Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

I should imagine GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will be facing a pretty chunky compensation bill later this week when all those taxi receipts start coming in for fares from Plymouth to West Cornwall.

[phile]

A tweeted reply from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to a punter today:-

Crew are rostered in to cover all timetabled services but if there is an absence and we can't get suitable cover in time services can be affected. Apologies for the effect on your journey. Phil.

If this situation got as much publicity in the Media as GTR and Northern, Mark Hopwood would be forced out of his bunker.  He seems to be well in with a Cotswold Group but not interested in the remainder of his Network.

[Timmer]

A tweeted reply from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to a punter today:-

Crew are rostered in to cover all timetabled services but if there is an absence and we can't get suitable cover in time services can be affected. Apologies for the effect on your journey. Phil.

If this situation got as much publicity in the Media as GTR and Northern, Mark Hopwood would be forced out of his bunker.  He seems to be well in with a Cotswold Group but not interested in the remainder of his Network.

As I say, if the amount of cancellations and services running short that happen every Sunday took place during the working week, Mark Hopwood would be feeling a bit of the pressure that his colleagues who run GTR and Northern are facing regardless of who is at fault here. 

[TaplowGreen]

A tweeted reply from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to a punter today:-

Crew are rostered in to cover all timetabled services but if there is an absence and we can't get suitable cover in time services can be affected. Apologies for the effect on your journey. Phil.

If this situation got as much publicity in the Media as GTR and Northern, Mark Hopwood would be forced out of his bunker.  He seems to be well in with a Cotswold Group but not interested in the remainder of his Network.

As I say, if the amount of cancellations and services running short that happen every Sunday took place during the working week, Mark Hopwood would be feeling a bit of the pressure that his colleagues who run GTR and Northern are facing regardless of who is at fault here. 

........they'd have to find him first! ☺

[bradshaw]

I received this reply to an email I sent last week.

Thank you for your email regarding GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Sunday service cancellations. I will ensure it is drawn to the attention of the Committee.
Deborah Courtney - Senior Committee Assistant - Transport Committee | House of Commons

[phile]

The cancellations on the Pompeys appear to have been due to shortage of guards as units seemed to be flying about to take up their next workings.

[TaplowGreen]

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/local-news/gwr-train-chaos-leaves-passengers-1710987

[sikejsudjek3]

So why couldn't they organise alternative transport? Given the repeated shocking state of GW^▸ (Great Western) Sunday services its not like this wasn't predictable. Glad it's finally hitting the press. This company needs a parliamentary foot up its managerial backside for its longstanding failure to run a Sunday service. The only mystery is how they've got away with it for so long 🙄

[IndustryInsider]

There’s the rub.  There will be no parliamentary kick up the backside because the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) are partly culpable.

[TaplowGreen]

There’s the rub.  There will be no parliamentary kick up the backside because the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) are partly culpable.

I see your point however GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) is 100% culpable for not having contingency planning in place for alternative transport when they know damn well that this ridiculous Sunday situation is ongoing.

To have a 2 and a half hour gap with no sort of service between Plymouth and Penzance as happened last night is an absolute disgrace as was the typical GWR attitude of "you're on your own"

Hopwood/GWR are only getting away with it at the moment because they are fortunate in even worse railway chaos elsewhere with Northern/GTR keeping the spotlight off them and I am sure he is down on his knees giving thanks for that on a daily basis - that won't last forever of course.


The implications for high summer weekends really don't bear thinking about.


I've got several trips to the Westcountry coming up in the next couple of months and whereas I would usually make the trip by train I'll be on the motorway this time as I have absolutely no faith in GWRs ability to get me back to the South East on a Sunday.

[a-driver]

Of the three down services cancelled between Plymouth and Penzance, one was a CrossCountry.  There was no coaches available for the companies to hire in. Most Sundays see some coaches parked in Plymouth station car park on standby. Coaches I suspect will become harder to source now we are getting closer to peak holiday season.

Is GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) an actual true franchise or is it run under a management contract?

Hopwood and GWR are only “getting away with it” because of the delays caused by the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and NR^» (Network Rail - home page) with electrification, subsequent late delivery of new trains and the DfT allocating trains to new operators far to quickly which doesn’t allow for any teething problems. Having to introduce new trains at this time of year is never going to go smoothly, GWR are  coming up to the high summer timetable when resources, both trains and crews are at their highest.  This is why there’s currently so many short formed IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train). The units are being used for training purposes.
Staffing levels aren’t the issue. Staffing at most depots, especially the HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) ones, are at their highest they’ve ever been.

[SandTEngineer]

Yesterdays problems weren't helped by the failure of 1V50 XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) HST^▸ (High Speed Train) 0900 Leeds to Plymouth that failed attempting to climb Rattery Bank west of Totnes, with one power car dead and 7 on.  I know this because I was sat on it at the time.  It took over an hour for the train to set back to Totnes and terminate in the Up Platform after a bit of shunting.  I must say, as a semi-retired railwayman with a little bit of "insider knowledge", that the customer service was extremely abysmal, with wrong information being given out on the PA^▸ (Public Address) by the Train Manager.  There were lots of confused passengers in the coach I was in so in the end I decided to stand up and tell them exactly what was going to happen in straightforward English, not in 'railway speak'.  Before anybody says it, I will acknowledge that such failures can be quite stressful for train staff, but they are trained to be professional in such circumstances are they not?...….

EDIT TO ADD^▸ (Automatic Dropping Device):… and just to add to everything, half way through the set back process the PASSCOM Disabled Toilet Alarm decided it had enough and started "DING-DONG - Will a member of train staff please go to Zone A - DING-DONG"  pause for 5 seconds then "DING-DONG - Will a member of train staff please go to Zone A - DING-DONG" pause for 5 seconds then....you guessed it.  It went on for 10 minutes until the Train Manager came on the PA when he could and said he had switched the PASSCOM Disabled Toilet Alarm off.  I didn't think that was very safe action on a stranded train!

[Western Pathfinder]

Sounds like the benefit of a wise head on older shoulders to me ,it's a shame that so much experience is missing from the network these days.

[a-driver]

Yesterdays problems weren't helped by the failure of 1V50 XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) HST^▸ (High Speed Train) 0900 Leeds to Plymouth that failed attempting to climb Rattery Bank west of Totnes, with one power car dead and 7 on.  I know this because I was sat on it at the time.  It took over an hour for the train to set back to Totnes and terminate in the Up Platform after a bit of shunting.  I must say, as a semi-retired railwayman with a little bit of "insider knowledge", that the customer service was extremely abysmal, with wrong information being given out on the PA^▸ (Public Address) by the Train Manager.  There were lots of confused passengers in the coach I was in so in the end I decided to stand up and tell them exactly what was going to happen in straightforward English, not in 'railway speak'.  When I have typed up my story I'll add it here.  before anybody says it, I will acknowledge that such failures can be quite stressful for train staff, but they are trained to be professional in such circumstances are they not?...….

I’m surprised it couldn’t make it on one power car unless the working power car was running with power notches out.
The problem you have in those situations is that train operator control, Network control and Network rail signallers all have different ideas on how to rectify the issue.  What one party may be happy to authorise another may not.  Long gone are the days when the train crew can tell everyone else what’s going to happen.  Frustratingly for train crew, we know how to sort the situation out within 10-15 minutes. Now it takes someone in an office an extra 45 minutes plus to come to the same conclusion!

[SandTEngineer]

Yesterdays problems weren't helped by the failure of 1V50 XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) HST^▸ (High Speed Train) 0900 Leeds to Plymouth that failed attempting to climb Rattery Bank west of Totnes, with one power car dead and 7 on.  I know this because I was sat on it at the time.  It took over an hour for the train to set back to Totnes and terminate in the Up Platform after a bit of shunting.  I must say, as a semi-retired railwayman with a little bit of "insider knowledge", that the customer service was extremely abysmal, with wrong information being given out on the PA^▸ (Public Address) by the Train Manager.  There were lots of confused passengers in the coach I was in so in the end I decided to stand up and tell them exactly what was going to happen in straightforward English, not in 'railway speak'.  When I have typed up my story I'll add it here.  before anybody says it, I will acknowledge that such failures can be quite stressful for train staff, but they are trained to be professional in such circumstances are they not?...….

I’m surprised it couldn’t make it on one power car unless the working power car was running with power notches out.
The problem you have in those situations is that train operator control, Network control and Network rail signallers all have different ideas on how to rectify the issue.  What one party may be happy to authorise another may not.  Long gone are the days when the train crew can tell everyone else what’s going to happen.  Frustratingly for train crew, we know how to sort the situation out within 10-15 minutes. Now it takes someone in an office an extra 45 minutes plus to come to the same conclusion!

Yes, so was I, but my understanding of the Devon Bank rules is that if one power car is out the banks must not be attempted from a station stop at Totnes.  However, speaking to the station supervisor at Totnes whilst waiting for the next service, he told me that rule has been superseded if the HST only has 7 coaches on.  Is that correct?