Cotswold Line - 2018 cancellation and amendments log

[whole diary]

[charles_uk]

Cancellations to services between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford
Due to a road vehicle colliding with a bridge between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford all lines are blocked.
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 19:00 31/07.

and amongst the alterations an odd looking one:

16:22 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 19:24 will be diverted between Oxford and Worcester Shrub Hill and terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill.
It will no longer call at Hanborough, Combe, Finstock, Charlbury, Ascott-under-Wychwood, Shipton, Kingham, Moreton-in-Marsh, Honeybourne, Evesham, Pershore, Worcester Foregate Street, Malvern Link and Great Malvern but will call additionally at Cheltenham Spa.

it's strange for such diversions to actually take in Oxford.

update - seems it's quite serious:

Cancellations to services between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford

Due to a road vehicle colliding with a bridge between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford all lines are blocked.
Train services running through these stations have been cancelled or diverted via Cheltenham Spa. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice
Network Rail advise the line is likely to be closed until the end of the day due to the structrual damage sustained to the bridge which poses a danger to the safe running of the railway.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) services will be diverted between Reading and Worcester Shrub Hill calling at Cheltenham Spa. Services are likely to terminate or start back at Worcester Shrub Hull (sic).

[jmc85]

Does anyone know which bridge was actually struck?

It's a long way between Worcester and Oxford...

[Worcester_Passenger]

Neither of the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) 'local live' websites has any news.

But the 15:52 from Paddington to Moreton made it to Moreton, albeit 35 late.

The National Rail hashtag is "Evesham", so somewhere between Honeybourne and Pershore...

[Worcester_Passenger]

OTT^▸ (Open Train Times website) currently has

1W33, the 16:22 Paddington - Great Malvern, approaching Stroud

1W02, the 17:22 Paddington - Hereford, between Didcot and Swindon

and 1W31, the 15:22 from Paddington to Great Malvern, heading south from Oxford and about to take the Didcot west curve.

[charles_uk]

According to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Help on Twitter

This happened at Evesham. A2: We are currently sourcing road replacement transport and local bus ticket acceptance but this is proving to be difficult due to peak evening rush hour on the roads.

The 15:22 Paddington to Great Malvern arrived at MIM 53 late according to Realtime Trains, though JourneyCheck says it

will be diverted between Oxford and Worcester Shrub Hill and terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill.
It will no longer call at Hanborough, Charlbury, Kingham, Moreton-in-Marsh, Honeybourne, Evesham, Pershore, Worcester Foregate Street, Malvern Link and Great Malvern but will call additionally at Cheltenham Spa.
It is being delayed at Oxford and is now expected to be 120 minutes late.
This is due to a road vehicle colliding with a bridge.

which was clearly not the case as it definitely arrived at Hanborough on time!

The 17:52 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains):WOS^» (Worcester Shrub Hill - next trains) is running as far as MIM.

[Adelante_CCT]

The 15:22 Paddington to Great Malvern arrived at MIM 53 late according to Realtime Trains, though JourneyCheck says it

will be diverted between Oxford and Worcester Shrub Hill and terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill.
It will no longer call at Hanborough, Charlbury, Kingham, Moreton-in-Marsh, Honeybourne, Evesham, Pershore, Worcester Foregate Street, Malvern Link and Great Malvern but will call additionally at Cheltenham Spa.
It is being delayed at Oxford and is now expected to be 120 minutes late.
This is due to a road vehicle colliding with a bridge.

which was clearly not the case as it definitely arrived at Hanborough on time!

Yes it ran as far as MIM (arriving 7 minutes late) and departed after 50 minutes and running back via Oxford and Stroud

[bobm]

Does anyone know which bridge was actually struck?

It's a long way between Worcester and Oxford...

Blackminster Road between Evesham and Honeybourne.  It’s an overbridge and part of the masonry has been struck and damaged. 

[charles_uk]

A couple so far today:

06:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 09:37 will be terminated at Reading.
It will no longer call at Didcot Parkway, Oxford, Hanborough, Charlbury, Kingham, Moreton-in-Marsh, Honeybourne, Evesham, Pershore, Worcester Shrub Hill, Worcester Foregate Street, Malvern Link and Great Malvern.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Last Updated:01/08/2018 07:53

and the return

09:54 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 12:28 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

An IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)?

[charles_uk]

And for the 31st time this year, the 15:50 Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh fails to make it beyond Oxford:

5:50 London Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh due 17:26 will be terminated at Oxford.

It will no longer call at Hanborough, Charlbury, Kingham and Moreton-in-Marsh.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

Last Updated:01/08/2018 16:42

and, as so often, a very late decision.

[charles_uk]

Today's service (Sat 4 August) has been filleted somewhat:

From Realtime Trains the 07:22 Paddington to Great Malvern

This service was cancelled throughout due to an issue with the train crew (TG).

and JourneyCheck

10:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 13:28 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

12:22 London Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh due 14:00 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

14:22 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 17:00 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

14:50 Moreton-in-Marsh to London Paddington due 16:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

17:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 20:27 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

with the helpful further information that:

Customers are advised to travel on the next available train service.

[Worcester_Passenger]

The pattern that I'm seeing over the past month or so is of fewere cancellations, but a lot of late running, especially with down trains in the evening peak.

I'd like to propose the 17:22 Paddington - Hereford as being the least reliable train on the whole of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway):

Mon Jun 25 : 40 late
Tue Jun 26 : 51 late
Wed Jun 27 : 27 late
Thu Jun 28 : 23 late
Fri Jun 29 : 23 late
Mon Jul 2 : 12 late
Tue Jul 3 : 68 late
Wed Jul 4 : 25 late
Thu Jul 5 : Operated non-stop between Oxford and Evesham - but still 19 late
Fri Jul 6 : Sorry - I don't have a record for this date
Mon Jul 9 - Fri Jul 20 : did not operate on account of the Oxford blockade
Mon Jul 23 : 71 late
Tue Jul 24 : 23 late
Wed Jul 25 : Cancelled Oxford - Hereford
Thu Jul 26 : 37 late
Fri Jul 27 : 47 late
Mon Jul 30 : 24 late
Tue Jul 31 : diverted via Stroud on account of a bridge bash near Evesham. 41 late
Wed Aug 1 : 20 late
Thu Aug 2 : 32 late
Fri Aug 3 : 39 late

[grahame]

Impressing piece of recording

Fri Jul 6 : Sorry - I don't have a record for this date

Looking back with Recent Train Times, they logged it as 14 late that day.  And they're showing the 18:22 from Paddington with an even worse set of stats.

Link (horrid long URL) ((here)) - which I suspect will work now but drift off / change as time passes, showing last 8 weeks of stats.

[Richard Fairhurst]

I wonder what happened with the last train home yesterday? The Wilderness Festival organisers were tweeting that it was cancelled:

https://twitter.com/WildernessHQ/status/1026193419109105666

but RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) shows that it ran an hour late:

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C46364/2018/08/05

(Ironically an hour's delay would probably have made it more attractive to festival-goers!)

[Adelante_CCT]

The pattern that I'm seeing over the past month or so is of fewere cancellations, but a lot of late running, especially with down trains in the evening peak.

I'd like to propose the 17:22 Paddington - Hereford as being the least reliable train on the whole of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway):

Mon Jun 25 : 40 late
Tue Jun 26 : 51 late
Wed Jun 27 : 27 late
Thu Jun 28 : 23 late
Fri Jun 29 : 23 late
Mon Jul 2 : 12 late
Tue Jul 3 : 68 late
Wed Jul 4 : 25 late
Thu Jul 5 : Operated non-stop between Oxford and Evesham - but still 19 late
Fri Jul 6 : Sorry - I don't have a record for this date
Mon Jul 9 - Fri Jul 20 : did not operate on account of the Oxford blockade
Mon Jul 23 : 71 late
Tue Jul 24 : 23 late
Wed Jul 25 : Cancelled Oxford - Hereford
Thu Jul 26 : 37 late
Fri Jul 27 : 47 late
Mon Jul 30 : 24 late
Tue Jul 31 : diverted via Stroud on account of a bridge bash near Evesham. 41 late
Wed Aug 1 : 20 late
Thu Aug 2 : 32 late
Fri Aug 3 : 39 late

Mon Aug 6 : 25 late
And for Tue Aug 7 : drumroll please,,,, just 12 late

Actually looking back even further, 18th - 25th June was delayed 14, 9, 4, 5 & 8, so wasn't a bad week in comparison

Monday 21st May was the infamous meltdown Monday across the network, although the 17:22 was only 3 minutes late that day and it's been down hill ever since!

[Worcester_Passenger]

I should not have mentioned cancellations...

15:14 Hereford to London Paddington due 18:28 was terminated at Oxford.
This is due to a problem currently under investigation.
Last Updated:09/08/2018 17:37

18:29 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 21:05 will be terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Last Updated:09/08/2018 17:35

20:22 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 22:57 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Last Updated:09/08/2018 17:35