So does this mean that the TransWilts is at the very top of the can list, if its one of very few service groups to still have a significant part of its service yanked out?
Well it depends on which depots are short, but I guess it probably is, just like Greenford, Worcester to Malvern, Severn Beach and others are also more likely to be sacrificed.
There are arguments for, and against, in that TransWilts services have overlaps at both ends of the route where other services are provided, yet the crucial bit in the middle has none and typically large gaps until the next TransWilts service.
Occasionally, things will go wrong ... and I think people understand that. It's when the map at the top of these pages comes up with a single blue sponge on the TransWilts and it's not "oh dear what's happened" but rather "
on no - not again!" that lead me to post quite strongly this morning.
We've had
years of this ... to the extent that the
GWR▸ MD last summer promised to take steps - not to put thing right - but simply to bring the TransWilts (and three other poor performers) up to the general level.
For Sundays ... not sure I "buy" the comparisons, but if I do, let's extend them on passenger effect ...
* Greenford does not run on a Sunday. No problems.
* Worcester to Malvern - different crews for each service (?) (so not total loss) and there are other operators.
* Severn Beach - two trains on the line cut to 1 - maximum delay 1 hour.
* TransWilts - first train due Melksham 08:26. First train called 12:52 for Swindon - 4 hours and 26 minutes after due.
- first train due Melksham 09:51. First train called 14:04 for Westbury - 4 hours and 13 minutes after due.
So pulling TransWilts is in a different league in its effect on passengers.
On the normal (5 station) service, there are 10 possible journeys. True that 2 of them have other direct trains, and more frequent, and we have never counted those in our justification cases. And half of the other are possible via a Bath Spa dogleg which (sometimes) connects.
Please forgive me finding this a little depressing. The service was the fastest growing in GWR land, but last year dropped slightly - and that was because service was decimated or totally lost on an extra 55 days over the previous year. Plenty of growth still to be had - won't put the full case here - but to grow it needs a reliable train service and, yet again, we start seeing what looks like the start again of a repeating pattern. I really hope it's not.