2025 - Service update and amendment log, Swindon <-> Westbury

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

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.

[grahame]

15:15 Swindon to Westbury due 15:59

15:15 Swindon to Westbury due 15:59 is being delayed between Chippenham and Melksham and is now expected to be 12 minutes late.
This is due to trespassers on the railway.

[bobm]

I see Melksham now has IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) stop boards on the platform.

Presumably IETs can now stop there which will come in handy when they’re diverted for whatever reason.

..and here they are

[grahame]

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:09

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:09 will be terminated at Westbury.
It will no longer call at Dilton Marsh, Warminster, Salisbury, Romsey and Southampton Central.
This is due to a fault on this train.

[grahame]

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:09

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:09 will be terminated at Westbury.
It will no longer call at Dilton Marsh, Warminster, Salisbury, Romsey and Southampton Central.
This is due to a fault on this train.

Interesting to note that Real Time Trains shows an on time arrival at Westbury and reports

This service was cancelled between Westbury and Southampton Central due to an issue with the train crew (TH).

So which is it - perhaps the fault on the train was that there was no-one to drive it  .

P.S. There is routinely a crew change at Westbury on this service

[IndustryInsider]

A driver was allocated to it and they arrived on time from Fratton on 2V52.

Doesn’t mean the RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) code is wrong (short notice illness etc.), but codes on RTT are unofficial and on JourneyCheck are ‘official’…but with a pinch of salt!

[grahame]

Journey check looking good today - flagging up just two cancellations across the whole GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area.   Guess where

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 12:59
13:14 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57

13:14 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57 will be cancelled.
This is due to a safety inspection of the track.

OK - so I notice a day when we are the only cancellations ... but this is not a unique occurrence!

[GBM]

Journey check looking good today - flagging up just two cancellations across the whole GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area.   Guess where

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 12:59
13:14 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57

13:14 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57 will be cancelled.
This is due to a safety inspection of the track.

OK - so I notice a day when we are the only cancellations ... but this is not a unique occurrence!

Cancellations to services between Westbury and Swindon via Melksham
Due to a safety inspection of the track at Pewsey the line towards Reading is closed. Disruption is expected until 13:00 25/04.
Train services between Westbury and Swindon via Melksham have been cancelled.
Customer Advice
Due to a safety inspection of the track, all train services between Westbury, Melksham and Swindon are cancelled.

Customers travelling between Westbury, Trowbridge, Chippenham and Swindon are advised to change at Bath Spa.

Melksham is not being served by trains for the time being. Road transport is being organised.

((A section of track between Westbury and Pewsey is being examined for a possible defect. As a precaution we are not currently running trains along this stretch. This affects services to London Paddington from Devon and Cornwall. Where possible trains will divert, taking an alternative, slightly longer route. Where this is not possible, train services may be terminated at short notice.))

[grahame]

Journey check looking good today - flagging up just two cancellations across the whole GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area.   Guess where

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 12:59
13:14 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57

13:14 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57 will be cancelled.
This is due to a safety inspection of the track.

OK - so I notice a day when we are the only cancellations ... but this is not a unique occurrence!

Cancellations to services between Westbury and Swindon via Melksham
Due to a safety inspection of the track at Pewsey the line towards Reading is closed. Disruption is expected until 13:00 25/04.
Train services between Westbury and Swindon via Melksham have been cancelled.
Customer Advice
Due to a safety inspection of the track, all train services between Westbury, Melksham and Swindon are cancelled.

Customers travelling between Westbury, Trowbridge, Chippenham and Swindon are advised to change at Bath Spa.

Melksham is not being served by trains for the time being. Road transport is being organised.

((A section of track between Westbury and Pewsey is being examined for a possible defect. As a precaution we are not currently running trains along this stretch. This affects services to London Paddington from Devon and Cornwall. Where possible trains will divert, taking an alternative, slightly longer route. Where this is not possible, train services may be terminated at short notice.))

Typical "because of a problem on another line we're cancelling the trains on your line".

Hopefully, we have a better solution for the future ...only yesterday, I was photographing the new Stop boards for IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) at Melksham, and a train manager was telling me how they've had a circular around telling staff that the long distance trains can stop here.  Ideal for the sort of thing we have going on today? If the none-stop Taunton to Reading services run via Bristol and Bath, the semi-fast can run via Westbury and serve Trowbridge and Melksham in addition to Castle Cary and Westbury.  But it will take a bit of getting used to - oy, anyone in GWR reading this 

[TaplowGreen]

Journey check looking good today - flagging up just two cancellations across the whole GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area.   Guess where

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 12:59
13:14 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57

13:14 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57 will be cancelled.
This is due to a safety inspection of the track.

OK - so I notice a day when we are the only cancellations ... but this is not a unique occurrence!

Cancellations to services between Westbury and Swindon via Melksham
Due to a safety inspection of the track at Pewsey the line towards Reading is closed. Disruption is expected until 13:00 25/04.
Train services between Westbury and Swindon via Melksham have been cancelled.
Customer Advice
Due to a safety inspection of the track, all train services between Westbury, Melksham and Swindon are cancelled.

Customers travelling between Westbury, Trowbridge, Chippenham and Swindon are advised to change at Bath Spa.

Melksham is not being served by trains for the time being. Road transport is being organised.

((A section of track between Westbury and Pewsey is being examined for a possible defect. As a precaution we are not currently running trains along this stretch. This affects services to London Paddington from Devon and Cornwall. Where possible trains will divert, taking an alternative, slightly longer route. Where this is not possible, train services may be terminated at short notice.))

Typical "because of a problem on another line we're cancelling the trains on your line".

Hopefully, we have a better solution for the future ...only yesterday, I was photographing the new Stop boards for IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) at Melksham, and a train manager was telling me how they've had a circular around telling staff that the long distance trains can stop here.  Ideal for the sort of thing we have going on today? If the none-stop Taunton to Reading services run via Bristol and Bath, the semi-fast can run via Westbury and serve Trowbridge and Melksham in addition to Castle Cary and Westbury.  But it will take a bit of getting used to - oy, anyone in GWR reading this 

Unless these IETs stop at roughly the same time as timetabled services however (and I doubt they'd be advertised given the necessarily ad hoc nature), wouldn't they largely find an empty platform at Melksham due to people having drifted off/not expected to find a train stopping at a given time?

I suppose some hardy souls may hang around in the hope of something stopping!

[grahame]

Unless these IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) stop at roughly the same time as timetabled services however (and I doubt they'd be advertised given the necessarily ad hoc nature), wouldn't they largely find an empty platform at Melksham due to people having drifted off/not expected to find a train stopping at a given time?

I suppose some hardy souls may hang around in the hope of something stopping!

It needs to be used carefully and is far more relevant during planned engineering works.   Today's disruption turned out to be over almost before it began, with a handful of long distance expresses running via Swindon rather than Newbury, and as far as I can tell the biggest service disruption was a four hour gap each way on trains between Westbury an Swindon.

[TaplowGreen]

Unless these IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) stop at roughly the same time as timetabled services however (and I doubt they'd be advertised given the necessarily ad hoc nature), wouldn't they largely find an empty platform at Melksham due to people having drifted off/not expected to find a train stopping at a given time?

I suppose some hardy souls may hang around in the hope of something stopping!

It needs to be used carefully and is far more relevant during planned engineering works.   Today's disruption turned out to be over almost before it began, with a handful of long distance expresses running via Swindon rather than Newbury, and as far as I can tell the biggest service disruption was a four hour gap each way on trains between Westbury an Swindon.

Agreed re: engineering works, a proper "timetable" could be put in place and advertised.