Great Western Coffee Shop

This train for the last week or so seems to consistently arrive at Paddington between 5 and 10 minutes late..

It's non stop to Paddingon but swaps over to the mainline at Slough which always delays it a bit..particularly if the stopping service ahead of it is running late as it was this morning so we had to crawl along behind that.. It's a pity it doesn't swap as it pulls out of Maidenhead as the 09.03 does...

Then it quite often slows right down for airport junction and also as we're passing old oak common as well.. sometimes it slows down at other places too for some reason..

I'm assuming it's because of congestion.. I do hope it's not going to be late every day though as it's then a rush to get to my desk by 9.30..

Last week because I had a 9.30 meeting and as it was ten minutes late on that day I ended up having to pay out for a taxi to get me to my meeting on time... :(

Well 3 mins of the 7mins delay appears to have been attributed to a cow on the line at Lavington - so basically you were following a late running service. I don't have an answer for the other 4mins

Following a stopper on the Up Relief to Dolphin is going to delay you.

But I suspect the main problem is Airport Junction. Slough IECC holds it's first signal on the Up Main at Red until the ARS calls for a trian on the Up Main. Due to the slow response of the system this usually means the driver gets a double yellow the signal before West Drayton and a single yellow at the end of West Drayton platform which means he has to crawl until he can see the offending signal. It's worse on an HST because they are locked down by ATP and even if the driver sees a clear signal he can't accelerate until the ATP releases.

I've often been passed on the Up Relief between Slough and Langley by an HST on the main only to pass it between Iver and Hayes. Often when it passes you can tell it's braking.

...is not what you might think ;) It stands for Automatic Route Setting, and put in slightly simplistic terms is a semi-automatic signalling system that will route trains as the computer thinks best to keep everything on schedule. Signallers can of course intervene if they disagree with it, or when the job has gone down the pan for some reason that means everything's running out of course.

Thanks for the information (and for making me laugh out loud in the office Inspector_Blakey  :D

I'm hoping it improves.. I have a 9.30 meeting Thursday too.. So I bet it's late that day... I can't keep affording taxis though and can't really get an earlier train in term time due to school drop off.. :)

Well.... a cow and a dolphin mentioned in the same thread made me titter. That has to be a first for the forum! ;D

11 minutes late today  >:(

The 8.26 stopper departed Maidenhead 4 minutes late so we crawled behind that all the way to Slough.. We finally swapped to the fast line and went through Slough at 08.45 (they are lucky enough to have clocks there  ;)).. Crawled from West Drayton to Hayes and then slowed down again to go past Old oak common...

I'm beginning to suspect this happens every day (well it has for the last 6 anyway)..

Having rushed to get to the station (via 3 schools), missed out on a coffee as there usually isn't time, as the train usually leaves Maidenhead on time, I would quite like it if it stuck to it's timetabled arrival time just occasionally..

You took 11 minutes from Maidenhead to Slough the stopper is booked 12! Non stops on the Up Relief are booked 7.

So that's at least 4 of your 11 late.

Well yes.. The 8.26 departure is scheduled to get to Slough at 8.38 but obviously that would rely on it departing Maidenhead on time..  ::)

Only 6 minutes late today.. all was going ok until about Southall where we decided to slow down to a crawl..

8 minutes late today  >:(
I only caught this train two days last week and it was ok then.. Back to business as usual this week though..

7 minutes late today

This morning we crawled all the way from Maidenhead to approx Southall on the main line.. Does anyone know what happened as we won't have been the only delayed train.. The relief line was the fast line today  ;)

From FGW live updates:


 ???

Well that delay appears to be a total mystery then.. We were 20 minutes late.. HSTs behind us must have been even more delayed.. Strange.. Or is this become the norm so much that 20 minutes delay is nothing these days?  ;) ;D :)

Hmm.  FGW live updates at the time were reporting 'signalling problems' between Didcot Parkway and Reading - but I couldn't see anything that should have affected your journey from Maidenhead to PAD, Jo.  :-\

Thanks Chris.. That is why I asked on here.. We left Maidenhead on time..and the crawled... on the fast line... most of the way.. The driver didn't know anything (he told us).. I got to work 20 minutes late.. I just wondered if anyone knew why so many trains into Paddington were late.. I guess no one knows..So my boss won't ever know why I was late either  >:( ??? ::) and other people must have had the same trouble..

I am very cross today  ;D ;D
The 8.34 was extremely hot and crawled ALL the way in again today..arriving 20 minutes late. I felt very ill by the time we got to Paddington and don't really feel totally right now.
Yet again.. not a single announcement to the passengers..
I have complained.. Just trying to guess what standard reply I'll get.. ::)

The 0800 arrived 1 minute late, however i'm sure that isn't any compensation!!

This is the problem with DOO trains. As Drivers we are instructed that when driving under restrictive signals ie any thing other than green, we are not to use the PA system because it could distract you from keeping a lookout for the next signal.

Also it is rare that we get told what is happening. When we stop at a red signal it is normal for the signaller just to send a 'wait' message and the signal to clear without being told anything.

Noticed on the way out of Paddington this morning at 0900 that there were a number of HST's heading to Old Oak so causing inbound trains to queue back to Acton.

Does anyone know why the queue was back to Maidenhead at 8.34 then?

it's probably Heathrow junction.

Any train on the UP main which is slowed or stopped by a Heathrow express causes the following train to be on double yellows from Iver, the next from around Dolphin the next between Burnham and Slough and the next coming up to Taplow. Thus four trains in front of you on yellows and you crawl form Maidenhead. Particulary as the HSTs are locked down to certain speeds and until the ATP is released by a green can't exceed that speed.

It's a bit like the motorway waves somebody slows 2 mph in the fast lane and 2 miles back the traffic comes to a halt.

You can model it mathmatically.

Has anyone made any sort of estimate of how much diesel fuel is wasted by all of this?  ???

Or how much of peoples lives are wasted? I'd hate to think..  :o

And here (below) is First Great Western's (pretty standard) response..
Does any one know if this is true or not...the bit about the train ahead experiencing problems that is?  - or is this just a standard paragraph I've not seen before now?

I've pretty much seen the rest of the e-mail before tho.. I've still not found the train manager on a turbo (which is DOO).. I would love to see the "train manage/aka driver" walking down the train to give the personal touch to his information  ::)  ::).. whilst also driving the train...I'm thinking maybe I should ask about this?

I also like the fact they're still talking about air con even tho it's not needed in November.. They need to update their "what we can cut and paste" directives I think..

Big big sigh from me to FGW... :(

"Thank you for your email of 11 November 2010. I was sorry to hear about the disruption to your journey from Maidenhead to London Paddington on 11 November. We do our best to make sure our customers travel safely and arrive on time so I am very sorry you had a problem. The delay was caused as the train ahead experienced problems, causing the slow running of the service.

I was sorry to learn you were unhappy with the information on this service. Our Train Managers should always give out accurate information, especially when there is any disruption, through a mixture of personal contact and the train's public address system and I am sorry that this didn't happen on your journey.

We should always keep you up-to-date, even if it's to let you know we're waiting for more information ourselves. So I have passed your complaint on to the relevant Train Crew Manager, who I know will investigate what went wrong this time.

I am sorry you felt that the service was uncomfortably hot, we do thoroughly check each train overnight, and put right any problems before the train goes out again. There are times though when faults develop once the train has left the depot, and we do realise how uncomfortable this can be. On the rare occasions it does happen we believe that passengers would rather we kept the train running, than delay or cancel it, or have to send a replacement. So I do apologise that we had the fault, but hope you agree that keeping the train in service was the best course of action in the circumstances.

As a rule, if the air conditioning fails in one carriage we try and move passengers into others wherever possible. Even if the train's whole air conditioning system were to fail, we would normally keep the train running until we could repair the fault. Naturally we'd do that at the earliest opportunity, which may not be until the train returns to the depot that evening.

Some positive news is that we have now modified the air conditioning on our High Speed Trains, and we are also upgrading the system across our Turbo fleet as part of a major refreshment programme. This will mean fewer failures and more comfortable journeys for our customers.

I am sorry you were disappointed with the service you received. Your feedback is very important to us and I have recorded your comments for the attention of our Senior Managers.

Thank you once again for your email.

"

Exactly, Jo.  ::)

Having received FGW's 'first line of defence' (some fairly random standard paragraphs), I think you should now challenge them to reply to your specific points (which will need some more concentrated effort on their part, producing some rather more detailed tailor made paragraphs)!

Illegitimis nil carborundum (cough)  :P

Good luck!

Chris.  ;) :D ;D

Already done.. I await their reply with interest
 ;D ;D ::)

Travelled on the 08:00 four times in the last week.

Tuesday 23rd- 12 minutes late Maidenhead, 10 mins late Pad. No reason/apology given
Wed 24th- 15 mins late Maidenhead, 12 mins late Pad- points problem at Oxford
Thurs 25th- didn't travel
Fri 26th- 10 mins late Maidenhead, 10 mins late Pad- "late start from Oxford"

Mon 29th- Cancelled!!! Due to many signal problems. Fortunately arrived early at Maidenhead and got the 07:41.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.....

Oh dear.. So the service hasn't got any better in my absence then.. I can hardly wait till next Monday when I'm back in London.. ::)