Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[Timmer]

It’s looking like bad news again if you are travelling from/to South Wales with cancellations of Newport-Paddington services from this afternoon onwards coupled with engineering work between Cardiff and Newport.

Let’s hope GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) can find some drivers and get services reinstated later.

[TaplowGreen]

It’s looking like bad news again if you are travelling from/to South Wales with cancellations of Newport-Paddington services from this afternoon onwards coupled with engineering work between Cardiff and Newport.

Let’s hope GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) can find some drivers and get services reinstated later.

As this now seems to be a weekly event on Sundays, surely there is a case for GWR planning/sourcing some bus replacement, Newport to Cardiff at least as a contingency/mitigation rather than just leaving people stranded for hours? I can't see there being any availability problems on Sundays?

(............stands back and takes cover from the "ooooooooooooos gunna pay for it?" brigade!)

[Timmer]

Let’s hope GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) can find some drivers and get services reinstated later.

Well they didn’t and some Weston/Bristol-Pad and Pad-Bristol/Weston were added to the cancellations list so another poor weekend for IC^▸ (Inter City) services. Can’t blame the school holidays for this weekend’s canned services.

West local services are doing well though I’m pleased to report 

[Jason]

If my SMS alerts are correct then the following services that cover the Paddington to Reading portion of my journey are all canned due to lack of crew:
18:12
18:29
18:42
18:52
18:59

[Sixty3Closure]

Mine too - guess that's going to make the 18.19 cosy if you're going to Twyford or Maidenhead.

Annoyingly (and as per usual) nothing on the website when I left work though.

[TonyK]

Looking at the 20 cancellations listed on Journey Check, I wonder if there were drivers available to cover all the services affected by the signalling problems, or whether that was used to hide bad news?

[phile]

When people tweet GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) re cancellations due to lack of traincrew, the copy and paste reply says "staff are rostered".
If questioned further, the reply then is that they are not sure of the actual specifics.

[TaplowGreen]

Tonight's selection (so far) - all cancelled due to shortage of drivers - always seems to be worse on a Friday, wonder why?


15:32 Didcot Parkway to London Paddington due 17:03
16:22 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 19:26
16:32 Reading to London Paddington due 17:33
16:45 London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington due 17:06
17:12 London Paddington to Reading due 18:08
17:18 Hayes & Harlington to London Paddington due 17:40
17:45 London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington due 18:07
18:01 Didcot Parkway to London Paddington due 19:31
18:18 Hayes & Harlington to London Paddington due 18:40
18:18 Reading to London Paddington due 19:15
18:45 London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington due 19:06
19:18 Hayes & Harlington to London Paddington due 19:40
19:27 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway due 20:50
19:42 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 22:29
19:42 London Paddington to Reading due 20:38
20:15 London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington due 20:36
20:48 Hayes & Harlington to London Paddington due 21:10
21:15 London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington due 21:36
21:48 Hayes & Harlington to London Paddington due 22:10
22:27 London Paddington to Reading due 23:29

[ellendune]

Tonight's selection (so far) - all cancelled due to shortage of drivers - always seems to be worse on a Friday, wonder why?

I don't know. Why?

[TaplowGreen]

Tonight's selection (so far) - all cancelled due to shortage of drivers - always seems to be worse on a Friday, wonder why?


15:32 Didcot Parkway to London Paddington due 17:03
16:22 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 19:26
16:32 Reading to London Paddington due 17:33
16:45 London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington due 17:06
17:12 London Paddington to Reading due 18:08
17:18 Hayes & Harlington to London Paddington due 17:40
17:45 London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington due 18:07
18:01 Didcot Parkway to London Paddington due 19:31
18:18 Hayes & Harlington to London Paddington due 18:40
18:18 Reading to London Paddington due 19:15
18:45 London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington due 19:06
19:18 Hayes & Harlington to London Paddington due 19:40
19:27 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway due 20:50
19:42 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 22:29
19:42 London Paddington to Reading due 20:38
20:15 London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington due 20:36
20:48 Hayes & Harlington to London Paddington due 21:10
21:15 London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington due 21:36
21:48 Hayes & Harlington to London Paddington due 22:10
22:27 London Paddington to Reading due 23:29

..and some more, of the final Friday night LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) services cancelled, same reason.....how are people supposed to get home? (.....a question the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) twitter service is struggling to answer)

23:12 London Paddington to Reading due 00:13
23:27 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway due 00:56
23:42 London Paddington to Reading due 00:22

[GBM]

..and some more, of the final Friday night LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) services cancelled, same reason.....how are people supposed to get home? (.....a question the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) twitter service is struggling to answer)

23:12 London Paddington to Reading due 00:13
23:27 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway due 00:56
23:42 London Paddington to Reading due 00:22
[/quote]
It was always understood in Kernowland that whatever else was cancelled, the last bus services of the day HAD to run, no matter what. 

[Timmer]

I see the last train from London to Chippenham, Bath and Bristol TM^‡(resolve) the 21.32 is cancelled again. They really should make a priority of being able to provide train crew for this train being the last one of the day.

[phile]

One of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) cut and paste Twitter replies.

We do have staff on standby but as train services start in a number of locations across the network we can't always get them to where they are needed in time.

Another one says:

Staff are rostered in but I don't know the actual specifics

[TaplowGreen]

One of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) cut and paste Twitter replies.

We do have staff on standby but as train services start in a number of locations across the network we can't always get them to where they are needed in time.

Another one says:

Staff are rostered in but I don't know the actual specifics

It's a great shame that no senior manager within GWR has the courage or integrity to come out and publicly explain the reason for this ongoing farce, preferring instead to leave the grunts on the frontline (digital or otherwise) to take the stick and trot out standard non answers (which no doubt they have been briefed to offer), it is the very nadir of Leadership and the culture clearly comes from the very top down.

Hardly what one expects from the "Rail Operator of the Year" 

[Timmer]

One of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) cut and paste Twitter replies.

We do have staff on standby but as train services start in a number of locations across the network we can't always get them to where they are needed in time.

Another one says:

Staff are rostered in but I don't know the actual specifics

Other times they are just plain honest with no spin:

Hello there. The cancellation is because of a shortage of train crew. I am sorry for the disruption to your journey.

TG apologies for being pedantic but GWR were awarded “Rail Business of the Year” crazy I know. The rail industry must have pretty low standards handing an award like that for the level of service provided at present.

“Rail Operator of the Year” was awarded to Chiltern, somewhat more deserved IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion).