"Mutiny" on the train

[whole diary]

[bobm]

SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) wasn't really a viable option from Reading yesterday.  Engineering work meant it was road transport as far as Virginia Water.

[IndustryInsider]

If they really have that few crew/trains as to end up with two-and-a-half-hour gaps in service, the least disruptive thing would be to plan to cancel the Reading-Paddington legs of some (or even most) Intercity trains and have London passengers transfer to the Relief Lines or the South Western at Reading.

Putting thousands of people on already busy suburban services doesn’t sound like a good idea to me.  Not to mention the fact that a hefty percentage of crews working trains between Reading and Paddington are based at Paddington so they would still have to get to/from there anyway - they might as well do it working a train!

[jamestheredengine]

If they really have that few crew/trains as to end up with two-and-a-half-hour gaps in service, the least disruptive thing would be to plan to cancel the Reading-Paddington legs of some (or even most) Intercity trains and have London passengers transfer to the Relief Lines or the South Western at Reading.

Putting thousands of people on already busy suburban services doesn’t sound like a good idea to me.  Not to mention the fact that a hefty percentage of crews working trains between Reading and Paddington are based at Paddington so they would still have to get to/from there anyway - they might as well do it working a train!

But we're told that London suburban ridership has collapsed and that those trains are running around at about 20% of their pre-pandemic ridership – carrying vast amounts of air in massive long trains that used to be occupied by office workers for very small periods of time (and not at all on Sundays). That's where the slack is, as identified by the real-world version being running commuter units all the way out to Swindon. Using them as a Reading-London shuttle instead would be a much better use of resources that would result in most of the railway running as normal, apart from the extreme eastern end – much better than leaving massive gaps on the Bristol-Swindon segment where there is no corresponding local service (Corsham and Wootton Bassett being lower priorities in the Civil Service mindset than Iver and Hanwell). And that sort of thing would get better once the Elizabeth Line opens properly: Intercity destinations to central London destinations would still be a single change whether at Paddington or Reading.

[Timmer]

Someone who was on the train concerned (new member ‘Trainmiles’) has reported on the same thread stuving posted a link to earlier what happened:
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/passenger-mutiny-due-to-missed-stop-at-swindon.223038/page-4

Towards the bottom of page.

Not sure I can quote from another forum.

[grahame]

Not sure I can quote from another forum.

No problem I can see in doing so from the Coffee Shop viewpoint ... the other forum may have its rules and guidelines, as may the author there. Typically a good idea to quote only a very modest amount in critical review, provide a link, state the source ... you've got well along the way towards that anyway

[JayMac]

Later on in that thread on RailUK the same new member states categorically that he heard no announcements on board regarding no longer stopping at Chippenham and Swindon.

Elsewhere it is suggested there was a PA^▸ (Public Address) fault in some carriages. If this was known at Bath Spa then it should have been behoven of staff to board each carriage, gain attention and shout the message. Or indeed use a bullhorn if available. May have been prudent to do this regardless of the PA situation.

A few more minutes at Bath Spa doing this would have been infinitely preferable to what subsequently occurred.

Yeah, I know. Hindsight.

[broadgage]

It would have been simpler still to make the extra stops that had been advertised earlier.
To avoid making the overcrowding worse, let passengers OFF at Swindon but at Swindon do not advertise the platform to be used or the destination of the train to deter more from boarding.

[Timmer]

Later on in that thread on RailUK the same new member states categorically that he heard no announcements on board regarding no longer stopping at Chippenham and Swindon.

Elsewhere it is suggested there was a PA^▸ (Public Address) fault in some carriages. If this was known at Bath Spa then it should have been behoven of staff to board each carriage, gain attention and shout the message. Or indeed use a bullhorn if available. May have been prudent to do this regardless of the PA situation.

A few more minutes at Bath Spa doing this would have been infinitely preferable to what subsequently occurred.

Yeah, I know. Hindsight.

For such a new train to already be experiencing dodgy PA isn’t very good.

[PhilWakely]

To avoid making the overcrowding worse, let passengers OFF at Swindon but at Swindon do not advertise the platform to be used or the destination of the train to deter more from boarding.

The only way that could have sensibly been done at Swindon would have been putting the train into the Down platform (Platform 4) without announcing the arrival. IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) are programmed to show the next stop on the side of the carriage, so pax waiting on Platform 3 would attempt to get on. I doubt whether platform staff would want to prevent boarding.

For such a new train to already be experiencing dodgy PA^▸ (Public Address) isn’t very good.

The manual PA system on most units is very poor. I've been sat on a sparsely populated 159 and had to ask the guard when he walked through what his last announcement was as it was barely audible - yet the automated announcement was loud and clear (and incorrect!)

[ChrisB]

One to bring up with Mark Hopwood at our AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) in 10 days? Get the actualities from the horse’s mouth

[Timmer]

One to bring up with Mark Hopwood at our AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) in 10 days? Get the actualities from the horse’s mouth

Do you think MH will want to talk about it? Wasn’t exactly GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)’s finest hour.

[ChrisB]

Yes, he’s very open usually…

[TaplowGreen]

I would hope he will address the root cause (ie staff shortage) and not only at weekends now.....he is 100% accountable for resolving it and yet very little seems to be happening.

[ChrisB]

He did at the MMPA AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) recently. A lot down to training requirements, they’re around a year short of where they should be in terms of driver training. But we can ask again

[broadgage]

One to bring up with Mark Hopwood at our AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) in 10 days? Get the actualities from the horse’s mouth

Do you think MH will want to talk about it? Wasn’t exactly GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)’s finest hour.

I very much doubt that MH will want to talk about this particular incident in detail. It would be hard to say too much without opening other worm cans.
More likely IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) to make a rather general statement about "lessons being learnt, and procedures being reviewed, and communications being improved"

Cant say too much about lack of staff, apart again from a generally re-assuring statement about "recruitment and training going well despite the challenges of the pandemic"

Cant say too much about the failed IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) project, again beyond generalities such as "We and our industry partners are all working very hard to overcome problems, but progress has been slowed by the pandemic"

I have more faith in Mr. Hopwood than in some railway managers, but criticising his company in any significant way is not on, and neither is any serious criticism of the new trains, nor of the government department that ordered them.