2019 - TransWilts cancellation and amendments log

[whole diary]

[grahame]

16:25 Westbury to Swindon due 17:07
16:25 Westbury to Swindon due 17:07 has been cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

and almost inevitably ...

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17
17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Also

17:50 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 20:36
17:50 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 20:36 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Gloucester, Stonehouse, Stroud, Kemble, Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.
This is due to a fault on this train.

So that'll make a 17.6% cancellation rate today at Melksham.   Looking over their whole route, 23.5% cancellation when you add in the train that didn't get all the way to its destination.

[bobm]

Following on from them, the 18:39 from Westbury is also cancelled.

[grahame]

and they have just added two more ...

18:39 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21
18:39 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

20:45 Swindon to Westbury due 21:26
20:45 Swindon to Westbury due 21:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

So ... last train of the day from Swindon was at 15:41, with the 17:36, 18:51 and 20:45 cancelled.     I filled in a survey for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) earlier to day.  As I recall one of the questions was "what is key for you hat GWR should concentrate on" and I asked for reliability.

[Celestial]

So much for Mark Hopwood's promise that the route would be given special attention given the reduced frequency on it.

[Gaz]

Hi, yeah I was due to catch the 16:31 from Trowbridge to Chippenham. When I got to the station I saw the train before to Cardiff Central had been cancelled but my train was still on time. With 5 mins to go it became delayed by 2 mins, and then cancelled, minutes before it was due to arrive, amazing! So standard procedure in this situation is to get to Chippenham via Bath, the next train to Bath was 16:54 I think to Bristol Temple Meads, this train ended up being delayed by 50 minutes, I eventually caught the 17:17 to Bath (Cardiff Central service) which due to a signal issue crawled to Bradford on Avon before arriving at Bath around 30 mins late. It was very busy already before a large group of girl guides got on! I was next to three train guards who were all late for their trains and frantically calling their HQ^▸ (Headquarters) for updates. The London Paddington Service to Chippenham was on time! I arrived home 2 hours later than usual. Not really sure what the issue was but the announcements kept stating congestion or signal failure. The @GWRhelp twitter told me that my train crew had been diverted to another service.

[grahame]

So much for Mark Hopwood's promise that the route would be given special attention given the reduced frequency on it.

... Not really sure what the issue was but the announcements kept stating congestion or signal failure. The @GWRhelp twitter told me that my train crew had been diverted to another service.

Evidence suggests that @GWRhelp were correct - that the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) had been short of a train crew and had used them to run other services at the expense of killing two round trips from Westbury to Swindon and back.   Had it been signalling failure or congestion, the second round trip would have run ... and we know the line was open because both a freight and a passenger train passed through later even while the cancelled round trips should have been making the round trips

Thank you to GWRhelp for their honesty.   Sadly, looks like someone found it simpler to kill the whole service from Swindon to Westbury for the rest of the day than put a gap into a service 5 times as frequent. And your two hours late home on a journey that should take 20 minutes shows the effect of such a decision. 

[grahame]

A sample of my feed from Twitter this morning.

Practically every train going to Melksham via Swindon/Westbury is cancelled this rush hour/evening ‘due to a shortage of train crew’. This is not acceptable-is there a bus replacement or free taxi service in place? @GWRHelp @TransWiltsCIC @MelkshamRUG https://pic.twitter.com/6S2fbNc0tt

"Not acceptable" .... very sadly, the system is such that we have to accept it and look to parts and persuade GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to do better.   There have been less problems of late, but still there are too many and too little alternative when it does go wrong.

"free taxi service" ... it's never a free taxi service.  We pay our fares.  I suppose it becomes "free" if it's so delayed we get all our money back through delay repay.

[grahame]

08:44 Swindon to Westbury due 09:25
08:44 Swindon to Westbury due 09:25 has been delayed at Swindon and is now 11 minutes late.
This is due to congestion.

[Gaz]

Well normally if the 16:31 is cancelled in advance I take the Cardiff Central train 15 mins earlier to Bath and come back to Chippenham which normally gets me home at 17:00. Not so bad! This time it wasn't an option because it was cancelled at such short notice, not to mention the Cardiff train was also cancelled. I wonder if this "congestion" is due to the new timetable, maybe it doesn't work.

[grahame]

10:05 Westbury to Swindon due 10:54
10:05 Westbury to Swindon due 10:54 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

10:05 Westbury to Swindon due 10:54
11:04 Swindon to Westbury due 11:47
12:05 Westbury to Swindon due 12:48
13:04 Swindon to Westbury due 13:47

[grahame]

10:05 Westbury to Swindon due 10:54
10:05 Westbury to Swindon due 10:54 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

10:05 Westbury to Swindon due 10:54
11:04 Swindon to Westbury due 11:47
12:05 Westbury to Swindon due 12:48
13:04 Swindon to Westbury due 13:47

Let's compare ... there is another train that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) don't have enough staff to run ...

13:43 Truro to Falmouth Docks due 14:06
14:12 Falmouth Docks to Truro due 14:40
14:43 Truro to Falmouth Docks due 15:06
15:12 Falmouth Docks to Truro due 15:40
15:43 Truro to Falmouth Docks due 16:06
16:12 Falmouth Docks to Truro due 16:40

Can't go on the 13:43 from Truro? - next train 14:13 - 30 minutes later
Can't go on the 10:05 from Westbury? - next train 14:07 - 242 minutes later. Eight times longer to the next train; that is why GWR if they are short of crew (which they should to be) should thin out frequent services and not pull trains on already-thin services.

[grahame]

I had planned to catch the 10:21 and asked on Twitter about alternative arrangements

@GWRHelp
 - planning to travel on 10:21 Melksham to Chippenham.  Note train cancelled through lack of crew. What alternative arrangements for passengers?

answered ...

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Help Replying to @[personal account]
Hi there Graham, sorry to hear this. You will be able to get on another service. - Michaela

[grahame]

I had planned to catch the 10:21 and asked on Twitter about alternative arrangements

@GWRHelp
 - planning to travel on 10:21 Melksham to Chippenham.  Note train cancelled through lack of crew. What alternative arrangements for passengers?

answered ...

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Help Replying to @[personal account]
Hi there Graham, sorry to hear this. You will be able to get on another service. - Michaela

Queried that ...

GWR Help Replying to @[personal account]
I do apologise but the next service from Melksham is the 15:33. I do apologise. - Michaela

Looks like there's been another cancellation and GWR are not offering any alternative or practical solution.  Highlights the issue of puling even a single diagram ... and of an assumption in customer service departments (or contactors) that customers can be **** upon.

[TaplowGreen]

16:32 Westbury to Swindon due 17:24
16:32 Westbury to Swindon due 17:24 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

.......and it's return run at 1733 cancelled too.

[bradshaw]

The service on line West of Yeovil today. The Salisbury to Honiton is also cancelled according to Journey Check
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/CKN/2019-12-21/0200-0159?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt