Class 387 coming to Thames Valley - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[johoare]

Not many Class 387s today...From Journeycheck

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Maidenhead
Due to a shortage of train crew between London Paddington and Maidenhead fewer trains are able to run.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 19:30 15/09.
Last Updated:15/09/2017 15:09

Train Cancellations
16:02 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 16:49
16:09 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 16:42
16:42 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 17:13
16:58 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 17:44
17:05 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 17:46
17:14 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 18:05
17:18 London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington due 17:40
17:42 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 18:13
17:48 Hayes & Harlington to London Paddington due 18:10
17:57 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 18:43
18:07 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 18:43
18:10 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 18:48
18:18 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 18:59
18:42 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 19:14
18:57 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 19:44
19:12 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 19:53

[IndustryInsider]

The 17:14 from Paddington was reinstated.  As is the 18:07 Maidenhead to Paddington.

[TaplowGreen]

Not many Class 387s today...From Journeycheck

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Maidenhead
Due to a shortage of train crew between London Paddington and Maidenhead fewer trains are able to run.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 19:30 15/09.
Last Updated:15/09/2017 15:09

Train Cancellations
16:02 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 16:49
16:09 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 16:42
16:42 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 17:13
16:58 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 17:44
17:05 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 17:46
17:14 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 18:05
17:18 London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington due 17:40
17:42 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 18:13
17:48 Hayes & Harlington to London Paddington due 18:10
17:57 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 18:43
18:07 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 18:43
18:10 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 18:48
18:18 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 18:59
18:42 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 19:14
18:57 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 19:44
19:12 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 19:53

Utter shambles......GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) is spiralling downwards more rapidly every day.....how on Earth can this be allowed to happen? Is there anyone with any management ability whatsoever?

[eightf48544]

Be interesting to see what happens today,

According to Realtime Trains as far as Taplow is concerned the whole service from now on is rostered for 100mph EMUs^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit)!

I may be doing a trip to Swindon to get the Foxhall curve so might be catching the 12:35 from Taplow.

[grahame]

Be interesting to see what happens today,

According to Realtime Trains as far as Taplow is concerned the whole service from now on is rostered for 100mph EMUs^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit)!

Probably saved staff shifts yesterday evening so they can run these today?

[TaplowGreen]

Be interesting to see what happens today,

According to Realtime Trains as far as Taplow is concerned the whole service from now on is rostered for 100mph EMUs^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit)!

Probably saved staff shifts yesterday evening so they can run these today?

Sacrifice peak services on a Friday for daytime services on a Saturday? Well you chaps are probably far more in the know than me.

But if that was the case, why not advertise it in advance so that people can make plans, and/or why have GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) allowed the situation to deteriorate so much to the point where this type of robbing Peter to pay Paul is necessary?

[grahame]

Sacrifice peak services on a Friday for daytime services on a Saturday? Well you chaps are probably far more in the know than me.

That would be contrary to our TransWilts experience, where yet again services have been abandoned for half a day today.  However, if Reading depot is locked out of use today and there are only electric trains (plus Marlow and Greenford branch diesels) available in London, it would be very brave of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to turn off the entire main line service to the PM's constituency.  Now if Michelle Donelan was p.m. ...

But if that was the case, why not advertise it in advance so that people can make plans, and/or why have GWR allowed the situation to deteriorate so much to the point where this type of robbing Peter to pay Paul is necessary?

There's a human psyche that says "it will be magically sorted out" and a desire not to be the one to break bad news ... with the result that bad news gets broken very late in the day. General thing, not limited to GWR - I have been kept hanging around with hundreds of other people at an airport from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. while they tried to fix a plane, then bussed to a hotel and back again at 6 a.m. (about 4 hours sleep!) when I suspect the issue was close to being a no-hope from the start until a spare part was flown transatlantic!

[stuving]

There's a human psyche that says "it will be magically sorted out" and a desire not to be the one to break bad news ... with the result that bad news gets broken very late in the day. General thing, not limited to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - I have been kept hanging around with hundreds of other people at an airport from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. while they tried to fix a plane, then bussed to a hotel and back again at 6 a.m. (about 4 hours sleep!) when I suspect the issue was close to being a no-hope from the start until a spare part was flown transatlantic!

How true. I came across the same mindset in several bosses, and it led to arguments. The usual scenario was how to report project progress to higher management or customers: do you cover the bad news in full first to leave them with the good news, or do the good news first for its headline impact. I was always for "good news last", but didn't often get may way.

That applies within one period's report (month, quarter etc.); the effect is greater if you can defer reporting the bad news until next period. Very popular, that. There must be a link with whether you are an optimist, especially a Micawberite one who expects the bad news to mysteriously disappear before next time, or a pessimist (or perhaps realist) who doesn't. Of course, come next report the bad news is just as likely to have got worse!

I suspect this also has to do with "deferring gratification" - which supposedly adults can do, though not all to the same degree. (You've probably seen the mean trick that psychologists play on little kids to study this: "here's one sweet: you can eat it now, but if you don't eat it for five minutes I'll give you another one as well".)

[TaplowGreen]

Sacrifice peak services on a Friday for daytime services on a Saturday? Well you chaps are probably far more in the know than me.

That would be contrary to our TransWilts experience, where yet again services have been abandoned for half a day today.  However, if Reading depot is locked out of use today and there are only electric trains (plus Marlow and Greenford branch diesels) available in London, it would be very brave of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to turn off the entire main line service to the PM's constituency.  Now if Michelle Donelan was p.m. ...

But if that was the case, why not advertise it in advance so that people can make plans, and/or why have GWR allowed the situation to deteriorate so much to the point where this type of robbing Peter to pay Paul is necessary?

There's a human psyche that says "it will be magically sorted out" and a desire not to be the one to break bad news ... with the result that bad news gets broken very late in the day. General thing, not limited to GWR - I have been kept hanging around with hundreds of other people at an airport from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. while they tried to fix a plane, then bussed to a hotel and back again at 6 a.m. (about 4 hours sleep!) when I suspect the issue was close to being a no-hope from the start until a spare part was flown transatlantic!

So the first point is poor planning, and the second weak leadership, with no doubt everyone looking at everyone else to make a decision - the one thing in common? Total disregard for the customer. In that at least, GWR are consistent.

[rower40]

I very much doubt anything was 'sitting around doing nothing' - try and find anything sat in sidings looking bored during the morning peak tomorrow if you like?

A few weeks back, a 387 was doing not very much in the (unwired) Slough Goods Loop.  Other than waiting for a loco to drag it back to where there's some electricity.

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, that was a wrong routing balls-up!

[grahame]

On a more complex railway, there is more to go wrong 

05:47 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 06:32
05:47 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 06:32 was terminated at Hayes & Harlington.
It will no longer call at Southall, Ealing Broadway and London Paddington.
This is due to failure of the electricity supply.

[ChrisB]

Now, was that the wires or more generally? Many trains disrupted this morning, including HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) not requiring juice from wires, so undure why these would be delayed on the Main Line?

[TaplowGreen]

On a more complex railway, there is more to go wrong 

05:47 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 06:32
05:47 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 06:32 was terminated at Hayes & Harlington.
It will no longer call at Southall, Ealing Broadway and London Paddington.
This is due to failure of the electricity supply.

Can someone stick 50p in the meter please?

[stuving]

Now, was that the wires or more generally? Many trains disrupted this morning, including HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) not requiring juice from wires, so undure why these would be delayed on the Main Line?

It's these new-fangled electric signals, that's what. Bring back oil lamps!