1903 Paddington - Plymouth 24th March

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

1600 down not particularly busy, I joined it at RDG^‡(resolve) for TAU^» (Taunton - next trains).

Heard via a TM^‡(resolve) that the up services from PLY^» (Plymouth - next trains) this afternoon at 1448, 1503 (one of those a relief?) and 1602, 1633 (again, relief?) were all full and standing by Taunton.

[SirBroccoli]

Good luck to all those travelling back from the Westcountry today - hope the overcrowding and the weather don't ruin your journey!

Don't think I could face travelling back to Reading on Easter Monday. Fortunately the office is closed tomorrow..!

[Rob on the hill]

From The Plymouth Herald:
http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Passengers-ordered-overcrowded-Plymouth-train/story-29011429-detail/story.html

[Sam290893]

It's a difficult situation people moan the train is unsafe and then when they do get told to get off the kick off, thing is you will never please everyone but overcrowding doesn't just bow down to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) it's all train operators! Virgin Trains West Coast had busy services yesterday due to the face East Coast had major problems!

[IndustryInsider]

Yesterday seemed a lot less 'critical' than Thursday.  Many trains busy, with people standing - but hey, it's Easter! -  but not many crush loaded nightmares like on Thursday night.

Three reasons for that I suspect:

1) There was an effort to get luggage stowed in the power car vans, which would have had a small impact on space within the trains, but more importantly:
2) Rather than a large percentage all wanting to go away for Easter after finishing work on Maundy Thursday, their return journeys were much more spread throughout the day - some leaving after breakfast, some after lunch and some leaving it as late as possible.
3) There would have been very few regular commuters also wanting to travel at the same time, as there would have been Maundy Thursday evening.

[ChrisB]

And, of course, some would be staying longer into this week & not having to return for today

[PhilWakely]

From The Plymouth Herald:

A spokesman for Great Western Railway said:...........
"Good Friday is one of the busiest days for train travel across the country, and we advise customers to take advantage of our free seat reservation service wherever possible."

Which I entirely agree with, except in situations such as the one being reported, many people simply could not get to their seat reservations, so that will not alleviate the problem!

This has been done to death, but unless proper gateline procedures that control numbers getting on (which will not be easy to implement because of gate controlling multiple platforms) and 'pick up only' means exactly that  - nothing will change!

[simonw]

Out of curiosity, is it possible for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to re-allocate 2/3 carriages to each train on busy routes at peak times to help address these issues?

If so, why is it not done?

[IndustryInsider]

Not quite sure what you mean, simonw?

It is just about possible to run HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s with an extra carriage on some GW^▸ (Great Western) routes, so they'd have 9 rather than 8, but platform lengths at terminal stations make it a bit of a headache on some routes and impossible on others.  Plus there's a small performance penalty to consider with the extra weight.  Certainly not possible to go any further than that until the new SET^▸ (Super Express Train (now IET))'s arrive with their possible 10 car formations.

Other types of train that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) operate regularly run at extended lengths to reflect demand, but again can only be a certain length depending on route.

[TaplowGreen]

Sounds like conditions were very unpleasant again last night coming out of Paddington heading for the Westcountry, the usual horrendous Bank Holiday overcrowding - not sure if any additional services were laid on to address it?

I note the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) line on overcrowding has changed from "it's not dangerous" to "there is no legal limit".

[ellendune]

Sounds like conditions were very unpleasant again last night coming out of Paddington heading for the Westcountry, the usual horrendous Bank Holiday overcrowding - not sure if any additional services were laid on to address it?

I am not sure where GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) could get extra trains to run in the peak on a Friday evening.  It is not as if the loadings to South Wales, Cheltenham or North Cotswolds are going to be down so that they can take an extra train from there. 

Even if they did it would be difficult to find extra paths east of Reading. 

[SandTEngineer]

All the Exeter to Plymouth Friday extensions ran and also an additional 1933 to Penzance (the normal 1903 Friday extension from Plymouth to Penzance being terminated short at Plymouth).

[IndustryInsider]

All bar the last one arriving 'on time'.  That last one got in 25 late.

[SandTEngineer]

.....and there was an additional 1434 to Plymouth as well.

[bobm]

From Journeycheck

19:40 London Paddington to Plymouth due 23:49 
An additional train service has been planned to operate as shown 30/05/16 19:40 London Paddington to Plymouth due 23:21.
This is due to overcrowding because of an event.

Shame about the Wembley play off result from a West Country point of view.