Carmarthen - cancellations, station staff shortage

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Carmarthen station has to have a staff member on duty. One platform can only be accessed by a barrow crossing and I’m guessing the station member has to be there to supervise the use of that crossing

09:31 London Paddington to Carmarthen due 13:28
11:20 London Paddington to Carmarthen due 15:28
13:20 London Paddington to Carmarthen due 17:23
14:22 Carmarthen to London Paddington due 18:35
16:30 Carmarthen to London Paddington due 20:40
19:20 Carmarthen to London Paddington due 23:44

19:20 Carmarthen to London Paddington due 23:44 will be started from Swansea.
It will no longer call at Carmarthen, Ferryside, Kidwelly, Pembrey & Burry Port and Llanelli.
This is due to a shortage of station staff.

[infoman]

Its nice to know in advance that the train between Carmarthen and Swansea is cancelled.

So how would any of us get the info to travelers that the train is cancelled,considering the previous train from CAR to SWA^» (Swansea - next trains) is at 17:51

Carmarthan to NEATH by coach is a road time of 35 minutes

That leaves Ferryside Kidwelly Pembrey and Llanelli

MAYBE coach from the above stations  to BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI) but BTM is a commonly used alternative))

Don't think many from Ferryside Kidwelly Pembrey will travel beyond Swansea although Llanelli could be a different story

OR just taxi them straight towards the London direction

Get GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to get on train announcements on terminating Cardiff/Swansea trains that the 19:20 is cancelled

ASK transport for Wales conductors between Swansea and Carmarthan to announce the 19:20 is cancelled between CAR and SWA

[Mark A]

Carmarthen station has to have a staff member on duty. One platform can only be accessed by a barrow crossing and I’m guessing the station member has to be there to supervise the use of that crossing

Are there any day to day circumstances that train drivers are actually required take trains across the barrow crossing?

Mark

[grahame]

Are there any day to day circumstances that train drivers are actually required take trains across the barrow crossing?

Mark

As far as I can see, the barrow crossing is only over the run round for locomotives off locomotive hauled trains, of which none routinely serve Carmarthen.  All normal service trains stop short.

One platform can be accessed without using the crossing, the other cannot - so without staff the station is limited. Looking at the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) train times, they lay over for quite a while, so it looks like they can't just slot in.





There are other stations where you walk around the end of terminal platforms without staff supervision, though doing so at track level is unusual. Is the perceived danger at Carmarthen from overrunning trains or from members of the public straying onto the track?

Once the line to Abeystwyth is reopened  I  suspect the barrow crossing will be replaced by a footbridge, or the new line will be a single track from the siding at the back of platform 2 which currently ends at a buffer stop,

[TaplowGreen]

It'd be interesting to understand what caused this "staff shortage" and why it hasn't been addressed all day as these cancellations are apparently ongoing until the end of service.

[Hafren]

I wondered if it had something to do with accessibility - e.g. the crossing not being good enough for wheelchair use unless assistance is available. Or a rule that IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) must be dispatched by station staff at CMN – a bit arbitrary given that they self-dispatch at intermediate stations.

However a dig at the Sectional Appendix gives a clue...

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/industry-and-commercial/information-for-operators/national-electronic-sectional-appendix/
(Western , Page 693)

This covers a requirement for competent person to be present if an IET is to platform share, in order to give the signaller confirmation that there is room for both trains. (Skim-read version - much more detail in the real thing.) So it looks like the decision to cancel may be because the capacity risk of not being able to platform-share IETs is deemed too great.

Edit: Looks like there is a workaround when platform staff are unavailable, but perhaps someone has deemed that not an optimal situation for whatever reason.

[stuving]

Edit: Looks like there is a workaround when platform staff are unavailable, but perhaps someone has deemed that not an optimal situation for whatever reason.

That option is clearly a last-ditch measure, to be used if a train arrives and has to go somewhere. The instructions for it end with:

This arrangement will apply for one permissive movement only. When this has occurred, you must advise the Train Running Controller of the circumstances and that subsequent movements will only be made into an unoccupied platform and permissive working has been suspended.

You might think, as I did, that platform-sharing would be a rare occurrence. But no - not at Carmarthen. Looking at last Tuesday as an example, service starts with eight successive departures from the two platforms before the first arrival of any replacement stock (from Landore). These are all two-car DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit), so four can fit into each 200-m platform. But eight times a day an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) comes to visit, and stays for nearly an hour, so that commonly has to share at one end or the other.

[grahame]

However a dig at the Sectional Appendix gives a clue...

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/industry-and-commercial/information-for-operators/national-electronic-sectional-appendix/

And I have mirrored this members - sectional appendix (here) and Periodical Operating Notice (here)

[grahame]

Ongoing issue - half a dozen short runs this morning such as

06:02 Bristol Parkway to Carmarthen due 08:48

06:02 Bristol Parkway to Carmarthen due 08:48 will be terminated at Swansea.
It will no longer call at Llanelli, Pembrey & Burry Port and Carmarthen.
This is due to a shortage of station staff.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 10. There are no reservations on this service.

How well will Carmarthen Station cope if there are open access services starting and ending there as well?

[Mark A]

This covers a requirement for competent person to be present if an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) is to platform share, in order to give the signaller confirmation that there is room for both trains.

This sounds like a one-ended Westbury in that the industry needs to reinstate Carmarthen's platform 3 at the same time as sticking a walkway across to it.

At least, unlike Westbury the platform face still has its track alongside it, and there's not been the opportunity to put various services into the trackbed, and perhaps the lovely fence can be reused elsewhere.

Mark

[Mark A]

I wondered if it had something to do with accessibility - e.g. the crossing not being good enough for wheelchair use unless assistance is available. *snip*

There are references to the barrow crossing at Carmarthen as being not suitable for use by unaccompanied wheelchair users, but no mention of this on the National Rail web site so perhaps this has been improved.

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/carmarthen/

That river footpath bridge... shame that at the west side it wasn't taken across the roads there too, to land at the bus station.

Mark

[TaplowGreen]

Still ongoing today.

Where are the necessary staff?

[Sixty3Closure]

I don't think I've ever seen staff supervising the crossing. I was a bit surprised first time I used it as its not particularly well highlighted as a crossing or risk of passing trains. Might be the staff are needed only if a train crosses it which, again, I've never seen. Wheelchair access is possible but could be challenging if you're elderly or not overly fit because of the slopes.

[TaplowGreen]

Again today -


Due to a shortage of station staff at Carmarthen fewer trains are able to run.

Train services running to and from this station may be terminated at and started back from Swansea. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Customer Advice
-
Owing to a shortage of despatch competent staff at Carmarthen today, our long distance South Wales services are required to spin at Swansea.
-
Any customers requiring stations between Swansea and Carmarthen are advised that Transport for Wales are accepting GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) customers between Swansea and Carmarthen until further notice.