2020 - TransWilts cancellation and amendment log

[whole diary]

[RA]

It appears that a road vehicle has struck one of the bridge parapets (road over rail) and knocked some of the masonry onto the track before leaving the scene without reporting the damage and obstruction. 

[grahame]

It appears that a road vehicle has struck one of the bridge parapets (road over rail) and knocked some of the masonry onto the track before leaving the scene without reporting the damage and obstruction. 

That would seem logical ... it's an "interesting" bridge ... https://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/18293127.railway-bridge-collapses-train-goes-near-melksham/

I started a separate thread ... https://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/18293127.railway-bridge-collapses-train-goes-near-melksham/ and http://www.passenger.chat/23016 . In hindsight that may be overdoing it, as it sounds like trains will be running again in the morning.

[grahame]

Further text in the Gazette and Herald

ENGINEERS are clearing rubble from the railway line after a vehicle struck a bridge near Melksham.

A Great Western Railway service on its way from Chippenham to Warminster hit the stones at around 7.20pm, damaging the front of the train.

Network Rail hopes to have the line reopened by the morning rush hour. A damaged wall by the steel bridge is being rebuilt.

'Panic'

Passengers on the Warminster-bound service spoke of their shock at feeling the train "steer off the tracks".

Tracey Hannam, who joined the train at Chippenham, said: “I felt the train steer off the tracks.


“There was a really loud noise like the train was going to go over.

“A lot of us in our carriage held on to something and put our heads down.

“You just start panicking because you think the worst is going to happen.

“I’ve been travelling this route for six years and nothing like this has ever happened.”

Tracey works for the RSPCA in Chippenham and was travelling home to Trowbridge. She added: “It was very scary. I usually get an earlier train home from work but I stayed late today.

[grahame]

16:25 Westbury to Swindon due 17:07
16:25 Westbury to Swindon due 17:07 will be starting late from Westbury.
This is due to train crew being delayed by service disruption.

[grahame]

06:11 Swindon to Westbury due 06:53
 
06:11 Swindon to Westbury due 06:53 is being delayed between Chippenham and Melksham and is now expected to be 12 minutes late.
This is due to congestion.

2 track now  (or passing loop(s) or whatever helps get all the freight and an hourly or better passenger train through!

[grahame]

08:20 Westbury to Swindon due 09:03
09:12 Swindon to Westbury due 09:52
10:44 Westbury to Swindon due 11:28
11:41 Swindon to Westbury due 12:21
14:50 Westbury to Swindon due 15:34
15:46 Swindon to Westbury due 16:26

08:20 Westbury to Swindon due 09:03 will be cancelled.
This is due to a short-notice change to the timetable.
Further Information
Following discussions with Government and the wider rail industry, Great Western Railway is reducing services to reflect national advice against non-essential travel, while maintaining services critical to keeping key workers moving during the current situation.

Posted to the log with no analysis of the particular choices made on the TransWilts - separate subject(s) ...

[grahame]

15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:55
15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:55 is being delayed at Swindon.
This is due to trespassers on the railway.

[grahame]

16:25 Westbury to Swindon due 17:07
16:25 Westbury to Swindon due 17:07 will be starting late from Westbury.
This is due to a fault on this train.

[grahame]

07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:24
07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:24 has been delayed at Westbury and is now 26 minutes late.
This is due to train crew being delayed.

[bobm]

18:39 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21

18:39 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21 will be cancelled.

This is due to a fault on this train.

20:45 Swindon to Westbury due 21:26

20:45 Swindon to Westbury due 21:26 will be cancelled.

This is due to a fault on this train.

[grahame]

Each month, I consolidate data from http://www.mrug.org.uk/record.html into a Melksham specific report for TransWilts. I did wonder what I should do for April; in the absence of feedback or change requests, I simply carries on - it makes sense to do so, as it means that statistical series will be complete in the future.  Unusually, though, I am posting my report summary here as well as emailing it in, as it provides some useful indicators and some news from the line - such news is scarse from any service at the moment right across the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) as there simply aren't passengers on the trains and buses to report in anything like the normal numbers.



Another calendar month [April 2020] has ended - but a very different one.  For what it’s worth and in the absence of requests otherwise, we have continued to log Melksham train performance against the timetable as being advertised on the day on the WEBTIS screen at the station, which we are able to view remotely. (Summary paragraphs follow, raw data below)

About 486 services in the original timetable (may be inaccurate due to Easter public holiday)
348 services scheduled to call at Melksham during April 2020 on modified timetable
316 ran on time, 20 were slightly late, 10 were 5 minutes or more late, 2 were cancelled.

We have lost incredibly few service in the emergency timetable - probably because the line already has a very thin service which would be useless with cuts, the line provides an operation and key worker service, and there's nothing really left to cut as it's now a single train operation.

Most (but not all) of the people I know who use the TransWilts service are not using it at present - in line with goverment guidelines and rules, and common to all GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) services. The little 'intelligence' I have talks of trains with just a handful of people, but loadings per carriage actually remains slighlty higher (on tiny numbers) than many / most(?) other GWR services.

99.4% of services ran (excellent month; a rare example of meeting target)
96.5 ppm - again an excellent (even superb) figure.
In summary - the rail infrastrucure is no longer overoaded with services, and there are plenty of trains and crews.

[grahame]

From yesterday (on Twitter, public tweet):

@GWRHelp
thanks for not opening the doors at Trowbridge station at 05:23 I loved my little stop off in Melksham and then an hour wait to go back to Trowbridge

[bobm]

09:45 Westbury to Swindon due 10:34

09:45 Westbury to Swindon due 10:34 was terminated at Chippenham.

It will no longer call at Swindon.

This is due to animals on the railway.

11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:47

11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:47 will be cancelled.

This is due to animals on the railway.

Herd of cows on the line at Wootton Bassett Junction.

[bobm]

10:30 Chippenham to Westbury due 10:56

An additional train service has been planned to operate as shown

10:30 Chippenham to Westbury due 10:56.

[grahame]

10:30 Chippenham to Westbury due 10:56

An additional train service has been planned to operate as shown

10:30 Chippenham to Westbury due 10:56.

Logical to get the train back to Westbury ... expect it to be ultra-safe (no passengers) as it's running some 50 minutes ahead of the train cancelled in the timetable.   

Reports to me are very very thin at present, but the 09:45 Westbury to Swindon (which ran as far as Chippenham) is carrying passengers. The 11:05 back much less so (educated guess - no report)