2023 - Train update and amendment log - Swindon <-> Westbury

[whole diary]

[grahame]

06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Shrub Hill due 09:44 will be delayed between Bristol Parkway and Gloucester.
This is due to a safety inspection of the track.

Yes, seriously, TransWilts board.  Train runni,ng this week Salisbury - Westbury - Swindon (reverse), Bristol Parkway (reverse), Gloucester (reverse), Cheltenham Spa and Worcester Shrub Hill.

Melksham to Bristol Parkway journeys via Swindon are interesting.  The fastest journey is almost always via Swindon but it is not a route for which tickets are sold. 

Edit - the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) booking engine does offer you a journey from Melksham on this train (at 07:21), with 2 changes (Chippenham and Bristol Parkway) and an 08:43 arrival at Bristol Parkway.     But if you had stayed on the same train you would have arrived at Bristol Parkway at 08:20.   

[grahame]

18:44 Swindon to Salisbury due 20:06

18:44 Swindon to Salisbury due 20:06 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[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.

[rogerw]

 AIUI^▸ (as I understand it), Tickets are always valid on through  trains even if the route is not normally accepted

[bobm]

Train runni,ng this week Salisbury - Westbury - Swindon (reverse), Bristol Parkway (reverse), Gloucester (reverse), Cheltenham Spa and Worcester Shrub Hill.

Wouldn’t apply in this case necessarily but reminds me of the trains to Pembroke Dock.  Passengers reserve a facing seat only to discover at Swansea that it reverses so they move seats.  Then discover they have to shift again when it gets to Carmarthen.

[ChrisB]

AIUI^▸ (as I understand it), Tickets are always valid on through  trains even if the route is not normally accepted

Not sure to what you are referring to here?

[grahame]

19:13 Chippenham to Salisbury due 20:55
An additional bus service has been planned to operate as shown 19:13 Chippenham to Salisbury due 20:55.

[grahame]

AIUI^▸ (as I understand it), Tickets are always valid on through  trains even if the route is not normally accepted

Not sure to what you are referring to here?

Routing on "Any Permitted" always includes through trains - so an "Any Permitted Melksham to Bristol Parkway" would be valid on the 07:21 via Swindon, arriving 08:20.  But there isn't an "any permitted" fare - just a "via Bath Spa" one so the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) journey planner offer you the 07:21, change at Chippenham and Bristol Temple Meads and arriving Bristol Parkway at 08:43

Of course, if you want to go to Bristol Parkway you can buy any any permitted ticket to Severn Tunnel Junction and get off short. That's valid via Swindon and usually involves a change there - and is usually faster than via Bath Spa.

[TaplowGreen]

06:11 Swindon to Southampton Central due 08:07 will be started from Trowbridge.

It will no longer call at Swindon, Chippenham and Melksham.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[ChrisB]

AIUI^▸ (as I understand it), Tickets are always valid on through  trains even if the route is not normally accepted

Not sure to what you are referring to here?

Routing on "Any Permitted" always includes through trains - so an "Any Permitted Melksham to Bristol Parkway" would be valid on the 07:21 via Swindon, arriving 08:20. 

This is *only* true if the through train is shown in the published timetable, not just as a temporary add owing to railworks. I(t doesn't suddenly become true owing to those - it would nneed to be permitted by the operator specifically for the duration

[grahame]

AIUI^▸ (as I understand it), Tickets are always valid on through  trains even if the route is not normally accepted

Not sure to what you are referring to here?

Routing on "Any Permitted" always includes through trains - so an "Any Permitted Melksham to Bristol Parkway" would be valid on the 07:21 via Swindon, arriving 08:20. 

This is *only* true if the through train is shown in the published timetable, not just as a temporary add owing to railworks. I(t doesn't suddenly become true owing to those - it would nneed to be permitted by the operator specifically for the duration

Maybe, Chris - we could argue as to what is a "published timetable" these days, but in any case here the problem is the lack of an "any permitted" ticket on what is consistently the fastest route.

[grahame]

18:44 Swindon to Salisbury due 20:06
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.

What a massive un-surprise. It would seem that with the Swindon to Gloucester line closed, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have put in a temporary timetable for the through trains between Gloucester and Westbury via Swindon to run just south of Swindon. However, they simply don't seem to have the staff to run robustly what they have planned in their temporary timetable.   I suspect that these services in normal running are crewed from Gloucester ...

[grahame]

06:11 Swindon to Southampton Central due 08:07

06:11 Swindon to Southampton Central due 08:07 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.
This is due to a shortage of train crew

[grahame]

Another one bites the dust ...

18:44 Swindon to Salisbury due 20:06 will be started from Westbury.

It will no longer call at Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Yet again, the service(s) fed to and from the line through Kemble. 

Since there are very few through passengers at Swindon on these trains, would there be some logic in making them more robust by operating them purely locally?   In the evening there are no fewer than 3 trains floating around - one parked in the bay in Swindon while two more swap off and on the South Cotswold line.  Absurdley inefficient this week!!!   The 06:35 Salisbury to Worcester (* below) seems to be the exception in that it's running robustly AND it's a key train.

Dream - short term until we get a second train - from Westbury at about 05:17, 07*05, 07:45, 09:46, 12:17, 14:19, 16:23, 18:26, 20:06 and 21:46, returning from Swindon at about 06:11, 08:45, 11:05, 13:15, 15:15, 17:36, 19:16, 20:56 and 22:36.

[TaplowGreen]

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.

20:13 Swindon to Westbury due 20:58
20:13 Swindon to Westbury due 20:58 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.