Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

Signs that service is returning to normal.....Sunday so cancellations due to staff shortage....late summer BBQ?...
....hardly the way to attract people back to the railway 🤦‍♂️


13:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 16:31
17:00 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 19:30
18:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 19:38
19:07 Plymouth to London Paddington due 22:45
20:46 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill due 23:03
21:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 23:01

[GBM]

Is it me?

This week has not been good for the Cornish branches with 'shortage of train crew'.
Several local services downgraded to 2 or 3 coaches, and IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)'s also downsized.

It may be half term down here, but it's certainly not B-B-Q weather 

[IndustryInsider]

Is it me?

This week has not been good for the Cornish branches with 'shortage of train crew'.
Several local services downgraded to 2 or 3 coaches, and IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)'s also downsized.

It may be half term down here, but it's certainly not B-B-Q weather 

I don't think it's you.

A very popular week for annual leave requests, with quite a few people denied leave.  The usual race to get rid of all annual leave before the end of the year is on, so I would expect the usual cancellations in the run up to Christmas, assuming the "94%" timetable continues to operate and especially if the virus continues to spread and more staff are self-isolating.

[GBM]

Staff shortages continue apace unfortunately each week.
In our establishment we have three guys who are waiting for the (train) driver manager interview, having passed all the exams in the run up to that.  They've been waiting for nigh on a year, and with C-19 will have to wait much longer.
There will be others in other jobs also waiting for that interview.

On a different note, it's saddening to also note 'more trains than usual wanting repair'.
Many services having reduced carriages.
Surely they've had sufficient repair time!
Yes, they all require routine services, but there seems a constant stock shortage whilst units are taken off the road for routines.

[TaplowGreen]

All cancelled due to staff shortage today;

06:33 Plymouth to Gunnislake due 07:19
07:29 Gunnislake to Plymouth due 08:14
09:21 Par to Newquay due 10:13
10:23 Newquay to Par due 11:12
12:36 Liskeard to Looe due 13:04
13:06 Looe to Liskeard due 13:34
13:36 Liskeard to Looe due 14:05
14:08 Looe to Liskeard due 14:33
15:40 Liskeard to Looe due 16:13
16:00 Cardiff Central to Taunton due 18:01
16:16 Looe to Liskeard due 16:42
16:55 Exmouth to Paignton due 18:31
17:00 Cardiff Central to Taunton due 19:02
18:08 Taunton to Cardiff Central due 20:25
18:52 Paignton to Exeter St Davids due 19:43
19:20 Paignton to Exeter St Davids due 20:05
20:37 Exeter St Davids to Exmouth due 21:10
21:00 Cardiff Central to Exeter St Davids due 23:37
21:12 Paignton to Exeter St Davids due 22:09
21:17 Par to Plymouth due 22:10
21:24 Exmouth to Paignton due 22:59
21:30 Cardiff Central to Bristol Temple Meads due 22:23
21:30 Plymouth to Gunnislake due 22:16
22:20 Gunnislake to Exeter St Davids due 00:20
22:20 Paignton to Exeter St Davids due 23:14
22:40 Exeter St Davids to Exmouth due 23:14
22:43 Taunton to Bristol Temple Meads due 23:47
23:19 Exmouth to Exeter St Davids due 23:50
23:20 Paignton to Exeter St Davids due 00:11
00:01 Paignton to Exeter St Davids due 00:47

[phile]

All cancelled due to staff shortage today;

06:33 Plymouth to Gunnislake due 07:19
07:29 Gunnislake to Plymouth due 08:14
09:21 Par to Newquay due 10:13
10:23 Newquay to Par due 11:12
12:36 Liskeard to Looe due 13:04
13:06 Looe to Liskeard due 13:34
13:36 Liskeard to Looe due 14:05
14:08 Looe to Liskeard due 14:33
15:40 Liskeard to Looe due 16:13
16:00 Cardiff Central to Taunton due 18:01
16:16 Looe to Liskeard due 16:42
16:55 Exmouth to Paignton due 18:31
17:00 Cardiff Central to Taunton due 19:02
18:08 Taunton to Cardiff Central due 20:25
18:52 Paignton to Exeter St Davids due 19:43
19:20 Paignton to Exeter St Davids due 20:05
20:37 Exeter St Davids to Exmouth due 21:10
21:00 Cardiff Central to Exeter St Davids due 23:37
21:12 Paignton to Exeter St Davids due 22:09
21:17 Par to Plymouth due 22:10
21:24 Exmouth to Paignton due 22:59
21:30 Cardiff Central to Bristol Temple Meads due 22:23
21:30 Plymouth to Gunnislake due 22:16
22:20 Gunnislake to Exeter St Davids due 00:20
22:20 Paignton to Exeter St Davids due 23:14
22:40 Exeter St Davids to Exmouth due 23:14
22:43 Taunton to Bristol Temple Meads due 23:47
23:19 Exmouth to Exeter St Davids due 23:50
23:20 Paignton to Exeter St Davids due 00:11
00:01 Paignton to Exeter St Davids due 00:47

And quite a few more short distancing

[bobm]

Some services now re-instated.

[GBM]

Staff shortage continues apace -
24 Train Cancellations
09:36 Liskeard to Looe due 10:05
09:54 Basingstoke to Reading due 10:19
10:08 Looe to Liskeard due 10:34
11:15 Truro to Falmouth Docks due 11:39
11:36 Liskeard to Looe due 12:05
11:45 Falmouth Docks to Truro due 12:13
11:45 Truro to Falmouth Docks due 12:09
12:08 Looe to Liskeard due 12:33
12:15 Falmouth Docks to Truro due 12:43
12:45 Truro to Falmouth Docks due 13:09
13:15 Falmouth Docks to Truro due 13:43
14:16 Par to Newquay due 15:08
14:18 St Erth to St Ives due 14:29
14:33 St Ives to St Erth due 14:44
15:10 Newquay to Par due 15:58
15:57 Bristol Parkway to Exeter St Davids due 17:09
17:36 London Paddington to Paignton due 21:16
17:58 Exeter St Davids to Bristol Parkway due 19:08
18:07 London Paddington to Frome due 20:07
18:30 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 20:32
18:37 London Paddington to Plymouth due 22:12
20:15 Frome to Westbury due 20:25
20:59 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 23:00
21:36 Paignton to Newton Abbot due 21:52

5 services terminating short
5 Other Train Service Updates
08:00 Cardiff Central to Penzance due 13:39
08:27 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour due 11:51
12:15 Penzance to London Paddington due 17:29
18:04 London Paddington to Penzance due 23:07
19:04 London Paddington to Penzance due 00:35

And short formations
05:58 Penzance to London Paddington due 11:29
10:32 Reading to Basingstoke due 11:00
11:23 Basingstoke to Reading due 11:49
12:07 Reading to Basingstoke due 12:34
12:53 Basingstoke to Reading due 13:18
13:32 Reading to Basingstoke due 13:59
14:23 Basingstoke to Reading due 14:48
15:05 Reading to Basingstoke due 15:32
15:54 Basingstoke to Reading due 16:18
16:33 Reading to Basingstoke due 17:03
17:18 Basingstoke to Reading due 17:47

[TaplowGreen]

Cancelling/terminating short long distance services to the Westcountry in this way is hardly likely to attract people back to the railway, especially as we're still a couple of weeks from Christmas - people will be asking themselves if it happens now, what will it be like in 2 weeks time and likely reaching for the car keys instead.

Is there any news on the activities of the newly appointed Christmas Travel Tsar yet?

[GBM]

Even more cancellations today (well, it IS the weekend!) and even more short form and short terminators.

As said earlier, we have 3 staff waiting for the train driver manager interview before (hopefully) commencing driver training!

[grahame]

Even more cancellations today (well, it IS the weekend!) and even more short form and short terminators.

A good morning to test clickable maps 

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

The GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website is asserting that there is that there is a "Good service on most of our network", despite the fact that there are currently 43 trains cancelled for all or part of their journey.

What does it take for there NOT to be a "Good service on most of our network"?

[grahame]

The GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website is asserting that there is that there is a "Good service on most of our network", despite the fact that there are currently 43 trains cancelled for all or part of their journey.

An educated guess ... GWR is scheduled to run 1600 trains per day.  43 are cancelled / part running.   That's just 1 in 37 effected - in other words, 36 trains out of 37 are running as timetabled which (with the proviso that you need to consider the timetable to be "good") has to be considered a good service for over 97% of trains today.  From a passenger viewpoint, with people making return not single journeys and often needing to connect along the way, you're perhaps at the low 90% level, and for some passengers there may be degradation because of crowds (?) from a cancelled train making the following one less than socially distanced comfortable.

Operationally good service  - 97% (even with all today's issues)
Customer good service - 90%

We do tend to report exceptions here ... and I note 4 out of 16 trains cancelled at Melksham today - operationally 75% rather than the overall 97%.   From a passenger viewpoint, someone has made the best of a bad job (thank you) - running the busiest afternoon round trip between the cancelled trains, and also is providing buses rather than leave 2 hour gaps - so the "customer good service" is realistically (guestimate) around 50% rather than having most people's days messed up at some point.

What does it take for there NOT to be a "Good service on most of our network"?

Boxing Day??

[TaplowGreen]

"Good" in this context, is, of course, entirely subjective.

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Yes, the overall statistics may indeed be as you say, but (if I've done my sums right) 5 out of 12 trains from Paddington to Bristol are cancelled in the middle part of to-day, so less than 60% of the published service is running.   The fact that this is masked by near 100% of trains running in the Thames Valley etc is of no consolation if you're trying to get to Bristol.

Boxing Day? As GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) plan to run no trains that day there will be no cancellations so there will be a very good service - 100% no less.