2024 - Service update and amendment log, Swindon <-> Westbury

[whole diary]

[grahame]

06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street due 09:47

06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street due 09:47 will be terminated at Swindon.
It will no longer call at Kemble, Stroud, Stonehouse, Gloucester, Cheltenham Spa, Ashchurch For Tewkesbury, Worcester Shrub Hill and Worcester Foregate Street.
This is due to severe weather.

[TaplowGreen]

13:15 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57
13:15 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57 has been cancelled.
This is due to train crew being delayed by service disruption.

[grahame]

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06 will be cancelled.
This is due to severe weather earlier today.

Last Updated:25/11/2024 15:21

I looked out for that one earlier - I think this 15:21 is the first report of this cancellation. 

[brooklea]

07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:34 will be cancelled.

This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

Further Information
If you arrive at your destination 15 or more minutes late because your GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) train was delayed or cancelled, you can claim Delay Repay compensation. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR.com/DelayRepay
Last Updated:26/11/2024 07:10

08:45 Swindon to Westbury due 09:26 will be cancelled.

This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

[Mark A]

Melksham has a local issue - something called the Clackers Brook rather going for it - it's already exceeded its 'Highest ever'...

Mark

https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/station/9279

Ah yes  - know it well.  Various parties saying "something must be done" for years.  It floods regularly but this sounds like a corker!

Away from the station, how is Melksham (and how are you) faring generally with water levels this time around?

Mark

[grahame]

Melksham has a local issue - something called the Clackers Brook rather going for it - it's already exceeded its 'Highest ever'...

Mark

https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/station/9279

Ah yes  - know it well.  Various parties saying "something must be done" for years.  It floods regularly but this sounds like a corker!

Away from the station, how is Melksham (and how are you) faring generally with water levels this time around?

Mark

We (Lisa and Graham, Lulu and Lightning) are fine; we are not on the flood plain though - through the town centre the main road on the A3102 was flooded in 3 place and the road to Bradford-on-Avon too.   Businesses flooded and into the ground floor of a handful of homes.   Anyone who has been to Melksham by train will have walked past past Lidl (flooded), over the river and up past The Bear (flooded) which are two of the scenes.

I had a chat with our MP^▸ (Member of Parliament)'s local agent last night and she assured me that no-one has flooded out of their home - however, today we got a phone call from our deputy clerk that there was a family who had had to sleep in their car last night, and had come in to ask for help in finding emergency accommodation as their landlord hadn't been much help.  The town was not as prepared as it should have been.

[grahame]

06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street due 09:47

06:35 Salisbury to Worcester Foregate Street due 09:47 will call additionally at Dilton Marsh.
This is due to a tree blocking the railway.

IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) it should call there every day. It took 8 minutes as scheduled from Warminster (2 minutes late) to Westbury, including the extra stop. It was then delayed at Westbury by 18 minutes and appears to have been further delayed beyond, out of path and 28 minutes late by Gloucester.

[grahame]

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 12:59
13:15 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57

13:15 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57 will be cancelled.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.

And which floods are those?      This is the return trip that seems to be interworked with long distance crews, perhaps as a route learner, and seems to get cancelled far too often even when the line itself is fully operational.

[grahame]

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:07

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:07 has been delayed at Gloucester and is now 7 minutes late.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06 will no longer call at Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06 will no longer call at Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Looks like that one is re-instated but

16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:05
17:35 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17

17:35 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Further Information

If you arrive at your destination 15 or more minutes late because your GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) train was delayed or cancelled, you can claim Delay Repay compensation. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR.com/DelayRepay
Last Updated:28/11/2024 11:23

Late cancellation (wasn't listed earlier!) of the busiest train of the day, no alternative suggested.   You guessed it - GWR ain't got enough appropriate staff available to drive and manage all their trains, and they've chosen to take out this round trip from Westbury to Swindon, which is probably much easier for them planning wise than other options, but leaves much longer gaps than almost any other cancellation would.

Asking people what they want ... https://www.facebook.com/groups/2744131015894810/posts/3409265469381358/

Trains that actually run and buses put on if they are cancelled. I've had to pick up members of family and friends on a number of occasions because trains have been cancelled part way through their journey home and they would've been stranded as no buses put on

I never use trains from Melksham now [snip] I always get a bus to Chippenham or bath and catch a train from there ... I lost count how many times Melksham trains have ruined our days out ...

Are GWR intentionally selecting the Melksham line - already with a thin service - to push to the point that people won't use it?

[TaplowGreen]

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 12:59
12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 12:59 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

13:15 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57
13:15 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

14:18 Westbury to Swindon due 15:00
14:18 Westbury to Swindon due 15:00 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

15:15 Swindon to Westbury due 15:59
15:15 Swindon to Westbury due 15:59 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:05
16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:05 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

17:35 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17
17:35 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

21:16 Westbury to Swindon due 21:58
21:16 Westbury to Swindon due 21:58 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew

22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12
22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew

[grahame]

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 12:59 will be cancelled.
13:15 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57 will be cancelled.
14:18 Westbury to Swindon due 15:00 will be cancelled.
15:15 Swindon to Westbury due 15:59 will be cancelled.
16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:05 will be cancelled.
17:35 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17 will be cancelled.
21:16 Westbury to Swindon due 21:58 will be cancelled.
22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew

I despair.   Could there be any connection here with more staff being needed to run extra trains tomorrow for the Bath Christmas Market, and resources / rotas / overtime availability being moved around to have staff for them?   What sort of business lets downs its regular bread and butter customers for the special ones who use it just once a year?

[IndustryInsider]

I despair.   Could there be any connection here with more staff being needed to run extra trains tomorrow for the Bath Christmas Market, and resources / rotas / overtime availability being moved around to have staff for them?   What sort of business lets downs its regular bread and butter customers for the special ones who use it just once a year?

With no incentives tomorrow that I know of, I can't see any situation, from a resources/rotas/overtime perspective, where planning for additional trains tomorrow would affect services today.

[bobm]

Alternative arrangements have now appeared on Journeycheck for the cancelled 12:17.   Hopefully similar will follow for the others.

[ChrisB]

I despair.   Could there be any connection here with more staff being needed to run extra trains tomorrow for the Bath Christmas Market, and resources / rotas / overtime availability being moved around to have staff for them?   What sort of business lets downs its regular bread and butter customers for the special ones who use it just once a year?

With no incentives tomorrow that I know of, I can't see any situation, from a resources/rotas/overtime perspective, where planning for additional trains tomorrow would affect services today.

I suspect the OP^▸ (Original Poster / topic starter) was asking whether the operator might sacrifice certain services to =ensure sufficient roster available for the additional Bath services?