Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

Only a brief mention of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) but the national pattern is clear;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59743461

[Timmer]

Only a brief mention of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) but the national pattern is clear;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59743461

Hopefully the cutting of self isolation from 10 to 7 days following two negative LFTs will help the situation.

[TaplowGreen]

Delighted to see that despite it being Saturday, we don't have a single cancellation or shortened service due to crew shortage!

Have a wonderful day all 

[broadgage]

And doing as well today !

[TaplowGreen]

Cancellations to services between Swindon and Cheltenham Spa

Due to a shortage of train crew between Swindon and Cheltenham Spa all lines are disrupted.
Train services running through these stations will be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 09:45 28/12.

[TaplowGreen]

Sunday - still in the holiday period + the COVID factor - only 4 cancellations listed currently and a smattering of short runs - yesterday there were numerous cancellations all day on all routes due to staff shortage

Seems strange? (although pleasing!), especially given the forecasts from those forum members close to the frontline.

............Or is it actually much worse and Journeycheck is up the swannee again?

[IndustryInsider]

Difficult to see the wood for the trees.

For example, I note:

The timetabled two trains per hour between Oxford and Didcot/Paddington is halved today with only one service which also serves the Cotswold Line as well as Radley.  A planned alteration today?

The traditional one train every two hours on a Sunday between Paddington and Gloucester/Cheltenham was increased to hourly in December 2019.  It was never particularly reliable, especially on holiday Sundays.  Those trains were curtailed to a Swindon<>Cheltenham shuttle at some point during the pandemic and that is how it remains, save for an unbalanced one direct train from London and three to London each Sunday.

There appears to be less trains in Cornwall.  There is no sign of the advertised (in the normal timetable on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).com) 13:40 and 15:40 Plymouth to Penzance trains for example.  Planned?  Unplanned?  Leaves 90 minute gaps in the service (120 mins in one case as the following train is listed as 'cancelled').  Also the Looe branch is closed over winter Sunday's which frees up some crew that are normally required over summer.

[Timmer]

So the 1810 and 1910 Bristol to London are both cancelled. Sensibly the 1622 Swansea to London will now stop at Bristol TM^‡(resolve) but not Bath despite passing through this station, actually down to stop for ‘staffing reasons’.

So as far as the public is concerned the next train to London after the 1723 (five coaches) will be at 2023 

edited to include missing info

[Mark A]

20:23 seems to have been 5 too.

Mark

[TaplowGreen]

Westcountry (especially) services taking a bit of a hammering this afternoon/evening due to staff shortage.

[TaplowGreen]

1715,1915,1948,2015 Plymouth to Paddington all starting from Exeter this afternoon/evening due to staff shortage.

Not great.

I would hope that there are suitable connections/alternatives being arranged to get people to Exeter.

[Timmer]

1715,1915,1948,2015 Plymouth to Paddington all starting from Exeter this afternoon/evening due to staff shortage.

Not great.

I would hope that there are suitable connections/alternatives being arranged to get people to Exeter.

Looking at RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website), there’s nothing else timetabled between Plymouth and Exeter other than what’s listed above. Last train could connect for London is the 18.27 XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) service. Next train after that 21.22! No connection to any London services.

I would expect at least one reinstatement later today or there’s going to be quite a few busses needed. The 19.15 and 19.48 are also both connections from Cornwall so not just Plymouth, Totnes and Newton Abbott passengers affected.

[TaplowGreen]

1715,1915,1948,2015 Plymouth to Paddington all starting from Exeter this afternoon/evening due to staff shortage.

Not great.

I would hope that there are suitable connections/alternatives being arranged to get people to Exeter.

Looking at RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website), there’s nothing else timetabled between Plymouth and Exeter other than what’s listed above. Last train could connect for London is the 18.27 XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) service. Next train after that 21.22! No connection to any London services.

I would expect at least one reinstatement later today or there’s going to be quite a few busses needed. The 19.15 and 19.48 are also both connections from Cornwall so not just Plymouth, Totnes and Newton Abbott passengers affected.

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Twitter;

"We are advising customers to travel on the earlier services as there will be no rail replacement transport between Plymouth - Exeter St Davids. Please check your journey and travel on the earlier available services but we have confirmation that the 1715 will now run" - if you can't get that one however it's "speak to station staff" which doesn't bode well.

[Timmer]

Good news, the 17.15, 19.48 and 20.15 are now running, though at one point late this morning it wasn’t looking good at all:

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Twitter:

Due to a shortage of staff on the Plymouth and Exeter St Davids route, the line will be closed from 17:20 this evening.
We are unable to run bus replacement services on this route and ticket acceptance will be announced later this afternoon.

40 minutes later. Again, from GWR Twitter:

Services from Plymouth to Exeter St Davids will now run at 1715, 1948 and 2015.

[IndustryInsider]

Great that they’ve all been reinstated bar one…very poor that JourneyCheck is once again being fed dubious gen.

Time and time again messages posted at silly o’clock in the morning end up being completely wrong later in the day.