Slough station - incidents and events (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[johoare]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) didn't really do themselves any favours this evening.. I got the 6.51 to Slough from Paddington to change onto the 7.11pm to Maidenhead... By the time we arrived at Slough the 7.11pm was running so late that they had decided to run it fast to Reading from Slough... The 7.30pm was already cancelled.. So goodness knows who thought it was a good idea to let the late running 7.06 stopper departure leave about a minute before we got there.. As a result of that very unforward planning a lot of people got to stand around at Slough for 40 minutes...(and a nearly empty train headed off to Reading non-stop too)

Well done FGW..

[Chris from Nailsea]

Erm ... cue Ollie, perhaps? 

[johoare]

It's not Ollies problem if someone decides to do that though.. I knew before I got to Slough what should have happened but I don't work for FGW^▸ (First Great Western) so couldn't help them.. Someone who does work for FGW who is in charge of this sort of thing should have known too.. not sure why they didn't know.. Will let you know what they say when they reply to my e-mail.....

[johoare]

Still waiting for a reply from FGW^▸ (First Great Western).. Must be a tricky one for them to reply to :-)

[bobm]

Some fairly heavy delays into and out of Paddington this afternoon.

From Journeycheck

Cancellations to services between Slough and Langley

Owing to lightning having damaged equipment between Slough and Langley trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines.

Impact:
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 120 mins at short notice. An estimate for the resumption of normal services will be provided as soon as the problem has been fully assessed.

Customer Advice:
Due to lightning striking signalling equipment in the Slough area trains are being now running through the affected area abeit delayed.
South West Trains, London Underground, Chiltern Railways, Cross Country, Virgin Trains and London Midland services are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.

[TaplowGreen]

Can't do much about lightning strikes but what with the farce at the Reading depot on Thursday morning and other signalling problems FGW^▸ (First Great Western) haven't exactly covered themselves in glory over the last few days 

[John R]

But if these are not within the control of FGW^▸ (First Great Western), I'm not sure it's fair to say that FGW have not covered themselves in glory.

[LiskeardRich]

But if these are not within the control of FGW^▸ (First Great Western), I'm not sure it's fair to say that FGW have not covered themselves in glory.

Its how they manage and play the situation though which covers them in glory or does them bad.

[LiskeardRich]

In addition to these problems at Slough there are further signalling issues between Taunton and Castle Cary, and also Plymouth and Saltash. These 2 are each causing delays of 15 minutes.

[ChrisB]

What do you think they could have done differently? Especially over the depot signalling problem?

I think you're firing at the wrong target too....

[grahame]

What do you think they could have done differently? Especially over the depot signalling problem?

I think you're firing at the wrong target too....

I have a lot of sympathy for the train operators ... when something goes wrong in what they get from their suppliers, they're at the front line to get the stick. For sure, negotiating robust supplies and handing customers well can make up for some elements, and there may be lessons to learn ...

[bobm]

I'm on a train from Swindon to the West Country which is currently running 66 minutes late.

I got to the station at about 18:30 intending to catch the 19:03 but thinking I might get the previous train which was running late. When it eventually arrived, nearly two hours late, it was full and standing the whole length of the train so I decided to wait another half an hour and catch my original train.

During the time I was at the station I noted the platform staff dealing with numerous queries and making manual announcements. The general mood of people was good. We had one person who decided delayed trains meant he could smoke on the platform and another who tried to use the disused footbridge over platform 1.

Passengers who had missed the rail replacement bus to Pewsey were ordered taxis and shown to them.

The automated system couldn't cope. With trains picking up delays or gaining a few minutes all the time the air was full of continual announcements. It then seemed to get stuck with departed trains still showing as delayed.

Given that today's problems were not the fault of FGW^▸ (First Great Western) (nor Network Rail either) I think the staff did the best they could. They were frustrated because trains were leaving Paddington, then getting delayed for varying amounts of time through Langley before experiencing more delays due to a reduced number of platforms at Reading.  This made offering advice to customers even harder.   The only thing I could fault them on was not turning off the automated announcements which were frankly repetitive and confusing.

[SandTEngineer]

West Country trains have also been delayed by up to half an hour all day today due to signalling problems between Castle Cary and Taunton.....

[bobm]

The good news for me is this train goes via Bristol so we avoided that - but we did get delayed behind a late running stopper to Weston-super-Mare.

Nailsea and Backwell looks so nice at night (at 40mph). 

[johoare]

I am wondering if it will be sorted before tomorrow's rush hour...