Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[TonyK]

I have a train driving friend whose on his fourth TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)/FOC^▸ (Freight Operating Company) since 2005. Of course that's only anecdotal data. I know not his reasons for changing employers.

Twenty quid a week would do it for me, especially if no passengers were involved.

[TaplowGreen]

Sundays cancellations so far.....I'm sure you can guess the reason.......a number of others "amended" too.

Seems GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) still don't have a handle on this, and we're some way from the holiday season yet.


09:15 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare due 11:20
10:37 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 12:45
11:49 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington due 14:02
12:37 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 14:46
13:25 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 15:02
13:46 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 15:53
14:45 London Paddington to Newport South Wales due 16:37
15:37 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 17:14
15:46 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 17:53
16:15 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 17:57
16:42 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 18:47
17:03 Newport South Wales to London Paddington due 19:00
17:07 London Paddington to Bedwyn due 18:27
17:15 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 18:57
18:54 Bedwyn to London Paddington due 20:17
19:46 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 21:54

[Wizard]

Father’s Day maybe?

[Timmer]

Father’s Day maybe?

Quite possibly yes, but compared to this time last year...

08:27 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 10:43
08:30 London Paddington to Bristol Parkway due 10:10
09:00 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare due 11:18
10:30 London Paddington to Bristol Parkway due 12:10
10:34 Bristol Parkway to London Paddington due 12:20
10:34 London Paddington to Hereford due 14:07
11:18 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 13:30
11:30 London Paddington to Bristol Parkway due 13:15
11:54 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington due 14:24
12:00 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare due 14:37
12:23 Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach due 12:58
12:27 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 14:46
12:34 Bristol Parkway to London Paddington due 14:20
13:12 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads due 13:54
13:20 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington due 15:54
13:30 London Paddington to Bristol Parkway due 15:15
13:34 Bristol Parkway to London Paddington due 15:15
14:22 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 16:47
14:32 Hereford to London Paddington due 18:09
15:00 London Paddington to Taunton due 18:01
15:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 16:54
15:00 Penzance to London Paddington due 20:28
15:27 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 17:18
15:30 London Paddington to Bristol Parkway due 17:15
15:33 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 17:45
15:34 Bristol Parkway to London Paddington due 17:20
15:47 Brighton to Bristol Temple Meads due 19:09
16:00 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 17:58
16:22 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 18:45
16:27 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 18:18
16:28 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 19:07
16:30 London Paddington to Bristol Parkway due 18:15
16:34 Bristol Parkway to London Paddington due 18:20
17:23 Exmouth to Paignton due 18:49
17:27 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare due 19:57
17:30 London Paddington to Bristol Parkway due 19:15
17:33 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 19:45
17:34 Bristol Parkway to London Paddington due 19:10
17:50 Paignton to Exmouth due 19:18
18:00 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 19:56
18:22 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 20:45
18:30 London Paddington to Bristol Parkway due 20:15
18:34 Bristol Parkway to London Paddington due 20:10
18:38 Hereford to London Paddington due 22:07
18:54 Paignton to Exmouth due 20:24
18:56 Taunton to London Paddington due 21:53
19:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 20:51
19:30 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 21:25
19:32 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 21:45
19:34 Bristol Parkway to London Paddington due 21:10
19:53 Paignton to Exmouth due 21:25
20:09 Weymouth to Bristol Temple Meads due 22:37
20:22 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 22:35
20:26 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington due 23:03
20:28 Exmouth to Paignton due 21:49
20:30 London Paddington to Bristol Parkway due 22:10
20:34 Bristol Parkway to London Paddington due 22:13
20:53 Bristol Temple Meads to Clifton Down due 21:06
21:23 Clifton Down to Bristol Temple Meads due 21:38
21:30 London Paddington to Bristol Parkway due 23:10
21:30 Exmouth to Paignton due 22:56
21:53 Paignton to Exmouth due 23:20
22:00 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 23:57
22:05 Bristol Parkway to Bristol Temple Meads due 22:21
23:00 Paignton to Exeter St Davids due 23:52
23:03 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 01:06
23:10 Bristol Temple Meads to Weston-Super-Mare due 23:43
23:29 Exmouth to Exeter St Davids due 00:04
23:47 Weston-Super-Mare to Bristol Temple Meads due 00:20

[GBM]

A very interesting comment, surely?
On journeycheck
https://www.journeycheck.com/greatwesternrailway/
11:00 Penzance to London Paddington due 16:21
11:00 Penzance to London Paddington due 16:21 will be started from Plymouth.
It will no longer call at Penzance, St Erth, Camborne, Redruth, Truro, St Austell, Par, Bodmin Parkway and Liskeard.
This is due to a shortage of trains because of extra safety inspections.
Further Information

If you hold a valid single, return, or weekly ticket, you will be able to claim compensation for delays of 15 minutes or more. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).com/DelayRepay
Last Updated:16/06/2019 05:10

[broadgage]

Is "extra safety inspections" of trains, the new term for "we don't have enough trains in working order" perhaps it is considered to sound better than the old "more trains than usual needing repairs"

Some years ago "safety inspection of the track" started to replace the old "track defect"

The logical next step would be "safety checks of the signalling system" instead of "signalling fault"

[Wizard]

If I was to hazard a guess, the ‘safety inspections’ referred to would have been of the overhead line equipment yesterday evening on the B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury) line, which could well have caused a train that should have ended at Penzance last night to have actually finished at Plymouth.

[Timmer]

A good post from member ‘jimm’ this morning over on RailForums as to the possible reason for the cancellations yesterday:

It might have had something to do with the closure of the line between Newport, Cardiff and Bridgend yesterday, with Swansea crews perhaps not rushing to volunteer to work a Sunday and then spend large parts of their day riding in taxis along the M4 in South Wales.

By the look of it not enough staff at Bristol and Paddington then volunteered to cover what was still running to Newport, plus the Bristol/Weston and Cheltenham services.

[Clan Line]

Too many drivers -   I don't believe that !

[nickswift99]

Some peak services caped this evening from Paddington due to shortage of drivers.

[TaplowGreen]

Some peak services caped this evening from Paddington due to shortage of drivers.

Yeah I noticed that. I expect they're at Royal Ascot 😉

[eightonedee]

I was caught up in this today.

I arrived at Reading at about 18-55 hoping to get the 18-57 Electrostar stopper from Didcot. Real Train Times (in the absence of Journey Check which had gone AWOL^▸ (Absent Without Leave)) showed it on its way from Twyford, but it was shown as "Cancelled" when I arrived - the stock was on Platform 13, empty. Enquiries of the train crew about to take it to the depot confirmed that they did not have a driver available, and I was told that "management" had been aware of this problem for weeks.

The next train was the 19-20 - a stopping train starting at Reading, a Turbo service, all stops to Didcot, then Culham and Oxford. Until May, this was a 2 car service, often from Platform 3. However it is now a 6 car, but 3 locked out of service, train. Why? Because it calls at Culham, which cannot take a train this long, so the second half of the train is an empty stock working on the back of a service train (why not announce that travelers to Culham should travel in the front of the train, like they used to?).

Today there was a 3 car train at 12, ready to be the "empty" portion. The incoming train to form the other half arrived - today, with all the passengers from the cancelled 18-57 waiting, it was just a 2 car Turbo, and one of those gutted of many of its seats at one cab end for the cycle/luggage rack, and also in the main saloon for the second rack. As they buffered up, the rear train was locked out of use as usual.

I counted 202 passengers who had to crowd into the front 2 coaches (I think 170 seats max), while behind then there were over 250 empty seats locked out of use trundling along behind us in the 3 car 165 we could not use....

You couldn't make it up  - do they not like passengers?


 

[IndustryInsider]

Appreciating the frustration entirely, but this is the sort of thing that used to happen regularly. Nowadays with very few trains booked to call at Appleford or Culham of anything more than 3-cars without SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) it is, at least, a very rare occurrence these days.

Time to empty out and lock the rear set out of use (around 5 minutes) would need to be built into the schedule at either Reading or Didcot for the whole train to be in use. 

You could certainly argue that was worthwhile doing, or accepting that the combination of events this evening (previous train cancelled and this one a 2-car at the front) is worth incurring a delay at either Reading or Didcot for.

[TonyK]

Too many drivers -   I don't believe that !

Not too many drivers, just the wrong sort! There was a report on the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Spotlight about the lack of female drivers. Part of that featured a lady who drives IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) now, saying what a good job it is, and that doesn't require any skill a woman can't have. Then there was an interview with a lady who was the first woman train driver in the West country. Porn stuck on her locker, sexist insults, other crews refused to work with her, and the union wouldn't do anything to help.

Comrades, actions have consequences.

[phile]

Too many drivers -   I don't believe that !

Not too many drivers, just the wrong sort! There was a report on the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Spotlight about the lack of female drivers. Part of that featured a lady who drives IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) now, saying what a good job it is, and that doesn't require any skill a woman can't have. Then there was an interview with a lady who was the first woman train driver in the West country. Porn stuck on her locker, sexist insults, other crews refused to work with her, and the union wouldn't do anything to help.

Comrades, actions have consequences.

If women don't apply. so be it.    Just don't discriminate against any who do.