Indeed - connection off the 18:43 arrival from Paignton was due onto the 18:49 to Swindon.  The Paignton train dragged in at 19:03 and the Swindon left at 19:06.

 
Well, there's at least some suggestion of customer focus there, then. 

 

 

 

 

 

So crew out of place / out of hours??


Realistically ... it won't be done.  You would be amazed what can be done with a little bit of code, especially when it can be applied over a complete network with a need for special code lines.

 
The whole system needs a rewrite....it's every station & potentially any service. And how far in advance to prevent the change on a train (sayu) 10 mins before? Realistically, it can't be done

 

Do you know how complicated it was to write the code to allow trains to be pulled out of the system and added in - and that's happening on the fly because it was written.  I'm not suggesting a one off fix that has be be applied every time a change s made - I'm suggesting updating the code which makes it fit for the purpose of short notice train changes with short notice fare changes.   This is hardly the first time that GWR have cancelled trains through Melksham.

 
Do you know how complicated it is to change fares in the online system & TVMs? A LOT longer than it takes to remove a tree from a railway line. And then change it back again. It's not just a line of code.

 
Well - there is the Tree 

And - oh look - GWR, who have told us they will accept "via Melksham" tickets via Bath Spa in the event of a cancellation, have chosen NOT to offer that lower fare on their booking engine for such journeys.   Cheeky - "a tree's blocking the route we would normally take you, so well charge you an extra £3.40 unless you know how to work the system to get the lower fare". If people choose to go via Bath Spa, the higher fare is justified. If GWR withdraw the direct route, them it's not.

 

 

The railway seems to have lost the plot on this, treating passengers for infrequent services at the likes of Melksham, or infrequent through trains to the likes of Newquay and Pembroke Dock as somewhat disposable. (Where Didcot to Hereford lies on this spectrum I'm not sure, but the entire route seems to be on that spectrum).

It's valid to wonder to what extent this is self-inflicted vs that the fact that the region's railways are simply short of resources and investment. Either way, it's not a situation that should drag on for months let alone years, but Great British Railways being in the offing is an additional factor that is not helping - and in any case seems unlikely to offer a solution.

Mark

 

Pedantically, only the last train appears to have been reinstated as a passenger-carrying service.

 

Update noted - thank you.  On past experience, that will mean that most of the passengers will have decided not to travel (I  am, personally, an example of that), but that the train will not show up in the cancellation stats.

 

The latter pair have been re-instated.

 

Indeed. But I can and I am sharing public information which may have come onto my radar that is already in the public domain if you know where to look.   And I can tell you about questions that I have which were not answered such as "What to you consider to be a 'pretty good' performance?" and "What measures are in place with the new timetable to ensure resources including staff and trains are there to deliver it reliably, and what are your reliability targets for stations such as Melksham and Dilton Marsh as you do that planning?"

As a passenger, I am critical of the industry players (Great Western Railway, Network Rail, Department for Transport, Unions and Community Rail Partnership) for failing to provide a train service that people can rely on to run more or less to the published timetable.   All five of those elements have - in common - that their costs / staff / salaries are paid directly or indirectly by the Department for Transport, which is the judge and jury and holds the controlling strings.  This summer, I declined a suggestion that I might rejoin the board of the Community Rail Partnership, as the invite was made on the understanding that I would not be critical except at their board meetings.   I even have some concern at TravelWatch SouthWest, where the previous chair had to stand down because of a perceived conflict of interest, and our new chair sits on the GWR Advisory Board, and at Transport Focus and the ORR which are arms length subsidiaries of - you guessed it - the Department for Transport, which is re-organising the industry and the moment and perhaps may organise them out of existence or into toothless entities like seems to have happened with community rail.

 

I find it hilarious at the same time pretty pathetic that stakeholders are invited to a meeting to discuss timetable changes but aren’t allowed to share the details with those they represent the travelling public who use the service. It’s also not as if the information isn’t already available through sites such as RTT.

 
Update at 07:39 from Journeycheck


Better - much better - than no customer information, but discerning passengers may notice

(1) - Trains were cancelled from around 8 p.m. last night - and they are only just now sending teams to fix the issue??

(2) - There ARE no station staff to speak to at Melksham

(3) - So not at the rail replacement transport stop on Station Approach then?

(4) - And beyond - the first southbound train is now scheduled at 13:39 and passenger disruption carries on through the journey

(5) - Speak to staff on the train?   It's cancelled!!!

(6) - Err - so where are the details of bus service x34 which will provide an alternative Trowbridge - Melksham - Chippenham, or bus services 271 and 272 which will provide links to Bath Spa as a suitable alternative for passengers headed for Bath, Bristol and west thereof?

 

There goes my day trip to Southampton.

I do not personally mind - in fact it gives me the opportunity to write up a "snottygram" to GWR, escalating to the senior managers there, to Transport Focus, to our MP, and to the Secretary of State for Transport about the appalling ongoing record of the (lack of) train service on this line.  I understand that things go wrong from time to time - but not to the extent of loosing 1 train in 9 which has happened for the last 12 weeks (as part to an ongoing saga).  On a "Jazz service" as it used to be called - with a train every 20 minutes -  cancellation of 1 in 9 and a wait for half an hour sometimes is no big deal.  Where it's successive services with a train every 120 minutes, it's a failure to provide a useable train service.  It hurts the users (or, rather, the wannabe users) and it hurts the economy of the are it (fails to) serve.  My train in not leaving at 08:02 today (a late start for a train service anyway) - if I were to carry on with my plans, it would leave at 12:33.

It's normally regarded as good business practice to provide an alternative for your customers.  What are GWR offering?


Money back.   I don't want my money back.  I want the product you are contracted to provide and if you cannot provide that product, an alternative that delivers what I want.    I am due into Southampton Airport at 10:35.  Being there at 14:35 is no good.    In the olden days, a signalling failure (today's reason) would result in a pilotman being provided to take the train safely through.  In more recent times, a reil replacement bus would be provided.   You are not doing so (or if you are or plan to, you are not telling us about it).     You might also have provided advice about tickets and travel being accepted on local buses, and details of them.   You haven't done that.   You are not looking after your customers.

Yesterday, I attended an online meeting with GWR on timetabling across their central area.  We were told, and agreed, that it was a confidential session and I am not at liberty to disclose here in public the content.  I am, however, at my wit's end and I will disclose that GWR's [name redacted] described their performance over the Bristol travel-to-work area this summer as "Pretty good".    And when I raised the issue of the services to, from and though Melksham the meeting chair asked that we take the discussion offline and have a separate meeting; he told us his MD would be concerned, and he had no answer when I pointed out that such a meeting had been previously promised but not followed up on, and that in any case people need trains  (or buses) to travel on, and an apology and repayment doesn't get them to where they need to go.   The timetable planning lady was talking about the timetable from December, and I asked her what plans were being made for the timetable to be realistic and not a work of hope and fiction, and the question was not answered.

I am not looking for perfection.  Far from it.  I am just asking at this stage for a level playing field. I looked at the last 12 weeks and find 11% cancellation and compared it to Yatton - a station chosen at random because I'm going there in a fortnight.   They have had 4% cancellation - 1 train in 25 not 1 in 9 - and that on a service that runs every 30 minutes.  I look at their weekend record and it's 7% cancellation - that's 1 train in 14, compared to the "horrendous" - not my word but from an industry contact off the record 33% weekend cancellation here in Melksham - 1 train in 3.

All I am asking for at this stage is a level playing field on reliability - that cancellation rates at Melksham are fair and square with cancellation rates across the Bristol travel-to-work area.  I am not even asking for a timetable appropriate for our town of one train each way every hour for our town (population 25,000) which is bettered at every other town around; that can (and should) come later.  Please, GWR and your masters, and colleagues in Network Rail, in HMG and in the rail unions, provide us with a level playing field on delivering published performance.

P.S.  Things will always go wrong from time to time.  Please do not answer the base issue of general lack of reliability which has been hurting all day on many, many days with an explanation of what is wrong today.  Please answer with solutions that address the ongoing issues on the ground, and which you can (and will) carry though to providing a level playing field.


GWR's train changes this morning. Red = cancelled; pink = different train length to that planned


Cancellation rates ON THE DAY at towns across Wiltshire


Effect of cancellations rates, factoring in population served and timetabled gap between trains
It should be noted that there are two stations in Yeovil and these stats are only for the one GWR serve at Pen Mill.


Looking for a level playing field


Edit (at 06:45, 04.10.2025) to add - Industrty feed via West Wilts Rail User Group - station departure boards this morning for Melksham and Warminster showing the very different levels of service planned in the first place, and then actually being operated.   Warminster is another Wiltshire market town - similar in size to Melksham - if anything slightly smaller. 






further edit purely to correct punctation and spellings

 
07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:28
07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:28 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system

08:44 Swindon to Westbury due 09:25
08:44 Swindon to Westbury due 09:25 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

09:52 Westbury to Swindon due 10:36
09:52 Westbury to Swindon due 10:36 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system

11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:48
11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:48 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system

 

Also



I would - guess - that "the station" is Westbury

 
21:16 Westbury to Swindon due 21:58
21:16 Westbury to Swindon due 21:58 will be cancelled.
This is due to a power cut at the station.

22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12
22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12 will be cancelled.
This is due to a power cut at the station.

 

Putting numbers on it - last 12 weeks from ontimetrains where I was doing a study on Saturday in preparation for a "please give us a level playing field" plea to our MP, Transport Focus, etc ...

Melksham cancellation rate - 11%
Pewsey cancellation rate - 3%

Having said which, Pewsey has a far worse result if you look at trains being on time or close to it with only 74% running less than 10 minutes late, as opposed to 84% running within 10 minutes of timetable at Melksham.   With over a half of journeys made from Pewsey being to London ( https://firstgreatwestern.info/PEW.html ), you could argue that these longer delays are somewhat less of an issue. Ten minutes late on a journey of over an hour perhaps isn't as much of a problem as 10 minutes late would be on a journey of 20 to 25 minutes.

 

Chippenham also suffers from isolation.  You can divert to reach Bath or Swindon.  But there is no long distance alternative for Chippenham.   Very occasionally there has been a shuttle along the single line but for travelling east or west is unlikely to be helpful.

 

That was the council’s position the weekend it opened but a day is a long time in politics it seems. 

 
Because of its location on the Berks and Hants, Pewsey really suffers at times of disruption or engineering work on any part of the B&H. A close second to Melksham I’d say. I guess if you are a regular user of Pewsey, you have a strong plan B in your back pocket.

 

"unlikey ... " Not so sure, Bob; watch how things settle.

 
Issue there is space is not being allocated to regular coaches, so ad hoc rail replacement is unlikely to be entertained.

 

I walked up to the Bus Boulevard from Swindon Station yesterday - and I would judge there would have been plenty of space for - err - all the replacement services. Just a bit far from the station

 
Normally when trains with a Pewsey call are diverted they make an extra stop at Swindon for road replacement. 

However with capacity at the front of Swindon station already tied up with both the all stations and fast coach services covering the Gloucester line closure there may not have been room.  Also with those services being provided it may not have been possible to find additional vehicles at short notice on a Sunday morning.

As for Pewsey becoming Wiltshire’s second city…..

 
From the Gazette and Herald


Looking at real time trains - which does not report the extra stops - the diverted trains were "only" delayed by between 10 and 20 minutes, with the 10 minute one - I suspect - being the long distance one that did not make extra calls.  I would agree that passengers to / from the city of Pewsey will have faced serious delays, but otherwise I suggest a job well done and indeed far better that German (DB) current daily standards.

 
Screen capture from https://wwrug.org.uk/experiment.html

 

Excellent use of new ability to stop IETs at Melksham where local trains are culled.

 
08:27 Plymouth to London Paddington due 12:06

08:27 Plymouth to London Paddington due 12:06 will be diverted between Westbury and Reading.
It will no longer call at Pewsey and Newbury but will call additionally at Trowbridge, Melksham and Chippenham.
It will be delayed due to the diversion and is expected to be 8 minutes late.
This is due to engineering works not being finished on time.

Melksham at 1053

 

Thank you for flagging that up.   Second train of the day.  Yesterday, the second train of the day conveyed 58 passengers into Chippenham.   Just sayin' - pointing out to any GWR of DfT types reading this that such cancellations have a significant effect on a lot of your customers of potential customers.

To a very great extent, the Coffee Shop is now something of a "social medium" and we cannot expect the "important people" who can actually do something about it to read and take note.  We need to feed back to them in addition through official channels ... which I do / will be further doing after last week's MTUG meeting.   It remains useful - and thank you to those who help - to log service failures here.  Although I love the forum being busy, my dream here is of a thread that at the year end has fewer follow ups than there are days of the year. (This is reply 598, there are 365 days this year, so my dream is not granted for 2025)

 
10:41 Westbury to Swindon due 11:23
10:41 Westbury to Swindon due 11:23 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew

11:32 Swindon to Weymouth due 13:45
11:32 Swindon to Weymouth due 13:45 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

 

 

 

All summer, an empty train has run up from Westbury to Swindon on a Saturday evening to form some evening service(s) on the Golden Valley line.  That empty has seemed all the more reliable than the service trains - either the previous local one or the final train of the day coming through from Weymouth.    On one occasion, looking to get back to Melksham when all else was cancelled on the line, I approached a GWR staff member at Westbury as to whether it could take passengers.  Apparently NOT ... and it set off, empty, for Swindon from platform 1, lights blazing through the carriages and a couple of (?) train managers riding on the cushions in the nice former-first seats at the front.


And re-instated ... (at least no longer shown as a cancellation).  I wonder how many people this has put off their day trips. On a Sunday evening, there is no safety net into Melksham in the shape of a midnight bus arrival from Bath.

 
20:38 Westbury to Swindon due 21:24
20:38 Westbury to Swindon due 21:24 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

21:34 Swindon to Westbury due 22:16
21:34 Swindon to Westbury due 22:16 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew

 
Unusual one this.   The incoming service ran from Westbury and the unit is now going to sit in Platform 2 until it forms the 21:25 to Cheltenham Spa.   The empty stock train which was due to run from Westbury to provide the unit for the Golden Valley has been cancelled.

 
19:44 Swindon to Westbury due 20:29
19:44 Swindon to Westbury due 20:29 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

 
12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 13:01
12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 13:01 has been delayed at Trowbridge and is now 11 minutes late.
This is due to a late running train being in front of this one.

 


And cancelled again ...


Can't make their minds up ... or is it actually "crew delayed" because of the broken down train at Ealing?  Knowing that this service is (or has been) a route learner for long distance drivers who come off the semi-fast train from London. 

 

Yes - we *do* know that was part of it on that particular evening as we had a number of apologies at the West Wiltshire Rail Users Group meeting from members in Melksham and Chippenham who abandoned their entire evening out

 
It is something we will never know for certain, but the fact the proceeding four trains were cancelled may well mean people had abandoned their outward journey and so would not be returning even if the train was re-instated.

 

I'm seeing it's no longer reported as cancelled.   

That's all right then?  NOT really - witness the measure on Wednesday evening when a train was cancelled and late re-instated and passenger numbers dropped from around two dozen that would normally have used it to just five.  At least that experience shows the effectiveness of the GWR / JourneyCheck and other systems in reaching prospective customers.

 

 
Six out of 18 trains through Melksham cancelled  from mid-afternoon yesterday ... 33% of service - with JourneyCheck warning that service was out for the rest of the day (but buses provided).    But then the final round trip was re-instated (at about 8 p.m. I understand), and ran with just five passengers including myself from Trowbridge.  Train manager tells me that this is normally a quiet service with just a couple of dozen passengers - "it's much busier on the return from Swindon to Westbury".

The rail industry reporting - as seen through ontimetrains - reports just 22% cancelled - in other words their statistics report a much better situation than was really the case - four out of five passengers turned away for that final train, yet the rail industry gives itself a pat on the back for running it.   And even so, Melksham's performance is rated 2451st out of 2600 stations - and that for a station where the service is so thin that there's no opportunity to just wait for the next train.



As an aside, that graphic reports that 22% of trains were 5 to 9 minutes late too.  Provided that connections are not missed, that's pretty immaterial to me.   That 21:22 Trowbridge to Melksham that was re-instated was one such delayed train.   The Portsmouth to Cardiff train just ahead of it from Westbury was running a couple of minutes late and held it up, and then the Portsmouth to Cardiff train had an extended station stop at Trowbridge while the train manager got out a ramp to allow a wheelchair user to join on his way to Bristol.  A delay that the railway could not have foreseen as the wheelchair user had not pre-booked assistance;  I do note, though, that many modern trains and stations have level boarding as a flap that automatically extends to touch the platform whenever a door opens for (any) passengers, and had that been available at Trowbridge, there would have been no further delay to the train waiting behind.

 

18:03 bus running very late ... so I caught the daily x69 to Bradford-on-Avon at 18:05. The 18:21 train from there to Trowbridge was 8 minutes late, so managed to catch that - at the venue just before 18:40. 

Getting home may be interesting - GWR say that they are running rail replacement buses, so we will see.

 

...and even that got delayed...

 
2nd 271 of the day, although the first one was due to a senior moment - was one mile into the 1.6 to Melksham station when I realised I'd left my laptop at home. After retracing my steps, rather than repeating the initial mile I caught the bus to Bath - the nearest bus stop is only about 100m from my front door. It's a useful option to have as a backup.

This evening's refund of just over £5 will nearly cover my morning lapse as well.

 
I legged it to BTM so I could catch the 16:47 Warminster service instead of my normal 17:00 Paddington, allowing me to catch the 17:15 271 bus from Bath to Melksham instead of the cancelled Chippenham-Melksham train. The infrequency of said trains fortunately means that the refund is sufficient to cover the bus cost

 

 
I will be getting the 18:03 bus from Melksham Market Place to the West Wilts meeting ... see how I do on return for the 21:22.

 
Cancellations to services between Swindon and Westbury via Melksham

Due to a broken down train all lines are disrupted. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Train services between Swindon and Westbury via Melksham have been cancelled.

Customer Advice
-
What has happened?
-
The train that runs between Westbury and Chippenham has broken down.
-
What are we doing about it?
-
We are unable to source a replacment therefore we will opperate rail replacement transport between Chippenham and Wesbury in both directions.

 
Again fault on train today.

 

 
21:16 Westbury to Swindon due 21:58
21:16 Westbury to Swindon due 21:58 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12
22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train

 
and

 

And the Westbury to Swindon train that forms it too ...

 
17:35 Swindon - Westbury cancelled because of a broken down train

 
05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:09
05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:09 will be terminated at Westbury.

It will no longer call at Dilton Marsh, Warminster, Salisbury, Romsey and Southampton Central.

This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

 

Last night from the Heart of Wessex back to Wiltshire was, to put it mildly, a shambles.  Full writeup to follow.  HOWEVER - I suspect that the "disturbance" was much earlier  which left the trains in the opposite direction late and queuing for the single track from Castle Cary to Yeovil Pen Mill, with the Swindon train stuck there for quarter of an hour.   

 

 

This would suggest that waiting another hour didn't exactly meet with universal approval?

19:40 Weymouth to Swindon due 22:00
19:40 Weymouth to Swindon due 22:00 has been delayed at Yeovil Pen Mill and is now 13 minutes late.
This is due to passengers causing a disturbance on a train.
Will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 3.

 
19:40 Weymouth to Swindon due 22:00
Facilities on the 19:40 Weymouth to Swindon due 22:00.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 3.
Further Information
Passengers are advised that this service will be formed of only 2 -cars. There is a train 1 hour later at 20.40 which is formed of more carriages for a more comfortable travel experience. Passengers may wish to take this later service.

 

 

 

Rather better than, FOR OPERATIONAL CONVENIENCE. 

 

 


Really good / sensible call.   As the Cheltenham Spa train has to cross over the Westbury train to the west of Swindon, it looks to be operationally sensible too. 

 
In the end it left five minutes late but was all but on time by Westbury.

It was held to allow a cross platform change from the London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa service which was running eight minutes late.

 

 

 

 

 

Humourless ha, ha ... a "reinstated" train from Gloucester to Cheltenham Spa may help the statistic of "trains that reach their final destination" - and perhaps the income that the First group gets from running it, but it's no **** good for the passengers from the 8 stations left out.   I'm noting that the JourneyCheck report is not offering an alternative - just


People want to be got there - not just to get some or all of their money back if they're not

 
In the end, both ran full booked route.  However Realtime Trains looks to have got in a bit of a knot over it.

 

 
It called! Report to follow - I have a meeting in 20 minutes and will write up overnight.

EDIT - report posted at https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=30676.0

 
..and another two due to call - and on the screens

 

It is and not a one off.   However it wasn't announced until 16:39.   That is 15 minutes after the cancelled TW service would have left Westbury and the time it would have been at Melksham.    So unless someone was very on the ball at Melksham they would have unaware.

This is better news - announced an hour in advance.

 

 

SUPERB step in the right direction!

 

Why do they cancel the trains on the next line across (yeah, I know, because the West County trains are more important).  Are there alternative arrangements for Melksham passengers? Such as the IETs stopping there?

 

 
Must have been down to lack of a guard as it ran empty from Swindon to Westbury.

 
13:32 Swindon to Weymouth due 15:45

13:32 Swindon to Weymouth due 15:45 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

 

 

There is sense - from both a customer and an organisation viewpoint - in using a standard base or template letter or set of paragraphs to answer what are pretty standard questions asked similarly tine and again.  From the organisation viewpoint, it's efficient.  From the customer viewpoint, it means that the reply is likely to be more complete rather than leaving out / forgetting useful backup comment.   The approach does have it's downside in that standard wording can be fine tuned by wordsmiths to come across in a way the writing organisation wishes to portray whilst masking a reality that's varied from it, or answering a different question to the one asked.

"When are you going to fix this?" is addressed by "We are investigating what went wrong and looking to understand how it could be improved in the future",  No answer on when, or indeed if, there is a route actively being taken to fix the issue, but it sounds good.

The staff who are writing responses - under their own names, under a stage or group name, or as automata, are immediately safe provided they toe the line.  But as re-organisations take place, centralised, updated to less staff intensive approaches, moved to lower cost offices / venues, or indeed customer input is discouraged through designed-in slow response and long waits on hold, the number of people required is reduced and it is in the natural human self-preservation approach of the answering individuals to keep "mum" about any concerns they have with the answers.   Whistleblowing is really not a good career move.

 

I suspect "Ellie" is just as likely to be a ChatGPT bot (or if not, quite possibly soon will be!) - more and more organisations are moving to this technology, saves them a fortune, and let's be honest GWR is not an organisation which is renowned for investing in Customer Service!

 
0

 

I'm sure Ellie is a real person, but I'm not so sure that she's worried about her job prospects: as a 'customer service advisor' in GWR (soon to be part of GBR), she would appear to be fairly safe in her role. 

Ellie, if you are one of our registered members, please do comment here. CfN.

 

Or perhaps we won't bother after all

 

 
I'm sure you're right. However, I gave Gemini (Google's ChatGPT) a one line request for a train company's response to a customer dissatisfied with the train service and it came up with something pretty similar, and no less convincing, in a few seconds. I believe 'Ellie' is a real person, but I suspect she's worried about her job prospects.

If anyone's interested, this is my request:
and the response:

 
The words of a silly film playing in the background on the TV the other night - the butler is asked "why do royal responses always say 'His majesty is delighted' when clearly he is not?"  And the response - "we always use the same tone and wording to avoid there being any hint of favouritism".

There is a lot to be said for standard cut-and-paste text as a base for responses. They allow the same or similar questions to be addressed dozens of times, and efficiently (and I have often used them and they have rolled into an FAQ).   They also allow for marketing and influencing words to be propagated in an official capacity and give an impression of something that's not totally the case.

With tongue in cheek, I read some of the GWR responses, and what other members here are saying about them "defending the indefensible".  It's clear from the responses that GWR are aware of the issues and want us to know that.  It's clear that they have given some thought to how that might be fixed and indeed have done some analysis / background work as to how that would/could be done.   And they want us to know these good things.    However, I see no timeline and method to getting things effectively fixed - perhaps I have missed something?

 

Many years ago, within a financial services office context, one of my colleagues and I came up with a few light-hearted 'standard letters', using Microsoft Word, theoretically to be used in response to any customer complaints.

Those letters were known as 'foboff 1', 'foboff 2' and 'foboff 3'.

I wish I still had access to them. 

 

Cut/paste is very handy for organisations like GWR when it comes to dealing with these matters.