More dangerous overcrowding to the Westcountry

[whole diary]

[bobm]

09:47 Penzance to London Paddington due 15:43 has been delayed at Penzance and is now 39 minutes late.

This is due to train crew being delayed.

Service full and standing. First class is declassified.

That's going to be a bloody awful journey for hundreds of people.

Ironically that service is one today that does have catering - if you can reach the buffet.

[broadgage]

09:47 Penzance to London Paddington due 15:43 has been delayed at Penzance and is now 39 minutes late.

This is due to train crew being delayed.

Service full and standing. First class is declassified.

That's going to be a bloody awful journey for hundreds of people.

Think what it will be like when it is a 5 car DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) !
Apart from the risk of short formations for the usual reasons, Is not the plan for most services to be 5 car West of Plymouth ? Coupling and uncoupling at Plymouth so as to be 5+5 between London and Plymouth.
This might even work passably well under favourable conditions, but I cant foresee spare units being kept on standby in case it is busier than normal.
If a single 5 car unit is diagrammed west of Plymouth, then I predict that is exactly what will be used, no matter how busy.

[grahame]

Think what it will be like when it is a 5 car DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) !
Apart from the risk of short formations for the usual reasons, Is not the plan for most services to be 5 car West of Plymouth ? Coupling and uncoupling at Plymouth so as to be 5+5 between London and Plymouth.
This might even work passably well under favourable conditions, but I cant foresee spare units being kept on standby in case it is busier than normal.
If a single 5 car unit is diagrammed west of Plymouth, then I predict that is exactly what will be used, no matter how busy.

A quick look through the current Monday to Friday timetable and an early suggestion for what we'll get with the 2 services an hour suggests a rise from just over 20 to just over 30 Great Western trains each way between Plymouth and Penzance.  This increase in services should be factored in when considering what loadings will be like in Cornwall, together with the plans to have the services more evenly space - gone will be the 80 minute westbound gap in the late afternoon.

Of course, many of the Cornish trains are units, some become longer Castles, and there's the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) factor so a lot of what we're talking here is going to be pretty hard to forecast with just the armchair observer's tools of the forum.

[broadgage]

You may be right in that a more frequent service will make up for half length trains.

However ISTR^▸ (I seem to recall/remember) that they said that about the Voyagers ! In fact voyagers were too short from day one, are still too short, and are generally accepted to have been a failure.

So have lessons been learnt from the voyager problems ? It would appear not. "lets build another batch of short DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) for long distance services"

And it must be said in addition to the new shorter IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train), the existing west country services are routinely short formed despite all the promises made about extra capacity from cascaded Turbos, and shortened HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train).

[bobm]

Bad news on a Friday....

16:03 London Paddington to Penzance due 22:25

16:03 London Paddington to Penzance due 22:25 will be terminated at Plymouth.

It will no longer call at Saltash, St Germans, Liskeard, Bodmin Parkway, Par, St Austell, Truro, Redruth, St Erth and Penzance.

This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[bobm]

For the record, the above train now running through to Penzance.

[Adelante_CCT]

Out of interest, how many choose not to board the 16:30/16:33 departures off Paddington but wait for the 16:36 instead.

Well I can answer my own question, and the answer is very few indeed. Currently sat in coach 3 of 8 on the 16:36 along with about 5 others.

[devonexpress]

09:47 Penzance to London Paddington due 15:43 has been delayed at Penzance and is now 39 minutes late.

This is due to train crew being delayed.

Service full and standing. First class is declassified.

That's going to be a bloody awful journey for hundreds of people.

5 Car from Plymouth to Penzance in the Winter season,  the Summer season will be 9 car all the way though.  10 Cars aren't meant to be used because there is no through gangway for passengers on shorter platforms.

Think what it will be like when it is a 5 car DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) !
Apart from the risk of short formations for the usual reasons, Is not the plan for most services to be 5 car West of Plymouth ? Coupling and uncoupling at Plymouth so as to be 5+5 between London and Plymouth.
This might even work passably well under favourable conditions, but I cant foresee spare units being kept on standby in case it is busier than normal.
If a single 5 car unit is diagrammed west of Plymouth, then I predict that is exactly what will be used, no matter how busy.

[Sleepy]

No tales of woe about Maundy Thursday's  services from Paddington to Devon/ Cornwall being overcrowded this year then ? Perhaps schools breaking up for Easter this year a lot earlier than normal has made a difference ?

[old original]

.... let's see what happens on Monday..

[metallikat75]

No tales of woe about Maundy Thursday's  services from Paddington to Devon/ Cornwall being overcrowded this year then ? Perhaps schools breaking up for Easter this year a lot earlier than normal has made a difference ?

I travelled from Paddington down to Cornwall on the 10.03 on Good Friday; it was rammed. I'd guessed it might be busy but as I'd just come off a 12h flight I didn't fancy messing about, bought a first class ticket and nabbed a seat pretty quickly after the platform was announced. Other first class passengers were not so lucky, though they managed to get a seat by the time we'd left Plymouth. Standard class travellers overspilled into first and were standing in the first class aisle up until St Austell.
Obviously the refreshments trolley had no hope of getting through, so they handed out bottles of water and biscuits after a few hours.

[GBM]

I travelled from Paddington down to Cornwall on the 10.03 on Good Friday; it was rammed. I'd guessed it might be busy but as I'd just come off a 12h flight I didn't fancy messing about, bought a first class ticket and nabbed a seat pretty quickly after the platform was announced. 
Obviously the refreshments trolley had no hope of getting through, so they handed out bottles of water and biscuits after a few hours.

We also travelled back to Pz from Paddington after our 12 hour flight but on the 12h03.
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=18792.1545 post 1554

[Henry]

   https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/1121071950170873861

[IndustryInsider]

   https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/1121071950170873861

No shortage of negative comments about Virgin in reply to that post

[Kernowman]

No tales of woe about Maundy Thursday's  services from Paddington to Devon/ Cornwall being overcrowded this year then ? Perhaps schools breaking up for Easter this year a lot earlier than normal has made a difference ?

I travelled from Paddington down to Cornwall on the 10.03 on Good Friday; it was rammed. I'd guessed it might be busy but as I'd just come off a 12h flight I didn't fancy messing about, bought a first class ticket and nabbed a seat pretty quickly after the platform was announced. Other first class passengers were not so lucky, though they managed to get a seat by the time we'd left Plymouth. Standard class travellers overspilled into first and were standing in the first class aisle up until St Austell.
Obviously the refreshments trolley had no hope of getting through, so they handed out bottles of water and biscuits after a few hours.

I had a similar experience in reverse on Easter Monday. Did the 14.44 Penzance - Paddington 8 coach HST^▸ (High Speed Train) (a relief (remember them) of sorts, actually the 16.57 Plymouth to Paddington extended to start from Penzance). I enjoyed going to the buffet just after Plymouth - just as well I didn't try and go any later as you couldn't move after Exeter - the train was full and standing with, Tiverton Pwy, Taunton, Castle Cary, Westbury, Pewsey, Newbury, Reading and Paddington still to go. Due to the conditions we lost about half an hour, arriving in Paddington at about 9pm. According to the Train Manager on the PA^▸ (Public Address) (who had declassified first class to absorb some of the passengers) most services from the West Country had been like this on Easter Monday. Still it was nice to have an HST (even though the timings, at over six hours, were slower than their loco-hauled predecessors of thirty plus years ago).

The train manager also told us about the Delay Repay scheme, anyone tried this? I'm looking at it now, however it seems that I have to create a new login for Delay Repay even though I've already got a login for the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) app? And I have to provide the Delay Repay site with proof of my E-ticket when it's there anyway on the GWR app?

KM