Shortage of rolling stock since September 2017 - ongoing problems, and subsequent discussion

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

Nothing on Journeycheck about this train - although it does mention that the preceding train (1315 GMV-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)) is also a 2car turbo vice 5cars (Adelante?) owing to a faulty train.

[Adelante_CCT]

3+2 turbo is what it should have been, Adelantes* don't do weekends (much like many GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) staff)



* (Excluding me)

[IndustryInsider]

The 12:42 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-HFD^» (Hereford - next trains) and 16:34 HFD-PAD have been in the hands of a 180 on Sunday’s recently.

[1st fan]

One weekend a few years ago a three car turbo turned up in place of an HST^▸ (High Speed Train). The official explanation was a fault with the expected train. The train manager said that was rubbish and they hadn't got enough drivers willing to work Sundays. There was a large contingent of far eastern tourists at Moreton in Marsh going back to London to add to the crush. We left some people on the platform at Charlbury because there wasn't any room. I've seen tube carriages in the rush hour that weren't as full as that train. I had planned to get off at Oxford and wait for a subsequent service. This proved impossible as it was chaos with people trying to get on from a fairly full platform.

[initiation]

I get text updates from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) which are quite handy. Only for an hour and a half in the morning and an hour in the evening on week days but is useful to wake up and see immediately if a train has a problem.

The 0735  Taunton to Bristol Parkway seems to be a reoccurring problem. I have counted the number of texts relating to this train over the past 8 weeks (13th Sept) and have 18 times when it was reported short formed or cancelled. There are 40 working days in 8 weeks so that is 45% of journeys having a problem!

[Chris from Nailsea]

I, too, still choose to receive those text updates, which relate back to when I used to commute daily into Bristol. 

They serve to remind me why I'm so relieved that I no longer have to endure that particular disruption. 

The 0735 Taunton departure is one of the trains I used to struggle with - until I was made redundant, more than eight years ago now.

Interesting to see that nothing much has changed over the intervening years, railway reliability-wise. 

[hassaanhc]

According to driver's announcement, the 2P22 0625 Banbury to London Paddington had a door fault at Goring & Streatley, which caused it to be 5 minutes late (although it often seems to be that late anyway ). Luckily the door was able to be locked out of use, otherwise that would have been a 5-car set taken out of service (166211+165129, with doors C in coach 58890 of 165129 being locked out of use).

[IndustryInsider]

Sometimes a faulty door can be just locked out of use on a Turbo with no further issues, sometimes it means that carriage has to come out of use (for example if it is an end set of doors with no corridor connection into another carriage) and sometimes the whole unit has to come out of service (if it is an end set of doors, and it’s in the carriage that contains the emergency evacuation equipment).  Looks like it was the first option this morning.

[NickB]

Has anyone else noticed how Joirneycheck is failing to keep up with the number of HST^▸ (High Speed Train) replacements and short-formed trains?  After several miserable experiences I now check the Train Formation Changes section but have recently been on several 3-car turbos replacing HST’s at peak time that aren’t featured on the site.
Are the changes really last minute, which I doubt given it must be that formation for a period of the day, or has GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) stopped tracking this issue?

Example being tonight’s 17.49 to Worcester which is deeply unpleasant.

[Adelante_CCT]

 

Facilities on the 17:49 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill due 20:05.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 8.

Admittedly this was posted on journeycheck at 18:00, after departure time.

[IndustryInsider]

Sometimes very last minute, when the booked train fails during mobilisation at Paddington for example but not always.

[martyjon]

Although at the outset you may think what now follows has to do with the tile of this thread but bear with me.

Many years ago an organisation I was involved with voluntarily had the need to hire an Atlas Copco road drill/breaker to break up some hefty concrete slabs/foundations. The equipment we hired cost us a low daily (£5) hire charge plus a 'power by the hour' charge of £25. The power unit had a sealed hours run counter attached to it and we had the hired plant for a period covering three consecutive weekends and thus we were able to use it for an hour or so in the light summer evenings.

Compare the above to car hire where you can hire a vehicle for a number of days plus a mileage charge.

I cannot understand why the ROSCOS don't  procure additional stock above what a TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company);s requirement. For example if GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) orders or rather the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) sanctions an order for say 46 387 4 car EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) sets then why not the ROSCO^» (Rolling Stock Owning Company - about) order say 52 sets and have 6 sets available for 'Spot Hire' by GWR and other TOC's who operate them. I am well aware that in today's world the practice of contracting the train builder to set up a maintainence facility and to contract to have a fixed number of units available for service daily things do go 'pop' during the day. For example a drunk empties the contents of their abdomen over seats and the floor of a unit, a unit hits a stray sheep which has vaulted over a line side fence and been hit, both instances requiring the unit to be withdrawn from service and the current epidemic of 'more trains than usual requiring repairs at the same time'.

A number of years ago, Porterbrook I think it was ordered speculatively 3 additional sets, I think it was class 170's or 172's which were liveried in plain white and they were snapped up very quickly by an operator or operators. I appreciate that a TOC's drivers must have traction knowledge for any stock being 'spot hired' in so there are limited possibilities for such a scheme to work but even so where there's a will, there's a way.

Hope my post hasn't bored those who have got to this final sentence.
 

[ChrisB]

With no guarantee of any spot-hire, the daily rates must be astronomical?

[broadgage]

Although customers for spot hire of trains cant be promised, looking at the ongoing shortages of rolling stock it would seem worthwhile to keep a small reserve fleet.
If the costs of new stock are prohibitive, at least keep some of the old ones for a bit.

I cant support the scrapping of ANY serviceable trains until we see a complete end to short formations "due to more trains than usual needing repair".
AND a complete end to standing on trains where the infrastructure could support longer or more numerous trains.

In the case of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), services could be greatly improved by keeping just 6 extra trains, 2 each at or near London, Plymouth, and Penzance.
Early morning departures from Penzance seem to be a regular victim of no train available due to an earlier failure, Provision of 2 spares would enable an on time departure, in the booked path, and using the booked crew.

Services from Paddington are regularly delayed or cancelled because the incoming train is late, spares would help.

[Sixty3Closure]

Services from Paddington are regularly delayed or cancelled because the incoming train is late, spares would help.

I was thinking about 'reserve' trains from the customer's point of view which doesn't always feature highly for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway). And to a certain extent why would it with the way income and penalties are calculated. Thinking of them in terms of keeping trains moving, crews in the right place and avoiding a domino effect it make more sense for the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) but until the penalties out weight the costs I can't really see it happening.

I do get a feeling of dread going home now not knowing if my train will be 2 or 3 carriages instead of 6 or 8.