2021 - TransWilts cancellation and amendment log

[whole diary]

[bradshaw]

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Journey Check shows that the first two up from Weymouth are diverted through Melksham, calling there on the way.

[grahame]

05:17 Westbury to Swindon due 05:59
Facilities on the 05:17 Westbury to Swindon due 05:59.
Will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 3.

Not a problem but this will be busier later in its journey

06:11 Swindon to Southampton Central due 08:08
Facilities on the 06:11 Swindon to Southampton Central due 08:08.
Will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 3.

[grahame]

09:45 Westbury to Swindon due 10:34

09:45 Westbury to Swindon due 10:34 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Additional Information
Customers at Westbury and Trowbridge may travel on the 10:11 (10:17 from Trowbridge) and change at Bath Spa for the 10:43 London Paddington service which calls at Chippenham (10:54) and Swindon (11:08).

Road transport is being arranged to run between Westbury and Chippenham, calling at Trowbridge and Melksham. The road transport may run later than the advertised train time. Customers should check station signage and wait at the rail replacement stop.

11:06 Swindon to Westbury due 11:47 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Additional Information
Customers at Swindon and Chippenham travelling to Trowbridge and Westbury may travel on the 11:29 Bristol Temple Meads service (11:40 from Chippenham) and change at Bath Spa for the 12:03 Weymouth service, which calls at Trowbridge (12:24) and Westbury (12:32).

Customers travelling to Melksham from Swindon should travel to Chippenham on the 11:29 Bristol Temple Meads service.

From Chippenham a coach has been arranged to depart at 11:45 and will call at Melksham, Trowbridge and Westbury. Customers should check station signage and wait at the rail replacement stop.
Further Information

[grahame]

09:45 Westbury to Swindon due 10:34

09:45 Westbury to Swindon due 10:34 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Additional Information
Customers at Westbury and Trowbridge may travel on the 10:11 (10:17 from Trowbridge) and change at Bath Spa for the 10:43 London Paddington service which calls at Chippenham (10:54) and Swindon (11:08).

Road transport is being arranged to run between Westbury and Chippenham, calling at Trowbridge and Melksham. The road transport may run later than the advertised train time. Customers should check station signage and wait at the rail replacement stop.

11:06 Swindon to Westbury due 11:47 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Additional Information
Customers at Swindon and Chippenham travelling to Trowbridge and Westbury may travel on the 11:29 Bristol Temple Meads service (11:40 from Chippenham) and change at Bath Spa for the 12:03 Weymouth service, which calls at Trowbridge (12:24) and Westbury (12:32).

Customers travelling to Melksham from Swindon should travel to Chippenham on the 11:29 Bristol Temple Meads service.

From Chippenham a coach has been arranged to depart at 11:45 and will call at Melksham, Trowbridge and Westbury. Customers should check station signage and wait at the rail replacement stop.
Further Information

And this looks like the replacement bus cancelled too??

09:45 Westbury to Chippenham due 10:35
Additional 09:45 Westbury to Chippenham due 10:35 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Additional Information
Customers should check station signage and wait at the rail replacement stop.

11:45 Chippenham to Westbury due 12:35
Additional 11:45 Chippenham to Westbury due 12:35 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Additional Information
Customers should check station signage and wait at the rail replacement stop.

[grahame]

And this looks like the replacement bus cancelled too??

Looks like the train has been re-instated?

[bobm]

The 09:45 certainly has - it is just leaving the single line at Thingley.

[grahame]

06:11 Swindon to Southampton Central due 08:08
Facilities on the 06:11 Swindon to Southampton Central due 08:08.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 3.

07:05 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 09:03
Facilities on the 07:05 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 09:03.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 3.

Both school trains later in their journeys and if the schools are back, could crowd magnificently.  If schools are still out, no problem!

[grahame]

07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:20
08:45 Swindon to Westbury due 09:26
09:45 Westbury to Swindon due 10:34
11:06 Swindon to Westbury due 11:47
12:16 Westbury to Swindon due 13:01
13:15 Swindon to Westbury due 13:56
14:16 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01
15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:55
16:25 Westbury to Swindon due 17:08
17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17
18:39 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21
20:45 Swindon to Westbury due 21:26
Facilities on the 20:45 Swindon to Westbury due 21:26.
Will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 3.

[grahame]

20:06 Westbury to Swindon due 20:50
20:06 Westbury to Swindon due 20:50 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

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 shortage of train crew.

Updated with more information. Good to have the extra data.

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 shortage of train crew.
Additional Information
Passengers from Swindon and Chippenham for stations towards Westbury and beyond, are advised to travel to Bath Spa and change there for services towards Westbury, Salisbury and Southampton Central.

Passengers from Swindon for Melksham should travel on the next available service to Chippenham, departing Swindon at 18:59 and use the Rail replacement service from Chippenham to Melksham.

Passengers from Melksham should await the Rail replacement service or press the Help Point for onwards travel to Westbury.

[grahame]

For the record ...

07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:20
Facilities on the 07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:20.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 2.

... loads of these all day.  No problem at all ...

[Lee]

For the record ...

07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:20
Facilities on the 07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:20.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 2.

... loads of these all day.  No problem at all ...

Ironic to think that 15 years ago, we were fighting proposals to cut Portsmouth-Cardiff services from 3 coaches back to 2, and TransWilts services from an then-adequate but could-be-better 5 a day down to 2 at useless timings.

[grahame]

For the record ...

07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:20
Facilities on the 07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:20.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 2.

... loads of these all day.  No problem at all ...

Ironic to think that 15 years ago, we were fighting proposals to cut Portsmouth-Cardiff services from 3 coaches back to 2, and TransWilts services from an then-adequate but could-be-better 5 a day down to 2 at useless timings.

Indeed, Lee ...  On Saturday last, we had rail replacement buses and I was alerted to the use of a double deck bus on the route.  Knowing that we still have very low usage because people have been pushed away from public transport by covid, and that rail replacement buses generally put off the sort of leisure / optional travellers we have, I confess to thinking this was going to be a bit wasteful.   Turns out I was wrong and whoever planned it was right ... the double deck bus was needed; a single deck would not have been enough ...



See also http://grahamellis.uk/blog117.html

2 car v 3 car - not an issue at the moment, though (from limited reports) thank goodness we don't have a 153 any longer.   New metrics as to what are quiet and busy bus and train services; Lisa and I made 4 bus journeys yesterday to the far side of Bath.  And on-train capacity may be good for the most parts, but already some local concerns, including here in Wiltshire.

[stuving]

I wonder if there's been a general shift to using bigger buses. Last month during an "RRB^▸ (Rail Replacement Bus) Sunday" at Wokingham, they were using only double deckers and I counted five waiting around. In the past they would only be used for busier routes, and on Sunday were often not needed at all.

Is this all about extra space for Covid - which would be odd given the lower passenger numbers due to the same cause? Or is there a factor due to the limited number of suitably accessible coaches available?

Why so many at Wokingham wasn't clear at the time, based on the timetable. As you can see, there isn't really room for five big vehicles in the (still pretty new) "road mode" area. They have had to take over half the taxi rank and the entrance to the main car park. And last month I found six there!

[grahame]

I wonder if there's been a general shift to using bigger buses. Last month during an "RRB^▸ (Rail Replacement Bus) Sunday" at Wokingham, they were using only double deckers and I counted five waiting around. In the past they would only be used for busier routes, and on Sunday were often not needed at all.

Is this all about extra space for Covid - which would be odd given the lower passenger numbers due to the same cause? Or is there a factor due to the limited number of suitably accessible coaches available?

With the requirement for wheelchair access becoming an insistence, many of the coaches that were used in the past cannot be used any more, and we are seeing fleets of modern buses turning up, from cities where weekend bus services are thinner than weekday ones.

With regard to the specific and surprising heavy loading of the Westbury to Chippenham bus pictured at Melksham, I noted that most of the passengers were travelling through.   On a normal day, a significant part of the Westbury / Trowbridge to Chippenham / Swindon traffic changes trains in Bath - it takes longer, it costs more, but it runs frequently - no waiting two and a half hours for the next service.  But last Saturday, Westbury to Bath and Bath to Chippenham were both replaced by buses too, which will have pushed people who hd to make the journey onto the direct bus - bus into and out of Bath would have been painful!!!

And this evidence and reason rather suggests that if the normal train frequency was increased up to an hourly service, passenger numbers would rocket as you would have taken away the reason so many people make the best of a poor job and dogleg via Bath.