FGW crew pick up the wrong train @ Banbury

[Jimini]

With apologies if this has already been posted:

http://www.itv.com/news/london/2015...ong-train-and-takes-passengers-the-wrong-way/

The driver and train manager went to Banbury in Oxfordshire where they were due to take control of the service to London Paddington.

But instead they got on the train heading to Swansea and set off toward South Wales.

The First Great Western crew realised their mistake a short distance down the line and decided to head back to Banbury to get the right train.

 

[BestWestern]

That makes no sense at all. The crew were intending to head to London, got on the wrong train without realising, and then accidentally took it in completely the opposite direction?

Gotta love journalists!

 

[ainsworth74]

That makes no sense at all. The crew were intending to head to London, got on 'the wrong train' and then accidentally took it in completely the opposite direction?

Gotta love journalists!

Looks like this was during the Easter diversions when services were diverted via Banbury, therefore, services to South Wales and London would depart Banbury going in the same direction and it wouldn't be obvious a mistake had been made until, I would guess, Aynho Junction when the indications would be wrong.

I don't usually like standing up for journalists but on this occasion it does make sense...

 

[me123]

Also, I'm not intimately acquainted with FGW's network, timetable, and service patterns, but I'm pretty sure there's no direct train from Banbury to Swansea. (see correction below).

Maybe there's a story here but what's written is so non-sensical that I can't really ascertain what it is!

EDIT: Just seen Ainsworth's post, so wasn't aware of the diversions. But nevertheless, the story is poorly worded and certainly bizarre.

 

[ainsworth74]

Yeah if I hadn't have been on one of the diverted services via Banbury earlier this week I would have been left scratching my head also!

 

[Cherry_Picker]

That makes no sense at all. The crew were intending to head to London, got on the wrong train without realising, and then accidentally took it in completely the opposite direction?

Gotta love journalists!

A little more context is required I guess.

I believe Reading was closed over the Easter weekend? If so then trains would have been diverted Swansea - Didcot - Banbury - High Wycombe - Paddington as has happened on multiple occasions in recent years (and reverse route for the London to South Wales trains, obviously).

The trains reverse at Banbury and will double back on themselves for three or four miles between Banbury station and Aynho junction. If a driver got on the wrong train at Banbury then the first indication they would have would be when the route was set for the up main instead of the up Bicester.

 

[RPM]

There must surely have been some late or out of course running involved for this to have happened, or otherwise the traincrew would have realised their mistake when the road was pulled off for the 'wrong' HST set?

 

[fgwrich]

Also, I'm not intimately acquainted with FGW's network, timetable, and service patterns, but I'm pretty sure there's no direct train from Banbury to Swansea. (see correction below).

Maybe there's a story here but what's written is so non-sensical that I can't really ascertain what it is!

EDIT: Just seen Ainsworth's post, so wasn't aware of the diversions. But nevertheless, the story is poorly worded and certainly bizarre.

Yeah if I hadn't have been on one of the diverted services via Banbury earlier this week I would have been left scratching my head also!

Not as bizarre as the Western Morning News's version of the story though, which reportedly had FGW services running to the west from Paddington via Banbury, ''towards Reading and Didcot and, ultimately, Swansea.."

Certainly the most bizarre version I've seen so far!

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk...-wrong-train/story-26307776-detail/story.html

 

[Cherry_Picker]

There must surely have been some late or out of course running involved for this to have happened, or otherwise the traincrew would have realised their mistake when the road was pulled off for the 'wrong' HST set?

Trying to figure out what train it was looking at the archives on realtimetrains and comparing them to the time stamps on the tweets. There was a tweet at 18:18 so it must have been before then which throws up the following Great Western trains:

1L66 Swansea - Paddington. Booked to arrive in Banbury at 16:24 and depart at 16:33. Actually arrived 16:55 and departed 17:00

1B59 Paddington - Swansea. Booked to arrive in Banbury at 16:36 and depart at 16:48. Actually arrived at 16:45 and left at 17:12


The Swansea - Paddington was 17 late at Oxford but 25 late at Heyford. The train crew know it's running a bit late leaving Oxford station, come out to meet it at 16:45 ish, see a HST arrive and assume it's theirs. It's actually the Paddington - Swansea but the bobby has pulled off for it due to it's 16:48 departure time. On they get, off they go and boom! At Kings Sutton the PRI is pointing towards Oxford instead of Bicester.

 

[RPM]

Trying to figure out what train it was looking at the archives on realtimetrains and comparing them to the time stamps on the tweets. There was a tweet at 18:18 so it must have been before then which throws up the following Great Western trains:

1L66 Swansea - Paddington. Booked to arrive in Banbury at 16:24 and depart at 16:33. Actually arrived 16:55 and departed 17:00

1B59 Paddington - Swansea. Booked to arrive in Banbury at 16:36 and depart at 16:48. Actually arrived at 16:45 and left at 17:12


The Swansea - Paddington was 17 late at Oxford but 25 late at Heyford. The train crew know it's running a bit late leaving Oxford station, come out to meet it at 16:45 ish, see a HST arrive and assume it's theirs. It's actually the Paddington - Swansea but the bobby has pulled off for it due to it's 16:48 departure time. On they get, off they go and boom! At Kings Sutton the PRI is pointing towards Oxford instead of Bicester.

That makes sense. Oh dear..

 

[didcot]

I was at Banbury staion Monday evening taking some photos and the services involved were the 1L76 Swansea - London Paddington and the 1B79 London Paddington - Swansea

 

[Bill EWS]

I did that once when travelling to Bescot for a back working. I got on the wrong train at Oxford that went to Worcester instead of my booked travel to Birmingham. As the Worscester was an HST and arrived at the time my booked HST was due I automatically got onto it. I had no idea of the services from Worester to Birmingham and as it was around 9pm there wasn't a lot of choice. With long waits at Worcester and again at Birmingham I got to Bescot with only minutes to spare for my back working that had already arrived and waiting for me. It just saved the day and a please explain.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

I was at Banbury staion Monday evening taking some photos and the services involved were the 1L76 Swansea - London Paddington and the 1B79 London Paddington - Swansea

Ah. Cheers for the info.

I presume a similar set of circumstances set the whole thing up. 1L76 was booked to arrive at 18:24 and depart at 18:33, 1B79 was booked to arrive at 18:37 and depart at 18:49.

1L76 was some 40 minutes late leaving Oxford en route to Banbury. 1B79 actually arrived into Banbury early at 18:32, ahead of the booked departure time for 1L76. Crew come out of the mess room, see at HST in a platform at about the time they are expecting to see their train, bobby has pulled off because it's the next departure from the station and again, nobody realises until they don't get the route they are expecting at Aynho.

Obviously they should have checked the vehicle numbers or something to make sure they had the right train before they took it but I can completely see how it happened.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

When train crew are given a print-out of what services they'll be on/running for their shift does that include unit numbers?

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Can't vouch for FGW but I've certainly never seen it where I work. Diagrams for train crew are generally produced way before specific trains are allocated to said diagrams. There will be separate departure sheets with lists of vehicle numbers tied to individual services but these tend to be for getting away from depots in the morning when there are lots of trains about. In the middle of the day I don't think they really exist. You can still make a phone call and check the train you see in front of you is the one you are booked to take of course, but I guess that didn't happen on monday.

 

[ainsworth74]

So, on a scale of 1 to infinity, how much ribbing will this crew now be receiving from their colleagues?

 

[jnjkerbin]

It should be pointed out that most FGW services were, I believe, using the same platform and the indicator boards wouldn't have shown anything as the trains weren't booked to pick up passengers there.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Probably not that much because it's not the done thing really. In my experience there is a very much an attitude of "there but by the grace of God go I" amongst train trew. Obviously there will be a bit of gentle ribbing and people will still remind them of it in years to come but people won't extract the urine as much as you might expect in other industries.

 

[A-driver]

When train crew are given a print-out of what services they'll be on/running for their shift does that include unit numbers?

No as they are subject to change.

Most diagrams include the unit diagram but that won't state the actual number assigned to the diagram. Most TOCs include the traction class number (365/317 etc) and some TOCs include the length (4car/8car) but not all do that incase it changes at short notice and leads to a stop short incident.

 

[zuriblue]

Probably not that much because it's not the done thing really. In my experience there is a very much an attitude of "there but by the grace of God go I" amongst train trew. Obviously there will be a bit of gentle ribbing and people will still remind them of it in years to come but people won't extract the urine as much as you might expect in other industries.

You mean a bit like this?

http://www.districtdave.co.uk/html/confession_time.html

 

[455driver]

So, on a scale of 1 to infinity, how much ribbing will this crew now be receiving from their colleagues?

At our place they would get quite a bit of lighthearted ribbing, such as when they are getting up to go to their train other staff will check on the screen to see which platform thee train is on and making a point of telling them, stuff like that. If they hint that they are not happy then it would stop straight Away, things don't get dragged on like they used to.

 

[Mugby]

If such diversions operate in future, will they use the Bicester curve when it's operational?

If they do, the possibility of such a mistake will be eliminated.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Isn't the point of headcodes/reporting numbers to identify trains?
At one time the headcode would have been displayed on the front of the train in big letters...
Is there nothing on an HST to say "I am 1B79"?
VT have the headcode displayed on the external electronic panel by the doors of Pendolinos/Voyagers.
Presumably the SETs will be able to do something similar.

 

[QueensCurve]

Isn't the point of headcodes/reporting numbers to identify trains?
At one time the headcode would have been displayed on the front of the train in big letters...
Is there nothing on an HST to say "I am 1B79"?
VT have the headcode displayed on the external electronic panel by the doors of Pendolinos/Voyagers.
Presumably the SETs will be able to do something similar.

They were done away with in the 1970s.

 

[t0ffeeman]

Driver should have realised when the GSMR said the wrong headcode

 

[NHG66]

Driver should have realised when the GSMR said the wrong headcode

As both sets were using the same platform to reverse, the new driver would have to log in to the GSMR with headcode and signal number ( in this case the same signal). So if the bobby had entered both headcodes into the train describer in advance (assuming he can) then the GSMR would set up. Alternatively, as this was a diversionary route, there's a chance that the crews may have been using the GSMR wildcard in which case the radio would set up ok.

 

[theageofthetra]

Yeah I was wondering about how the GSMR got set up! A wildcard would explain it.

 

[Rich McLean]

So, on a scale of 1 to infinity, how much ribbing will this crew now be receiving from their colleagues?

Lots. Nicknames are being banded about as we speak

 

[cossie4i]

You only need to check the GMS-R Radio in the cab to see if it has the correct running number.
Also asking the driver you take over from.

Didn't read page 2 before posting.

 

[wensley]

When train crew are given a print-out of what services they'll be on/running for their shift does that include unit numbers?

GC issue Traincrew with a 'unit wire' early hours and then updated if any swaps occur. Not hard in the world of smartphones ... Genius Mobile also allows crews to check various information about their shift/trains, including formation.