"Bristol has one of the slowest train services to London out of all the UK's major cities" says Bristol Post

 
Be interested to know how far up the league table it'll be when the additional services start via BPW. Those are limited-stop

 
That has a strong smell of fake news about it, don't you think? (Subcategory: spurious statistics.) Coming mainly from the idea of averaging journey times including connections when there are plenty of direct trains - who decides what indirect journeys get included in this average?

 

Yes - I was wondering where the stats came from when I posted. 

London (Paddington) to Bristol (Temple Meads) - 118 miles. Typical journey 98 minutes.  Average speed 72.25 m.p.h.

It would take 129 minutes at an average of 55 m.p.h.
I suspect that transit time from city centre to city centre might be include?   Bristol Bridge to Trafalgar Square, anyone?
No immediate reference back to source data that I could see in the article

 
They take as the crow flies distances, divided by the journey time by rail, which would be over a longer route, maybe significantly so if not direct etc.

Seems to be a manufactured story appearing in many papers, eg this one from Leicester


Included in the above is: 16-mile journey from Southampton to Portsmouth takes travellers an hour, on average

An hour is the longest journey by rail; a more typical one would be 41 minutes. The hour-long journey has over a dozen stops.

 

All Trinity Mirror papers, no doubt - even the Leicester Mercury, despite not being listed on Wikipedia. Presumably these days local papers can't even afford their own local news-manufacturers.

 

Charing Cross is normally used to represent the centre of London.

 

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/L81527/2020-10-09/detailed

19 minutes late from Temple Meads (07:19). 5 minutes late into Paddington (08:36.25).
77.25 minutes running time - Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington. Average speed between 91 and 92 m.p.h.

Having missed out intermediate stations ... I wonder what the passenger load was like?  Catered for Bristol to London. Cancelled as far as Bristol to Bath, Bristol to Chippenham, Bristol to Swindon, Bath to Chippenham, Bath to Swindon, Bath to London, Chippenham to London, Swindon to London and Chippenham to Swindon passengers were concerned.

 

You could have added more journeys not catered for from Weston and other stops to Bristol, to Bath, Chippenham and Swindon.

What it does illustrate very graphically how many journies just one train can cater for. I think we sometimes forget this, when discussing service provisons and even fares, how do you price all the possible intermediate journies to avoid anolmolies (split ticketing etc.)

My classic was an advanced Taplow Weymouth via Cross Country where I had a reserved seat from Reading to Basingstoke where I had to change to SWT despite CC going to Bournemouth.

 
From GWR / Journey Check

With effect from Tuesday 11th May 2021 - CUSTOMERS FOR ALL THE AFFECTED ROUTES ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO CHECK THEIR INTENDED JOURNEY PRIOR TO TRAVEL.
.
We have had to adapt many of our High Speed service timetables into a series of separate shuttle services. This has been done to ensure that we are able to advertise and operate a limited but robust service using the resources that we have available to us. As a result, certain journeys which were previously through services will now require one or more changes of train to cover the same journey. For example, a Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington journey will now require a change of train at both Swindon and Reading.

The main routes affected are each detailed below together with any advice in regard of additional / alternate arrangements for ticket holders -

The train service that would normally operate over the London Paddington - Reading - Swindon - Bath Spa - Bristol Temple Meads route will only be operating as a limited shuttle service between Swindon and Bristol Temple Meads. This special shuttle service has been very kindly provided by our colleagues at CrossCountry who will be using their own trains and traincrew.
.
At Swindon connections will be available to / from Didcot Parkway and Reading utilising the hourly train services to / from South Wales. Any customers travelling to / from London Paddington will be required to change trains additionally at Reading; similar arrangements apply in reverse for a journey in the opposite direction.
.
Additional shuttle train services will operate between Didcot Parkway, Reading and London Paddington.
.

CUSTOMERS FOR THIS ROUTE ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO CONSIDER WHETHER THEIR JOURNEY COULD BE DEFERRED UNTIL THE SITUATION HAS IMPROVED. THERE ARE FEW CONNECTING SERVICES BETWEEN SWINDON & DIDCOT PARKWAY / READING WITH A FURTHER CHANGE OF TRAIN REQUIRED AT READING FOR TRAVEL TO / FROM LONDON. MOST JOURNEY TIMES WILL BE CONSIDERABLY EXTENDED, CONNECTIONS CANNOT BE GUARANTEED AND IT MAY NOT BE POSSIBLE TO COMPLETE LATE NIGHT JOURNEYS AT ALL AS A RESULT.

 
Isn’t this info now out of date as JourneyCheck now listing Didcot-Paddington shuttles now running to/from Swindon so only one change now required?

 

I think it depends whether the Bristol - Swindon service connects at Swindon with the hourly service from Newport (in which case a further change is needed) or with the electric service (in which case no further change is needed).   Moving feast - lets's keep an eye on it (and please update / add comment into the original as appropriate).

 

I know we ask for plenty of information ... but should there be a cutoff ...

 
From Journeycheck  for 14th May 2021.   No through London to Bristol trains ...

A shuttle service will run between Swindon and Bristol Temple Meads. This is being operated by both GWR and CrossCountry Trains. Your GWR ticket is valid on these trains.
.
Customers travelling to/from London Paddington will need to change trains at Swindon.
.
Extra shuttle trains will run between Swindon, Didcot Parkway, Reading, and London Paddington.

 
Saturday 15th May 2021

An hourly service will operate between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads.
 
Extra shuttle trains will run between Swindon, Didcot Parkway, Reading, and London Paddington.

 
It seems the 11:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads today (Sun 14/8/2022) was cancelled "due to overcrowding"

1) Surely this would mean subsequent services would be even more crowded?
2) I wonder whether it was a 5-carriage, 9-carriage or 10-carriage train?

 
I think the set was used to form an additional service at 11:30 to Exeter St Davids which only called at Reading, Bristol Temple Meads, Taunton and Tiverton Parkway.    Looks like it was 9 coaches.

Then the 12:03 to Penzance ran non-stop from London Paddington and Taunton.

 
It seems from RTT that 1C77 the 1003 PAD -PNZ did the same
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:W15013/2022-08-14/detailed#allox_id=0
Also reported on Twitter

 
Issues with the 10:18 PNZ-PAD:

Left Castle Cary 83 minutes late.

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:W14932/2022-08-14/detailed#allox_id=0

Probably trying to persuade passengers to disembark and wait for the following additional train:

 

Due, perhaps, to the electrification running out between Swindon and Chippenham?

and the following train:


Last train off Paddington to call at Chippenham shown at the 19:32 as I write

 
1532 booked as Cl 387 so yes the wires run out, hence terminating short. Source RTT

 
The 09:00am and 10:00am services from BTM via Bath to London Paddington are shown as cancelled

 
Looks like the 09:00am has been reinstated,I think if I was on the London bound journey,I would try and get on the 07:45am service

 
09:00am service showing up again as CANCELLED.

 
I suspect there were a load of London cancellations to/from all over the GWR network this morning owing to overhead line problems at Action. Cleared around midday.

 
I am going to London (From WSM) twice in the coming weeks.
On Wednesday 5th March I am catching the 1123 service that starts at Weston, becomes the 1200 service from Temple Meads, completing the usual service every 30 minutes

Also going on the 12th March but oddly this service isn't running, it doesn't even start at BTM
It then runs again from the 19th March

Does anyone know why it isn't running on the 12th?
Seems odd to be missing just that day without any obvious reason

 
Almost certainly due to Cheltenham Festival.

 
...for the 1700 from BTM to Paddington, due to more trains than usual needing repairs according to the TM. 2 of the 5 coaches are first class.

 
Just been announced (at Bath) that one of the first class carriages has been declassified 

 
Just to be a little pedantic, two of the five carriages contain first class seating, but one of them is only 1/3rd First Class and 2/3rds Standard Class.

 

Indeed.

A five carriage train includes standard class seating, first class seating, driving cabs, and a crew and kitchen area and for [some/many] services is insufficient for a comfortable journey for everyone who wishes to travel.

A full standard class carriage seats 92 and a full first class carriage (data from a 9 carriage train) seats 56.   So (I hope I have these numbers right)

5 carriage IET
Standard Class
56 + driving cab
92
92
60 (+ some first)
Total 300 seats

First Class
19 (+ some standard)
16 + driving cab + kitchen and crew area
Total 35 seats

Which works out as 3.26 carriages of standard class + 0.63 carriages of first class

 
According to the reservation “map” it is 18 first class seats plus two wheelchair spaces in the end coach and another 18 in the composite coach.

Edit to fix link - Grahame / GWR / IET

https://www.seat61.com/reference/trainseatplans/GWR-IET-5-10-car.pdf

 
Bob - that link doesn't work if I click on it ("Oh dear, it's the error page . . ."), but it's fine if I copy/paste it as text into the browser's address box.

 

I have edited the post to fix the link.   Where a URL includes an acronym or abbreviation, the link does not work.  Known issue; sidestepped by mentioning the acronym before the link.

 
And again! (reason not given yet)

 
Slightly off topic, but on Sunday I caught the 18.00 train from Paddington to Bath. It was two 5 coach trains linked together, which is fine, but the platform was only announced at Paddington 5 (or possibly less) minutes before the train was due to depart. The foyer at Paddington was teeming with people and luggage, especially around the large screens, and it was incredibly difficult to get near to the barriers. By the time I got to them they were left open to go through. However, it did mean that the vast majority of people got onto the rear 5 carriages and couldn't walk through to find a seat (of which there were many) in the front 5 carriages. The train did leave on time or at least very close to it.

Why do train times at Paddington get announced so late? I have been in similar situations several times over the years, and it is always very stressful trying to catch the train. In this instance, if you didn't know your way around the station well, I would be surprised if you could have caught the train.

 
Know what you mean,but I normally go up to the footbridge and gain access to the train that way and avoiding the rush of bodies.

 
Late calling of trains at Paddington ... and at King's Cross and at St Pancras International ... all common enough to be within recent personal experience.   The [desire/requirement] to minimise the number of actual trains and platforms and staff while maximising the number of services operated is a natural squeeze on the time available to load in the current / modern scenario.

Paddington footbridge, Kings Cross footbridge, and Real Time Trains provide some relief for a few of us knowing the platform end scrums.   Perhaps when we're all boarding at Old Oak and can line up right along the platform prior to the train arriving on a single known line will make for more even loading and no last minute scrum?   And by that date Paddington will be a much quieter place where trains turn around even though so many passengers will be using the next station along like poor old Holborn Viaduct became.

 
Using the footbridge isn't an option if you have mobility problems or heavy luggage.

Another issue with the service I used was that when it was coming into Bath Spa, it was announced that passengers in the rear two coaches (G and H) would only be able to get out from the front of coach H. However, when the train arrived at the platform, it was actually the front two coaches (A and B) that were off the end of the platform. I was at the rear of B and having heard the on train announcement, was surprised to find myself getting off right by the end of the platform. However, others weren't so lucky. One family I assume had been in A and had to get out with heavy luggage and babies to carry, and one of them (a daughter I assume, though she may have just been someone they alerted on the train) stood on the platform holding the door open with the button to stop it closing and moving off until one of the platform staff finally came down to find out what was going on. Another very stressful situation, and all from an incorrect announcement, which again seems to happen too often.

The on train announcement was also made, as it always seems to be made, far too late, so didn't give anyone affected by it enough time to take appropriate action.

 
Regarding Paddington,could the lift not be used?

I always use to recall that in HST days,

the person/s in charge of the doors/CDL use to have to open doors from Coach "H" at Bath.

Sometimes the person/s in charge of the doors/CDL use to get into Coach "H" and advise travellers to move forwards into coach "G"

 

To get up to the bridge from (open access) platform 1, yes.  But how to get back down when the train is called on 2/3 or 4/5 or ...

 

 
Huh? So the 1700 ex-BRI is now programmed as a 5car? Since when?

 
16:30 Bristol Temple Meads - London Paddington
This train has been cancelled because of a broken down train earlier today

[Thought I'd start a topic similar to the one in TransWilts for this sort of thing; is that ok? Did look for an existing one but couldn't spot it.]

 
Thanks for your suggestion, matth1j. 

I'm sure I can find some related posts to merge here, which will then offer our readers a more definitive source of such information, all in one specific topic.

CfN.