Cotswold Line - 2018 cancellation and amendments log

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

Seems like a good week to have taken off work.

Ah ... and the drivers and managers with families are saying "Seems like a good week to have taken off work" too.

Perhaps the "managers" should have ensured that they had enough staff to run a service first before signing off all the leave?

[charles_uk]

And for those hoping to get home a little later this evening:

19:22 London Paddington to Evesham due 21:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.

20:22 London Paddington to Evesham due 22:20 will be terminated at Oxford.
It will no longer call at Hanborough, Charlbury, Kingham, Moreton-in-Marsh, Honeybourne and Evesham.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.

[ellendune]

Seems like a good week to have taken off work.

Ah ... and the drivers and managers with families are saying "Seems like a good week to have taken off work" too.

Perhaps the "managers" should have ensured that they had enough staff to run a service first before signing off all the leave?

So if I was told I could not have leave because NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) have cocked up and so we all have to do training instead. How will I feel and if another TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) are looking for drivers locally what will I do? 

This manager have the right to manage come what may is a myth.  This is a market in which employers must show some empathy for their staff or they will continue to find they are a training factory for the rest of the industry.

[TaplowGreen]

Seems like a good week to have taken off work.

Ah ... and the drivers and managers with families are saying "Seems like a good week to have taken off work" too.

Perhaps the "managers" should have ensured that they had enough staff to run a service first before signing off all the leave?

So if I was told I could not have leave because NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) have cocked up and so we all have to do training instead. How will I feel and if another TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) are looking for drivers locally what will I do? 

This manager have the right to manage come what may is a myth.  This is a market in which employers must show some empathy for their staff or they will continue to find they are a training factory for the rest of the industry.

.....so what happens to your customers?

[ellendune]

Seems like a good week to have taken off work.

Ah ... and the drivers and managers with families are saying "Seems like a good week to have taken off work" too.

Perhaps the "managers" should have ensured that they had enough staff to run a service first before signing off all the leave?

So if I was told I could not have leave because NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) have cocked up and so we all have to do training instead. How will I feel and if another TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) are looking for drivers locally what will I do? 

This manager have the right to manage come what may is a myth.  This is a market in which employers must show some empathy for their staff or they will continue to find they are a training factory for the rest of the industry.

.....so what happens to your customers?

Well the biggest customer of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)  - the one that calls the shots - is DfT who will not care.  However, I know who you mean but taking the failings of others out on your own staff will not in the long run do much for us customers.   

Some companies have tried treating their staff well and find that as a result the staff treat the customers well. Just paying them lots of money while treating them like dirt does not seem to have the same effect.  Now I don't know how GWR treat its staff but their customers service attitude as reported here is mixed some very good some very bad. 

[TaplowGreen]

Seems like a good week to have taken off work.

Ah ... and the drivers and managers with families are saying "Seems like a good week to have taken off work" too.

Perhaps the "managers" should have ensured that they had enough staff to run a service first before signing off all the leave?

So if I was told I could not have leave because NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) have cocked up and so we all have to do training instead. How will I feel and if another TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) are looking for drivers locally what will I do? 

This manager have the right to manage come what may is a myth.  This is a market in which employers must show some empathy for their staff or they will continue to find they are a training factory for the rest of the industry.

.....so what happens to your customers?

Well the biggest customer of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)  - the one that calls the shots - is DfT who will not care.  However, I know who you mean but taking the failings of others out on your own staff will not in the long run do much for us customers.   

That's the finest sidestep I've seen since Jason Robinson retired 🙂

[ellendune]

That's the finest sidestep I've seen since Jason Robinson retired 🙂

I am not saying I have a solution to the driver shortage, just that you don't either. Taking it out on the staff might solve the problem for a day or two but only make it worse later and if some leave it will make it a whole lot worse for quite a time.   

There is no law of nature that says every problem has an easy solution. 

[IndustryInsider]

Training of Oxford LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) staff on IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)’s should be about to commence following a deal that’s been ratified by ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about), so that should help immensely in terms of driver availability for Cotswold Line services, more of which will be going over to IET operation over the summer.  The Oxford signalling blockade will be an ideal opportunity to get several passed out when there will be spare driver capacity.

Worcester depot is slowly but surely getting its establishment passed out fully as well.

We’ll be in trouble until September still, but after that I would expect few cancellations due to driver shortages.

[philipbourton]

And for those hoping to get home a little later this evening:

19:22 London Paddington to Evesham due 21:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.

20:22 London Paddington to Evesham due 22:20 will be terminated at Oxford.
It will no longer call at Hanborough, Charlbury, Kingham, Moreton-in-Marsh, Honeybourne and Evesham.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.

.   I guess we'll see the same tomorrow then. Wasn't helped by the 1945 cross country Reading to Oxford and beyond not waiting for the Swansea passenger to cross, despite staff at Paddington saying it would. Although fortunately GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) put on taxis to get home once at Oxford. Sorry, get to station and expect we all park so don't have lifts.  Still, got to meet an interesting family in the taxi, and learnt a bit of Latin in the process.

[Oxonhutch]

... and learnt a bit of Latin in the process.

Non illegitimi carborundum?

[CMRail]

Passengers on the 16:22 service to Evesham are in for a ride.

I assume that at Oxford, you will through this moving depot which avoids Combe and Finstock.

Best of all... it takes the same amount of time!

And the 19:22 was cancelled.

[Worcester_Passenger]

Thursday May 31 : first day back to normal after the blockade for the inserting of a second bridge over the Worcester southern by-pass.

05:12 Paddington - Moreton cancelled after Oxford due to signals.
07:10 Moreton - Paddington started from Oxford.

[Worcester_Passenger]

Perhaps "normal" was the wrong word.

From JourneyCheck:

Delays to services between Oxford and Worcester Shrub Hill
Due to a fault with the signalling system between Oxford and Worcester Shrub Hill trains have to run at reduced speed.
Train services running through these stations may be delayed by up to 20 minutes. Disruption is expected until 01:30 01/06.
Last Updated:01/06/2018 00:23

RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) reports:
18:22 Paddington - Hereford arrived Hereford at 00:48, some 196 late
19:22 Paddington - Hereford cancelled after Oxford "due to a problem with the traction equipment (MD)"
20:22 Paddington - Great Malvern cancelled throughout "due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI)"
         On JourneyCheck as being "due to a problem with the crew".
21:48 Paddington - Shrub Hill currently (01:04) 77 late at Moreton-in-Marsh

18:34 Great Malvern - Paddington cancelled after Shrub Hill "due to an issue with the train crew (TG)"
19:42 Great Malvern - Paddington arrived 107 late
20:59 Foregate Street - Paddington cancelled after Oxford "due to a signal failure (J3)". Arrived Oxford 88 late.
21:51 Hereford - Paddington currently 69 late at Oxford

[charles_uk]

Perhaps "normal" was the wrong word.

From JourneyCheck:

Delays to services between Oxford and Worcester Shrub Hill
Due to a fault with the signalling system between Oxford and Worcester Shrub Hill trains have to run at reduced speed.
Train services running through these stations may be delayed by up to 20 minutes. Disruption is expected until 01:30 01/06.
Last Updated:01/06/2018 00:23

Seems to be something more difficult to resolve:

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Oxford and Worcester Shrub Hill fewer trains are able to run. Disruption is expected until 17:30 01/06.

Train services between Oxford and Worcester Shrub Hill may be delayed by up to 30 minutes or terminated at and started back from Worcester Shrub Hill [and] train services between Worcester Shrub Hill and Hereford may be cancelled.

From Realtime trains this morning:

04:47 Hereford to Paddington - cancelled between Hereford and Oxford due to the planned train being replaced with a slower train (MS);
05:28 Hereford to Paddington - 26 late at Wolvercote Junction, 41 late at Paddington;
06:42 Hereford to Paddington - 22 late at Wolvercote Junction, 32 late at Paddington;
07:10 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington - cancelled throughout due to a signal failure (J3);
09:50 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington - cancelled between Moreton-in-Marsh and Oxford due to a signalling problem (track circuit failure) (IC^▸ (Inter City)).

[jdw.wor]

I really don’t understand the reason given for the 0447. If it was a slower train (and what was that, an 08 shunter?) it would have been running late and not part cancelled). Am I being thick?