Far south west - Train Performance

[whole diary]

[SandTEngineer]

Is it me or are things getting worse.  Here are the Plymouth to London Paddington train performance figures for the last 12 weeks:

TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) Scheduled Times           % Arrivals               Actual Arrival
        d PLY^» (Plymouth - next trains)    a PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)   Dur          On Time               Average
GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about)   05:53   09:00   3h 7m     2%            09:14 14L
GW   05:30   09:21   3h 51m   26%            09:29 8½L
GW   05:09   09:44   4h 35m   46%            09:52 8½L
GW   06:55   10:03   3h 8m     11%          10:15 12L
GW   07:48   11:24   3h 36m   18%             11:33 9½L
GW   08:53   12:24   3h 31m   36%             12:33 9L
GW   09:48   13:39   3h 51m   16%             13:50 11L
GW   10:44   13:44   3h 0m     7%             13:57 13½L
GW   12:01   15:21   3h 20m   14%             15:35 14L
GW   12:56   16:22   3h 26m   40%             16:31 9L
GW   15:03   18:21   3h 18m   7%             18:32 11½L
GW   16:02   19:24   3h 22m   8%             19:35 11L
GW   16:57   20:39   3h 42m   7%             20:51 12L
GW   18:03   21:24   3h 21m   27%             21:33 9½L
GW   19:42   23:41   3h 59m   18%         00:09 28L

Data from http://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk

[LiskeardRich]

I've been noticing at Liskeard the "up" is often 5 minutes or more late by reaching here, fairly early in its journey. This is observations and often doesn't reflect what the CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) is showing.

[IndustryInsider]

Pretty worthless having a 3h 00m headline timing if it's only achieved 7% of the time.

[bobm]

I wonder what the figures are from the South West to Reading?  A lot of delays are incurred with signalling problems that have plagued the stretch from Reading to Paddington.

(Not that the Berks & Hants doesn't have its moments!)

[Adelante_CCT]

Roughly 10 minutes late on average at Reading with around 50% 'on time' margin for those same services.

[old original]

Quite a few "slippery rails" over the past couple of weeks

[SandTEngineer]

I wonder what the figures are from the South West to Reading?  A lot of delays are incurred with signalling problems that have plagued the stretch from Reading to Paddington.

(Not that the Berks & Hants doesn't have its moments!)

Not much better:

TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)       Scheduled Times       % Arrivals       Actual Arrival
        d PLY^» (Plymouth - next trains)   a RDG^▸ (Rail Delivery Group, or Reading station, depending on context)   Dur           On Time         Average
GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about)   05:53   08:32   2h 39m   2%                   08:42 10L
GW   05:30   08:47   3h 17m   2%                   08:55 8½L
GW   05:09   09:14   4h 5m     34%                 09:21 7L
GW   06:55   09:32   2h 37m   0%                   09:42 10½L
GW   07:48   10:50   3h 2m     2%                   11:00 10L
GW   08:53   11:50   2h 57m   14%                 11:58 8½L
GW   09:48   13:08   3h 20m   23%                 13:18 10L
GW   10:44   13:16   2h 32m   25%                 13:26 10½L
GW   12:01   14:50   2h 49m   10%                 15:02 12½L
GW   12:56   15:49   2h 53m   2%                   15:58 9L
GW   15:03   17:49   2h 46m   21%                 17:57 8½L
GW   16:02   18:51   2h 49m   2%                   19:01 10½L
GW   16:57   20:08   3h 11m   2%                   20:21 13½L
GW   18:03   20:50   2h 47m   2%                   21:02 12½L
GW   19:42   23:04   3h 22m   8%                   23:11 7½L

Data once again from http://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk

[bobm]

Agreed, although there won't be the padding built into the Reading times as there is at a final destination all too often.

[Adelante_CCT]

Roughly 10 minutes late on average at Reading with around 50% 'on time' margin for those same services.

Sorry, I was referring to 'on time' up until 5 minutes late, rather than exactly on time as has been posted by SandT, which shows very grim reading indeed.

[SandTEngineer]

I've carried out a similar exercise for Bristol TM^▸ (Train Manager, or Ticket Machine, or Temple Meads (Bristol), depending on context), Cardiff and Cheltenham and the figures are at least 50% better than those for the Southwest.  Think that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)/NR^» (Network Rail - home page) need to do some work here

[SandTEngineer]

Despite the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) overall November 2016 performance figures (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=16825.30) the actuals for the far Southwest seem to be getting worse.

Figures for the past four weeks:

TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)  Scheduled Times             % Arrivals  Actual Arrival
         d PLY^» (Plymouth - next trains)   a PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)   Dur           On Time    Average
GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about)   05:53   09:00   3h 7m     0%              09:25   25L
GW   05:30   09:21   3h 51m   10%            09:41   20½L
GW   05:09   09:44   4h 35m   20%            09:57   13½L
GW   06:55   10:03   3h 8m     5%              10:28   25½L
GW   07:48   11:24   3h 36m   0%              11:39   15½L
GW   08:53   12:24   3h 31m   20%            12:38   14L
GW   09:48   13:39   3h 51m   0%              13:59   20½L
GW   10:44   13:44   3h 0m     5%              14:14   30L
GW   12:01   15:21   3h 20m   15%            15:41   20½L
GW   12:56   16:22   3h 26m   25%            16:36   14L
GW   15:03   18:21   3h 18m   5%              18:35   14L
GW   16:02   19:24   3h 22m   5%              19:42   18L
GW   16:57   20:39   3h 42m   5%              21:03   24½L
GW   18:03   21:24   3h 21m   16%            21:42   18L
GW   19:42   23:41   3h 59m   33%            23:44   3½L

Data from http://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks for posting those latest figures, SandTEngineer. 

[SandTEngineer]

Here are the latest figures. Monday to Friday data for the last 8 weeks (mid-January to mid-March 2017):

TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)       Scheduled Times            % Arrivals     Actual Arrival
        d PLY^» (Plymouth - next trains)    a PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)   Dur             On Time        Average
GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about)   05:53   09:00   3h 7m         5%                09:13   13L
GW   05:30   09:21   3h 51m       15%              09:31   10L
GW   05:09   09:42   4h 33m       17%              09:49   7½L
GW   06:55   10:01   3h 6m         0%                10:15   14½L
GW   07:48   11:24   3h 36m       41%              11:31   7L
GW   08:53   12:21   3h 28m       13%              12:26   5L
GW   09:48   13:40   3h 52m       55%              13:45   5L
GW   10:44   13:44   3h 0m         30%              13:53   9L
GW   12:01   15:21   3h 20m       46%              15:24   3L
GW   12:56   16:22   3h 26m       48%              16:23   1½L
GW   15:03   18:21   3h 18m       32%              18:24   3½L
GW   16:02   19:21   3h 19m       20%              19:29   8½L
GW   16:57   20:39   3h 42m       25%              20:44   5½L
GW   18:03   21:22   3h 19m       28%              21:30   8½L
GW   19:44   23:41   3h 57m       38%              23:45   4½L

Data from http://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk

[IndustryInsider]

The first time, during your date periods, that a train (only the one mind) has been on time more often than not!

[SandTEngineer]

I've been doing some research into where the delays are occuring and, not supprisingly, its mostly poor regulating between Slough and Paddington.  It would appear that the signalling system 'Automatic Route Setting' (ARS^▸ (Automatic Route Setting)) equipment is not functioning to its optimum and this is resulting in conflicting movements being signalled that it eventually takes up to 15 minutes to settle down again only for the next conflict to trigger it all off again.  If you watch the Paddington map on Open Train Times (http://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/d3_1) you can see this happen. Quite often you will see Paddington departing trains being signalled down Line 2 when Line 1 is free, resulting in no alternative to Line 3 for inbound services.  Line 3 has some very restrictive signalling controls that were implemented at the time of the Ladbroke Grove accident and quite often trains are held as far out as Old Oak Common waiting for Line 3 to become available when Line 2 could have been available.

Signallers are instructed not to intervene as they are at risk of discipliniary action if they delay other trains by altering the priorities.

So looks like we are stuck with very rarely having an 'on time' arrival at Paddington (and of course, its all likely to get much worse in 18 months time)