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

[whole diary]

[Jim]

Was a land slip I believe?

Belive so,

[Lee]

More FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) / Haines correspondence :

22/11/2007 :

Dear Mr Haines.

Further to my earlier communication, my wife phoned about 1653 to enquire where the train was. Apparently there was no information at Clifton station, and possibly even a message about the 1449 still running. On her behalf I phoned customer services, and after a little confusion about the bus service beyond Avonmouth, established that the train had left Temple Meads at 1656, or 21 min late. I have passed this information to my wife, who is now at a bus stop and has decided to remain there for 10 minutes, on the offchance that a bus will come, before returning to the station in the hope of seeing the train.

Dear Mr Haines,

A no 40 bus appearing my wife returned here at 1730, the bus, most unusually appearing, to overtake the train. This appears to have been due to the train losing a further 10 minutes after departure from Temple Meads, so being reported about 30 min late at about 1730.

Although the feared cancellation ultimately appears to have been avoided, I had gained the impression that a single unit was normally available for substitution on this first evening peak train and this does not appear to have been the case today. There appears to have been a complete failure of passenger information during the 20 minute delay.

As to the underlying cause, it is of course difficult to speculate. It has recently appeared possible that the use of a 158 type on the morning train, will be followed by a cancellation, or the appearance of the single unit in the afternoon, leaving passengers to surmise that these units are not able to make it through the day, although if they have been deployed in place of a failed 143, then one must concede that at least starting in the morning is an improvement. At least one of them looks very battered.

The FOSBR member in question also copied in Councillor Mark Bradshaw to this correspondence , and received the following reply :

Not sure why you are copying me in on these emails but hope you get some full exlplanation from FGW^▸ (First Great Western).

To which the FOSBR member wrote back :

I had assumed that transport lay within your area of responsibility as an executive councillor (it does , by the way - Lee.)

[Lee]

Andrew Griffiths offers a meeting , but unfortunately the FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) member has to turn him down...... :

Rather than writing to the great and good - and myself - every time your train gets delayed, would you like to meet me at Temple Meads station one day to discuss the current issues and constraints we face, and our plans for improving the Severn Beach line?

Regards,

Andrew Griffiths
Regional Manager, Central (Severn & Solent)
First Great Western

Dear Mr Griffiths,

Thank you for your kind offer. Unfortunately we are already losing quite enough time in connection with the daily journey to work to be able to commit further time to meetings to discuss why.

I would prefer not to spend time complaining, but as long as the necessity to complain continues to arise, will continue to do so.

As for the great and good, I suspect that the reasons for the problems lie as much in their hands as yours and will continue to keep them informed.

With regard to current issues, I note that no explanation for yesterday's problems has been forthcoming.

[vacman]

I think Mr Haines has far bigger fish to fry than a late train on the Severn beach line!

[Lee]

I think Mr Haines has far bigger fish to fry than a late train on the Severn beach line!

He has been given his due on this forum before for sending a "personal" reply (see below.)

More FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) / Haines correspondence :

Thank you for your further email.

The 0703 and 0741 services on Monday 15 October were cancelled due to no driver being available. The initial performance investigations are carried out on my behalf and I am very sorry that I misinformed you as to the reason for this cancellation. I am also concerned that the information regarding this disruption was not available from the train tracker. I understand how important it is to keep customers up to date so that they can make other arrangements and I realise how annoying it is when this is not the case.

On Tuesday 16 October, the 1435 and 1503 services were cancelled due to a mechanical failure. The 1635 service was formed of a one carriage 153 unit instead of a 2 carriage 143 unit and this was due to stock shortages as a result of the earlier problems.

On Thursday 18 October, the 1535 and 1603 services were also cancelled due to mechanical problems. On Friday 19 October, the 1235 and 1303 were cancelled due to driver shortages.

I also note your comments regarding the cancellations on Saturday 20 October and I am sorry. This level of cancelled services is unacceptable and I can fully understand why customers travelling on this line are so frustrated.

These mechanical issues are something that we are very keen to resolve and we are working on this. I realise that there is little I can say to reassure you that things will get better but I hope that you will bear with us. As explained, we are refurbishing the entire Ex Wessex fleet, including the replacement of the engines, which will help to reduce cancellations considerably. Of course, this will not happen overnight and I cannot promise an immediate solution. However, I can promise that we will continue to do all we can and as soon as more of the refurbished trains start to enter service, you will notice things starting to get better. Once we have a more reliable fleet, we can look towards delivering the right train, in the right place at the right time.

As you know, we are also recruiting additional staff, including drivers and this will mean that we have a more robust workforce. Therefore, when there are late notice absences, we will be more equipped to replace the staff member concerned, meaning fewer cancellations.

Thanks again for contacting me and again, I am very sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Haines
Chief Operating Officer

I have to say that I am coming round to the view that Andrew Haines seems genuinely concerned at what's happening on his patch.

[vacman]

I accept that but if everyone did that every time a train was late then nothing will get done!

[Lee]

I accept that but if everyone did that every time a train was late then nothing will get done!

Dont get me wrong , i'm not saying that everyone should do that either , but each to their own. It does give the recipients of the e-mails (quite a large number , including me) a good insight though.

[Lee]

Jane Jones would appear to have a good case for a pay rise.... :

Thank you for your emails. As you know Andrew Haines has suggested that I reply directly in future to emails sent to him, and Andrew Griffiths has also suggested that to avoid confusion that I reply on his behalf too.

I am sorry that your wife was delayed on the 22nd. There is no reason to suppose that any train we use on this line will not be able to make all the journeys planned for that day. On this occasion the delay was caused as a reaction to delayed services at Bristol Temple Meads. These had been affected by an earlier incident not connected with the Severn Beach line.

I am sorry that I was not able to reply on Friday, if you direct future emails to me I will be happy to investigate as quickly as possible and will make enquiries with control for you if I am available at the time of the incident. I do understand your frustration and am here to help, I do hope that you will therefore contact me and I will be happy to respond.

Thank you again for the email and again I am sorry your wife was delayed.

Yours sincerely

Jane Jones
Customer Services

Dear Ms Jones,

Thank you for your reply and for your description of the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) arrangements for responding to complaints, which I have noted.

I had of course hoped that further occasion for complaint would not arise, and so am somewhat concerned that FGW appear to be setting up long term arrangements.

However, despite the reliability of the trains, I understand that there were two further cancellations yesterday, so I suppose that it will be some time until we are out of the woods.

[Lee]

A Redland resident will be making the following statement to Bristol City Council Cabinet on 6th December 2007 :

As a local resident and user of the train service I^d like to express concern about the proposed changes to the Severn Beach Line, including the increased frequency of the services. As a user of the service, I would like to express concern that the position is so unclear. I can find no information at all on the First Great Western website, and the BCC^» (Bristol City Council - about) press release in September now begs more questions than it answers. The increase from 15 trains a day to 18 a day in the December timetable is progress, but is certainly not the 40 minute service that had been expected, let alone the 30 minute service that ought to be possible according to independent consultants and given the funding for an extra train on the line. Furthermore, on 18th October 2007 I received a written undertaking from Andrew Haines (Chief Operating Officer at First Group) that ^all services on the Severn Beach Line will continue to call at all stations.^ However, the December timetable clearly shows that this undertaking too has been broken, with daily services now not stopping at Lawrence Hill and Stapleton Road.

Concerns by local residents

As a local resident living next to a station, I am aware of some local concerns at the increased frequency of the service, and the start of Sunday services. There is general support, but only if the trains are seen to be well-used and the community is engaged and consulted (as it has been over the improvements to the local station). For the service to be well-used, it needs to be promoted to people and businesses along the line, which in turn requires that the service is frequent and reliable. In conversations with Business West among others, there is a definite willingness to help promote the service when it becomes frequent and reliable. However, without a clear, open, contractual relationship between BCC and FGW^▸ (First Great Western) so that expectations are clear, none of this is possible. This puts local and community advocates for the improved service in an impossible position.

Bristol City Council and Severn Beach Line Development Plan

Members of Bristol City Council from all parties clearly supported the improved service on the Severn Beach Line and backed this with investment from Bristol taxpayers. The lack of a firm contract has already led both to a significant delay in the implementation of the proposed service improvements, and to firm undertakings by FGW (eg that services continue to call at all stations) being broken. I would hope that a contract is now finalised as soon as possible, and that the relevant parts of it are immediately shared with community partners, to ensure that the community is properly involved, and to mitigate the risk of further delays and broken promises. There is a risk that a major element of the Severn Beach Line Development Plan, achieved as a result of considerable work by all parties, will be fatally compromised by an apparent lack of commitment now to implement it.

[Lee]

An FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) member's letter to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) regarding the cancellation of the 0728 Severn Beach - Bristol service :

Dear Ms Jones,

I note that the new more robust timetable has started with the cancellation this morning of the peak inbound train , and request compensation according to the standard scales, on behalf of my wife.

[JoPublic]

Good intentions by all those who choose to use the Severn Beach local line instead of driving their cars across the city... shame that they have to drive the 10 minute walk to the nearest station and leave their car parked on the residential streets causing parking problems and road safety issues. 

Come on everyone, by using the local train you're making a small change.. make a better change by using your feet not your car! Leave the car at home. 

[JoPublic]

Concerns by local residents

As a local resident living next to a station, I am aware of some local concerns at the increased frequency of the service, and the start of Sunday services. There is general support, but only if the trains are seen to be well-used and the community is engaged and consulted (as it has been over the improvements to the local station). For the service to be well-used, it needs to be promoted to people and businesses along the line, which in turn requires that the service is frequent and reliable. In conversations with Business West among others, there is a definite willingness to help promote the service when it becomes frequent and reliable. However, without a clear, open, contractual relationship between BCC^» (Bristol City Council - about) and FGW^▸ (First Great Western) so that expectations are clear, none of this is possible. This puts local and community advocates for the improved service in an impossible position.

As a local resident also living next to a station, I know that there are plenty of concerns at the proposed increased frequency of the service and especially at the implementation of a Sunday service. It is imperative that residents are consulted, and not just the passengers. The knock-on effects of the additional services and consequential increase in passengers, and how those effects affect station neighbours *must* be considered by FGW and BCC. I support the Severn Beach line, indeed I wouldn't have become its neighbour if I didn't.. however I am dismayed at how the trains during the day run almost empty. I am also dismayed at the FGW passengers who have such high disregard for neighbouring properties and throw litter on them (amongst other anti-social behavior). So the wise decision of a Sunday service which will run empty, disturb the railways neighbours and encourage more youths to hang around the stations is not something I can agree with. Get the investment into services that run during peak hours, consider and consult with the neighbours as well as passengers and then I'll support the service entirely.

[grahame]

Hi, Jo and welcome to the board ..... I'm not local to the Severn Beach line so cannot add specific local comment, but I do agree with the encouragement where appropriate of walking to stations, and also (applies to my area, anyway) of linking trains with other local transport such as cycling, buses and cars,  and providing sufficient resources for all of these at the stations.

[vacman]

If you don't like the idea of trains running on Sundays and "disturbing" you then why do you live next to a railway line?? And most youths that hang around railway stations aren't actually there to catch a train but just seem to hang around there drinking and smoking in the shelters.

[Shazz]

No offence, but i fail to see why they need to consult you for a sunday service.


I'm assuming sunday would be hourly? Whch if this were the case, a 30 seconds of train "noise" every hour isnt really that big a deal.