16:22 Paddington - Great Malvern 15 February 2017

[whole diary]

[charles_uk]

Today the 15:49 Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh was terminated at Oxford due to a train fault (it arrived at Oxford as a two coach turbo having left Reading 13 minutes late - I'm guessing the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) failed there and passengers were decanted onto a Turbo?)

Despite it being half-term, when the 16:22 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains):GMV^▸ (Great Malvern station) arrived at Oxford on time the train was swamped with passengers with standing right down all the coaches and vestibules rammed. Although there were no delays on the Cotswold Line, the train remained stationary at Oxford. The following service to Manchester was transferred to platform 3 whilst the Great Malvern service didn't move.

No explanation was given for this delay (nor apologies offered) but it was suggested the reason for the delay was an argument/discussion between staff on the platform as to whether the service was too full and if passengers should be removed. In the event, the train left 16 minutes late with passengers none the wiser as to the delay at Oxford.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Despite it being half-term ...

May I suggest that the train might have been busier than usual precisely because it is half-term - with the whole family travelling, rather than just one parent, for example?   

[charles_uk]

Possibly. Half-term does change the demographic, but the 15:22 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains):GMV^▸ (Great Malvern station) has been less busy at Oxford this week. But whatever the reason, no explanation for the delay at Oxford was given.

Perhaps I'm making too much of it but having been wanting to get the preceding cancelled service, those additional unexplained minutes at Oxford did not help my mood!