Cotswold Line redoubling: 2008 - 2011

[whole diary]

[Oxman]

Accept most of what you say WillC (apologies to you and Industry Insider for misquoting you earlier, by the way), but I disagree on the production of an update poster by FGW^▸ (First Great Western). A lot of people were asking what is going on - the provisional timetable arrangements made in good faith for prospective redoubling work were clearly not going to be implemented. Look at the questions in earlier posts on this thread. Network Rail was not prepared so say anything whilst it was replanning. As I understand it, FGW meanwhile had customers (some of them annual season ticket customers) who wanted to know what the score was (before they renewed their annual season). FGW needed to tell them (without treading on NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s toes) that the planned possessions for redoubling were not going to happen. It was simply an attempt at good customer relations, and I'm surprised that saying something should be criticised rather saying nothing.

The closure of Oxford North starts on the weekend of 20/21st Feb and affects FGW and Cross Country services from Oxford to Banbury, and FGW services to Hanborough and Bicester Town. Oxford should be great for the bus spotters!

[ChrisB]

Whilst agreeing with all of Oxman's post above, lited in the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Engineering work webpage were buses replacing the last two trains Mon-Thur for some weeks....my guess is that this is what FGW are referring to when they say that arrangements have been cancelled.

[Oxman]

Yep, that was part of it. Track laying was due to start overnight from January, with the last evening services replaced by buses to allow the engineering trains access to the line.

[willc]

If FGW^▸ (First Great Western) felt the need to keep people informed, all it had to do was say something like 'we are still waiting for details of NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s proposed redoubling work programme for this year and will let passengers know as soon as we can'.

It did not have to introduce the red herring of supposed work in February nor use words like rescheduled, one of the things which got people very excited back up this thread.

It could just have told anyone buying an annual season that it would let them know about compensation when it was in a position to do so, which, of course, it still isn't! And the only mention on the web page of season tickets is the following - You can renew your season ticket online here, or at your nearest staffed station.

Neither FGW, nor Network Rail, ever made any public announcement that anything was 'planned' or 'scheduled' for February. There may well have been some notice on the FGW engineering work page at some point, but how many average passengers, rather than posters here, ever consult that page? The timetable uses generalities about the possibility of work affecting services and bustitutions, nothing more.

The notice isn't there now, indeed there's nothing at all about anything beyond the end of this month. Has NR delivered the seven-day railway at last?

A great many people will be affected by the weekend alterations, so surely they ought to be listed on that page by now and indeed, would be a far more useful use of that slot on the FGW homepage currently being occupied by their 'update', even if the buses and shuttles are showing in the journey planners.

[ChrisB]

Neither FGW^▸ (First Great Western), nor Network Rail, ever made any public announcement that anything was 'planned' or 'scheduled' for February. There may well have been some notice on the FGW engineering work page at some point, but how many average passengers, rather than posters here, ever consult that page?

A fair number actually,

I'm hearing that it was in response to queries on those engineering alerts that partly prompted their 'announcement'.

[IanL]

Back in the summer when issuing plans to cope with the 6 week blockade, FGW^▸ (First Great Western) also mentioned that there would be a Feb 2010 blockade timed with school holidays. At the time this was a paragraph at the end of the page describing the summer arrangements, so given that so much publicity concerning the summer blockade and drawing passengers attention to the webpage perhaps it is not surprising that it (the planned feb blockade) has lodged in the awareness of the regular passengers.

[willc]

Well, I'll take your word for it, Ian, although there is no mention whatever of anything about February 2010 in the special timetable booklet produced last summer, where one might also expect it to have appeared. And it was never press released or, er, announced on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website homepage.

I thought the rail industry was supposed to have got its act together on the issue of advance notice of engineering work, so that only accurate, confirmed information was made available in a timely fashion to the public, not things appearing and disappearing.

There must have been a hefty time lag between anything being on the FGW website and the update appearing, as it certainly wasn't there by mid-November - unlike the weekend closures at Oxford, which were, but now, although that work is imminent, have disappeared entirely. And the reason I was looking at it back then was to see if anything had been confirmed for the Cotswold Line in February, in line with what I had been told was a possibility some months previously.

Yes, there will always be major projects like last summer, or the recent Severn Tunnel/Newport resignalling, where you need to let people know far ahead of time, but I'm not sure a bridge swap at Honeybourne, where the double-track abutments have remained in place ever since the singling, presumably making replacement pretty straightforward, would ever merit such treatment.

The fact remains that FGW could and should have handled this much better. Maybe they could now get someone to investigate where all the engineering work notices and other timetable changes for dates after January 31 have gone, so people know about things that really are going to happen in 20-odd days' time.

[bleeder4]

Just on the subject of this February 2010 business, the January 2007 edition of the council's Rail Newsletter stated that there would be a blockade in place in February 2010 due to work in the Honeybourne region.

You can find this newsletter at http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/cms/pdf/trains-newsletter-jan2007.pdf and the relevant section is on the third page, near the bottom of the left column. "A further blockade will be necessary for works at Honeybourne during February 2010. Honeybourne station will be significantly altered with a second
platform, footbridge and new passenger waiting facilities."

I also have it in my head that one of the early articles in the Evesham Journal mentioned a closure in February 2010, although I've been unable to find this in the articles on their website.

[willc]

I've never disputed that February was a possibility under the draft work programme - I was the one who pointed out gwr2006's post noting it from back in December 2008 - just that at no point was it ever finally confirmed, officially announced and widely publicised, which one might well have thought given the wording used by FGW^▸ (First Great Western) in its update.

And when it comes to misinformation, that worcestershire newsletter is little better, making out that all the work that will be needed at Honeybourne station would have been done in February. Nothing at all was going to happen to the station then, just the bridge over the old Cheltenham route.

[ChrisB]

Works details are always changing, willc.....most customers do not give a gfig what the work is, just whether they were going to find their travel disrupted.

February was listed in the Engineering work page until before Christmas. Hence the wording on the website.

I think to argue about precise wording isn't going to worry the ordinary customer.

[willc]

Never disputed things change either. I would have understood the wording if there had previously been a prominent link on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) homepage saying there was going to be work in February, or something in the current pocket and pdf timetables (far more likely to be consulted by the 'ordinary passenger' than that alterations page) but there never was.

And the 'ordinary customer' who spends all their time consulting the FGW timetable alterations might like to know about those February and March changes around Oxford - along with any elsewhere on the FGW network after January 31 - for example the line closure between Didcot and Swindon on February 7, listed on the National Rail site.

[ChrisB]

Never disputed things change either. I would have understood the wording if there had previously been a prominent link on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) homepage saying there was going to be work in February, or something in the current pocket and pdf timetables (far more likely to be consulted by the 'ordinary passenger' than that alterations page) but there never was.

Hence the lack of any physical posters at railway stations.....

It seems sensible to put corrections / alterations to previously announced amendments to service, that were originally announced on the web, on the web, while changes to amendments noted in physical timetables on physical posters in stations.

And the 'ordinary customer' who spends all their time consulting the FGW timetable alterations might like to know about those February and March changes around Oxford - along with any elsewhere on the FGW network after January 31 - for example the line closure between Didcot and Swindon on February 7, listed on the National Rail site.

I agree with this comment, but it is completely separate to your original complaint, which I didn't concur with.

[willc]

But there are posters at the stations, or Moreton-in-Marsh and Oxford at least, because I have seen them with my own eyes, repeating what is on the website.

[ChrisB]

OK, didn't see the one(s) at Oxford yesterday, but I'll take your word for that. I guess they just want to cover all angles as they have definitely had queries from (season) ticket holders....

[willc]

One disadvantage of the retention of the Signalboxes is that an opportunity to much improve the accuracy of the information feeds to the CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) systems on the route will presumably be lost?

All the flaws with the current system were on display (but not much information that would have been useful to passengers) at their very worst this morning in the snow. Looks like FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and Network Rail need to pay some attention to the human element here. Effectively, the only reliable way to find out what was going on was to go to the station.

Trains were just dropping off the system after their due time, because no details appeared to be being entered on their progress, until they suddenly reappeared on entering the Oxford signalling area, while trains going the other way disappeared past Oxford, so screens at the stations and the online live departure boards were of no help whatever, obscuring a mixed picture where the Cathedrals Express was 33 down by Oxford but other services were on or very near time.