2018 cancellation and amendment log

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Not just the IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) being cut in half then!

Indeed ... and on a Monday to Thursday evening this is going to lead to people being unable to board.   This happened last Friday too. Friday's much the quietest day of the week - yet even last Friday (when this happened too) it was a struggle, with crew walking along the outside of the train coach banging on the windows and gesticulating to people to move up.   Ended up rammed all the way through, with a couple of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) managers (it's a popular train for Swindon to Exeter home runs) in the rear cab!

GWR do acknowledge there's a problem; TransWilts is one of four services highlighted as having suffered disproportionately in the last year due to engineering works and their knock-ons.   In the last (financial) year to March 2018 we lost the majority of services on 30 days out of 363 - and that shows on the graph that Mark Hopwood displayed at the Community Rail conference on Friday.



Raw numbers - down from 247k to 241k journeys; with complete service that would have scaled up to 262k - though even there we were restricting marketing due to lack of capacity on the 15:18 and 17:36 off Swindon.

The growth is there to be had ... but frankly we've got a long haul.  The very occasional drop to a 153 can be passed off as "at least we have a train"; should it become frequent, it will be seen as a broken promise to add capacity and an unpleasant experience undertaken by only the desperate.  For 2018/19 we already have a promise of 30 days with the majority of services lost due to the ongoing Newbury blockades and  even stability of numbers is challenging.  A crying shame when - with a reliable service to the GB^▸ (Great Britain) timetable though out the year, we should be growing 20%.  And the challenge will be added to by the January 2019 timetable change when it looks like some well established connectional flows will be broken.

With more of the 153s going off lease soon the concern is one coach may turn into no coaches.

Indeed. It's a question of priorities, isn't it?  Cycle and luggage coaches to Fort William, or enough capacity to carry commuters from Exeter to Barnstaple or Swindon to Melksham.

[grahame]

Looks like this pretty well all day ... and I have a report to suggest it happened yesterday too.   Makes 3 weekdays in the last 5.

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17
Facilities on the 17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 1 coach instead of 2.

Reminder to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - your MD acknowledged last Friday that the TransWilts is one of four services that has been especially badly hit by the effects of the railway upgraded and that attention was being giving to bringing us and the other three services back up to at least the level of the others.   This reduction back to a single carriage on the 17:36 (and the previous train at 15:18 too) is a step in the wrong direction.

[ellendune]

Looks like this pretty well all day ... and I have a report to suggest it happened yesterday too.   Makes 3 weekdays in the last 5.

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17
Facilities on the 17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 1 coach instead of 2.

I certainly saw that the 17.36 was a 153 when I was passing through the station yesterday. 

[bobm]

I travelled in on the service which forms it.  It was 153318.

Seems some Severn Beach services are also down to one coach today as well.

[Trowres]

21st June 2018.

The 08:53 Swindon-Westbury has been cancelled (train fault)

Also the 09:46 Westbury-Swindon and the 10:47 Swindon-Westbury.

[RA]

Looks like this pretty well all day ... and I have a report to suggest it happened yesterday too.   Makes 3 weekdays in the last 5.

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17
Facilities on the 17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 1 coach instead of 2.

I certainly saw that the 17.36 was a 153 when I was passing through the station yesterday. 

153s are back out in force today. The 1220 Westbury to Swindon service is pencilled in for 153370 after being pinched from the rear of the 06:49 Worcester Shrub Hill to Weymouth service at Westbury following the failure of 166215 at Swindon after arriving with the 07:33 Westbury to Swindon service. Unfortunately unable to run the 0948 Westbury to Swindon service and return using the 153 as the crew are stuck in Swindon on the failed 166 unit.

Hopefully, the other Trans Wilts diagram will be formed of 2x153 units (153361 and 153369) as from the 1147 Westbury to Swindon service as another 153 is being sent across from Bristol to Westbury on 2F97. If so this should help with the 17:36 Swindon to Westbury service later.

As an aside, 153361 is still in FGW^▸ (First Great Western) blue livery with its 'Connecting Wiltshire' vinyls on the side so would be making an appearance on its 'home' line.

[grahame]

13 Train Cancellations
04:25 Swansea to London Paddington due 08:00
06:57 West Ealing to Greenford due 07:09
07:12 Greenford to West Ealing due 07:23
07:27 West Ealing to Greenford due 07:39
07:42 Greenford to West Ealing due 07:53
07:57 West Ealing to Greenford due 08:09
08:12 Greenford to West Ealing due 08:23
09:18 Paignton to London Paddington due 13:14
16:48 Westbury to Swindon due 17:31
17:00 Brighton to Bristol Temple Meads due 20:28
17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:20
18:32 Westbury to Swindon due 19:22
19:36 Swindon to Westbury due 20:20

We're not totally alone in having cancellations today ... but once again the TransWilts is the only line left without services due to lack of train crew late afternoon and evening.   A single train in one direction - 21:06 from Swindon as I recall - looks like it has survived

[CMRail]

What is with a majority of PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) to CNM^» (Cheltenham Spa - next trains) terminating st Swindon today?

[grahame]

Two more of ours along loads of long distance stuff:

18:39 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21
19:55 Swindon to Westbury due 20:35

Both lack of crew

[grahame]

11:47 Westbury to Swindon due 12:32
11:47 Westbury to Swindon due 12:32 has been cancelled.
This is due to a points failure.

12:49 Swindon to Frome due 13:40
12:49 Swindon to Frome due 13:40 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.
This is due to a points failure.

[bobm]

Points failure on the Berks & Hants line at Woodborough. 

Led to some pretty long delays for West of England services. The 10:03 from London Paddington was reversed back to Pewsey where it sat for nearly two hours before going forward. Train eventually terminated at Truro to form its return working.  (Handy that - its my train home!)

[RA]

09:46 Westbury to Swindon and 10:47 Swindon to Westbury cancelled because of congestion at Swindon caused by a points failure in the Uffington area.

[TaplowGreen]

Broken down train - these two cancelled this morning;

07:33 Westbury to Swindon due 08:15

08:53 Swindon to Westbury due 09:41

[grahame]

Broken down train - these two cancelled this morning;

07:33 Westbury to Swindon due 08:15

08:53 Swindon to Westbury due 09:41

Looks like we're bottom of the pile again ... everything else in the area running.

[bobm]

09:46 Westbury to Swindon due 10:32

09:46 Westbury to Swindon due 10:32 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

10:47 Swindon to Westbury due 11:28

10:47 Swindon to Westbury due 11:28 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.