Great Western Coffee Shop

Just a few of the service disruptions this morning Tuesday 28/08/2007 for early morning long distance commuters returning after the long sun blessed weekend. Enough to take the shin off the tan.


06:09 Abergavenny to London Paddington due 09:44
This train will be started from Worcester Shrub Hill. It will no longer call at: Abergavenny, Hereford, Ledbury, Colwall, Great Malvern, Malvern Link and Worcester Foregate Street.


06:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 07:41
This train has been cancelled.


05:40 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 07:52
This train has been cancelled. This is due to a train fault.


05:22 Plymouth to London Paddington due 09:41
This train will be started from Exeter St Davids. It will no longer call at: Plymouth, Totnes, Newton Abbot, Teignmouth and Dawlish.

The day goes on, the same as any other:

10:02 Cheltenham Spa to Taunton due 12:14
This train has been revised. It will no longer call at: Nailsea & Backwell, Yatton, Worle and Weston-Super-Mare.


14:04 Reading to Redhill due 15:25
This train has been cancelled.


14:05 Oxford to London Paddington due 14:58
This train has been cancelled.


12:52 London Paddington to Oxford due 13:47
This train has been cancelled.


12:05 Oxford to London Paddington due 13:01
This train has been cancelled.


08:50 Exmouth to Penzance due 12:22
This train will be terminated at Plymouth. It will no longer call at: Saltash, Liskeard, Bodmin Parkway, Par, St Austell, Truro, Redruth, St Erth and Penzance.



Oh well, back to work, Bank Holiday Monday was the normal totally unorganised shambles on the rails, why they have a 'planning' department is beyond anyone, as they dont live up to their name....

At 05:39, FGW emailed me a performance bulletin that stated:

"""05:22 Plymouth to Paddington will be started from Exeter St Davids.

05:40 Cheltenham Spa to Paddington has been cancelled.

05:57 Gatwick Airport to Reading will terminate at Redhill."""

At 07:22, FGW emailed me a performance bulletin that stated:

"""First Great Western expect to operate the full advertised service on all routes this morning. There are currently no infrastructure or fleet problems affecting our services."""

I got the same two e-mail bulletins Grahame, strikes me the FGW right hand doesnt know what the FGW left hand is doing.

Perhaps someone with more time to investigate than me could post on this forum what constitutes a breach of franchise or isnt there such a written statement to save DfT/FGW embaressment.

The link below might come in handy.
http://www.saveseverntunnel.co.uk/issues.htm

Evening update ;-

Received two e-mails from FGW this pm.

Timed at 15:40
Date: Tuesday 28 August 2007

Service: Afternoon peak services out of London Paddington and Bristol

Details:

16:15 London Paddington to Bristol Parkway has been cancelled due to an earlier train fault.


No other problems reported.



Timed at 17:14
Date: Tuesday 28 August 2007

Service: Afternoon peak services out of London Paddington and Bristol

Details:

First Great Western expect to operate the full advertised service on all routes this evening. There are currently no infrastructure or fleet problems affecting our services.


But from the FGW service incidents the following cancellations were also noted ;-



15:48 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 18:03
This train has been cancelled.

16:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 18:10
This train has been cancelled.


Porky Pies spring to mind.

They do, but I suspect "best current and future information to hand" is the case most of the time.   There are odd times I have suspected that certain cancellations/changes have been known/expected but not admitted, but they're the exception.

Oh - I note this morning No reported problems which I prefer to  First Great Western expect to operate the full advertised service on all routes this morning.  Call me pedantic if you like but, let's face it, with such a large area and as many trains as they have - some of which are unreliable and awaiting refurb -  it's reasonable to expect one or two incidents each morning and a bit head-in-the-sand to ever expect the full advertised service.   Just needs a Pacer door to jam ... again ...  ;)

Hi

Stranded at Reading station yesterday when I found out that the 16:15 to Bristol Parkway was cancelled, and then the 16:30 to Bristol Temple Meads.

The reasons given where different to the texts mentioned earlier.

The 16:15 (BPW) was cancelled because no crew was available
The 16:30 (BTM) was cancelled because of mechanical problems

An ideal opportunity to run a modified  16:15 with the BTM crew? No chance! The 16:45 (Swansea) ran as normal but was SERIOUSLY overcrowded!

I wouldnt bank on it. From the FGW website :

12:07 Exeter St Davids to London Paddington due 14:52
This train has been revised. It will no longer call at: Hungerford, Thatcham and Theale.

Replacement road transport will operate between Hungerford, Thatcham, Theale and Reading.

08:34 London Paddington to Exeter St Davids due 11:14
This train has been revised. It will no longer call at: Theale, Thatcham and Hungerford.

Replacement road transport will operate between Theale, Thatcham, Hungerford and Westbury.

08:44 Weymouth to Cardiff Central due 12:17
This train will be restarted from Yeovil Pen Mill. It will no longer call at: Weymouth, Upwey, Dorchester West, Maiden Newton, Chetnole, Yetminster and Thornford. This is due to a train fault.

Replacement road transport will operate between Weymouth , Upwey, Dorchester West, Maiden Newton, Chetnole, Yetminster, Thornford, and Westbury.

The last revision reminds me of the following quote from "The Implementation and Likely Effects on Demand of Improved Rail Links in Wessex. (The Yeovil Junction Southern Chord.)" (link below.)
http://www.demandanalysis.co.uk/DorYeo.pdf

"Chetnole, Yetminster and Thornford could not be served adequately by a replacement bus service."

The 0834 Pad-EXD and RTN was caused by a HST working it, after apparently the AWS button fell of on the 180 whilst working the up Frome-London