Signalling Failure Taunton to Westbury, Wagon on side at Taunton

[whole diary]

[amiddl]

Anyone know what was happening at Westbury??? Just come up from Plymouth on the 10.44 Paddington ( four stops only - Exeter St Davids, Bristol Temple Meads, Reading, Paddington). Didn't get into Reading until 14.45.

Crawled around Taunton with Train Manager advising no trains Taunton to Westbury (signaling fault). Further interest was the Cardiff and Old Oak cranes in the yard at Taunton with a wagon on it side minus bogies seemingly having split the yard throat.

[devon_metro]

A crane rescuing a derailed wagon in Fairwater managed to topple over and devestate the local signalling systems!

[amiddl]

Must have caused some damage. I thought the two were unconnected. Thanks for info.

Just found pic on http://www.tauntontrains.co.uk/NEWS-INFO.htm

[Chris from Nailsea]

A crane rescuing a derailed wagon in Fairwater managed to topple over and devestate the local signalling systems!

And on 1 April - you couldn't make it up, could you? 

[devon_metro]

You are correct Chris, it was a massive joke on Network Rail's part 

[thetrout]

You are correct Chris, it was a massive joke on Network Rail's part 

I for one did not find this funny whilst waiting for the 09:19 this morning to get to work!

Said train was diverted via Bristol, got to Bristol and had to wait an additional hour for the next train, that journey took an hour... Was over 2 hours late for work

Having said that the staff onboard the train were in very good humor despite the delays. There was also a travelling chef to which I decided to order a Vegetarian Breakfast Platter with complimentary cup of tea, which i must admit... Was very good indeed

[chrisoates]

You are correct Chris, it was a massive joke on Network Rail's part 

Yes - station staff went to great pains to blame NR^» (Network Rail - home page) for the long delays which got even worse as drivers ran out of hours and trains were stopped short to go home for tomorrows service.
As usual the PAs^▸ (Public Address) on the short stopped HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) at Exeter were either very quite or not working properly - despite station staff shouting at them many passengers sat blissfully unaware that their train wasn't going anywhere and that local services were running fairly normally.
FGW^▸ (First Great Western) seemed to turn around their HSTs at Exeter leaving XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) to carry on into Cornwall - the TM^‡(resolve) did a great job of ensuring everyone knew where to get off and what transport had been arranged - he went around with a pen and paper and made sure everyone was OK rather than using the PA - top job.

 

[Super Guard]

You are correct Chris, it was a massive joke on Network Rail's part 

Yes - station staff went to great pains to blame NR^» (Network Rail - home page) for the long delays which got even worse as drivers ran out of hours and trains were stopped short to go home for tomorrows service.
As usual the PAs^▸ (Public Address) on the short stopped HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) at Exeter were either very quite or not working properly - despite station staff shouting at them many passengers sat blissfully unaware that their train wasn't going anywhere and that local services were running fairly normally.
FGW^▸ (First Great Western) seemed to turn around their HSTs at Exeter leaving XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) to carry on into Cornwall - the TM^‡(resolve) did a great job of ensuring everyone knew where to get off and what transport had been arranged - he went around with a pen and paper and made sure everyone was OK rather than using the PA - top job.

 

Unlike Sunday where XC shafted FGW and terminated everything at Bristol - not for the first time.

[inspector_blakey]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) seemed to turn around their HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) at Exeter leaving XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) to carry on into Cornwall - the TM^‡(resolve) did a great job of ensuring everyone knew where to get off and what transport had been arranged - he went around with a pen and paper and made sure everyone was OK rather than using the PA^▸ (Public Address) - top job.

Similar tactics adopted by train manager on the 0730 CMN-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) this Monday - we got delayed by an ailing goods train between Port Talbot and Bridgend, and ended up 25 late CDF^» (Cardiff - next trains). Control then decided to run the service fast BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) - PAD to try and minimize the knock-on delays for its subsequent working. Train manager went through the whole train speaking to everyone making sure they understood that they'd have to change onto the following CDF-PAD service for intermediate stations (which was no great hardship because by this stage it was only 5 minutes behind and virtually empty!). Very impressed with his approach.

[grahame]

Yes - station staff went to great pains to blame NR^» (Network Rail - home page) for the long delays ....

How sad.   I recall just a year ago being told be Andrew Haines and Dave Ward that the days of the "blame game" were over and it was the overall impression of the industry that mattered - that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and Network Rail would, henceforth, be working together in circumstances like this.

Andrew Haines is no longer with First. Dave Ward is no longer Network Rail's Route Director (West).

And it looks as if the new brooms have gone back to the policy that was in place (and so disliked by the passengers) of a previous age.

[eightf48544]

And it looks as if the new brooms have gone back to the policy that was in place (and so disliked by the passengers) of a previous age.

Not sure your're quite fair there Grahame the main problem seems to me to be the massive disconnect between track and train. It appears to me to be only natural that if you're having to run round rearranging services, getting passengers onto different trains etc it's only human  to blame someone else, especialy if they work for an entirely different orgnisation that appears to working against you.

With the connected railway the poor crane operators would have been taunted mercilessly by their colleauges in private but BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) would have taken the blame.

I suppose it comes down to whether you believe the railways run best under a fat controller in charge of all they survey or lots of thin controllers in charge of their own tiny patch.

[Tim]

And it looks as if the new brooms have gone back to the policy that was in place (and so disliked by the passengers) of a previous age.

This is the important bit.  If passengers dislike it they should not be doing it regardless of whether or not it is fair.

[grahame]

Timmer, thank you. The really refreshing attitude taken by Andrew and Dave (and at meetings I attended in Taunton, too) was that it looked out for the passengers / customers, leaving the assignment of responsibility and financial layoffs until later. "spend the money to sort it now - we'll work out who pays later."

But - 8F - I may be being unfair to either the staff on the ground, or to the new management.  If the staff on the ground are no longer being given the strong 'customer service' lead, but instead being encouraged - perhaps by omission of direction - to look to minimise cost to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) as a top priority over passengers, then they are not to 'blame' - it's a management issue.  Come to think of it ... if the management think they are putting the message through but it wasn't reaching even one customer facing person, then it's still a management issue 

[Tim]

Not sure how blaming NR^» (Network Rail - home page) minimises cost to FGW^▸ (First Great Western).  Presumably FGW would pay compensation for delays which they could then claim back from NR.  It would be in FGW's financial interests to hand out as much compensation and lay on as many buses and taxis as possible in order to keep their customers happy.

I suspect the blame-game was more motivated by staff loyality to FGW in the face of what they saw as unfair criticism (you only have to browse this forum to see that some of the railway(wo)men who contribute are tenaciously loyal to the company when it is wronged by NR, DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) or passengers with the wrong ticket - something which is usually a good thing of course).  Andrew Haines could see beyond that to the bigger picture and issued appropriate orders.  They have since been forgotten about which as you say is a (lack of) management issue. 

[John R]

I enquired of the TM^‡(resolve) on my return trip last night as to "everything now running OK at Taunton", knowing the train was going that far. Quick as a flash he said it was NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s fault not FGWs^▸ (First Great Western). I wasn't criticising, or complaining, but the immediate reaction was to ensure that I knew it wasn't FGW's fault.

I wasn't very impressed at the time. Even less so now I've read this thread.