Stay at home Sunday

[whole diary]

[bobm]

With quite a few cancellations occurring later in the day I wonder if the planners have been able to ensure there are sufficient trains ending up in the right place for the start of service tomorrow.

Having extended the validity of tickets issued for today until tomorrow some travellers are likely to opt for early morning Monday trains.

[LiskeardRich]

This sounds fun.

I need to get from Axminster to Plymouth at 7ish tonight.

I see my service is running from Exeter to Plymouth, but I expect a sardine can, as the two proceeding Exeter to Plymouth are cancelled!

[TaplowGreen]

Can someone do a comparison of today against the last 4 Sunday’s to see the difference in planned trains. It seems to me that today just seems like a normal GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Sunday service.

Or let me know where I can get the data?

Paddington to Plymouth/Penzance is much worse, virtually wiped out, and on top of that all lines are blocked between Exeter and Totnes due to late finishing engineering works so the belated advice to "travel early" was a waste of time.

[Timmer]

To make things worse some trains that are running booked as 10 carriage IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) are running as 5 carriage due to...you’ve guessed it lack of train crew! See below for latest list:

09:00 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare due 11:18
09:30 London Paddington to Carmarthen due 13:37
10:00 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare due 12:33
10:30 London Paddington to Swansea due 13:48
11:54 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington due 14:24
14:58 Carmarthen to London Paddington due 19:10

Seriously if you can, don’t travel GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) today.

[Timmer]

Paddington to Plymouth/Penzance is much worse, virtually wiped out, and on top of that all lines are blocked between Exeter and Totnes due to late finishing engineering works so the belated advice to "travel early" was a waste of time.

Yep Network Rail have joined in all the fun with overrunning engineering work adding to the already decimated service in the South West; particularly between Plymouth and Penzance.

[broadgage]

With so many services cancelled, why are they running 5 car IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) ?
Could not HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) or 9 car IETs have been used instead ?

[Visoflex]

With so many services cancelled, why are they running 5 car IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) ?
Could not HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) or 9 car IETs have been used instead ?

Possibly, but the railway is primarily run for the avoidance or minimisation of penalties, rather than for the comfort of passengers.

[grahame]

And I think I caught those in mid-upload.  Some added.  Will come back in an hour or two as I expect we'll have a fuller picture by then.

Here we go, here’s a list of what not running tomorrow, just posted on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website:
https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/live-network-updates/disruption-information

Thanks ... looks like my Weymouth trip is on.

... and aborted at Westbury.  "Frequent posters" documentation to follow when I have calmed down a little.

[Timmer]

With so many services cancelled, why are they running 5 car IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) ?
Could not HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) or 9 car IETs have been used instead ?

Because GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have a contract with Hitachi for them to provide these IETs. GWR would still have to pay for them even if they don’t use them. I suspect there will be some HSTs in sidings/depots also having the day off. I imagine GWR are already taking quite a financial ‘hit’ today because of all the services being cancelled along with extra back office staff helping out at stations who will be in overtime.

[Timmer]

Thanks ... looks like my Weymouth trip is on.

... and aborted at Westbury.  "Frequent posters" documentation to follow when I have calmed down a little.

That’s sad to hear Graham.

Look forward to finding out why. From what I can see there are no cancellations on the Weymouth line today but that doesn’t mean to say things can happen at the last minute.

UPDATE: I can see why now 

[eightonedee]

(Hopefully this will work - my first attempt to insert an image on this forum!)

Perhaps there is a subliminal message in this juxtaposition of posters on Platform 12 at Reading this week

[Adelante_CCT]

Facilities on the 10:30 London Paddington to Swansea due 13:48.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 10. Service full and standing

[YouKnowNothing]

Can anyone help me with the source of data? Network Rail API or open source?

Can someone do a comparison of today against the last 4 Sunday’s to see the difference in planned trains. It seems to me that today just seems like a normal GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Sunday service.

Or let me know where I can get the data?

[grahame]

Thanks ... looks like my Weymouth trip is on.

... and aborted at Westbury.  "Frequent posters" documentation to follow when I have calmed down a little.

That’s sad to hear Graham.

Look forward to finding out why. From what I can see there are no cancellations on the Weymouth line today but that doesn’t mean to say things can happen at the last minute.

UPDATE: I can see why now 

The full ... enormity ... of the story at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=20086.0

[grahame]

Can anyone help me with the source of data? Network Rail API or open source?

Can someone do a comparison of today against the last 4 Sunday’s to see the difference in planned trains. It seems to me that today just seems like a normal GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Sunday service.

Or let me know where I can get the data?

Recent time trains may help - http://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk