Regular delays between Penzance and Exeter

[whole diary]

[woody]

Yesterday(Friday) virtually all the up Penzance to Paddington trains were full and standing resulting in 15/20 minute late arrivals into Exeter.The delays being compounded between Newton Abbot and Exeter as these trains can get further delayed behind Paignton/Exmouth stoppers because of a late departure from Newton Abbot.This seems now to be a regular feature of FGWs^▸ (First Great Western) timetable west of Exeter these days.Clearly FGW is having problems running to the existing timetable between Penzance and Exeter particularly at busy times so whats the solution,extended journey times/Coach with power doors,thoughts?.

[super tm]

Platform extensions in cornwall so you dont need to use SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening)
Emply a second person to assist with loading / door etc between Pnz and Ply

[Toiletdriver]

Platform extensions in cornwall so you dont need to use SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening)
Emply a second person to assist with loading / door etc between Pnz and Ply

Last passenger to board closing the door behind them

[grahame]

.... so whats the solution,extended journey times/Coach with power doors,thoughts?.

Very interesting comment yesterday evening from a well know campaining gentleman in the Bristol / Wiltshire area who uses the term "we" when talking about first.  Dr Andrew Murrison (MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) for South West Wilts) was talking at a public meeting, and the question of very light staffing at Warminster (i.e. zero at times) and heavy staffing / dispatching at Westbury was raised.

To quote

"Because there are slam door trains operating at Westbury, all trains must be seen away by a dispatcher.   It's a health and safety issue - people could get hurt by a door flying open if they weren't shut properly.  So that takes precedence over staffing elsewhere"

Are there really dispatchers present for all HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) departures / station stops all the way down to Penzance (not my neck of the woods - I don't know), or was "XX" talking a load of tosh? It seems more likely to me that Westbury's heavily loaded with dispatchers to keep trains running on time through a station with limited platform availablily, and multiple routes - Salisbury, Bath, Reading, Yeovil, Taunton and (very occasionally) Swindon.

On the power doors ... didn't FGW^▸ (First Great Western) choose to send back the 125 mph units they had which were fitted with power doors, and keep exclusively the manual doored stock?   It does make a difference - I was getting on a 125 at Swindon the other day; couple of poeple stood inside wondering how to get out, and a couple of young ladies on the platform standing looking helpless too.  I - err - stepped around them and showed them how a door handle works 

[super tm]

"Because there are slam door trains operating at Westbury, all trains must be seen away by a dispatcher.   It's a health and safety issue - people could get hurt by a door flying open if they weren't shut properly.  So that takes precedence over staffing elsewhere"

Are there really dispatchers present for all HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) departures / station stops all the way down to Penzance (not my neck of the woods - I don't know), or was "XX" talking a load of tosh? It seems more likely to me that Westbury's heavily loaded with dispatchers to keep trains running on time through a station with limited platform availablily, and multiple routes - Salisbury, Bath, Reading, Yeovil, Taunton and (very occasionally) Swindon.

Tosh.  But obviously its takes a lot longer to self despatch an 8 coach train with manual doors as against a 3 coach train with automatic doors. However you are going to concentrate you despatch resources at stations where HST will call to keep dwell times and station delays to a minimum.

[devon_metro]

Yesterday(Friday) virtually all the up Penzance to Paddington trains were full and standing resulting in 15/20 minute late arrivals into Exeter.The delays being compounded between Newton Abbot and Exeter as these trains can get further delayed behind Paignton/Exmouth stoppers because of a late departure from Newton Abbot.This seems now to be a regular feature of FGWs^▸ (First Great Western) timetable west of Exeter these days.Clearly FGW is having problems running to the existing timetable between Penzance and Exeter particularly at busy times so whats the solution,extended journey times/Coach with power doors,thoughts?.

They usually manage. Are you suggesting lenthening journey times - as that will only lead to the very small number of people who do use the train switching to the skies like all the other travellers

[woody]

Yesterday(Friday) virtually all the up Penzance to Paddington trains were full and standing resulting in 15/20 minute late arrivals into Exeter.The delays being compounded between Newton Abbot and Exeter as these trains can get further delayed behind Paignton/Exmouth stoppers because of a late departure from Newton Abbot.This seems now to be a regular feature of FGWs^▸ (First Great Western) timetable west of Exeter these days.Clearly FGW is having problems running to the existing timetable between Penzance and Exeter particularly at busy times so whats the solution,extended journey times/Coach with power doors,thoughts?.

They usually manage. Are you suggesting lenthening journey times - as that will only lead to the very small number of people who do use the train switching to the skies like all the other travellers

[The SprinterMeister]

Platform extensions in cornwall so you dont need to use SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening)
Emply a second person to assist with loading / door etc between Pnz and Ply

Last passenger to board closing the door behind them

Now your just being silly. Passengers closing slam doors properly behind them? Whatever next...
 

[jester]

The trains yesterday were all busy! The small unit trains and the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) leaving the county all completely rammed with either passengers travelling back from the half-term break or local day-trippers. I would be surprised if any managed to keep to time given the amount of people/luggage getting on and off. One of the factors is a lot of older travellers on the Club 55 tickets, travelling without reservations and clogging up what is already a very busy time.

[SDS]

Club 55 aka Saga Louts.

[signalandtelegraph]

Club 55 aka Saga Louts.

[Zoe]

Doesn't Redruth need a dispatcher for every train due to the curve in the platform?

[The SprinterMeister]

Club 55 aka Saga Louts.

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

My first ever post on the Coffee Shop was about extended station stops in Cornwall.  If trains are to run to time in Cornwall (and elsewhere in fact eg Reading) then FGW^▸ (First Great Western) must either extend the dwell times at these stations to something realistic or address the reasons why dwell times are longer than they've planned.  It's no good just hoping that everyone will hop in and out in 30 seconds or whatever with no plan as to how this will be achieved.

The old Southern Region was best at managing quick station times.  12 coach slam door trains would often be in and out of East Croydon in 30 seconds - but us ex BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) types always knew that no-one could run a passenger Railway like the Southern.

[inspector_blakey]

That's true, but their passengers were also largely commuters who had been using the trains for years, and a significant number would have jumped off and been halfway up the stairs before the train had come to a halt, leaving the doors flapping open which I very much doubt would be considered safe nowadays. So although the train may have only been stationary for 30 seconds, half of the unloading had happened before it came to a stop! The other fact is that the commuters were very disciplined, knew the drill and closed doors behind them. And they weren't travelling with lots of luggage. And they understood that slam doors don't open if you just stand and look at them.

I reckon if you dropped a load of ex-BR^▸ (British Rail(ways))(S) men on platform 4 at Reading they'd have trouble despatching an HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) any faster than the current staff, who by and large do a sterling job at getting HSTs in and out pretty smartly. I certainly doubt that station calls in these days of power doors at East Croydon are still that quick, since no-one can get off until the train's at a complete stand and the doors are opened but they're probably much safer.

Incidentally, in my very limited experience of the Swiss Railways they tend to open the doors before the train has come to a stand - I wonder if that's related in any way to their legendary punctuality...