Daytime Traffic on the TransWilts

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Sunday 25 June 2017. 
Northbound 19:47 dropped off 6 and picked up 3, left with about 30 on.   36/9
Southbound 20:21 dropped off 9 and picked up 4, left with about 25 on.   34/13

[John R]

1512 ex SWI^» (Swindon - next trains). 24 on to CPM^» (Chippenham - next trains), 3 off and 19 on giving 40 onward to MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains).

[grahame]

1512 ex SWI^» (Swindon - next trains). 24 on to CPM^» (Chippenham - next trains), 3 off and 19 on giving 40 onward to MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains).

Looking good, John ... and I expect it will be busier today.

Today ... 14:30 at Melksham.  5 off (from Westbury) and 9 on towards Swindon.  Not sure on through passengers

[grahame]

Well ... earlier this month we had no trains for 9 days from Swindon to Chippenham, and for 4 of those days no trains onward to Westbury or to Bath either.  Planned engineering works, advised well in advance, and few taken by surprise (even if for some it meant over an hour of extra travelling!).  It's anticipated that there will be other stoppages relating to engineering next year - probably "just as bad if not worse than this year" across GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) land. I'm thankful for the planning and early advise with these things, and the opportunity we've had this time to review points from which little bits of tuning could make big differences next time.

So ... number were decimated from 8th to 16th July.

Have we recovered?

Today, Friday 28th July 2017
10:04 Melksham to Swindon. 5 off and 10 on at Melksham; left with about 70 passengers - 75/15
15:12 Swindon to Melksham. 83 on into Melksham, 20 off and 18 on - 101/38
... err that's not bad for a 153 that's not even the peak train!

These services both have connections at Westbury from / to Salisbury.  The connection failed on the morning service, so numbers were probably a bit low.  The afternoon train was on time and going to make the connection (but goodness station stops are getting longer these days as passenger numbers build!)

School holidays - general metrics showed a younger element present that would normally be in education!

[John R]

Today, Friday 28th July 2017
10:04 Melksham to Swindon. 5 off and 10 on at Melksham; left with about 70 passengers - 75/15
15:12 Swindon to Melksham. 83 on into Melksham, 20 off and 18 on - 101/38
... err that's not bad for a 153 that's not even the peak train!

That's terrific.  Full trains off peak! And even if the strengthening of the unit had happened according to the original timetable, it would still be a half full unit, which would not be at all shabby for an off peak service. Numbers to/from MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains) are also very encouraging, particularly the afternoon service, where the flow is not only strong but nicely balanced, with similar numbers travelling to/from the north and south. 

[grahame]

12:37 Melksham to Swindon - +8 -0 -> 13 ... 13/8 ... not clever, but then 30 minutes after the previous train and in the middle of the day.

17:36 from Swindon.  84 on from Chippenham,  at least 37 off and at least 11 on at Melksham, 95/48 ... and "it was much busier yesterday" says a regular.   Getting hard to count when arriving on the train - lots of young families around at present as well as commuters; summer holiday mixture?

[grahame]

Tuesday 8th August 2017

16:37 at Melksham to Swindon. 5 off and 6 on, 22 passengers to Chippenham.  27/11

17:53 Chippenham towards Melksham - around 90 on board (11 standing in the luggage area and lobby, but could have got more on my getting people to move down inside.  Other lobby also full and standing).  Around 35 off and 5 on at Melksham (again, hard to count - we need 2 people specifically tasked these days). 95/40

Reliabiity issues have raised there head again ... about 9 trains out of 10 are running, but if this level of short term cancellation sets in as the standard, it's going to make it much harder to get any but the hardy or desperate to use the service.  Discussion started (here) on the community board within the Coffee Shop.   That board is open only to interested members to avoid flooding people from all across the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area with specifics about our one line.  If you can't see that post but would like to, please send me a personal message and I'll add you to the group.  In practise, it's no more than a 5% increase in the posts and replys you'll see.

[ChrisB]

Your peak train into Swindon (& its return) cancelled today.....driver shortage

[grahame]

Your peak train into Swindon (& its return) cancelled today.....driver shortage

One of the regulars posts on Facebook ...

2 hour commute to work today ... hoping my day improves....

Covered at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=18561.0 on the TransWilts CRP^▸ (Community Rail Partnership) board - available to registered members of the Coffee Shop for the asking / access limited to only those who ask due to past complaints that there was too much TransWilts stuff on the forum!

[grahame]

12:03 Melksham to Chippenham   +8 -1 -> 20 = 21/9

13:04 Chippenham to Melksham 37 <- -8 + 6 = 43/14

Good grief ... I remember under Wessex trains (late 2015) when the one and only middle of the day train struggled to make single figures ...

[grahame]

Not just daytime passenger traffic!



The Westbury to Swindon line through Melksham and (pictured here) Chippenham only survived from 1966 to 1985 because of the occasional freight train. Today, rather than a sleepy backwater with two freights a week and a passenger train each week on summer saturdays, and no intermediate station, we have up to 9 passenger trains each way per day, long freights knitting in with them ... the fastest growing line in England.

[grahame]

47 off the arrival into Swindon at about 10:35 (that's the 10:04 off Melksham).  Not really anything to add to formal counts - don't know how many used it from beyond Chippenham - but would guessed on typical form that would have been 55 to 60 on the train when it left Melksham.

Not so good headed back - 10:48 off Swindon was just 14/8

[John R]

And later on, 4 off and 6 on the 1430 northbound departure from Melksham leaving 22 onboard.  26/10

[grahame]

Sunday 3rd September (2017) ... wet, wet, wet ...

09:56 (Southbound) call at Melksham - 8 on and 2 off
12:46 (Northnound) call - 2 off and 15 on

Monday 4th September

07:49 (Northbound) call at Melksham - 11 off and 44 on. Somewhere between 100 and 110 on to Chippenham (couldn't get through to count).  So that's between 111/55 and 121/55.  I understand passenger numbers from Westbury up due to a London cancellation from there, but Melksham numbers are good, and wouldn't have been effected by that!

Pity the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) is out of order and the train was too busy for the train manager to get through; good to see new train managers under training.

[TaplowGreen]

Sunday 3rd September (2017) ... wet, wet, wet ...

09:56 (Southbound) call at Melksham - 8 on and 2 off
12:46 (Northnound) call - 2 off and 15 on

Monday 4th September

07:49 (Northbound) call at Melksham - 11 off and 44 on. Somewhere between 100 and 110 on to Chippenham (couldn't get through to count).  So that's between 111/55 and 121/55.  I understand passenger numbers from Westbury up due to a London cancellation from there, but Melksham numbers are good, and wouldn't have been effected by that!

Pity the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) is out of order and the train was too busy for the train manager to get through; good to see new train managers under training.

Are blue faces normal for Melksham or was it just chilly?