Chris from Nailsea
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« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2008, 23:58:34 » |
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As both d_m and gaf71 clearly have some very impressive knowledge of the workings around Bristol, may I please ask for any help they may be able to offer on the following?
I (and others) arrived at Nailsea and Backwell in good time (from 0846 onwards) this morning to catch the 0859 to Bristol Temple Meads. Problem was, there was no reference at all on the FGW▸ screens to the 0859 - not 'on time', 'delayed' or even 'cancelled' - just nothing! Suspecting the worst, someone phoned her husband at work from her mobile: he checked on the internet and said, "Oh, it's cancelled!" In that case, why was it not shown on the FGW screens at Nailsea and Backwell as being cancelled, so we could make alternative travel arrangements, where possible? Surely a decision to cancel that service must have been made some time before, so it would only have been fair to show that on the FGW screens, rather than leave all the passengers waiting hopefully at Nailsea for that train, completely unaware of its cancellation (no Digital Doris this morning, either, so we were completely reliant on the green screens)?
The particularly annoying thing is that, when I eventually got into work later, I checked the FGW website and saw, "08:40 Weston-Super-Mare to Cardiff Central due 10:17 This train will be started from Bristol Temple Meads. It will no longer call at: Weston-Super-Mare, Weston Milton, Worle, Yatton, Nailsea & Backwell, Parson Street and Bedminster. This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable."
Well, cheers! That means every commuter west of Bristol was 'dumped on' by the cleverly concealed cancellation of that service. Surely any decision to cancel the service altogether between Weston and Bristol must have been taken much earlier, leaving time for the screens to be updated to tell us poor mugs (customers?) on the platforms, so we could make alternative travel arrangements?
As I said at the beginning, d_m and gaf71, can you possibly provide any background information as to how/why such decisions are made, by Swindon control or performance resource managers, and how perhaps unreliable rolling stock may have contributed to 'a member of train crew being unavailable' - because they were themselves delayed some other service failure???
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Logged
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William Huskisson MP▸ was the first person to be killed by a train while crossing the tracks, in 1830. Many more have died in the same way since then. Don't take a chance: stop, look, listen.
"Level crossings are safe, unless they are used in an unsafe manner." Discuss.
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