2021 - TransWilts cancellation and amendment log

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

I'm currently looking forward to what I fully expect to happen on Christmas Eve. I've already bought my rather dear First Class Advance from Neath to Melksham (and a comparatively bargainous Standard Anytime Single from Melksham to Frome). 0640 from Neath, 0845 from Swindon. What could possibly go wrong?  Worst comes to the worst, I get diverted to Bath (and phone for a lift, rather than any more messing around) and GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) somehow work out how to excess me for staying in First between Chippenham and Bath after they cancel the 0845.

I do admire your courage & faith that GWR will get you home on Christmas Eve under current circumstances.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

[TaplowGreen]

1217 Westbury-Swindon
1315 Swindon-Westbury
1416 Westbury-Swindon
1514 Swindon-Westbury

- cancelled, crew shortage.

[eXPassenger]

I'm currently looking forward to what I fully expect to happen on Christmas Eve. I've already bought my rather dear First Class Advance from Neath to Melksham (and a comparatively bargainous Standard Anytime Single from Melksham to Frome). 0640 from Neath, 0845 from Swindon. What could possibly go wrong?  Worst comes to the worst, I get diverted to Bath (and phone for a lift, rather than any more messing around) and GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) somehow work out how to excess me for staying in First between Chippenham and Bath after they cancel the 0845.

I do admire your courage & faith that GWR will get you home on Christmas Eve under current circumstances.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

In 1970 I had a friend whose father was in Western Region operations.  On Christmas Eve he sent every train out double headed to ensure that a breakdown would not prevent services. 

[grahame]

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 12:59
13:15 Swindon to Westbury due 13:56

13:15 Swindon to Westbury due 13:56 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[eightonedee]

Is someone out there making a determined effort to try to get to the 30th page on this thread before the year is out?

(just to be clear - someone in the rail industry, not the unfortunate contributors to this forum who have undertaken the sad task of keeping us informed of the problems, including changes of information issued to passengers, on this service)

[TaplowGreen]

10:45 Westbury to Swindon due 11:31 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

10:45 Westbury to Swindon due 11:31 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Is someone out there making a determined effort to try to get to the 30th page on this thread before the year is out?

(just to be clear - someone in the rail industry, not the unfortunate contributors to this forum who have undertaken the sad task of keeping us informed of the problems, including changes of information issued to passengers, on this service)

Sadly, no, not the contributors on the forum.  There are times that the pedant in me skips over JourneyCheck reports of things like formation changes, and consolidates multiple cancellations into a a single post.

Where a line has a train service multiple times per hour, a cancellation or two every couple of days is something that most passengers can live with even if not happy about it.  Where a line only has one train every several hours, any and every cancellation has a serious impact on passengers - both on the day of the cancellation, and in their trust in the rail industry to provide a reliable service on future dates, and they will look for alternatives.

[grahame]

16:25 Westbury to Swindon due 17:08
17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:19
18:34 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21
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.

[brooklea]

MONDAY 20th December - one more which slipped the net yesterday 
1750 Gloucester - Warminster was cancelled throughout (as shown on RealTimeTrains)

[grahame]

MONDAY 20th December - one more which slipped the net yesterday 
1750 Gloucester - Warminster was cancelled throughout (as shown on RealTimeTrains)

Thanks for that ... pretty depressing at the moment.

Edit to add - 34 out of 340 services scheduled so far the month cancelled for crew reasons alone.

[Phil]

I consider myself the most loyal and patient of customers but even I'm not using the TransWilts to commute to and from work (MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains) - WSB^» (Westbury - next trains)) this week. I found during the past three weeks or so that I could usually get in OK, but either had to leave early to get the "last train" (a lunchtime service, with everything after that showing as cancelled) or rely on the invariably helpful station staff at WSB to find me a taxi to MKM - which I twice abandoned on the outskirts of Melksham and walked home in the dark, rather than sit in ring-road traffic for an additional 20 minutes just to get to the station and join up the dots. I'm lucky: I have the option of using the car if I want to. For most of the year round I choose to use the train as I consider myself very fortunate to have the service available and played a very small part in fighting to save it once long ago; but quite frankly it's too unreliable to be any use to man nor beast right now. Whether or not I'll return to the train in the spring remains to be seen.

[TaplowGreen]

07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:19
07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:19 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

08:45 Swindon to Westbury due 09:26
08:45 Swindon to Westbury due 09:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:19
07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:19 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

08:45 Swindon to Westbury due 09:26
08:45 Swindon to Westbury due 09:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

We aren't the only ones - here are other issues this morning:

Alterations to services between Par and Newquay
Cancellations to services between Truro and Falmouth Docks
Cancellations to services between St Erth and St Ives
Cancellations to services between Liskeard and Looe

Due to a shortage of train crew between Liskeard and Looe:
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 11:45 22/12.

We do seem, though, to have consistency one of the worst records and, time and time and time again, huge gaps between services.

I consider myself the most loyal and patient of customers but even I'm not using the TransWilts to commute to and from work (MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains) - WSB^» (Westbury - next trains)) this week. .... [snip] .... Whether or not I'll return to the train in the spring remains to be seen.

Makes me weep.  Don't know what to do.

[Mark A]

It's not you. Railway companies generally need to stop the piecemeal cancellation approach and run provisional timetables along with develop a plan to restore services. Also, the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) needs to not even dare think of using the reduction in passenger numbers as an excuse for unstructured permanent cuts to services. Lastly, the minister of state for transport, every time he dares stand up and talk about the £96 billion investment in rail for the north? That needs challenging by everyone else in the room.

Mark

[Lee]

07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:19
07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:19 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

08:45 Swindon to Westbury due 09:26
08:45 Swindon to Westbury due 09:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

We aren't the only ones - here are other issues this morning:

Alterations to services between Par and Newquay
Cancellations to services between Truro and Falmouth Docks
Cancellations to services between St Erth and St Ives
Cancellations to services between Liskeard and Looe

Due to a shortage of train crew between Liskeard and Looe:
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 11:45 22/12.

We do seem, though, to have consistency one of the worst records and, time and time and time again, huge gaps between services.

I consider myself the most loyal and patient of customers but even I'm not using the TransWilts to commute to and from work (MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains) - WSB^» (Westbury - next trains)) this week. .... [snip] .... Whether or not I'll return to the train in the spring remains to be seen.

Makes me weep.  Don't know what to do.

I do.

I have been reviewing the Option 24/7 TransWilts Pilot Area Bus Network for 2016 (EDIT to fix link)

What I noticed was how well it still stands up today. Therefore, I am going to look at adapting it to form a Wiltshire Base Bus Network for 2022 that can withstand reduced or removed Covid grant funding.

The basic idea would be where in 2016 we looked at profits and the savings from a more efficient network cross-subsidising, and in some cases improving services, and enabling the reduction or removal of Wiltshire Council funding, in 2022 I will look at Wiltshire Council funding mixed with the £671k Subsidised Bus Service Fund award and the savings from a more efficient network underpinning, and in some cases improving services, and thus withstanding the reduction or removal of Covid grant funding.

That way we can create a Wiltshire Base Bus Network for 2022 that we can then enhance with whatever Bus Service Improvement Plan funding we are allocated, and move on with Bus Back Better more or less as originally planned.

26. The geographic and financial size of Passenger Service Contracts will reflect local markets and needs.

It will be easier to design the geographic and financial size of contracts to reflect local markets and needs, and to reduce barriers to entry for new and innovative bidders where this is value for money. These could include, for example, operators with innovative ideas for improving connectivity with other transport services, community rail partnerships for individual lines, and operators with proposals for reducing train fleet costs or increasing leisure use of under-used scenic routes. Integration could also enable multiple, smaller operators to co-exist efficiently in a way that has not previously been possible.

Whatever else people might think of us, they can't say we are not innovative in TransWilts-land. Therefore, why not transfer control of Westbury-Swindon rail services to an interim local management team that includes Option 24/7 and Wiltshire Council representation, with a view to integrating them with the TransWilts Pilot Area Bus Network under a Comité De Lignes-style arrangement for the longer-term.

There you go, fixed that for you. Andrew Haines has grahame's phone number, and we will be expecting the call imminently.