2020 - TransWilts cancellation and amendment log

[whole diary]

[grahame]

10:04 Westbury to Swindon due 10:52
10:04 Westbury to Swindon due 10:52 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

This one now cancelled throughout

11:22 Swindon to Portsmouth Harbour due 14:04
11:22 Swindon to Portsmouth Harbour due 14:04 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Thanks, yes ... and (at least) we have a northbound additional call at Melksham too.

09:08 Portsmouth Harbour to Swindon due 11:43
09:08 Portsmouth Harbour to Swindon due 11:43 will be diverted between Westbury and Swindon.
It will call additionally at Melksham.
It will be delayed due to the diversion and is expected to be 5 minutes late.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

The 20:45 from Swindon to Westbury had some issues tonight ... together with lots of other trains:

Well an amazing train journey home what should be a 40 min journey home now nearly an hour late into westbury

Cannot access westbury from Trowbridge end so had to go on a loop round down to frome and back into westbury what amazing value for money this is lol plus compensation to come back as well

On time at Swindon, Chippenham and Melksham
34 minutes late at Trowbridge
87 minutes late into Westbury

[grahame]

06:11 Swindon to Southampton Central due 08:08
06:11 Swindon to Southampton Central due 08:08 will be terminated at Salisbury.
It will no longer call at Romsey and Southampton Central.
It has been delayed at Westbury and is now 32 minutes late.
This is due to a points failure.

Ironically, the busiest section of the route is cancelled ... but then it's also the section on which there's another train.  With the 07:35 from Salisbury cancelled, passengers will drop back to the 07:50.

[grahame]

07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:20 has been reinstated and is now running as scheduled.

08:44 Swindon to Westbury due 09:25
08:44 Swindon to Westbury due 09:25 will be reinstated.
It will be starting late from Swindon.
This is due to a points failure.

Glad they're running ... hope that not-too-many people got scared off.  With nothing able to run from the platforms in Westbury out towards Pewsey (as I understand it), the TransWilts service offers the best way for Westbury passengers to Reading and London

[bobm]

08:44 cancelled, reinstated, then cancelled again.

[grahame]

08:44 cancelled, reinstated, then cancelled again.

07:35 from Westbury cancelled too - so that's a round trip gone.  But then the 07:04 from Westbury (the one that goes on from Swindon via Stroud) ran 30 minutes late - in the path of the 07:35. 

[grahame]

Another one bites the dust

09:45 Westbury to Swindon due 10:34
09:45 Westbury to Swindon due 10:34 has been cancelled.
This is due to a points failure

JourneyCheck reports 1 cancelled, 7 short run and 34 reformed.  Guess where the cancellation is!

[grahame]

Now 2 cancelled ... added

11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:47
11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:47 will be cancelled.
This is due to a points failure.

Additional Information
Customers with tickets routed via Melksham may travel via Bath Spa.

Customers at Melksham should use the Customer Help Point or contact National Rail Enquiries on 03457 484 950 detailing the total number of passengers in your party and your intended destination.

Customers at Melksham should note that although the help point looks to be turned off with a dead screen, the information button does work (or was doing on Wednesday).  Be prepared to speak clearly because the line is pretty poor and expect to spend some time in trying to communicate as a result.  They will ask you where you are .... then they will ask you to spell that.   Answer should be M-E-L-K-S-H-A-M as they do not find T-H-A-T helpful.

[grahame]

05:17 - Westbury to Swindon

This service is partially cancelled
This service was cancelled between Chippenham and Swindon due to an issue with the train crew (TG).

06:11 Swindon to Southampton Central due 08:08
06:11 Swindon to Southampton Central due 08:08 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.
This is due to a member of on-train staff being taken ill.

Wishing the member of staff involved a speedy recovery.

[grahame]

I was in Swindon to 10 O'Clock ... so glad I came back on the 09:59 and cycled from Chippenham!

11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:47
11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:47 will be diverted between Chippenham and Trowbridge.
It will no longer call at Melksham.
It will be delayed due to the diversion and is expected to be 7 minutes late.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

Been a right morning of it ... at the station for the 05:33.  No indication of anything amiss when I left home, but at the station it flashed up that fateful "Delayed" message on the departure screen.    Help point broken - phone rang, answered, said "please wait" and went dead.    National Rail Enquires on my phone told me the train was delayed, but when I asked how much told me that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) had not given them the information.   When I asked "what do you advise me to do" she said "all I can tell you is train is delayed - I cannot advise you what to do ...."

Anyway ... It turned up.  On time off Westbury, sat for quarter of an hour at Trowbridge, crept up the single line so it was 40 minutes late into Swindon.   Chap who joined at Melksham with me had missed his connecting bus to work ...

Standing as "Journey Maker" in Swindon Station, I noted the 07:48 arrival from Westbury was also 40 minutes late, and the 08:18 arrival about 30 minutes late.    The 06:36 to Southampton left very late, and I note it terminated at Romsey .. as it's the school train  from Salisbury and Romsey into Southampton, that's a "fail" but then I'm sure all the school-goers caught the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) half an hour behind, just as the Stroud school traffic from Swindon who usually catch the 07:56 went on the express from London half an hour later.

[bobm]

Axle counters failed on the single line after the weekend engineering work.   Pilot working in operation.  Repairs underway - hoping for a fix by lunchtime.

[grahame]

... hoping for a fix by lunchtime.

To the axle counter or the help point?? 

[grahame]

... hoping for a fix by lunchtime.

To the axle counter or the help point?? 

Clearly not the axle counter ... or was it just a hope??

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17
17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17 will be diverted between Chippenham and Trowbridge.
It will no longer call at Melksham.
It will be delayed due to the diversion and is expected to be 7 minutes late.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

18:39 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21
18:39 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21 will be diverted between Trowbridge and Chippenham.
It will no longer call at Melksham.
It will be delayed due to the diversion and is expected to be 10 minutes late.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

They've had the whole ****ing weekend to get the line into a fine fettle ....

Noting that Journeycheck says nothing about alternative arrangements - just tells you about compensation ...

[bobm]

They've had the whole ****ing weekend to get the line into a fine fettle ....

I think the problem is while doing that work a cable was inadvertently damaged and not discovered until testing at the end of the work.  It isn't an engineering overrun in the usual sense.  Agreed however that is a distinction which won't count for much to those trying to get home in the rain.

[grahame]

They've had the whole ****ing weekend to get the line into a fine fettle ....

I think the problem is while doing that work a cable was inadvertently damaged and not discovered until testing at the end of the work.  It isn't an engineering overrun in the usual sense.  Agreed however that is a distinction which won't count for much to those trying to get home in the rain.

Yeah, agreed .... far from the first time that there's been an "oh - whoops" at the tail end of engineering.  I recall similar things when Westbury came to re-open after a Christmas and New Year closure.   

One offs - understandable.  A pattern of finding new problems just before re-opening is worthy of analysis. Either do something to reduce the problems, or have a backup plan. 

"I don't know what's happening and cannot advise you what to do - I can only tell you your train is delayed" is not exactly what the customers headed for work at 05:45 on a Monday morning wanted to here, or found helpful.  Telling us that the next train was 07:21 if the 05:33 didn't come along ... well ... indicated a disjoint between the customer advisor and the customers!