2019 - TransWilts cancellation and amendments log

[whole diary]

[grahame]

New year, new thread ... please help me log anything you spot.  Sad to be restarting this story but reliability - especially to late cancellations - is key to the success of a service.  People need to be able to rely on the train.

07:04 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 09:05
07:04 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 09:05 will be started from Swindon.
It will no longer call at Westbury, Trowbridge, Melksham and Chippenham.
This is due to engineering works not being finished on time.

05:17 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:09
05:17 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:09 was terminated at Swindon.
It will no longer call at Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Dilton Marsh, Warminster, Salisbury, Romsey and Southampton Central.
This is due to engineering works not being finished on time.

For the last two days, they have terminated the 05:17 at Melksham and restarted it back from there in the 07:04 timings. Why on earth can't they do that this morning?

[grahame]

Not on JourneyCheck (yet?) but from http://www.mrug.org.uk/live.html

07:49   Delayed    Swindon    GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)    Train service - Station platform 1

[grahame]

07:33 Westbury to Swindon due 08:15
07:33 Westbury to Swindon due 08:15 will be cancelled.
This is due to engineering works not being finished on time.
Additional Information
Alternative transport will be provided for customers at Melksham. Customers are requested to make use of the Customer Help Point available, or contact National Rail Enquiries on 03457 484 950.

Full list ... so far? ...

07:33 Westbury to Swindon due 08:15
08:53 Swindon to Westbury due 09:41
09:46 Westbury to Swindon due 10:32
10:47 Swindon to Westbury due 11:28

[Reginald25]

New year, new thread ... please help me log anything you spot.  Sad to be restarting this story but reliability - especially to late cancellations - is key to the success of a service.  People need to be able to rely on the train.

 It always surprises me when engineering works are done to such a tight schedule. Given that we have had no service for a couple of weeks, and this day is possibly that last weekday 'holiday of the Christmas break for many people (not all I know), it would have made sense to schedule the restart this weekend. The signalling fault found is exactly why the testing is done. If testing then you should expect issues, and assign time to resolve.

[SandTEngineer]

New year, new thread ... please help me log anything you spot.  Sad to be restarting this story but reliability - especially to late cancellations - is key to the success of a service.  People need to be able to rely on the train.

 It always surprises me when engineering works are done to such a tight schedule. Given that we have had no service for a couple of weeks, and this day is possibly that last weekday 'holiday of the Christmas break for many people (not all I know), it would have made sense to schedule the restart this weekend. The signalling fault found is exactly why the testing is done. If testing then you should expect issues, and assign time to resolve.

But you've got Project Managers who don't have a clue about what they are "supposed" to be managing, so are we supprised, not.  In my days of delivering the engineering side of such projects there were quite of few instances of 'overruns' but we had 'real' contingency plans that had to work or you were shown the proverbrial door....

[matth1j]

The 2 trains that pass through Melksham at 12-something on the way to Swindon (my commute) were also cancelled, as is the 14:40 (13:10 from Frome).

I'd already decided to work from home after the 07:49 Melksham train was cancelled, and at least this time they announced it was cancelled before I'd run to the station, so it could have been worse. Just saved £9.90 £10.20.

[bobm]

To add to the misery

16:21 Westbury to Swindon due 17:03

16:21 Westbury to Swindon due 17:03 will be cancelled.

This is due to engineering works not being finished on time.

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17 will be cancelled.

This is due to engineering works not being finished on time.

18:32 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21

18:32 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21 will be cancelled.

This is due to engineering works not being finished on time.

[ChrisB]

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) reporting that the station is closed all day, with normal service resuming tomorrow - with today's tickets being valid tomorrow as well.

[bobm]

I have seen the mention of tickets being valid tomorrow on various emails - but it isn't mentioned on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website, which is where most people would probably look.

https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/live-network-updates/disruption-information

[grahame]

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) reporting that the station is closed all day, with normal service resuming tomorrow ....

They're sure about that are they?  As I recall it was 4 a.m., then 6 a.m., then 10 a.m., then ... I lost track ...

[bobm]

Latest I have heard is no trains today but a full service from first thing tomorrow however with buses on standby.

[bobm]

19:32 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 21:33 will be started from Swindon.

It will no longer call at Westbury, Trowbridge, Melksham and Chippenham.

This is due to engineering works not being finished on time.

[bobm]

Just to complete the record.

The 20:08 Swindon to Westbury was also cancelled.

[Dispatch Box]

Found it!, thanks graham, By the way no trains tomorrow, so a day in bed.

[Celestial]

Does the lack of posts in the last week mean that the first full working week of 2019 was trouble free? Reading back a few pages of history it would seem that would be a welcome new year's gift, and hopefully a sign of better things to come?