Final day report - South Western Railway services to Bristol Temple Meads

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Last Friday - 10th December 2021 - I travelled on the final South Western Railway services between Bristol Temple Meads and London Waterloo, which drew to a close South Western Railway's services at stations Bristol Temple Meads to Trowbridge inclusive - the end of a service that can trace its origins back to 1994.

Background

My memories of the service will be a popular, always-busy service that it was a pleasure to use, but one that was a bit of an oddball all through its life and had to have its place explained and justified on a number of occasions over the years; in recent months, we have had to explain it again and this time we failed to do so with sufficient vigour, clarity, timely information and political support to retain it. It leaves us feeling (frankly) tricked, short-changed and not trusting of the logic, intent or methods of the bodies and some key individuals involved.

It leaves five stations with no practical direct train service from London, and many occasional travellers who find changing trains and crossing London by underground with less than good options (the best of which, for some, is to get in their car) while the decision makers, rail staff and enthusiasts - who are typically fit, happy to change trains multiple times or with significant intermediate waits, free from heavy luggage, and who are not budget conscious - still not understanding what all the fuss is about.

It's going to leave a lot of people crammed onto remaining services at certain times, and people who are used to trains at certain times having to change their daily pattern of work.

It's said to be being culled to save money (around £1 million a year in operating costs), but it's going to result in a loss of around £350,000 per year in access fees to Network Rail, extra costs on Great Western to operate an extra train late each night (call that £100,000 per annum) and using Transport Analysis Guidance have an economic cost of the extra time taken with a train change at Salisbury of 350 * 4 * 2 * £15 * 20 * 0.9 = £750,000 (days, services, directions, personal cost per hour, persons per through train, connection time).  I understand that under TAG there should be a extra penalty time of 40 minutes per interchange,so that's a potential further £560,000 if passengers follow the same route, or £1,100,000 if people change multiple times - I am not an expert at this stuff, and I don't have elasticity models available, so let's just say that the immediate cost saving is going to be far outweighed by extra costs elsewhere and economic damage. These are calculations that I didn't even see made in the Freedom of Information data received in October, and I have no evidence they were made in the rush to be seen to "save money" from the SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) support budget, by a company that wanted shot of its oddball and inconvenient services to Bristol.  Make no mistake - this was worse than a "Beeching era" withdrawal of service from a line that was carrying fresh air - there were many passengers being carried right to the end this time, and no savings to be made as railway infrastructure was removed and track maintenance could be abandoned.

So ... my diary from last Friday.

My intended train from Melksham - to be operated by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - was cancelled and having had that flagged up in the morning on JourneyCheck, I left home early and took the bus into Bath where I caught a train just before 14:00 to Bristol - a through 10 carriage train from Paddington, reported over the tannoy prior to arrival as "full and standing" and with a request "please let people off first". A lot did, indeed, get off and the train was busy but comfortable into Bristol, from where I took a connection out to Redland; a few minutes there, the start of my journey to Waterloo on a pleasantly busy Severn Beach line train.

The arrival of the train which left Waterloo at 12:20 was 9 minutes late - due 15:04, actual 15:13, and people seemed to flow off it for an age! According to people I spoke to, it had been busy all the way with people standing and seated in the lobbies (there's quite a bit of that at the moment, even where there are open seats alongside other passengers as people 'social distance).  Lots of luggage too indicated to me that the passengers had made longer distance journeys on the service, and these were not their regular daily commutes!  Train was 2 carriage unit 158881 which was our steed for the final round trip.

Final through train from Bristol Temple Meads to London (Waterloo)
15:50, Bristol Temple Meads to London Waterloo (18:49), 10.12.2021
2 carriages (unit 158881) Bristol to Salisbury where 6 more carriages attached
Pretty well on time to Salisbury; 7 minutes late thereafter

74 passenger joined at Bristol Temple Meads
4 left and 6 joined at Keynsham
5 left and 7 joined at Oldfield Park
18 left and 32 joined at Bath Spa
Note that train made a signal stop at Limpley Stoke (local ahead at Freshford?)
so (and I counted) 95 on the train between Bath and Bradford-on-Avon
5 left and 7 joined at Bradford-on-Avon
12 left and 24 joined at Trowbridge
10 left and 10 joined at Westbury
25 left and 7 joined at Warminster
so (and I counted) 88 passengers on the train into Salisbury - 84 Std and 4 1st
Around 60 passengers stayed on the train "across" Salisbury
On leaving Salisbury, 40 people in the front carriage and 30 in the second.
I did not log interchanges at intermediate stations until
15 off (from our front carriage) at Clapham Junction leaving
25 passengers in the carriage (the quietest it had been!!) into Waterloo
** Passengers I spoke with were making journeys:
* Bristol to Waterloo (3 groups total 4 people)
* Bath to Waterloo (multiple)
* Bradford-on-Avon to Waterloo
I did NOT pass through the train talking with people - just those around us
These passenger I spoke with did not know it was a last trip and expressed a resigned disappointment when they learned. Reasons for using this train - it's direct, it goes to Waterloo not Paddington, and it's a good price.

Final through train from London (Waterloo) to Bristol Temple Meads
19:20, London Waterloo to Bristol Temple Meads (22:06), 10.12.2021
8 carriages Waterloo to Salisbury with 2 (158881) forward to Bristol
Pretty well on time all the way.
Busy from Waterloo (as the carriages nearest the barrier, it was going to be well loaded with passengers to intermediate stations)
65 in the two carriages into Salisbury.
The train manager from Salisbury into Waterloo and back did an excellent, professional job in his interaction with passengers on the service and is to be commended. Train manager changed at Salisbury ("our guy" probably went with the Exeter portion)
47 on departure from Salisbury, of whom 36 were through passengers
5 left and 6 joined at Warminster
3 left and 3 joined at Westbury
7 left and 14 joined at Trowbridge
6 left and 3 joined at Bradford-on-Avon
Big turnover at Bath - 47 left and 75 joined leaving 78 on train
Train did not call at Oldfield Park
13 left and 1 joined at Keynsham
So that left around 66 into Bristol Temple Meads

Final departure by South Western Railway from Bristol Temple Meads
22:25, Bristol Temple Meads to Salisbury, 10.12.2021
2 carriages - 158881. Left Bristol on time but lost 10 minutes along the way
106 "normal" passenger on train from Bristol
(plus (?) off duty staff and enthusiast friends)
10 left and 5 joined at Keynsham
Train did not call at Oldfield Park
5 to 10 (including myself) left at Bath Spa and I estimate roughly 150 joined
Train was visibly full and standing up the aisles as it pulled out - not a chance of social distancing!!
Train logged as "On time" from Temple Mead but dropping 10 minutes to Westbury.
Delay caused by passenger numbers joining and leaving, and perhaps by train crew taking photos at many (not sure if all) stops on the final round trip from Salisbury.

It has been suggest to me that the trains were busy on Friday because it was the last day of service and "these things always are on their final day". However, none of the counts above included more than a handful of people travelling to see the train off - it was just general Friday traffic. Being a Friday and a regional service, it was undoubtedly busier than it would have been during the week, especially the last service off Bath.

On train, the "next station" indicator had been programmed to say "Last SWR from Bristol" and the train manager announced "This is the last SWR service to leave Bristol. After this train, the service will no longer exist".  Although the Train Manager was visible at stations, and dashing through the train between, there was no ticket check nor interaction with passengers. Unless they were travelling incognito, there were no customer facing or managerial staff on the trains, and the guy left to work the train (and the passengers faced with that stark announcement) could really have done with support from SWR, DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and perhaps GWR customer reps. 

And - to conclude my day - 23:15 bus from Bath to Melksham ... almost full but not standing.  Long after the last train!

Some passenger numbers may be slightly out and numbers not adding up.  All done with a limited view and in the light of covid, etc, I and those who helped were not circulating to getter better views.

What now?

A well loved and well used train service has been lost. For some, it was a "duplicate"; people who caught the 15:50 from Bristol to Trowbridge and just as easily catch the 15:44 and at that time of day the 15:44 if it's full length should not be overcrowded.  For others, a severe inconvenience - the passengers travelling from Bradford-on-Avon to Orpington, where one change has been replaced by two (with a wait of 50 minutes) or three if you don't want to hang around waiting for that long.

Good to see the Bristol to Avonmouth service up by a third, with a doubling of the number of trains onwards to Severn Beach.  Sad that suburban stations in Bristol have reductions which move them away from being attractive, doubly so when the Bristol Metro is intended to increase their service.

Disappointed that both SWR and GWR have withdrawn trains into Salisbury from Westbury and beyond - seven less services per day - and that First West of England - another part of the First empire has registered to withdraw its buses into Salisbury from that direction.  Will that be "allowed" to happen?  I doubt it, but then retaining the Bristol to Waterloo trains looked like a no-brainer yet it didn't happen. We are onto the bus rumours behind the scenes and whereas the train service cull came out far too late from a plan "hatched in a smoke filled room", excellent people are working away on the buses and there's going to be an alternative found, I'm sure.

A few days to gain breath - then a look to the future. I like the Andrew Haines line that says that Great British Railways will be much more customer / passenger focused. I have misgivings that those are fine, medium and long terms words which are quite at variance with short term actions.

Posting now - and in a new thread so I can reference easily later.
* Run up to the final day - http://www.passenger.chat/25727 
* Pictures to be added
* Reference also to me made to http://www.passenger.chat/25739 in the members area

Edit to update links

[JayMac]

'Our guy' from Waterloo left at Salisbury. I had a female guard from Salisbury to Templecombe.

[Mark A]

It has been suggest to me that the trains were busy on Friday because it was the last day of service and "these things always are on their final day".

They err. The 16:20 from Waterloo slightly less busy the previous day, 'cos, Thursday. But still busy.

The only one of these trains I've *ever* seen to be quiet was the one I caught back to Bath, the evening of the Trowbridge meeting, mid week, 20th October.

That train was 50 minutes late into Trowbridge, the weather being atrociously wet and it was the evening that saw some sort of squall-line weather event in and west of Salisbury that caused trains on the Exeter line to be awry.

[grahame]

Last day pictures - South Western Railway services from London Waterloo to Bristol Temple Meads

At Waterloo - awaiting the departure of the last train.





The last call by SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) at Bath Spa as passengers clamour to join the train:



And this is what the train looked like as it left:



This is the view that you'll have of this if you believe data from the Department for Transport and SWR:



More pictures to follow ...

[grahame]

Here are some more pictures - this set on the final day through round trips

[Clan Line]

It leaves us feeling (frankly) tricked, short-changed and not trusting of the logic, intent or methods of the bodies and some key individuals involved.

You can say that again, and again, and.........................

[Mark A]

Those photos have a strong "Ordinary passenger" vibe (rather than a 'Last day' appearance to the travellers)

Luggage in the racks too.

Despite rail travel having allegedly backed off a bit since last week, could do with a few pre-Christmas reports from the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) services which are most likely to have absorbed the heavy lifting from these now absent trains. (Not suggesting Graham should task himself with this - but I'll attempt to drop by Bath Spa at the appropriate time...)

Mark

[grahame]

Public post - https://www.facebook.com/RailReviews/posts/2803740683256995

A bit of railway history took place last week with the final South Western Railway service running from Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads.

Our own friend and colleague James Brace had the honor of being the guard to work the final service. He commented on that the service was well attended by regular passengers and plenty of rail enthusiasts looking to have one last ride. Despite opposition from locals about the value of the service, it has come to pass that SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) will no longer run a service to Bristol and passengers instead will need to use Great Western Railway services instead.

An unfortunate fate for a popular service but at least this day has been well documented. Well done James I'm sure this will be a memorable day in your railway career that will be remembered for many years to come. 

We asked James for a statement who said “ the final evening was an interesting affair, the train left Waterloo at 19:20 formed of 8 coaches, front 6 for Exeter and rear 2 for Bristol. At Salisbury the train was divided and the rear 2, formed of unit 158881, stood ready to work the last departure for Bristol. The train left Salisbury on time and made its way to Bristol. The train was fairly busy, a few enthusiasts about but mostly people travelling home. On arrival at Bristol the train was routed into platform 1, a rare and exciting achievement as normally the train is booked into platform 15! 22:25 soon came around the service departed back to Salisbury. A party atmosphere was onboard tho I believe this to be down to the party goers who got on at Bath Spa. The service arrived into Salisbury right time! And there marked the end of the SWR services from Salisbury/Waterloo to Bristol Temple Meads. The headcode for the final services were 1V81 and 1O86. “

A number of pictures too - rather "as the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) saw it" with trains, staff and few passengers.  See the rest of this thread and you'll spot that the passengers were in the train waiting for it to leave, patiently awaiting the completion of the last rites on the platform.

[Mark A]

Public post - https://www.facebook.com/RailReviews/posts/2803740683256995

A number of pictures too - rather "as the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) saw it" with trains, staff and few passengers.  See the rest of this thread and you'll spot that the passengers were in the train waiting for it to leave, patiently awaiting the completion of the last rites on the platform.

Yes. The way that photos that made it into various media showed an empty train: that was... annoying. The only time I've managed to take a photo of those services running fairly empty was on the night of the Trowbridge meeting, when the 19:20 from Waterloo crawled into Trowbridge nearly an hour late on an evening of rain so heavy that I was surprised no one on the platform was wearing a diving suit.

[grahame]

Public post - https://www.facebook.com/RailReviews/posts/2803740683256995

A number of pictures too - rather "as the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) saw it" with trains, staff and few passengers.  See the rest of this thread and you'll spot that the passengers were in the train waiting for it to leave, patiently awaiting the completion of the last rites on the platform.

Yes. The way that photos that made it into various media showed an empty train: that was... annoying. The only time I've managed to take a photo of those services running fairly empty was on the night of the Trowbridge meeting, when the 19:20 from Waterloo crawled into Trowbridge nearly an hour late on an evening of rain so heavy that I was surprised no one on the platform was wearing a diving suit.

Two pictures, final day, 30 seconds apart.   In the first, the train is pulling in - the typical picture you see all over the internet, trains all over the place.  The second is the "passenger view" ... and aren't the passengers the very reason for running the trains?

There were several minutes of people flowing off that train - young and old, heavy luggage and light, smart and a bit scruffy. No way to get them all in a single picture.  Picture taken at about quarter past three in the afternoon. What's missing from the pictures of its arrival is "last day riders".  Also missing were any DfT or SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) managers or customer assistance staff, or people from the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) team to tell passengers about the alternative they're offering the the following week.  No information sheet to tell them either - abandonment.  If it were my business, I would have been ashamed of myself.

[Mark A]

Thanks for those photos (and words).

Then, this, from David Horne, MD of LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about): "ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) statistics published this week show that @LNER’s passenger numbers in Jul-Sept recovered to 89.6% of pre-pandemic levels. This was nearly 20 % points more than any other operator. A big thank you to all the LNER team who have been relentlessly focused on this recovery."

(David Horne having a background in managing the regional railways of the south west at a time when aspiration had to be cooked up out of a shoestring and in the face of obstructions from government departments, it's not unreasonable to hope to see a few more with his approach).

[jamestheredengine]

Then, this, from David Horne, MD of LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about): "ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) statistics published this week show that @LNER’s passenger numbers in Jul-Sept recovered to 89.6% of pre-pandemic levels. This was nearly 20 % points more than any other operator. A big thank you to all the LNER team who have been relentlessly focused on this recovery."

That's what you get when you split out the Intercity services from the others. I wouldn't be surprised if this was part of a more general trend that Intercity and Regional services are doing reasonably healthily, whilst Commuter ones are now in a state of being massively over-resourced for the medium term, rather than any special effort from LNER.

In SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) terms, they're looking at the wrong end of the line if they're trying to save money.

[Mark A]

Ah, the Bristol Post now has a piece on the trains' demise online and in the process have used the 'Busy train' photo from the Two Tunnels twitter account. Be good if there were a few well-informed comments, but so far, only one poorly informed one.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/anger-south-western-railway-stops-6355255

Mark

[rogerw]

Other than your comment the only one visible seems to miss the point of things. You cannot get to stations from Salisbury towards London by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), not to mention the many places served by simple connections from Clapham Junction and Waterloo/Waterloo East