Ordering of fast trains out of Paddington to Reading

[whole diary]

[Tim]

You all make some interesting points:

• willc - The Oxford Turbo having less slack over it's entire route is something I hadn't considered.  You're right that I'm obviously aggrieved that my train gets to Reading late but I agree that the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) may well have caught up their 15mins delay by the end of their journeys.  For statistics at what part of a train's journey is recording it's time done - is it just the end stop?  Does a train get recorded as late if it arrives at Reading 15mins late but arrives at Plymouth on time?
  

As I understand it a long distance train is only late if it is more than 10 minutes late at its final destination.   [/list]

[Super Guard]

Correct Tim, however, should the service then effect another service (in this instance at Reading) which arrives late, then the delay minutes can be charged back to the original late running service, regardless of whether it gets to it's final destination on-time later-on.

Also, the turbo service probably has a on-time/late threshold of 5 minutes compared to the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) of 10 minutes.

[Tim]

Two observations I would make are:

• NR^» (Network Rail - home page) do the signallig and FGW^▸ (First Great Western) does the dispatch - that I understand.  But why does communication between them need to go via Swindon?  Just because the people involved are working for different employers why can't they directly talk to each other (ie FGW people at Paddington directly call NR signallers in Slough.  It doesn't seem to be so much the fragmentation of the industry that is the problem here, just poor channels for communication.  If there is a good reason to stop FGW dispatch staff from calling teh 'box - prehaps because they will be a distraction? then that reason would apply under BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) as well surely? 
• The point about Signallers delaying trains they know have slack illustrates the problem with putting slack in the timetable.  As soon as it is there staff (drivers, dispatch people, signallers) will be tempted to use it and less motivated to run a tight ship and minimise causes of delay.  Surely this is only human nature.  If a guard at Bath knows that his train can get to Bristol in 10 minutes but is timetables to do it in 15 he will be less worried about an ontime departure, more likely to hold the train 30 seconds for a late passenger etc in less of a rush to shut manual doors left open.

[IndustryInsider]

• NR^» (Network Rail - home page) do the signallig and FGW^▸ (First Great Western) does the dispatch - that I understand.  But why does communication between them need to go via Swindon?  Just because the people involved are working for different employers why can't they directly talk to each other (ie FGW people at Paddington directly call NR signallers in Slough.  It doesn't seem to be so much the fragmentation of the industry that is the problem here, just poor channels for communication.  If there is a good reason to stop FGW dispatch staff from calling teh 'box - prehaps because they will be a distraction? then that reason would apply under BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) as well surely? 

The despatch staff will directly liaise with the Signallers by using the TRTS^▸ (Train Ready To Start. A plunger/switch pressed by platform dispatch staff that informs the signaller that a train is ready to depart.) (Train Ready To Start), as well as radio and telephone conversations. The staff at Paddington won't request the order that trains get despatched though, just advice on the status of them should there be a delay.

There is (rightly) a limit to what the local staff are authorised to do. For example, Swindon would usually get involved should a situation escalate and then FGW might suggest/request to NR that certain trains get priority, or you might get NR suggesting/demanding that FGW cancel the xx:45's to Greenford to ease congestion and so on.

The usual problems always apply though - as soon as there is a problem affecting a number of trains, both NR and FGW controllers and staff soon get swamped, and the optimal decisions are not always made. Equally a decision that might have seemed right at the time might turn out to be a mistake.

[eightf48544]

The usual problems always apply though - as soon as there is a problem affecting a number of trains, both NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and FGW^▸ (First Great Western) controllers and staff soon get swamped, and the optimal decisions are not always made. Equally a decision that might have seemed right at the time might turn out to be a mistake.

Very true, railways work in real time and that runs out very quickly. Trains leave Padd at 3 minute intervals, anything happens to delay one train unless it can be fixed in three minutes or the decision made that it can't be fixed in 3 minutes is made almost instantly the next  train will be delayed leaving.

Of course at the instance when time is running away with you Murphy's Law comes into operation which says that if you let the Turbo out in front of the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) that can't be fixed in 3 minutes the HST will be fixed in 4 minutes and follow the Turbo to Reading.

[bemmy]

Does a train get recorded as late if it arrives at Reading 15mins late but arrives at Plymouth on time?

No, AFAIK^▸ (as far as I know) if it's less than 10 minutes late at its final destination, it counts as on time. This is one of my bugbears, I reckon an XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) train has around 45 minutes slack between Birmingham and Penzance, so it could be nearly an hour late at Birmingham and still end up counting as on time for statistical purposes, even though the majority of its passengers will be severely delayed.

[Chris from Nailsea]

I agree with Bemmy: in my experience, the rather generous 'timetabling', particularly for XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)), does mean that a train from Manchester Pic to Bristol TM^‡(resolve) can be 'late' for most of its journey - but it then makes up most of the time and finally appears 'on time' by giving it a bit of welly beyond Cheltenham, for example!