Cotswold Line - 2020 cancellation and amendments log

[whole diary]

[brcw2]

The halts train, the 06:53 from Foregate Street, was cancelled at Evesham at 07:18 - but now seems to have restarted from there at 08:23.

Unfortunately, the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) app & website said it was restarting at 0835, not 0823 (and still says that now), so I got to Shipton 5 mins before it was due there (0906 - the platform display agreed) but 5 minutes after it actually stopped there according to the workmen on the platform. There's really not much point running an extra train if you're going to run it 10 minutes or so before you're advertising it. If I'd known, I'd have gone via Kingham or Charlbury, but I've now missed two trains from there thanks to the incorrect info.

[charles_uk]

05:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 08:34 was terminated at Charlbury.
It will no longer call at Kingham, Moreton-In-Marsh, Honeybourne, Evesham, Pershore, Worcester Shrub Hill, Worcester Foregate Street, Malvern Link and Great Malvern.
It has been delayed at Oxford and is now 20 minutes late.

Nothing on JourneyCheck to suggest that the terminated 05:50 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains):GMV might be converted into an additional service to make up for the Oxford/London bound cancellations at the moment.

Realtime Trains suggests that a service departed from Charlbury at 07:47 and ran to Oxford.

[charles_uk]

Going to be cosy on that two coach Turbo halts train this evening:

15:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 18:30 was terminated at Oxford.
It will no longer call at Hanborough, Charlbury, Kingham, Moreton-In-Marsh, Honeybourne, Evesham, Pershore, Worcester Shrub Hill, Worcester Foregate Street, Malvern Link and Great Malvern.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Last Updated:19/02/2020 16:57

[charles_uk]

and there goes another:

17:58 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 20:07 has been cancelled.
This is due to a broken down train.
Last Updated:19/02/2020 18:01

[charles_uk]

08:13 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington due 10:24 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Last Updated:20/02/2020 08:04

10:50 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill due 13:04 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

A shortage of crew due to staff displacement resulting from the various problems this week or your usual half-term shortage of crew?

[Worcester_Passenger]

And earlier:

05:23 Hereford to London Paddington due 08:24 will be started from Great Malvern.
It will no longer call at Hereford, Ledbury and Colwall.
This is due to flooding.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 9.
Last Updated:20/02/2020 05:24

Cosy!
RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) reports the empty stock as arriving from Ledbury.

06:43 Hereford to London Paddington due 09:37 will be started from Worcester Shrub Hill.
It will no longer call at Hereford, Ledbury, Colwall, Great Malvern, Malvern Link and Worcester Foregate Street.
This is due to flooding.
Last Updated:20/02/2020 06:43

06:43 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington due 08:40 is being delayed at Worcester Shrub Hill.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Last Updated:20/02/2020 06:58

RTT reports it as leaving 22 late.

06:53 Worcester Foregate Street to Didcot Parkway due 08:41 has been delayed at Worcester Foregate Street and is now 10 minutes late.
This is due to a problem currently under investigation.
Last Updated:20/02/2020 07:10

Could it be that the "problem under investigation" was the 06:43 Shrub Hill - Paddington?

[charles_uk]

13:18 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington due 15:24 will be started from Oxford.
It will no longer call at Worcester Shrub Hill, Evesham, Honeybourne, Moreton-In-Marsh, Kingham, Charlbury and Hanborough.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Last Updated:20/02/2020 13:28

[charles_uk]

I was thinking smugly to myself yesterday that my usual evening train had been pretty reliable during what hasn't been a very good week on the Cotswold Line...

15:20 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 17:40 will be terminated at Oxford.
It will no longer call at Hanborough, Charlbury, Kingham, Moreton-In-Marsh, Honeybourne, Evesham, Pershore, Worcester Shrub Hill and Worcester Foregate Street.
This is due to a speed restriction over defective track.
Last Updated:21/02/2020 15:13

This service actually arrived at Oxford just two minutes late so passengers waiting on the platform, as well as those turfed off the train, were frustrated and confused. The underlying issue seems to have been crew displacement leading to a replacement driver who was unable to take the train any further.

[charles_uk]

Cancellations to services between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Evesham and Worcester Shrub Hill all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 14:00 26/02.

Train services between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

Services being turned around at Moreton-in-Marsh or terminated at Oxford at the moment.

Although all lines had re-opened by around 2pm, the knock-on disruption has carried on into the evening:

Cancellations to services between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford

Following a fault with the signalling system between Evesham and Worcester Shrub Hill all lines are now open. Disruption is expected until 19:30 26/02.

Train services between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford are returning to normal but some services may still be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised.
Last Updated:26/02/2020 17:25

[froome]

Cancellations to services between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Evesham and Worcester Shrub Hill all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 14:00 26/02.

Train services between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

Services being turned around at Moreton-in-Marsh or terminated at Oxford at the moment.

Although all lines had re-opened by around 2pm, the knock-on disruption has carried on into the evening:

Cancellations to services between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford

Following a fault with the signalling system between Evesham and Worcester Shrub Hill all lines are now open. Disruption is expected until 19:30 26/02.

Train services between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford are returning to normal but some services may still be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised.
Last Updated:26/02/2020 17:25

I went to Worcester yesterday and the return journey back here to Bath, when the services were supposed to be returning back to normal, was a nightmare. My 2 hour journey became 5 and a half hours, largely due to the problems caused by this signalling issue, but later on by another signalling problem at Gloucester. There were many different problems during the journey, including information systems all being wrong or misleading, but the worst of all was the rail replacement bus service we had, which I will post about separately on the Rights and Redress thread.

While my journey was bad enough, and ruined my day, it was far worse for some of the other passengers. One man, who didn't speak English that well, was trying to get to Paddington from Worcester. Either he was put onto the replacement bus to Cheltenham or mistakenly found himself on it (from what I could see, it was never clear from the platform screens whether the Paddington train was running or not) but then found himself on the Penzance train from Cheltenham, as the platform screen at Cheltenham showed the Paddington train arriving first when it was in fact a Penzance train (and prior to that had shown the Penzance train arriving first when the first train to arrive was the Maesteg train). The Penzance train then stopped between Cheltenham and Gloucester for over half an hour, and the last I saw of him was his panic as he tried to find a staff member on the train. None ever showed up on the whole journey.

[Worcester_Passenger]

Wednesday February 27:

10:50 Paddington - Shrub Hill : waited at Evesham (12:39 - 13:33), 68 late at Shrub Hill.
11:50 Paddington - Hereford : cancelled after Moreton-in-Marsh.
12:50 Paddington - Shrub Hill : waited at Evesham (14:46 - 15:34), 56 late at Shrub Hill.
13:50 Paddington - Great Malvern : waited at Evesham (15:40 - 16:04). Cancelled after Foregate Street (22 late).
14:50 Paddington - Foregate Street : started from Reading.
15:20 Paddington - Foregate Street : 19 late after Reading. Held at Wolvercote Junc'n. Cancelled at Shrub Hill (37 late).
15:50 Paddington - Great Malvern : Started from Oxford (20 late). Held at Evesham. Cancelled after Foregate Street (48 late).
17:03 Didcot - Moreton : OK

11:55 Great Malvern - Paddington : cancelled after Shrub Hill
13:18 Shrub Hill - Paddington : left Shrub Hill 63 late, waited at Norton Junction. 148 late from there. Cancelled after Oxford.
13:18 Hereford - Paddington : started from Shrub Hill (at 14:10, on time), ran 23 late, arrived 32 late.
15:20 Shrub Hill - Paddington : started 48 late. Held at Charlbury. Cancelled after Reading (72 late).
15:18 Hereford - Paddington : started from Shrub Hill 18 late. RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) loses track of it after Moreton to Didcot - probably two different trains.
16:30 Great Malvern - Paddington : started from Foregate Street.
17:27 Foregate Street - Paddington : OK
17:57 Foregate Street - Paddington : started from Shrub Hill 17 late. OK after Oxford.
17:28 Foregate Street - Paddington : OK.

All of which demonstrates charles_uk's point that

Although all lines had re-opened by around 2pm, the knock-on disruption has carried on into the evening.

[Worcester_Passenger]

And I apologise to froome in that I'm (usually) only interested in the Cotswold Line trains. The same incident had hit the Worcester - Cheltenhams.

[froome]

And I apologise to froome in that I'm (usually) only interested in the Cotswold Line trains. The same incident had hit the Worcester - Cheltenhams.

No problem. It gave me a chance to realise what you have to put up with on such a regular basis, and to see the effects of the flooding in Worcester, which was dramatic.

I overheard one man who said his journey to Worcester (from I think just Cheltenham) had been delayed by one and three quarters hours. He was just going there for a work meeting which he had missed, had popped into the office to sort out matters and was heading back to his home office. He was one of the ones who made the decision to call his own taxi to get back, which as it turned out was wise.

[Worcester_Passenger]

17:57 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 20:24 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Last Updated:27/02/2020 15:48

20:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 23:10 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Last Updated:27/02/2020 15:48

[DavidT]

Out of all the excuses GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) uses to cancel trains the 'shortage of train crew' is the most frustrating. It's the job of management to run an efficient railway which means making sure there are crew for the trains. That's just basic.  It's not like it happens rarely. It's a daily occurrence somewhere on the network.  It's no good having comfortable trains and an improved timetable if the trains don't actually turn up. Management really should be ashamed.