, which might cost FGW rather more in lost revenue in the long run than paying to run an extra train to spread the load on days like this.

As for people tend not to have a great deal of choice about when the schools break up for summer holidays.

There is absolutely no reason why they couldnt pay for the hire of a charter train.  I know they dont come cheap, but as you say the price of tickets would more than justify such a cost.

Ok it may reduce their profit slightly on such a service, but as you say, happy customers will return again next year. 

Im sure if nothing else, they couldhave hired in two adalante units to provide the additional services!! 

Apologies if I sounded agressive with my original response.

With 3 seperate power car failures this week to add to the fun and games, there are so many other elements to FGW stock control and it really isn't as simple as chartering another train or pulling stock out of the air.

I believe FGW want to make their customers as happy as possible, and everyone was well aware of how busy last weekend would be, so i'm sure anything that can be done to make things easier would have been.

On a side note, while I appreciate some are restricted to school holidays, last time I checked kids were off for 6 weeks, so I still don't understand why the massive rush to the South-West for weekend 1 of the holidays  ???