North Cotswold Line delays and cancellations - 2024

[whole diary]

[charles_uk]

And somewhat predictably following the failure of 800033 this morning:

14:53 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 17:04 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

17:26 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 19:52 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Last Updated:21/02/2024 14:17

[Worcester_Passenger]

Thursday February 22

08:56 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 11:24 is being delayed between Malvern Link and Worcester Foregate Street.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.
Last Updated:22/02/2024 09:47

RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) has this one as yet to arrive at Henwick, so at least 83 late.

09:54 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 12:23 will be started from Worcester Foregate Street.
It is being delayed at Worcester Foregate Street.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.
Last Updated:22/02/2024 10:40

11:52 London Paddington to Hereford due 14:44 will be cancelled.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.
Last Updated:22/02/2024 10:26

[Witham Bobby]

RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) shows

1P22 0856 Great Malvern to Paddington terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill

1P24 0954 Great Malvern to Paddington ran only between Foregate Street and Shrub Hill, here it was terminated

and, as above, 1W02 1152 Paddington to Hereford cancelled throughout

All caused by severe flooding

No Up trains at Evesham between the departure of the 0835 and the time of writing (1237).  1P26, due 1136 off Evesham, was 67 minutes late leaving Worcestershire Parkway, and, according to RTT,  is yet to arrive at Pershore

[Witham Bobby]

15:17 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 17:29 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Last Updated:22/02/2024 14:17

!W25, 1251 Paddigton to Worcester Foregate Street, which forms this service after arrival in Worcester, is running okay (ish - is's a few minutes late)

[Worcester_Passenger]

10:59 Great Malvern - Paddington was started from Shrub Hill 47 late due to the flooding, but was held at Norton for the single line. It arrived at Reading 76 late and was cancelled thereafter.

15:18 Hereford to London Paddington due 18:29 will be cancelled.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.
Last Updated:22/02/2024 12:30

15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 18:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Last Updated:22/02/2024 15:02

19:05 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 21:24 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Last Updated:22/02/2024 15:02

[Worcester_Passenger]

And add to that

14:53 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 17:04 was 5 minutes late but is now being further delayed at Evesham.
This is due to a safety inspection of the track.
Last Updated:22/02/2024 16:41

RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) is reporting it as still being at Evesham, possibly waiting for 1P38, 16:32 Great Malvern - Paddington, which passed Norton 16 late.

17:34 London Paddington to Hereford due 20:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to a safety inspection of the track.
Last Updated:22/02/2024 17:14

22:00 Hereford to Worcester Shrub Hill due 22:51 will be cancelled.
This is due to a safety inspection of the track.
Last Updated:22/02/2024 17:14

[charles_uk]

With the cancellation of the 15:17 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington and 15:18 Hereford to London Paddington, followed by the diversion of the 16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington due to a safety inspection of the track, that means no up services from the Cotswolds to London for the best part of four hours.

It's been a messy day for many reasons - and it'll be interesting to see how bad the service was today overall - but not all the cancellations can be put down to the weather. It's unfortunate that services were cancelled due to more trains than usual needing repair etc when the weather was already causing so much disruption.

[a-driver]

It's unfortunate that services were cancelled due to more trains than usual needing repair etc when the weather was already causing so much disruption.

With no end in sight, and worsening availability of IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train), the situation can’t continue.  Something needs to change and I can’t see Hitachi making any significant improvements to IET reliability.  It should have and would have happened by now.
You either start electrifying more GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) routes to alleviate the reliability issues with the diesel engines or you ditch the fleet and bring in an interim solution in the form of the ex-TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) Mk5 stock. 
They’ll come a point, if it’s not already been reached, where the GWR IET stock is simply too costly to keep running.  There’s obviously a maintenance contract currently in place, once that’s up for renewal, is it possible Hitachi could just walk away from it and saddle GWR with all the reliability issues?

[charles_uk]

07:13 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 09:42 will be cancelled.
This is due to a broken down train.

[charles_uk]

Sorry for the presentation but this seems to be a summary of most of the issues affecting services on the North Cotswold Line yesterday:

1P22 0856 Great Malvern to Worcester Shrub Hill: cancelled between Worcester Shrub Hill and London Paddington due to severe flooding (X2) (134 late at WOS^» (Worcester Shrub Hill - next trains))
1W01 0952 London Paddington to Great Malvern: cancelled between Great Malvern and Hereford due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI) (65 late at GMV)
1P24 1008½ Worcester Foregate Street to Worcester Shrub Hill: cancelled between Great Malvern and Worcester Foregate Street due to severe flooding (X2) (90 late at WOS)
1W21 1053 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill: 22 late at WOS
1P26 1116½ Worcester Shrub Hill to Reading: cancelled between Great Malvern and Worcester Shrub Hill due to severe flooding (X2) & between Reading and London Paddington due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI) (76 late at RDG^▸ (Rail Delivery Group, or Reading station, depending on the context))
1W02 1152 London Paddington to Hereford: cancelled due to unknown cause (ZW)
1P28 1157 Great Malvern to London Paddington: 23 late at PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)
1W25 1251 London Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh: cancelled between Moreton-in-Marsh and Worcester Foregate Street due to a problem with the traction equipment (MD) (12 late at MIM)
1P30 1316 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington: 14 late at PAD
1W27 1418½ Reading to Great Malvern: cancelled between London Paddington and Reading due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI)
1W29 1453 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill: cancelled between Worcester Shrub Hill and Worcester Foregate Street due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI) (59 late at WOS)
1P34 1517 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington: cancelled due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI)
1W30 1523 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill: cancelled between Worcester Shrub Hill and Worcester Foregate Street due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI) (60 late at WOS)
1W31 1552 London Paddington to Great Malvern: cancelled due to a problem with the train (M8)
1P05 1518 Hereford to London Paddington: cancelled due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI)
2E14 1704 Didcot Parkway to Moreton-in-Marsh: 34 late at MIM
1W33 1658 London Paddington to Great Malvern: diverted between Didcot and Norton Junction (22 late at GMV)
1P38 1632 Great Malvern to London Paddington: diverted between Norton Junction and Didcot
1P39 1730 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington: 47 late at PAD
1W03 1734 London Paddington to Hereford: cancelled due to unknown cause (ZW)
1P40 1802 Worcester Foregate Street to Reading: cancelled between Reading and London Paddington due to a signalling problem (track circuit failure) (IC^▸ (Inter City)) (61 late at RDG)
1W34 1757 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street: 33 late at WOF
2E16 1910 Moreton-in-Marsh to Oxford: cancelled between Evesham and Moreton-in-Marsh due to a signalling problem (track circuit failure) (IC) (14 late at OXF^» (Oxford - next trains))
1W36 1857 London Paddington to Great Malvern:  (50 late at GMV)
1P42 1905 Great Malvern to London Paddington: cancelled due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI)
1P46 2056 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington: 42 late at PAD

[broadgage]

It's unfortunate that services were cancelled due to more trains than usual needing repair etc when the weather was already causing so much disruption.

With no end in sight, and worsening availability of IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train), the situation can’t continue.  Something needs to change and I can’t see Hitachi making any significant improvements to IET reliability.  It should have and would have happened by now.
You either start electrifying more GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) routes to alleviate the reliability issues with the diesel engines or you ditch the fleet and bring in an interim solution in the form of the ex-TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) Mk5 stock. 
They’ll come a point, if it’s not already been reached, where the GWR IET stock is simply too costly to keep running.  There’s obviously a maintenance contract currently in place, once that’s up for renewal, is it possible Hitachi could just walk away from it and saddle GWR with all the reliability issues?

I very largely agree, though no doubt a few diehard IET supporters will still maintain that IETs are excellent and that the problems lie elsewhere.
I have understood correctly, hitachi own and maintain the nasty things and are liable for the extra costs resulting from poor reliability.
I do not trust hitachi and strongly suspect that they have better lawyers than do GWR/the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) government and that  they have found some way to evade their liabilities.
IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion), the government should take a very much firmer line with hitachi over this failed project.
And there should also be a ban on scrapping ANY trains until the railway have enough trains available to run a proper service, not just on this line, but more generally.

[Worcester_Passenger]

15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 18:26 is being delayed at London Paddington.
This is due to this train being late from the depot.
Last Updated:23/02/2024 15:57

Train departed Paddington 31 late.

[later] : reached Shrub Hill 39 late and was cancelled thereafter.

The return working, the 19:05 from Great Malvern, was started from Shrub Hill and was held at Norton for the late-running 1W03 (17:34 Paddington - Hereford). 21 late by Oxford, 25 late into Paddington.

No obvious reason why 1W03 was running late. +15 at Evesham then missed its path at Malvern Wells. 23 late into Hereford.

[IndustryInsider]

With no end in sight, and worsening availability of IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train), the situation can’t continue.  Something needs to change and I can’t see Hitachi making any significant improvements to IET reliability.  It should have and would have happened by now.

I very largely agree, though no doubt a few diehard IET supporters will still maintain that IETs are excellent and that the problems lie elsewhere.

Part of the problem lying elsewhere is very much connected with the 12 5-car units that are covering regional diagrams today that were being covered by Castle Class or other units until recently. 

You wanted them on regional services?  You've got your wish.  See the attached image.

Due to the decisions on rolling stock made by the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), the whole GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) fleet is being stretched too far.

[broadgage]

Regional or secondary services might well be a better use of IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) as they don't seem up to main line duties, and are a bit too expensive to scrap.
That however requires building some new proper inter city trains foe the main line, and perhaps keeping surviving HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) for a few more years.
HSTs are not not a long term solution, they are nearly as old as me ! but another few years whilst building something else should be considered. 

[Worcester_Passenger]

14:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 17:14 will be started from Reading.
It will be delayed at Reading.
This is due to a points failure.
Last Updated:24/02/2024 14:33

Started from Reading 15 late.

The points failure affected trains through Foregate Street. The previous journey for this set, 1P23, the 11:55 Great Malvern - Paddington, left Great Malvern on time but was held at Henwick (+43) and Foregate Street (+83). It missed its path at Norton (+99) and arrived Reading 90 late.

The next up journey, 1P25 at 13:05 from Foregate Street,  was started from Shrub Hill and ran normally (in front of 1P23).

Likewise, train 2E59, the 10:38 from Bristol to Foregate Street was terminated at Shrub Hill. The return working, 2T46, the 12:49 back to Bristol, was started from Shrub Hill and ran normally.

But behind 1P23 was West Midlands Train's 1M63, the 11:40 Hereford - Birmingham. This was held at Newland East (+49) and arrived at New Street 60 late.

An hour behind 1M63 was 1M66, the 12:40 from Hereford. This was held at Ledbury (+32) and arrived at New Street 29 late.

For readers who are unfamiliar with the detailed layout of Worcester Foregate Street, there are two platforms but they are two single lines. Platform 1 serves trains from Shrub Hill to Malvern. Platform 2 serves trains from Droitwich to Malvern.  The two single lines join at Henwick, half a mile west of Foregate Street. So if 1P23 can't get into platform 1, then 1M63 has to wait in the queue behind it and so on.

It also has to be said that points failures are relatively rare around here. The signal boxes at Shrub Hill and at Henwick operate their points with (old-fashioned) levers that have mechanical connections to the points.