Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

…….here we go again...……..


Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Swindon


Due to a shortage of train crew between London Paddington and Swindon:

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Customer Advice
Owing to a shortage of train crew there will be reduction in the frequency of train services between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads / London Paddington and Bristol Parkway / London Paddington and Cheltenham Spa in both directions. This is likely to be the case for the remainder of the day.

Intending customers are advised to use the 'JourneyCheck' section of the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website for the latest updates on cancelled, altered and reinstated train services during the day.

Love this update! 

Kindly note that at certain times this may result in successive train cancellations along the London Paddington - Reading - Didcot Parkway - Swindon corridor.

[Timmer]

If people haven’t got the message by now that travelling GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) on Sundays is a complete lottery. Even if your train does show up you will likely be sharing it with those whose train was cancelled earlier leading to sardine like conditions.

And still GWR bombard us with the Famous Five advertising campaign encouraging us to go on ‘a great adventure’ on their trains.

[Timmer]

I like this one....

11:18 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 13:30 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Additional Information
----snip----
Customers travelling from Cheltenham Spa or Gloucester to Swindon, Reading and London Paddington should travel via Bristol Parkway.

Journey times will be extended by up to 60 minutes.

Ok, so the next train to arrive Bristol Parkway first from Cheltenham is the 12:10 which arrives Bristol Parkway at 12:39, not bad as the next service to Paddington is at 12:45 so that shouldn't delay me too much  .......... Oh...

12:45 Bristol Parkway to London Paddington due 14:43 will be cancelled.

Oh well, I'll just wait an hour for the next service from Bristol Parkway instead......

13:45 Bristol Parkway to London Paddington due 15:40 will be cancelled.

They need to revise that advice  Best to stay on the train and travel to Temple Meads. Of course there will be those due to travel on the 1245 from South Wales and Parkway joining the 1239 train. I can’t imagine the chaos at stations this causes when everyone tries to get on an already packed train. I feel for the station staff I really do. Perhaps it would be good for Mark Hopwood and his senior management to help out at Bristol Parkway today.

[Adelante_CCT]

Do any railway MD's / Senior management come out at weekends?





(And yes I know certain ones aren't often seen on weekdays either)

[grahame]

Do any railway MD's / Senior management come out at weekends?

My understanding is that there is a member of very senior management on call to deal with any out of the ordinary issues at "unusual" times ... the specific data I have relates to the Christmas and New Year period, but I'm pretty sure it applies at other times too - and I expect I could name about half a dozen people who would / will be on the rota.

But they are to deal with "out of the ordinary" issues.  Sadly, this weekend's meltdowns are ordinary.

[martyjon]

Do any railway MD's / Senior management come out at weekends?

In the past when I regularly visited Cardiff at weekends I very often saw the MD, I think, of Wales and Borders Trains, (you know the outfit that was the other part of Wales and West Trains when they split and the other half became Wessex Trains and Valley Lines was still an independent operation) Chris Gibbs out on the frontline at Cardiff Central assisting with the despatch of trains, particularly after an event at the Millenium Stadium, assisting passengers with their enquiries AND PICKING UP LITTER, REMOVING USED COFFEE CUPS FROM PLATFORM SEATS and I thought at the time that he was a shinning example of a top dog getting his hands "dirty". Chris of course went on to become MD of a VT^▸ (Virgin Trains - former franchises) franchise succeeding another Chris, Chris Green, he of Network South-East fame. 

[TaplowGreen]

Do any railway MD's / Senior management come out at weekends?

In the past when I regularly visited Cardiff at weekends I very often saw the MD, I think, of Wales and Borders Trains, (you know the outfit that was the other part of Wales and West Trains when they split and the other half became Wessex Trains and Valley Lines was still an independent operation) Chris Gibbs out on the frontline at Cardiff Central assisting with the despatch of trains, particularly after an event at the Millenium Stadium, assisting passengers with their enquiries AND PICKING UP LITTER, REMOVING USED COFFEE CUPS FROM PLATFORM SEATS and I thought at the time that he was a shinning example of a top dog getting his hands "dirty". Chris of course went on to become MD of a VT^▸ (Virgin Trains - former franchises) franchise succeeding another Chris, Chris Green, he of Network South-East fame. 

That's an excellent example of  the difference between Leadership & Management. In contrast, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) seems to be over supplied with the latter, and desperately lacking the former.

[Timmer]

That's an excellent example of  the difference between Leadership & Management. In contrast, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) seems to be over supplied with the latter, and desperately lacking the former.

It would be useful if they could all drive trains.

[TaplowGreen]

That's an excellent example of  the difference between Leadership & Management. In contrast, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) seems to be over supplied with the latter, and desperately lacking the former.

It would be useful if they could all drive trains.

Careful! Don't let the Unions hear that, they'll have everyone out on strike! 😃

[trainer]

If I consult Journey Check on the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) site at this moment on Sunday 1st July (13:50) I see that there is a Good Service.  I feel one could have a semantic discussion at this point as the 14:00 to Bristol is cancelled 'due to an issue with the train crew' (Real Time Trains). So are the 15:00 to Taunton and 15:30 to Bristol.  If management rely on the same information as pax then there's no need to be out on a hot day explaining and the front line staff are left to give the glad tidings.


Edited to include missing word.

[CMRail]

20 cancellations today. 18 due to a shortage of train crew. None of those are the Cheltenham line, however 14:00-18:00 a few services between Paddington and Bristol/Cardiff/Swansea are cancelled. The rest are lines in Cornwall.

I could say this is an improvment from this time (two/three) weeks ago?

[grahame]

I could say this is an improvment from this time (two/three) weeks ago?

Certainly an improvement for us [TransWilts] over yesterday, where after the 13:32 round trip only the 21:06 from Swindon actually ran as far as I can tell.

[Timmer]

I could say this is an improvment from this time (two/three) weeks ago?

It is unless you so happen to be booked on one of the cancelled services or the one that follows the cancelled train.

I can’t begin to imagine what service will be offered if England reach the World Cup Final next Sunday.

[NickB]

It’s coming home... via replacement bus service.

[Wizard]

If England are in the World Cup Final I imagine the number of travellers will reduce greatly.