This train will call additionally at Newbury, Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Another (Sun)day with the semi-fast Paddington to the South West semi-fast service decimated because of a lack of staff, and the express service adding in extra stops between Reading and Taunton to compensate:

Train Cancellations
08:27 Plymouth to London Paddington due 11:59
08:33 London Paddington to Swansea due 11:57
10:36 London Paddington to Paignton due 13:44
12:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare due 14:33
13:03 London Paddington to Plymouth due 16:13
14:36 London Paddington to Exeter St Davids due 16:59
14:53 Paignton to London Paddington due 18:05
15:28 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington due 17:35
18:36 London Paddington to Plymouth due 22:07
20:40 Penzance to Plymouth due 22:38

Other Train Service Updates
09:12 Plymouth to London Paddington due 12:24
11:03 London Paddington to Newquay due 15:51
13:30 Newquay to London Paddington due 18:24
14:30 London Paddington to Taunton due 16:40
15:03 London Paddington to Plymouth due 18:11
17:03 London Paddington to Penzance due 22:05
17:04 Taunton to London Paddington due 19:38
17:32 Exeter St Davids to London Paddington due 20:39
19:03 London Paddington to Plymouth due 22:14

Provided that all services are long enough to cope with the extra passengers (and that does NOT mean that they can all cram on - it means that they most of the groups can actually sit together) and that connections that miss off the delayed expresses don't result in long waits for passengers, the solution is a sensible one on a short term.  On a long term, it's a failure of the system - it reminds me of a correspondent the other day on a different topic saying "we're working on it - please be patient" to which my reply was "I've been waiting since 2007 - how long should I wait".

[ChrisB]

This problem won’t be fixed until 7-day working is agreed/inplemented in the rail industry.

[Timmer]

This problem won’t be fixed until 7-day working is agreed/inplemented in the rail industry.

Then GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) need to remove the SW semifasts from the timetable. Every weekend some or most of them get cancelled making them very unreliable. If you don’t have the staff to operate a timetable, then produce a timetable that you can operate rather than the current fantasy one.

[bobm]

Then this morning's 08:13 from London Paddington to Exeter St David's via Box is delayed by 75 minutes at Didcot Parkway due to "passengers causing a disturbance on this train".  GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) might wish they hadn't run that one now.

[broadgage]

Then this morning's 08:13 from London Paddington to Exeter St David's via Box is delayed by 75 minutes at Didcot Parkway due to "passengers causing a disturbance on this train".  GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) might wish they hadn't run that one now.

Does anyone know what was the nature of the disturbance ?  Excessive drink seems to be a major cause of such events, but unlikely at that time of day.

[ChrisB]

Bristol Pride today - could be drinkers....

[JayMac]

Bristol Pride today - could be drinkers....

Any factual basis for that correlation?

[JayMac]

Bristol Pride today - could be drinkers....

Scavenger Hunt in Bath today - could be drinkers....

Manicure, Pedicure Gel Polish course in Taunton today - could be drinkers....

Jimmy Tarbuck live in Torquay today - could be drinkers....

[broadgage]

Bristol Pride today - could be drinkers....

Any factual basis for that correlation?

Possible IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion). It is a very popular and well attended event. If 1% of those attending drink too much, and if 1% of those cause problems, then that is still a significant number. One person in ten thousand being a problem is not a slur on the organisers or on the great majority of those attending.
The same may be said of Royal Ascot or of major sporting events.

[a-driver]

Then this morning's 08:13 from London Paddington to Exeter St David's via Box is delayed by 75 minutes at Didcot Parkway due to "passengers causing a disturbance on this train".  GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) might wish they hadn't run that one now.

Does anyone know what was the nature of the disturbance ?  Excessive drink seems to be a major cause of such events, but unlikely at that time of day.

One abusive passenger and at the same time, an unconscious passenger.  A doctor onboard advised the passenger needed the urgent attendance of the ambulance service. 

[TaplowGreen]

Bristol Pride today - could be drinkers....

....too much London Pride? 

[bobm]

Better still its big brother Golden Pride.

[grahame]

Another (Sun)day with the semi-fast Paddington to the South West semi-fast service decimated because of a lack of staff, and the express service adding in extra stops between Reading and Taunton to compensate:

[snip]

Provided that all services are long enough to cope with the extra passengers (and that does NOT mean that they can all cram on - it means that they most of the groups can actually sit together) and that connections that miss off the delayed expresses don't result in long waits for passengers, the solution is a sensible one on a short term.  On a long term, it's a failure of the system - it reminds me of a correspondent the other day on a different topic saying "we're working on it - please be patient" to which my reply was "I've been waiting since 2007 - how long should I wait".

And for today:

08:35 London Paddington to Paignton due 12:05
10:35 London Paddington to Paignton due 13:47
12:35 London Paddington to Paignton due 15:53

12:56 Paignton to London Paddington due 16:22
14:56 Paignton to London Paddington due 18:09
17:05 Paignton to London Paddington due 21:06

and by way of example

08:35 London Paddington to Paignton due 12:05
08:35 London Paddington to Paignton due 12:05 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

I recall in my youth the flow of summer Saturday seaside trains to Somerset, Devon and Cornwall (Pembrokeshire too) for people's weeks away - so busy that seat regulation tickets were needed. Yet here we are today with the seaside trains cancelled because the company that has been running them for two decades hasn't got enough staff to meet its contracted spec.  And this feels like a routine unreliability.   Is there still a flow to the West Country for holidays, or will the M5 and A3030 down to Devon and Cornwall be quiet today?

[TaplowGreen]

Another (Sun)day with the semi-fast Paddington to the South West semi-fast service decimated because of a lack of staff, and the express service adding in extra stops between Reading and Taunton to compensate:

[snip]

Provided that all services are long enough to cope with the extra passengers (and that does NOT mean that they can all cram on - it means that they most of the groups can actually sit together) and that connections that miss off the delayed expresses don't result in long waits for passengers, the solution is a sensible one on a short term.  On a long term, it's a failure of the system - it reminds me of a correspondent the other day on a different topic saying "we're working on it - please be patient" to which my reply was "I've been waiting since 2007 - how long should I wait".

And for today:

08:35 London Paddington to Paignton due 12:05
10:35 London Paddington to Paignton due 13:47
12:35 London Paddington to Paignton due 15:53

12:56 Paignton to London Paddington due 16:22
14:56 Paignton to London Paddington due 18:09
17:05 Paignton to London Paddington due 21:06

and by way of example

08:35 London Paddington to Paignton due 12:05
08:35 London Paddington to Paignton due 12:05 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

I recall in my youth the flow of summer Saturday seaside trains to Somerset, Devon and Cornwall (Pembrokeshire too) for people's weeks away - so busy that seat regulation tickets were needed. Yet here we are today with the seaside trains cancelled because the company that has been running them for two decades hasn't got enough staff to meet its contracted spec.  And this feels like a routine unreliability.   Is there still a flow to the West Country for holidays, or will the M5 and A3030 down to Devon and Cornwall be quiet today?

"Routine unreliability" is an apt description these days.

It does make one wonder whether GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and the railway generally have grasped the fact that their future lies with expanding leisure travel and this sends out all the wrong messages.

Paignton (and to a lesser extent Newquay) always seem the poor relations when the long distance cancellations are doled out, ludicrously at this time of year.

M5/A38 v busy yesterday, in my experience it will still be busy today given the long weekend and there is a lot going on as well as beaches this weekend in the South West.

[Timmer]

Until GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) actually have enough staff to be able to run the SW semifasts on weekends they should be removed from the timetable. Weekend after weekend they get cancelled so they shouldn’t be in the timetable.

It’s unfair on those who have booked to travel on these trains to Paignton only to turn up at Paddington to find them cancelled then having to board an already busy fast service with no seat reservation possibly having to stand for some or all of the journey.