0620 Plymouth to Edinburgh

[ikcdab]

Yesterday (9 May) I had to travel from Taunton to Newcastle for a funeral. The only possible service was the cross country 0746 from Taunton. Being "in the know" about trains, I checked realtime trains at about 7am and imagine my horror to see the train cancelled between Plymouth and Bristol. It was starting from Bristol at 0835.
Luckily I then spotted the earlier 0724 GWR Taunton to Bristol. Some very quick work saw me on that train and I just managed to make the connection at Bristol with only seconds to spare at 0835.
I had no prior warning of the cancellation and if I hadn't been knowledgeable about railways and very quick off the mark, I wouldn't have made the journey as there were no other suitable services.
I see today today again the train in cancelled between Plymouth and Bristol due to an issue with the train crew. I can't check any further back on RTT to see if this is a regular occurrence.
I feel pretty hacked off as I had no prior warning of the cancellation despite booking on line a few days ago. Cross-country accepted my booking, then cancelled my train and didn't notify me.
Luckily all worked out ok for me, but I was lucky.
Is the cancellation of this service a regular thing and is there really no way of notifying users of the online app that their train is cancelled?

 

[JonathanH]

I feel pretty hacked off as I had no prior warning of the cancellation despite booking on line a few days ago. Cross-country accepted my booking, then cancelled my train and didn't notify me.
Luckily all worked out ok for me, but I was lucky.
Is the cancellation of this service a regular thing and is there really no way of notifying users of the online app that their train is cancelled?

There is an overtime ban this week, and cancellation of early services on 9 May due to the strike the day before.

 

[AndrewE]

Luckily all worked out ok for me, but I was lucky.
Is the cancellation of this service a regular thing and is there really no way of notifying users of the online app that their train is cancelled?

For planning important journeys I use https://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk/ which gives you a feel for how reliable a service or route is.
Of course on top of that you always need to add in the factors mentioned by @JonathonH. Monday mornings after engineering work are another consideration!

 

[Zerothebrake!]

As the train was restarted from Bristol Temple Meads it counts as part - cancelled and not a full cancellation. There were three early morning XC trains from Plymouth cancelled this morning, due to no Driver because of the overtime ban.

 

[12LDA28C]

Yesterday (9 May) I had to travel from Taunton to Newcastle for a funeral. The only possible service was the cross country 0746 from Taunton. Being "in the know" about trains, I checked realtime trains at about 7am and imagine my horror to see the train cancelled between Plymouth and Bristol. It was starting from Bristol at 0835.
Luckily I then spotted the earlier 0724 GWR Taunton to Bristol. Some very quick work saw me on that train and I just managed to make the connection at Bristol with only seconds to spare at 0835.
I had no prior warning of the cancellation and if I hadn't been knowledgeable about railways and very quick off the mark, I wouldn't have made the journey as there were no other suitable services.
I see today today again the train in cancelled between Plymouth and Bristol due to an issue with the train crew. I can't check any further back on RTT to see if this is a regular occurrence.
I feel pretty hacked off as I had no prior warning of the cancellation despite booking on line a few days ago. Cross-country accepted my booking, then cancelled my train and didn't notify me.
Luckily all worked out ok for me, but I was lucky.
Is the cancellation of this service a regular thing and is there really no way of notifying users of the online app that their train is cancelled?

Sorry to hear that your journey was disrupted. However, as you claim to be 'in the know about trains' it's perhaps surprising that you were unaware of the Action Short Of Strike (ie overtime ban) this week and the ASLEF strike affecting CrossCountry trains on Wednesday 8th May, particularly as it is mentioned on the home page of the XC website which advises you to check before you travel. Your original train may even have been a planned cancellation from Plymouth which would have been reflected on RTT a few days in advance. It always pays to be aware of the dates of industrial action on the railway, especially if you are planning a long journey on a particular date.

 

[sh24]

It's the total lack of comms from the operator that often frustrate me. You are left to arrive at the station and suddenly discover a problem unless you are diligently researching as the OP. Not exactly customer centric...

 

[JonathanH]

It's the total lack of comms from the operator that often frustrate me.

I suspect you mean total lack of individualised communications, as if they should be emailing you on a proactive basis with information about the train you have booked on. Maybe it will come in time.

At a more general level, there is journey check for Cross Country here https://www.journeycheck.com/crosscountry/ plus live times on their website https://realtime.nationalrail.co.uk/cct/sumdep.aspx?T=PLY fed by National Rail and a feed on Twitter https://twitter.com/CrossCountryUK funnily enough cross referring to journey check.

CrossCountry | Linktree

Just a few links to help your journey run a bit smoother.

linktr.ee

That is not a "total lack of comms" although there could well be more they could do.

You are left to arrive at the station and suddenly discover a problem unless you are diligently researching as the OP.

Where else should they be telling you about issues? On advertising billboards, a dedicated radio channel? I don't see where else apart from their website and other feeds they could contact you before you get to the station?

 

[sh24]

If you've booked a ticket for a train, I would expect pro-active comms via email and SMS telling you of a cancellation. LNER do just that. Obviously if you are on a flexible ticket, rover, that's not feasible and requires you to take the initiative.

I've lost count of trips in the last 12 months where something has been cancelled, massively delayed and the messaging to customers - those that pay for the tickets - has been woefully inadequate.

 

[JonathanH]

If you've booked a ticket for a train, I would expect pro-active comms via email and SMS telling you of a cancellation. LNER do just that.

Yes LNER do that. Do they do it only for people who have booked directly with them or also for people who have booked via other booking engines.

Are you saying that CrossCountry don't contact people who have booked directly with them about disruption? (I don't know.)

 

[ikcdab]

Sorry to hear that your journey was disrupted. However, as you claim to be 'in the know about trains' it's perhaps surprising that you were unaware of the Action Short Of Strike (ie overtime ban) this week and the ASLEF strike affecting CrossCountry trains on Wednesday 8th May, particularly as it is mentioned on the home page of the XC website which advises you to check before you travel. Your original train may even have been a planned cancellation from Plymouth which would have been reflected on RTT a few days in advance. It always pays to be aware of the dates of industrial action on the railway, especially if you are planning a long journey on a particular date.

I did actually look at the website and it says "Normal service to Bristol Temple Meads". This is a confusing statement. On reflection I guess that means services from the north not progressing south and therefore by extrapolation no service coming from Plymouth, but it gave no positive indication that my train was cancelled between Plymouth and Bristol. And I did proactively check on RTT but just left that check a little bit late. If I hadn't been knowledgeable (ish) and just turned up at the station, then I wouldn't have been able to get to my destination.
As someone said above, this is not customer-centric. Maybe that will come in due course when the whole lot is nationalised again.

 

[yorkie]

Yesterday (9 May) I had to travel from Taunton to Newcastle for a funeral. The only possible service was the cross country 0746 from Taunton. Being "in the know" about trains, I checked realtime trains at about 7am and imagine my horror to see the train cancelled between Plymouth and Bristol. It was starting from Bristol at 0835.
Luckily I then spotted the earlier 0724 GWR Taunton to Bristol. Some very quick work saw me on that train and I just managed to make the connection at Bristol with only seconds to spare at 0835.
I had no prior warning of the cancellation and if I hadn't been knowledgeable about railways and very quick off the mark, I wouldn't have made the journey as there were no other suitable services.
I see today today again the train in cancelled between Plymouth and Bristol due to an issue with the train crew. I can't check any further back on RTT to see if this is a regular occurrence.
I feel pretty hacked off as I had no prior warning of the cancellation despite booking on line a few days ago. Cross-country accepted my booking, then cancelled my train and didn't notify me.
Luckily all worked out ok for me, but I was lucky.
Is the cancellation of this service a regular thing and is there really no way of notifying users of the online app that their train is cancelled?

Who did you book with?

If you booked with us, then we would have emailed you, providing the TOC inserted the cancellation in the correct manner.

Yes LNER do that. Do they do it only for people who have booked directly with them or also for people who have booked via other booking engines.

It is down to the retailer to do this; retailers do not pass on details to TOCs for TOCs to send out messages.

However, the retailer can only do that if the TOC provides the information.

 

[mangyiscute]

I guess this would be one of the pros of just creating one ticketing agency for nationwide travel rather than what we have now - whether this is worth it, that's a whole other debate, but for current advice all that can be suggested is to ensure you book your tickets through a retailer that promptly and accurately notifies you of delays/cancellations and then hope that the TOC are good at submitting the required information when they cancel the train.

 

[yorkie]

I guess this would be one of the pros of just creating one ticketing agency for nationwide travel rather than what we have now...

Feel free to propose how that would work in a new thread.

- whether this is worth it, that's a whole other debate, but for current advice all that can be suggested is to ensure you book your tickets through a retailer that promptly and accurately notifies you of delays/cancellations

We do that. Most retailers do these days, don't they?

If any don't, then why not use another; there is no need to abolish choice.

and then hope that the TOC are good at submitting the required information when they cancel the train.

This isn't relevant to the first part of your post; if the TOC doesn't use the proper systems correctly, then no-one would be advised, regardless of retail system!

 

[ikcdab]

Who did you book with

To be honest I can't remember but the tickets came from trainsplit.com.
I probably accessed that via this website but I can't really remember.

 

[yorkie]

To be honest I can't remember but the tickets came from trainsplit.com.
I probably accessed that via this website but I can't really remember.

In that case, I suspect the TOC who cancelled the train didn't do so in the correct manner, as Trainsplit does send email notifications. So it won't have mattered who you booked with.

If you want to send me your booking ref number via conversation message, I could ask someone to look into it and get an official answer if you like?