Can platform staff hold a train (within reason)?

[Will Mitchell]

In an effort to convince my wife of the virtues of rail travel and get her out of her car, I offered to accompany her on this morning’s 0810 GWR service from Clifton Down to Temple Meads and ensure she made her connection - the 0835 XC service to Edinburgh.

The GWR service is scheduled to arrive BRI at 0825 but was delayed because the train coming in the opposite direction was late (it’s a single track railway between Redland and Stapleton Road).

We arrived at 0834 and made a dash for it worthy of Usain Bolt but missed the XC by approximately 5 seconds.

I protested to the staff on the platform that it would have been reasonable for the XC to have been held in these circumstances. Just a 30 second hold would have been sufficient for 7 people to have made the connection.

I felt this was especially egregious given the next northbound XC was not scheduled to depart until 0932 due to XC’s covid timetable.

Cue a litany of excuses:

1. “If ‘they’ don’t tell us it’s late [the GWR Severn Beach service] then we don’t know.” - it was not clear to me who ‘they’ are. Surely platform staff are monitoring live arrivals and departures?

2. “The control room in Swindon is responsible for holding trains, not platform staff.” - really?

3. It’s two different train companies and therefore not a valid connection.” - really?

4. “The train company is fined £150 per minute for delayed departures so we can’t hold trains” - really?

5. You should have asked the train manager on the GWR service to request a hold for you.” - but I thought you couldn’t hold them anyway?

Nothwithstanding the contradictory nature of the above excuses, I feel that all that was required in this situation was a little bit of (dare I say it?) ‘common sense’.

Had there been someone overseeing arrivals and departures who was on the ball, and had they taken action by instructing platform staff to hold the XC for 1 minute, a lot of pain could have been avoided and a few folks wouldn’t have been late for work.

I was disappointed with the attitude of the staff on the platform who did not want to take ownership of the problem and simply deflected the blame onto others.

My question to this forum is, is there anything the staff or station management at BRI could/should have done in this situation? Or are they just following the operational rules and regulations of the railway?

Who is in charge of overseeing connections at major interchanges like BRI and what responsibilities/powers do they have?

Needless to say, my wife will be back in her car tomorrow, clogging up the M5.

 

[DanNCL]

In an effort to convince my wife of the virtues of rail travel and get her out of her car, I offered to accompany her on this morning’s 0810 GWR service from Clifton Down to Temple Meads and ensure she made her connection - the 0835 XC service to Edinburgh.

The GWR service is scheduled to arrive BRI at 0825 but was delayed because the train coming in the opposite direction was late (it’s a single track railway between Redland and Stapleton Road).

We arrived at 0834 and made a dash for it worthy of Usain Bolt but missed the XC by approximately 5 seconds.

I protested to the staff on the platform that it would have been reasonable for the XC to have been held in these circumstances. Just a 30 second hold would have been sufficient for 7 people to have made the connection.

I felt this was especially egregious given the next northbound XC was not scheduled to depart until 0932 due to XC’s covid timetable.

Cue a litany of excuses:

1. “If ‘they’ don’t tell us it’s late [the GWR Severn Beach service] then we don’t know.” - it was not clear to me who ‘they’ are. Surely platform staff are monitoring live arrivals and departures?

2. “The control room in Swindon is responsible for holding trains, not platform staff.” - really?

3. It’s two different train companies and therefore not a valid connection.” - really?

4. “The train company is fined £150 per minute for delayed departures so we can’t hold trains” - really?

5. You should have asked the train manager on the GWR service to request a hold for you.” - but I thought you couldn’t hold them anyway?

Nothwithstanding the contradictory nature of the above excuses, I feel that all that was required in this situation was a little bit of (dare I say it?) ‘common sense’.

Had there been someone overseeing arrivals and departures who was on the ball, and had they taken action by instructing platform staff to hold the XC for 1 minute, a lot of pain could have been avoided and a few folks wouldn’t have been late for work.

I was disappointed with the attitude of the staff on the platform who did not want to take ownership of the problem and simply deflected the blame onto others.

My question to this forum is, is there anything the staff or station management at BRI could/should have done in this situation? Or are they just following the operational rules and regulations of the railway?

Who is in charge of overseeing connections at major interchanges like BRI and what responsibilities/powers do they have?

Needless to say, my wife will be back in her car tomorrow, clogging up the M5.

The only point they were right on was point 2 and even then only partially - whilst the decision would be taken by control, it would have been taken by XC control in Birmingham rather than GWR control in Swindon. They certainly should have known what was running on time and what wasn’t, it is a valid connection despite being separate companies, the company does not get fined for delays until they are past the 5 minutes mark so would not have been fined for holding the train by 1 minute, and whilst you could have asked the guard on the first train you shouldn’t have had to.

I would be putting in a formal complaint about the staff at Bristol Temple Meads here, as well as a delay repay claim with GWR as you’re entitled to 60 minutes delay repay which is a full refund on a single, and a 50% refund on an off peak or anytime return.

 

[gka472l]

In an effort to convince my wife of the virtues of rail travel and get her out of her car, I offered to accompany her on this morning’s 0810 GWR service from Clifton Down to Temple Meads and ensure she made her connection - the 0835 XC service to Edinburgh.

The GWR service is scheduled to arrive BRI at 0825 but was delayed because the train coming in the opposite direction was late (it’s a single track railway between Redland and Stapleton Road).

We arrived at 0834 and made a dash for it worthy of Usain Bolt but missed the XC by approximately 5 seconds.

I protested to the staff on the platform that it would have been reasonable for the XC to have been held in these circumstances. Just a 30 second hold would have been sufficient for 7 people to have made the connection.

I felt this was especially egregious given the next northbound XC was not scheduled to depart until 0932 due to XC’s covid timetable.

Cue a litany of excuses:

1. “If ‘they’ don’t tell us it’s late [the GWR Severn Beach service] then we don’t know.” - it was not clear to me who ‘they’ are. Surely platform staff are monitoring live arrivals and departures?

2. “The control room in Swindon is responsible for holding trains, not platform staff.” - really?

3. It’s two different train companies and therefore not a valid connection.” - really?

4. “The train company is fined £150 per minute for delayed departures so we can’t hold trains” - really?

5. You should have asked the train manager on the GWR service to request a hold for you.” - but I thought you couldn’t hold them anyway?

Nothwithstanding the contradictory nature of the above excuses, I feel that all that was required in this situation was a little bit of (dare I say it?) ‘common sense’.

Had there been someone overseeing arrivals and departures who was on the ball, and had they taken action by instructing platform staff to hold the XC for 1 minute, a lot of pain could have been avoided and a few folks wouldn’t have been late for work.

I was disappointed with the attitude of the staff on the platform who did not want to take ownership of the problem and simply deflected the blame onto others.

My question to this forum is, is there anything the staff or station management at BRI could/should have done in this situation? Or are they just following the operational rules and regulations of the railway?

Who is in charge of overseeing connections at major interchanges like BRI and what responsibilities/powers do they have?

Needless to say, my wife will be back in her car tomorrow, clogging up the M5.

As a despatcher elsewhere (not GWR), the staff are completely correct. They will be concentrating on the safe despatch of the XC and not watching arrival screens.....

 

[Western Sunset]

One would hope that at a large junction station, there would be some "joined-up thinking" which placed the fare-paying customer at the centre of things...

 

[Taunton]

As a despatcher elsewhere (not GWR), the staff are completely correct. They will be concentrating on the safe despatch of the XC and not watching arrival screens.....

Does "safe dispatch" include managing the situation where passengers are running helter-skelter for a supposedly permitted connection which is being sent off just as they are approaching, slipping and tripping as they go? Or are any injuries when not actually touching the train "not my problem, mate".

I wonder sometimes in such situations if the railway has lost it about understanding that the whole purpose of trains is to have paying passengers inside. Otherwise, what's the point?

 

[Caaardiff]

The reality of how it works has been explained by the dispatcher. It's the TM of the incoming service that should advise of the delay to Control and ask that Control to either delay the service (If same TOC) or contact the relevant TOC to request a delay.
It's important to remember that there were probably dozens of other trains coming through TM at the time, and Control centres can't watch every delay and know every possible connection across the network, it's just not possible. It's down to the TM of the incoming service to get the ball rolling if they are aware they have connecting passengers.
Although not palming the responsibility off to the dispatcher/station staff, any good station staff that know of regular connections would be pro-active and highlight the delay to Control, but at the same time, their responsibilities lie in dispatching trains, not highlighting connection delays.

Also one thing to be mindful of, is a couple of minutes hold for your incoming train, may mean a snowball of delays further up the line and several other connections may be missed en route as a result.

 

[robbeech]

As a despatcher elsewhere (not GWR), the staff are completely correct. They will be concentrating on the safe despatch of the XC and not watching arrival screens.....

They’re not ‘completely’ corrects as they suggest that because it is two operators it is not a ‘valid connection’ which is drivel.
They are of course not ‘completely’ incorrect either.
There would have been no harm in asking the GWR guard if they could arrange for the service to be held.

 

[AlterEgo]

In an effort to convince my wife of the virtues of rail travel and get her out of her car, I offered to accompany her on this morning’s 0810 GWR service from Clifton Down to Temple Meads and ensure she made her connection - the 0835 XC service to Edinburgh.

The GWR service is scheduled to arrive BRI at 0825 but was delayed because the train coming in the opposite direction was late (it’s a single track railway between Redland and Stapleton Road).

We arrived at 0834 and made a dash for it worthy of Usain Bolt but missed the XC by approximately 5 seconds.

I protested to the staff on the platform that it would have been reasonable for the XC to have been held in these circumstances. Just a 30 second hold would have been sufficient for 7 people to have made the connection.

I felt this was especially egregious given the next northbound XC was not scheduled to depart until 0932 due to XC’s covid timetable.

Cue a litany of excuses:

1. “If ‘they’ don’t tell us it’s late [the GWR Severn Beach service] then we don’t know.” - it was not clear to me who ‘they’ are. Surely platform staff are monitoring live arrivals and departures?

The platform staff don’t always monitor the arrivals of other services, although they should if they get time (easier said than done). But it’s moot anyway as they can’t hold the train on their own authority.

2. “The control room in Swindon is responsible for holding trains, not platform staff.” - really?

It’s XC Control in this instance in Birmingham as it was an XC train which was the subject of a potential hold (for hold - read “intentional delay”).

3. It’s two different train companies and therefore not a valid connection.” - really?

No that’s nonsense straight off the bat. Your wife had ten minutes and that is a perfectly valid connection at Bristol TM. Separate companies makes literally zero difference and this is the biggest load of toss she was told.

4. “The train company is fined £150 per minute for delayed departures so we can’t hold trains” - really?

The gist is correct, yes, lateness (on arrival) is penalised through various schemes to supposedly encourage punctuality. The biggest risk is a snowballing delay, one or two minutes late from a station can have larger consequences elsewhere, thanks to the very busy network. This is why Control need to be involved if a decision is made to hold a train.

5. You should have asked the train manager on the GWR service to request a hold for you.” - but I thought you couldn’t hold them anyway?

They can request this to control. Platform staff gave no authority to deliberately delay a train for anything other than safety reasons.

Nothwithstanding the contradictory nature of the above excuses, I feel that all that was required in this situation was a little bit of (dare I say it?) ‘common sense’.

The problem is that holding trains results in delays for passengers already on that train. As a (not real life) example: One or two minutes at Bristol turns into five at say, Exeter St David’s, and that’s 10 more people who missed their Exmouth connection by a few minutes.

It’s not easy, and this isn’t apologising for the railway - ideally, the guard on the inbound service would at least have made a request to Control to hold, and then at least someone would have tried to salvage her connection!

 

[Western Sunset]

How would it work with DOO?

 

[Starmill]

It would be reasonable to expect the train to be held.

However, no amount of arguing about it will change the fact that it won't be held for you in these circumstances. If one were to imply to your wife that it might be held then I'm afraid that would be setting a very unrealistic expectation.

If that means that your wife drives instead of paying to use the train, the response from the railway industry is, currently, so be it.

In any case, the platform staff themselves have no particular influence over what happens anyway. Your complaint needs to be taken up with management, but it is very unlikely to reach th by speaking to station staff or writing to customer services. If you get in touch with your MP's office, and ask them to challenge the policy at CrossCountry or GWR on holding train connections on your behalf, you may get further. But equally, don't expect anything to change as a result of one complaint.

 

[robbeech]

One would hope that at a large junction station, there would be some "joined-up thinking" which placed the fare-paying customer at the centre of things...

No, that isn’t how the railway works unless 2 or more members of staff use their discretion on the day.

Does "safe dispatch" include managing the situation where passengers are running helter-skelter for a supposedly permitted connection which is being sent off just as they are approaching, slipping and tripping as they go? Or are any injuries when not actually touching the train "not my problem, mate".

Yes, but I suspect in this and other cases the risk ask you describe it was not present. That said, I’ve known many a platform dispatcher and guard dispatch trains with non passengers leaning on the train. Luckily there’s usually someone with a brush and the ability to hold up a carpet to hand.

If that means that your wife drives instead of paying to use the train, the response from the railway industry is, currently, so be it.

Indeed, as the operators are (currently) largely unaffected financially by changes in passenger numbers there’s almost an incentive to encourage people into the car as more passengers equals potential for more incidents that staff on the ground have to deal with.

 

[Western Sunset]

So is the idea of a "connection" not really in current railway thinking anymore?

 

[CC 72100]

the company does not get fined for delays until they are past the 5 minutes mark so would not have been fined for holding the train by 1 minute,

No - delays have to be attributed and go through the DA process when they reach a total of 3 minutes. This could be made up on 1 minute on 1 service, but if it impacts other trains to bring the total delay over 3 minutes, at that point despite being a sub-threshold delay on the primary delayed train, the fact that the total reactionary delay minutes brings it to 3 minutes or more means that the delay has to go through the delay attribution process.

Others have already answered some of the other points (@AlterEgo), notably, I'm not going to go into them.

 

[The Planner]

The only point they were right on was point 2 and even then only partially - whilst the decision would be taken by control, it would have been taken by XC control in Birmingham rather than GWR control in Swindon. They certainly should have known what was running on time and what wasn’t, it is a valid connection despite being separate companies, the company does not get fined for delays until they are past the 5 minutes mark so would not have been fined for holding the train by 1 minute, and whilst you could have asked the guard on the first train you shouldn’t have had to.

I would be putting in a formal complaint about the staff at Bristol Temple Meads here, as well as a delay repay claim with GWR as you’re entitled to 60 minutes delay repay which is a full refund on a single, and a 50% refund on an off peak or anytime return.

5 minutes for Schedule 8 delay payment, don't think so....

 

[Starmill]

So is the idea of a "connection" not really in current railway thinking anymore?

It's very rarely a consideration. The most common time where it is would be in the case of the final service of the day, where occasionally the train will be held for a few minutes to preserve a connection because this avoids the expense of providing a bus or taxi for the passengers who have missed it.

Even then you can't assume that a request to hold the connection will be considered. Station and on train staff can make such requests, but not change the answers they receive.

 

[dk1]

How would it work with DOO?

I work DCO and it's very rare that anybody let's us know and as I close the doors unfortunately we just depart even if a late running connection is coming to a stand.

 

[AlterEgo]

So is the idea of a "connection" not really in current railway thinking anymore?

Yes it is, it's just that connections aren't guaranteed.

 

[dk1]

So is the idea of a "connection" not really in current railway thinking anymore?

It is but you have to be realistic of the location & knock on effects.

 

[Western Sunset]

I agree that the knock-on effect of 1 min here, 1 min there, all adds up. BUT
surely at a large regional junction (such as BTM), there must be someone keeping an eye on the overall picture, rather than each TOC living in their own little worlds.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Best not to run through the station, up and down stairs, is that not discouraged? If you trip and hurt yourself or others you could lose much more than an hour.

 

[Towers]

Best advice to the OP is, should the same issue occur again, ask the guard on your initial service if they can request a hold. Staff do not do this sort of thing automatically. A train coming into Bristol from the 'Beach in the AM peak will likely have passengers for an array of destinations. There will almost certainly have been folk aiming to make the 8.30 Paddington train, plus a whole host of other connections, valid or otherwise. It simply isn't feasible to be guessing at people's intended journeys and holding every train in Bristol at half 8 in the morning just in case. As to the platform staff, they are kept very busy indeed at a station like Temple Meads, besides dispatching they are continuously fielding enquiries from folk already on the platform. It isn't their role to monitor every train in and out to see what's on time and guess at which trains to delay for connections.

You said that your train was delayed due to the service heading in the opposite direction running late. And there you have the perfect example of how delays can spread across the network, and why it isn't a simple case of holding on to a train for a couple of minutes. Had that other service not been delayed, and who knows why that was, your train would have been on time. Had the XC been delayed to wait for your service, that is one late running service turning into three. And so on!

 

[Horizon22]

Let's take a number of points in turn - firstly shame that your wife was delayed and had to wait an hour. At the very least she can claim some considerable Delay Repay.

Cue a litany of excuses:

1. “If ‘they’ don’t tell us it’s late [the GWR Severn Beach service] then we don’t know.” - it was not clear to me who ‘they’ are. Surely platform staff are monitoring live arrivals and departures?

Some control staff may be, but dispatchers certainly won't be staring at screens and even if they were, there might not be multi-platform arrival screen on their particular platform. However the TM/guard on board the Severn Beach service could have phoned ahead and said "We have X number of people looking to get on this XC service at Bristol" and request a hold. As it isn't same TOC, that adds a bit of extra complexity though but can be done. GWR normally have good connectional polciies and holds (particularly in the W. Country) but again it was not all GWR.

2. “The control room in Swindon is responsible for holding trains, not platform staff.” - really?

Yes ultimately the decision will have to come from a control centre (in this case GWR Swindon & XC Birmingham liasing) or someone with delegated authority. Ultimately XC could have said "no" which could make the whole thing moot. If decisions are made unilaterally by platform staff that's an "unauthorised hold" and can get the staff into bother. They cannot see the whole picture across the network.

3. It’s two different train companies and therefore not a valid connection.” - really?

That isn't a good excuse. It was a valid connection.

4. “The train company is fined £150 per minute for delayed departures so we can’t hold trains” - really?

Not strictly true as ultimately it depends on the core reason of the delay - this could be a whole host of reasons (about 100 in delay attribution) which could be a NR or TOC related issue. In you and your wife's instance, this was due to the late running train to Severn Beach and whatever reason that was late for. But the £150 figure/minute in very crude terms is broadly correct. XC also run very long routes and just a few minutes can really snowball with the amount of conflicts they encounter on route so although that might solve the immediate issue (you getting on at Bristol TM), there might be another problem for a passenger down the line.

5. You should have asked the train manager on the GWR service to request a hold for you.” - but I thought you couldn’t hold them anyway?

The key word is request; A Train Manager can certainly ask (as stated above). Passengers approaching the TM with a sense of urgency can certainly ensure this happens although ultimately it is the guard/TMs perogative if they wish to do so (any customer-focussed one should at least ask) If it isn't goint to delay the train wildly, then Control can authorise it. It is true though that people in Control teams simply don't know an on-ground situation unless they are informed. Communication is vital both ways.

My question to this forum is, is there anything the staff or station management at BRI could/should have done in this situation? Or are they just following the operational rules and regulations of the railway?

Who is in charge of overseeing connections at major interchanges like BRI and what responsibilities/powers do they have?

Needless to say, my wife will be back in her car tomorrow, clogging up the M5.

The dispatch team were certainly doing what they are expected and trained to do - a timely and safe departure of trains. It is always tricky because there are 7 people who have missed a connection, but maybe a hundred more who might be late otherwise. If dispatchers are given an instruction to wait, they will obey that. As stated someone in Control (or delegated Control at Bristol of which there are some staff but I don't believe anyone from XC) can make that call, but would need information to do so. In terms of "overseeing connections" well there are teams to try and ensure trains run on-time. When delays happen, it is therefore sadly inevitable some connections will be missed and not everyone can be held because then you might caused a missed connection at the train's next station and so on and so on - the line must be drawn somewhere. It's an issue whereby fragmentation causes issues and connections often struggle in the modern railway with capacity and frequency seeing as more important.

It would be a shame though that if this one particular incident causes your wife to drive as a result & abandon the railway.

 

[LowLevel]

I work DCO and it's very rare that anybody let's us know and as I close the doors unfortunately we just depart even if a late running connection is coming to a stand.

Norwich were always very efficient at managing branch line connections from the late running Intercities - it would be a shame if that has been sacrificed to driver self dispatch. That being said I suppose the IC trains are less often a few minutes late now with the 745s.

Greater Anglia will generally still hold the Ipswich service for a couple of minutes at Ely if it's run in front of a late running Liverpool - Norwich from Peterborough and the EMR guard requests it via control - again the superior performance of the 755 means it will make up the time effortlessly without delaying anything else, generally. It is a 2 hour wait otherwise, however.

In my experience Cross Country control have never been particularly helpful with connections - that being said many of their services have far more implications in terms of snowballing from short delays.

 

[DanNCL]

How would it work with DOO?

I work DCO and it's very rare that anybody let's us know and as I close the doors unfortunately we just depart even if a late running connection is coming to a stand.

There's quite a bit of variety with DOO/DCO. As @dk1 has mentioned, drivers often won't know of a delay and will therefore depart without waiting for a connection.

I don't know if this is official practice, but I have observed at junction stations with an Island platforms (the most noteable example being Pelaw on Tyne & Wear Metro, but I have also observed this at locations on the National Network) that drivers will if they see the inbound train approaching the opposite platform wait of their own accord to allow passengers to connect.

No - delays have to be attributed and go through the DA process when they reach a total of 3 minutes. This could be made up on 1 minute on 1 service, but if it impacts other trains to bring the total delay over 3 minutes, at that point despite being a sub-threshold delay on the primary delayed train, the fact that the total reactionary delay minutes brings it to 3 minutes or more means that the delay has to go through the delay attribution process.

5 minutes for Schedule 8 delay payment, don't think so....

Ok so 3 minutes rather than 5 (quite like to know why some TOCs like to claim they're "on time" up to 5 minutes in that case), but the point still stands that a 1 minute delay on its own won't cause the operator to be fined, and staff certainly shouldn't be telling passengers otherwise.

 

[Dai Corner]

The OP will now have to explain Delay Replay to his wife. I wonder if getting her trip half price or free will change her mind about rail travel?

 

[CC 72100]

Ok so 3 minutes rather than 5 (quite like to know why some TOCs like to claim they're "on time" up to 5 minutes in that case), but the point still stands that a 1 minute delay on its own won't cause the operator to be fined, and staff certainly shouldn't be telling passengers otherwise.

Yes it could if that 1 minute on train 1 (the XC) creates other delays on other trains. At that point when you willingly put a 1 minute delay into the XC, you don't know what the repercussions may be.

I've seen a 1 minute delay total in excess of 100 minutes before!

 

[D6130]

The OP will now have to explain Delay Replay to his wife. I wonder if getting her trip half price or free will change her mind about rail travel?

I strongly suspect that that will depend on whether or not the hour's delay made her miss an appointment or a work deadline.

 

[AlterEgo]

In my experience Cross Country control have never been particularly helpful with connections - that being said many of their services have far more implications in terms of snowballing from short delays.

That is generally the case. Many XC services travel through multiple bottlenecks - as an extreme example, the Edinburgh-Plymouths navigate Edinburgh, Newcastle, York, Leeds, Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham, Bristol and Exeter before getting to Plymouth. Keeping those trains to time is very, very difficult and it is not hard to see how two minutes can turn into five, then ten, and perhaps worse: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:G29276/2021-12-02/detailed#allox_id=0 (it's on time today though!)

 

[Horizon22]

Ok so 3 minutes rather than 5 (quite like to know why some TOCs like to claim they're "on time" up to 5 minutes in that case), but the point still stands that a 1 minute delay on its own won't cause the operator to be fined, and staff certainly shouldn't be telling passengers otherwise.

You also have no idea what the 3 minutes will do to the service down the line with its various junctions, conflicts, other late running trains etc. This is especially true of a long XC service.

 

[Spartacus]

Without the guard on the GWR service from Severn Beach informing someone in control there were a number of passengers for the XC Edinburgh service, nobody would have known to hold it. You can't just hold trains for a late runner on the off chance that someone on the late train wanted the right time train, at some major stations nothing would be able to go anywhere. Should for instance the 0834 have been held too? Ok, they were using adjacent platforms, but the theory still holds. How about the 0830 Paddington? It's much easier at smaller places, especially when you've good idea connections will be needed

You think it might have only needed to be held a minute, but in reality it would probably have been more. Would you have made a Usain Bolt-esque dash had you know the train was going to be held for you, or would you have gone at a slower, safer, more comfortable speed? And how about the other passengers?

Truth is, if that XC was held, there wouldn't just be the passengers on that train delayed, it's reasonably tight at Filton, and would probable have delayed two other services there if it was late, which would then likely delay others themselves. Passengers on the 0720 Swansea - Paddington would likely have been late even though it doesn't go to Temple Meads, then you'd question if you need to hold the 0900 to Paddington at BRI because the 0852 arrival from Cardiff was late....