Thames Valley infrastructure problems causing disruption elsewhere - 2014

[whole diary]

[NickB]

Where can I see that?

[TaplowGreen]

Where can I see that?

Someone had taken a picture and put it on Twitter.

[Jason]

Cancellations to services between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford

Due to poor rail conditions between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford all lines are blocked.

Train services running through these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 60 mins. An estimate for the resumption of normal services will be provided as soon as the problem has been fully assessed.

Last Updated 04/11/2014 09:00

Honeybourne would appear to be the problem spot.

[Jason]

1749 to Worcester shrub hill was (1) announced on the train as delayed by a train problem

It must be bad luck but three times in the last few weeks I've planned to board this service at Paddington only for it to fail or leave late due to attendance of fitters.

[BBM]

Cancellations to services between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford

Due to poor rail conditions between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford all lines are blocked.

Interesting note on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) for the 0648 from PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) to Great Malvern which appears to have only got as far as Moreton-in-Marsh:

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C40903/2014/11/04/advanced

This service was cancelled between Moreton-in-Marsh and Great Malvern due to it being Autumn (TT).

 

[NickB]

18.18 to oxford is dangerously overcrowded.  

I've seen the pictures of this service on arrival at Maidenhead (I think)- absolutely unbelievable, must be close to worst overcrowding ever on a single service?

Yes, the 18.18 came in on Platform 1 rather than Platform 3.  Lets face it, neither platform can adequately cope with the quantity of passengers on an overcrowded 18.18 but Platform 1 is definitely worst.
Overcrowding was such that passengers couldn't actually get off the train due to numbers on the platform.  There was much jostling and the chance of someone taking a slip down the gap was high - people were having to push themselves away from the train.  There was certainly no gap between crowds and train before the doors were shut and the train departed.  Being half-term (it seems) there were a number of small children in the crowd too.

No platform staff at all.

[johoare]

I can't obviously see the picture on twitter.. Did they put it against @FGW^▸ (First Great Western)?

[TaplowGreen]

I can't obviously see the picture on twitter.. Did they put it against @FGW^▸ (First Great Western)?

Yes just after 7pm last night......also read on Twitter that one very busy train went straight through Maidenhead without stopping last night due to driver error?

[johoare]

Any chance of putting a link on here? Twitter is obviously being selective over what I am allowed to see and what I'm not :-)

[johoare]

Found it now.. no thanks to twitter 

And that is what happens when you try and get two busy trains worth of people onto one of those two trains.. That train was at Maidenhead for 3 minutes according to realtime trains.. 3 minutes worth of people getting off a train is quite a lot.. I'm really glad I didn't try and get on it in the first place, especially as I got back at the same time but in relative (if not slow and tortuous) comfort..

Which reminds me.. The train I was on had working air-con.. finally.. just in time for winter 

[TaplowGreen]

Found it now.. no thanks to twitter 

And that is what happens when you try and get two busy trains worth of people onto one of those two trains.. That train was at Maidenhead for 3 minutes according to realtime trains.. 3 minutes worth of people getting off a train is quite a lot.. I'm really glad I didn't try and get on it in the first place, especially as I got back at the same time but in relative (if not slow and tortuous) comfort..

Which reminds me.. The train I was on had working air-con.. finally.. just in time for winter 

Absolutely shocking that there were no staff on the platform  - one of these days there will be a tragedy.....FGW^▸ (First Great Western) simply have to take responsibility for ensuring that trains are not crush loaded to dangerous proportions......and  yes OK maybe people should sometimes go for a pint and wait until things quieten down a bit rather than trying to cram on but at the moment with the service as flaky as it is on a daily basis that isn't practical - responsibility overall for safety sits fairly and squarely with FGW.

[johoare]

Realtime trains showed it as swapping from platform 3 to 1 not long before it arrived so I expect the staff didn't know either until it was too late.. It's not easy to get up the stairs to platform 1 when hundreds of people are descending even had they tried once they were aware..

At least there is also a step free exit into the Shoppenhangers road car park from platform 1.. Although it looks like most people preferred to wait for the stairs

[NickB]

Any chance of posting the pic, or a link to it?

Only a handful of people went to shoppenhangars (incl me) as the crowd was too big to pass on the platform.
To put things in context I walked the full length of the 5/6 car service which had been filled to bursting with people standing in between seats. If there were 50 on the whole train after maidenhead id be gobsmacked.
So who's good at maths and estimating the Maidenhead passengers on board??

[grahame]

To put things in context I walked the full length of the 5/6 car service which had been filled to bursting with people standing in between seats. If there were 50 on the whole train after maidenhead id be gobsmacked.

Logically, that leads to some very interesting thoughts ... if there's empty seats beyond [name place] on the trip out from London, why not split the train and send the extra carriages back to strengthen another train - resulting in more seats out of London.    I know I'm going to get shot down on time taken to split and join trains, line capacity issues, ... but it's an interesting thought.  And perhaps something that will be borne in mind for whole trains rather than just parts of them come service recasts/

[Timmer]

The train I was on had working air-con.. finally.. just in time for winter 

Good for stopping the windows getting steamed up so you can see out of them  ...I'll get my coat.