Mess at Didcot, Sunday 15 Feb

[whole diary]

[inspector_blakey]

I've probably been a bit cheeky putting this in "Across the West" but I'm interested to know if anyone reading knows why things were falling apart! Moderators, feel free to move this if you see fit...

Right, first off (lest I be accused of sticking the boot in) I know FGW^▸ (First Great Western) has some excellent people and in general does a pretty good job of running a train service with the tools at its disposal (and doesn't often receive much credit for it).

Unfortunately, sometimes things fall apart reasonably spectacularly and they have one of their "what a way to run a railway" moments. This evening was one of them.

I arrived at Didcot on the replacement bus from Swindon at 1910. 1936 Hereford service showing on time. Subsequently station staff tell us this service is waiting for a member of traincrew at Oxford and will be delayed. Fair enough, that's life.

Next thing, service is cancelled. We're told next Cotswold Line service 2036, next Oxford service 2007. No problem, I'm only going to Oxford.

Just after 2000 platform staff make several announcements about the imminent arrival of said 2007 (calling Radley and Oxford). 2007 comes and goes. Train disappears from departures screen, which now shows 2036 Great Malvern.

Around 2010 an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) pulls in. Lots of people get off. No-one makes an announcement to correct the display screens which are advertising it as the Great Malvern service. Meanwhile, a steward's enquiry ensues between the station staff (who think this train should call Radley), the conductor (who thinks it shouldn't) and control on the other end of the phone. No-one bothers to point out to the assembled masses that this is indeed the 2007 Oxford and not the 2036 Malvern as it says on the screens.

Eventually (and without any PA^▸ (Public Address) announcement from conductor to clear up the resulting confusion about where his train is going) we pull out at 2020. Once under way the conductor confirms his train is the "slightly delayed" 2007 service to Oxford and will call at Radley. We do. SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) used, no problem.

Now the final act: when we arrive about 15 late at Oxford the station staff are bellowing at passengers who want to catch the 2036 Manchester Picc service that they need to run or they'll get left behind (as an aside this really winds me up; I know that to minimize further knock-on delays that train needs to leave as close to time as possible, but shouting at people who have been made late by an FGW cock-up is bad PR^▸ (Public Relations)!) One very elderly gentlemen is so panicked by this shouting about missing the Manchester train that after asking me for directions to platform 3 he runs off in that direction, trips over a sign and falls to the ground. The station staff leave it to me to pick him up and dust him off.

The one good thing about this whole episode was that he did make his train in the end!

Can anyone shed any light on what was going wrong, why no-one seemed to have any idea what trains were suppose to be going to where, when they were supposed to leave and why the passengers were left largely to guess things for themselves?

[G.Uard]

I thought this was a post ref crew catering facilities.


Worrying info about lack of communication though.  Defo worth an email to Customer Services for comment, I would have thought.

[eightf48544]

It is also an endemic problem with the current way the railways are run. In my days the Station Master his Assisstant or the shift Inpector (depending on time of day) at Didcot who would be in charge and be able to instruct staff what train it is and if necessary issue special stop orders and ring  Oxford to ask them to hold the Manchester. If necessary he could phone Oxford North box  to hold the Manchester to let the stopper through.

Nowadays there aren't any station inpectors so everything has to go via control who because they aren't Network Rail can't make any decisions regarding train running because they don't control the signalmen.

The railway only works properly if there is a "Fat Controller" who is ultimately in charge of eveything that goes on between the boundary fences. The "Fat Controller" then delegates to "Thinner" and "Thinner" controller's down the line who take specific reponsibility for their particular activities and area but ultimately answer to the Fat Controller.

There is superb BTF film which shows the how the broccolli traffic was handled from Cornwall, all 12 special trains on one day. Part of that showed the daily confernece between the Regional Operating Officers and the Chief Operating Officer at BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) HQ^▸ (Headquarters) where major train running problems the day before were discussed and lessons learnt plus discussions of future needs so that resorces could be mobilised to meet the demand.

The Western man would probably raise the 6 nations cup at Cardiff at such a conference and general agreement would be reached os to how many specilas would run and from where, so that the timetablers could draw up the schedule. The Chief Civil Engineer would almost certainly be told he couldn't have any possessions on that day. See other post on this subject. Of course the Chief Civil Engineer (being a railwayman) would instinctively know not to schedule work on that day.

[inspector_blakey]

I thought this was a post ref crew catering facilities.

Well, Spar next to the booking office was open! It's not exactly M&S but it's open 7 days until late so at least you can get a sausage roll to stop you starving to death while you wait for a train that may or may not appear... 

Seriously though I'll do as you suggest and see if I get any sense from customer relations. My past experience would suggest it's likely to be a standard letter but we'll see!