Severn Beach line - timetables, engineering work, closures, incidents (merged topics)

[whole diary]

[Scooby]

Yet MORE cable theft!

[Jim]

Flooding at Clifton Down today

[Lee]

Flooding at Clifton Down today

Or was it? From FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) :

No it wasn't. FGW^▸ (First Great Western) appeared to go into meltdown tonight, with trains running 65+ late from Salisbury, delays and cancellations to South Wales resulting in "hundreds" of people queueing for taxis to Wales outside Temple Meads and as usual, the first and easiest casualty being the Beach line.

The cubicle staff at TM^‡(resolve) had run out of taxi forms when I arrived, 1 hr 20 mins late, only to find the 20:11 Beach train cancelled.

I think we need to hold this up as an example of the incompetence and "shoestring" nature of their operation, in that FGW has NO contingency planning whatsoever. They failed to operate a single train between Westbury/Trowbridge/Bradford and Bristol between 17:30 and 19:15, just when people need to go home, DESPITE having more than enough units hanging around Westbury and no doubt available crews too. This would not have occurred in BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) days, as shock horror, they would have run an "unscheduled extra" with whatever was available. Not possible on todays railway. Witness the fact that your train is, when seriosuly delayed, always 59 minutes late, rather than 60. I wonder why that is, cynical stats watchers. Tonight they begrudgingly and eventually admitted to 65 minutes.

Flooding in the Clifton Down area? B******s, I'm afraid. The only thing that was flooded tonight was FGW's operations team ... with complaints. Cancellation of the Beach line service was just an excuse, probably as scarce crews were transferred to other duties.

Makes me think, with the record of cancellations FGW has on the Beach line, maybe they don't want this route? If so, should we consider forming our own company and applying to ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) for an Open Access licence, in conjunction with another operator? If this is what they do trying to run a less than hourly service, God knows how much they will screw up when they are expected to run it every 40 mintues?

Tonight was a veritable meltdown, blamed on a few showers and it makes me ashamed to be associated with railway promotion. The only shower we suffered from tonight was the privatised railway industry.

All comments about tonights disaster welcomed. Let's disect it and really take it somewhere this time. It's just not good enough. The only thing I have time left to do this evening is write this. Thanks FGW! Brilliant, truly, bloody brilliant!

[Lee]

At least 4 cancellations according to FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways).

[Lee]

Q5 - The plan also focuses on the urgent need for a Clifton Down turnback signal to :

"In times of disruption terminate late running Avonmouth / Severn Beach services and restart the inward working from there, eliminating inconvenience to the large majority of passengers."

"Enable a more frequent service pattern on the Temple Meads to Clifton section, which is the most heavily used and has the potential for maximum growth in patronage."

By coincidence , there has been a big rise in the number of services turned round at Avonmouth instead of running to Severn Beach recently , which is likely to lead to a drop in passenger numbers.

AG - Really?  If 95% of passengers get a more punctual service due to turning back at Avonmouth then surely you would expect numbers to go up.  Our Performance Manager is taking a special interest in the line, and there has been (until yesterday signal cable theft) been a significant increase in punctuality and decrease in cancellations.

Q6 - There also appears to have been a reluctance on the part of guards recently to check & collect fares on the section between Severn Beach & Clifton Down , which means that several passenger journeys will not appear in the figures.

AG - Again, it is where trains are full that causes the most problem for revenue collection, and so if any section is under-reporting I'd expect it to be Clifton inwards.

Q7 - A cynic would suggest that the Line Development Plan is no more than the finished "project package" recommended by Jacobs as part of their scheme to truncate the line at Clifton Down (subject to signalling alterations , see pages 195 & 196 of the following link http://www.dft.gov.uk/foi/responses/2006/september06/swindonwestburytrainsservice/greaterwesternoutlinebusines1103) due to "low usage" on the western section. The LDP notes that usage has declined at stations west of Clifton Down in recent years but fails to mention that this unexplained drop occurred from 2004 , when the Jacobs / SRA^» (Strategic Rail Authority - about) study was written.

AG - There is no plan to truncate at Clifton - we are required to run the Beach for the duration of our franchise.

Q8 - Surely the LDP could address this by committing itself to developing the WHOLE of the line , rather than just the section between Bristol Temple Meads & Clifton Down , as the tone of both the LDP and the recently - published DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) South West Regional Planning Assessment For The Railway implies will be the case?

AG - It is about the whole of the line, but no amount of wishful thinking will change the reality of where the demand is.

There are reports that the Clifton Down turnback signal proposal has now been shelved.

[Lee]

From FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) :

07:50 from Montpelier a few minutes late this morning, struggled into TM^‡(resolve) on one engine only. Noticed the return Avonmouth journey was cancelled, as the unit would have just gone on losing time .....

It is also reported that a survey took place on the line yesterday (28/06/2007)

[Jim]

From FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) :

07:50 from Montpelier a few minutes late this morning, struggled into TM^‡(resolve) on one engine only. Noticed the return Avonmouth journey was cancelled, as the unit would have just gone on losing time .....

It is also reported that a survey took place on the line yesterday (28/06/2007)

Saw blokes with Clipboaards out at Trowbridge, Bradford and Avoncliff last night as well

[Timmer]

From FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) :

07:50 from Montpelier a few minutes late this morning, struggled into TM^‡(resolve) on one engine only. Noticed the return Avonmouth journey was cancelled, as the unit would have just gone on losing time .....

It is also reported that a survey took place on the line yesterday (28/06/2007)

Saw blokes with Clipboaards out at Trowbridge, Bradford and Avoncliff last night as well

Wonder if they were from DaFT^» (Department for Transport - critical sounding abbreviation I discourage - about) seeing what other services they can make FGW^▸ (First Great Western) cut from the timetable.

[Jim]

I went up to them at Trowbridge, and very nicley said as they wrote down how late my train left "It is operated by First Great Western, so it is late" I got quite a reply, "there not all late" so I told him to check his clipboard. "Blimey, the last 2 hours worth of services have been more than 4 minutes down"

[Lee]

From FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) :

Severn Beach Line Disruption Figures 2007

^The Severn Beach service is great when it^s running on time.  It provides us with an easy connection to the centre of Bristol, and for someone who works in Clifton and commutes from Severn Beach it only costs ^6.40 for a week^s unlimited travel (written before May fare increases). Using a car for this run costs me nearly ^20 per week on petrol and parking is a nightmare^, writes regular passenger Matt Wilson.  But unreliability is so bad that he recorded problems in April below & on a spread sheet.

All weekday trains from the 06.45 to the 17.35 from Temple Meads monitored for the period 1st - 30th April.  11 trains were cancelled (5%), equivalent to 3 cancelled trains every 5 days.

04/04/07 14.35
05/04/07 06.45 (SB^▸ (Signal Box) only)
10/04/07 11.35
12/04/07 14.35
16/04/07 13.35
17/04/07 14.35, 15.35
20/04/07 06.45 (SB only), 08.05(SB only), 15.35
25/04/07 06.45 (SB only)

14% were late, by an average of 9 minutes.

Altogether 19% of trains were either late or cancelled.

The most unreliable train (and most important for commuters) was the 06.45 from TM^‡(resolve). This train is scheduled to leave Severn Beach at 07.23. 18% of theses trains were cancelled over the 6 week period 19th March to 30th April. The majority of these cancellations only affect Severn Beach passengers because the train operator, First Great Western, decide to cut short the service at Avonmouth when the train is running late. This means that the train can commence its journey back to TM on time, but leaves passengers between Avonmouth and Severn Beach stranded.  Severn Beach passengers haven^t got it easy coming home either. The 16.35 and the 17.35 from TM are the most delayed trains on the route by far. Both trains are late one third of the time by an average of 13 minutes.

Matt Wilson has reported these delays and cancellations to the managing director of First Great Western, Alison Forster (Alison.Forster@firstgroup.com) and at times has asked for compensation.  John Hall has also sent details of delays effecting passengers boarding at Sea Mills Station.

Saturdays
Observations from Bernard Lane, Shirehampton sent on 28/05/2007
1) Bank holiday: usually holiday service on the SB line is a Saturday service. On 28 May it was advertised as a weekday service but the bus operator at SB had not been told. 28 April saw the 06.11 ex SB running through station, hooting its horn with great gusto! at least 3 passengers left on the platform. Is this the latest cynical way to deter passenger numbers and footfall at Shire? I am deeply concerned to see that the Severnside Partnership support the closure of Shirehampton Stn and open at the P&R^▸ (Park and Ride). I still think a P&R station is a very good idea but Shire needs a decent service too.

2) FGW^▸ (First Great Western) won the Wessex franchise presumably because they put a bid which claimed to run the services better...at least Wessex were not putting our local services in league 2 because of the premiership services to London (with leather seats for 1st class - who cares about that? or even CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision)?). .

WE 23 June 07 At least seven cancellations, very ragged.   (JH)

On Saturday 16 June the last train - 22.15 from Temple Meads to Severn Beach was indicated as "on-time at platform 1^ but train arrived on Platform 12 & there was darkness on Platform 1..  Staff misinformed but they attempted to find info from Swindon  Help point on platform 3 was specially reopened to authorise individual Taxis to their stations for those remaining passengers who would otherwise have been abandoned at Temple Meads. Reported by Terry Miller

Information co-ordinated by Julie Boston for FOSBR   03 July 2007

[Lee]

The Summer Passenger count on June 28th , organised by Severnside Community Rail Partnership with the help of FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) , showed an increase of 12% in use since last year (link below.)
http://www.fosbr.org.uk/news.php?newsid=0000000116

Here is a futher article on this (link below.)
http://www.westpress.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=146238&command=displayContent&sourceNode=146064&contentPK=17765403&folderPk=100268&pNodeId=145795#continueNews

[Lee]

FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) report 11 cancellations on the above date.

[martyjon]

Severn Beach cancellations  - 09/07/2007

There may have been more today but I note ;-

21:46 Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach due 22:22
This train has been cancelled.

22:26 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads due 23:04
This train has been cancelled.

are showing on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Service Incidents tonight.

[Lee]

My thanks to Insider for providing the following answers (link below.)
http://indefenceoffirstgreatwestern.blogspot.com/2007/08/well-my-post-about-ticketless-travel.html

"The latest Severn Beach usage figures have not yet been obtained, nor has the Severn Beach Line Development Plan been updated. This is work in progress."

"There is no immediate prospect of a Clifton Down turnback service due to lack of funding from Bristol City Council as they are focusing on Avonmouth. The problem from our end lies in the fact that the services they have elected to focus on will be at a lesser frequency than if we could run some services only as far as Clifton. Therefore, at present, the proposal for a Clifton Down turnback signal has been dropped and can only proceed if Bristol City Council wish to fund it."

"Finally, the new fare structure was discussed with the Severn Beach Line Working Group at two seperate LWG mettings several months apart and both times received universal support."

"I personally think that the Avonmouth service is do-able, although not the best use of resources. Pathing may be an issue later but for now, sufficient afre available to make it worthwhile."

"I would think that the 40 minute frequency service will indeed be the case from December. I also think that it may well call for the line enhancement you mention. Personally, I would like to see every section of mainline with 4 tracks. True branch lines maybe not so much but I don't see a case for not enhancing the line, especially if more services all along Severn Beach are implemented as well as the enhanced Avonmouth service."

There are also more views on Penalty Fares / Ticketless Travel in the link above.

[martyjon]

Severn Beach Cancellations  -  11/08/2007

From FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website ;-

21:22 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads due 22:00
This train will be cancelled.


20:08 Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach due 20:45
This train will be cancelled.


19:22 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads due 20:00
This train will be cancelled.


18:08 Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach due 18:45
This train will be cancelled.