Through trains: London to Bristol, Weston and beyond (merged topics)

[whole diary]

[Lee]

Weston MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) John Penrose has called for the Government to take action over "severe" train overcrowding and congestion in North Somerset (link below.)
http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=17612496&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

During question time in the Commons he demanded Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander make a commitment to improving local services.

He told MPs that drivers in the region faced congestion on the roads and local train services were packed to capacity.

[John R]

The first two days have been identical. The HST^▸ (High Speed Train) arrival into TM^‡(resolve) just before 0800 has been cancelled (actually ran Plymouth to TM calling only at Exeter on Monday, and then non stop Taunton to London today - fat lot of good for the majority of its passengers who are local commuters between Taunton and Bristol).

The following HST (ex Exeter) forming the 0830 TM to Paddington arrived 25 minutes late on both days. By the time it arrived at North Somerset stations it was picking up 4 train loads of passengers. Still, now the 1st class is platformed it was an easy decision to make given the standard class was akin to a circle line train in the rush hour.

I understand Andrew Griffiths was held up on the Monday, with local MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) John Penrose. Tee, hee!

And today there were also two other HST departures cancelled from North Somerset. 

Selective door opening? Maybe, as the Exeter departure was consistenly losing 2 or 3 minutes at each station. All I know is that these two trains were pretty reliable until this week, so something has caused them to go badly wrong.

It's a bit ironic when FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are encouraging commuters to use the HSTs, yet the new timetable appears to have made them unreliable.

Oh yes, and the 1718 HST home last night crawled into Nailsea 50 minutes late, though I enjoyed the experience of no lights in the coach. Maybe they should have a dark coach in addition to a quiet coach.

[Lee]

I understand Andrew Griffiths was held up on the Monday, with local MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) John Penrose. Tee, hee!

See below :

The Bath Chronicle reports on the first working day of the new FGW^▸ (First Great Western) timetable:

http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=180730&command=displayContent&sourceNode=227209&contentPK=19224526&folderPk=106757&pNodeId=227220

[John R]

Day 3. Almost the same today, with the exception that the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) service due to arrive in TM^‡(resolve) at 0757 did call at all its scheduled stops. However, as it ran up to Bristol behind the 0822 HST arrival (itself 20 minutes down) it was about as much use as a chocolate teapot.  The local from Weston in between was also cancelled just for good measure.

So in summary, in 3 days of the 6 key commuter HST arrivals that we are encouraged to use, we have had 2 cancellations, 1 worthless, and 3 packed services arriving on average 25 minutes late (or 55 minutes late if you arrived for the earlier service.)

HSTs seem to be taking an additional 3-4 minutes per journey leg where SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) is required, so between Taunton and Bristol that will add 20 minutes.       

[devon_metro]

The service you speak of from Plymouth arrived at Paddington a staggering 76 minutes late for no apparant reason!

[John R]

Much better on day 4, with a bit of a clue when the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) pulled up in its "old" position with first class off the patform. Let's hope that's the end of the nonsense with London bound trains platforming first class.

[Shazz]

aparently its being "trialled" on the origional setup

[Btline]

What right have FGW^▸ (First Great Western) had to invent a new verb- "platformed?"

Will it be added to the OED^▸ (Oxford English Dictionary)?

(my spell checker is going mad as I speak!)

[smokey]

What right have FGW^▸ (First Great Western) had to invent a new verb- "platformed?"

Will it be added to the OED^▸ (Oxford English Dictionary)?

(my spell checker is going mad as I speak!)

"platformed" has been a railway word for donkeys years.

To give an example when an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) calls at a short platform coaches A,B,C,D,E and F will be "platformed" whilst coaches G and H will "not be platformed"
At least it's not a case of "Unplatformed"

What does a spellchecker or oed make of the term "BUCKEYE"?

Without buckeyes you won't want to go fast in an HST!

[Chris from Nailsea]

"platformed" has been a railway word for donkeys years.

... unlike "punctual" and "reliable" ... 

[dog box]

Reliability is on the way up!!!!!!

[vacman]

Reliability is on the way up!!!!!!

Yes, I cautiosly agree with you, touch wood things seem to have been a lot better over the last couple of weeks.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Fair comment: I haven't found occasion to submit a 'comments card' since 7 January - reliability is much better, and punctuality (give or take a few minutes) is better too!  Please, FGW^▸ (First Great Western), keep up the good work!!!

[John R]

I agree it's not been as awful as December, but I suspect it will just revert to the pre timetable change position, which is still considerably worse than the franchise commitment. So in that sense "on the up" has to be seen in context.

[smokey]

"platformed" has been a railway word for donkeys years.

... unlike "punctual" and "reliable" ... 

My friend, "punctual" and "reliable" are very common words used on the railway, they are JUST NOT in the First Great Western Dictionary, so can not apply to services run by Farce Great Western