GWR Shortage of Traincrew Weekend and During Week

[D2007wsm]

Yes I was due to be catching the 16:43 service from Bath Spa towards Taunton. However, this service was terminated early at Bristol Temple Meads and the 800 used to operate the 17:00 service back to London Paddington. Even though the platform screens showed the service as only operating to Bristol Temple Meads, the displays on the outside of the actual train still showed 'Taunton".

Then had to wait at Temple Meads for a rammed 166 to Weston-super-Mare. Not impressed as it has virtually doubled the length of my journey.

Luckily, the 08:30 service from Worle operated, all though a couple of minutes late.

 

[joncombe]

The Paddington to Bristol TM/Weston-super-Mare route was in chaos today. Looking this evening I see from Bristol Temple Meads:-

19:00 to Paddington cancelled
19:30 to Paddington cancelled
20:00 to Paddington cancelled
21:00 to Paddington cancelled

That's 4 trains in a row all cancelled only the last train of the evening is running which is going to be .... cosy. The Bristol to Salisbury trains will never cope with that many people trying to divert via Salisbury and SWR to Waterloo.

 

[Dai Corner]

The Paddington to Bristol TM/Weston-super-Mare route was in chaos today. Looking this evening I see from Bristol Temple Meads:-

19:00 to Paddington cancelled
19:30 to Paddington cancelled
20:00 to Paddington cancelled
21:00 to Paddington cancelled

That's 4 trains in a row all cancelled only the last train of the evening is running which is going to be .... cosy. The Bristol to Salisbury trains will never cope with that many people trying to divert via Salisbury and SWR to Waterloo.

Half of the fourteen trains from Bristol Parkway to Paddington today cancelled too.

 

[Essan]

A lot of cancellations on the Cotswold line today too. We went from an hourly service to London, to a 4 hourly one ....

 

[Dai Corner]

A lot of cancellations on the Cotswold line today too. We went from an hourly service to London, to a 4 hourly one ....

Also, there were no trains at all from South Wales to Paddington due to the Severn/Patchway Tunnels electrification work. Passengers had to get a RRB from Newport to Parkway (and no doubt join massive queues there).

 

[PHILIPE]

Also, there were no trains at all from South Wales to Paddington due to the Severn/Patchway Tunnels electrification work. Passengers had to get a RRB from Newport to Parkway (and no doubt join massive queues there).

When they got to Bristol Parkway they found most of the trains planned to start from there were cancelled

 

[Mugby]

A lot of cancellations on the Cotswold line today too. We went from an hourly service to London, to a 4 hourly one ....

Yes, I noticed that today, I got the 15.48 from Oxford to Worcester (and sampled an 800 for the first time) On arrival at Evesham, I saw a couple of elderly ladies walk down the steps onto the Up platform and they stood staring at the indicator in disbelief, telling them they had over an hour to wait for the next train. I felt really sorry for them, it's not nice being stuck on a station which has nothing to offer, on a chilly day, for a long period of time!

 

[father_jack]

The Paddington to Bristol TM/Weston-super-Mare route was in chaos today. Looking this evening I see from Bristol Temple Meads:-

19:00 to Paddington cancelled
19:30 to Paddington cancelled
20:00 to Paddington cancelled
21:00 to Paddington cancelled

That's 4 trains in a row all cancelled only the last train of the evening is running which is going to be .... cosy. The Bristol to Salisbury trains will never cope with that many people trying to divert via Salisbury and SWR to Waterloo.

1A94 1554 Newquay to Paddington missed out Westbury and Newbury and called Bristol TM, Bath, Chippenham and Swindon if that's any consolation http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C46069/2018/06/17/advanced

 

[Mag_seven]

Feel sorry for any front line GWR staff today who will do doubt have felt the full fury of rightly disgruntled customers who have been offered nothing short of a dogs breakfast of a service today.

 

[embers25]

1A94 1554 Newquay to Paddington missed out Westbury and Newbury and called Bristol TM, Bath, Chippenham and Swindon if that's any consolation http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C46069/2018/06/17/advanced

It also got seriously delayed somewhere given it took 2.5 hours from Taunton. Even if it called at all stops to replace the 1865 from Taunton it shouldn't have been that late.

 

[JN114]

It also got seriously delayed somewhere given it took 2.5 hours from Taunton. Even if it called at all stops to replace the 1865 from Taunton it shouldn't have been that late.

Passcomm activation at Challow - due to exceptionally high loadings took the Train Manager longer than usual to go back and reset.

 

[bnm]

Even by the low expectations one has of GWR these days, yesterday was an omnishambles.

The 'missing in action' MD needs to take a long hard look in the mirror. If GWR carry on like this the calls for him to do a 'Horton' will become louder and louder.

And yes, I fully expect the GWR apologists to come along and say its not their fault. Piffle. GWR bought into this clusterfupp by accepting the contract extensions. They have failed to deliver equally as badly as Network Rail. No Plan B drawn up despite knowing for the past 4 years that the infrastructure improvement timetable was slipping.

 

[Tim456]

Cancelling 65 trains and a quite a number running short is pretty poor even by GWR recent standards. I’m sure if this amount of trains were cancelled during the week there would be more said. But because it’s a weekend no one seems to care.

I’m surprised South Wales MPs aren’t lobbying Dft more because it’s this part of the world that suffers the most every weekend due to crew shortages. Getting back to London on a Sunday afternoon/evening is quite a challenge.

 

[JN114]

Yeah yesterday wasn’t great, just home from 12 hours trying to clear up the aftermath. Probably one of the most difficult and fraught weekend of night shifts I’ve had.

I feel sorry for those that were caught up in the disruption, truly. I’m grateful that a large number of travellers do seem to have checked before they’ve travelled; and this has lessened the impact of some of the larger gaps in coverage. There’s also definitely been a sharp uptake of passengers deferring their travel to today after ticket restrictions were lifted, with reports that up trains in particular are busier than would be expected on a Monday.

The staff that were on the frontline and, (if I’m allowed to blow my own trumpet a little) behind the scenes over the weekend deserve an awful lot of credit. Station staff have had to bear the brunt of the disruption - indeed while motives weren’t recorded or logged 3 staff members were physically assaulted over the weekend by disgruntled customers. Traincrew that were working almost universally took on extra work above what they were booked to do. Traincrew supervisors whittled down the uncovered turns from well over 100 to 54. It will be interesting to see what - if anything - senior management have to say about the matter when they arrive for their 9-5.

The “how do you fix/prevent this vicious cycle” question is tricky. At first glance the obvious answer might be to run fewer trains. But will that actually help? Weekend trains are busy - often full and standing as it is on a Sunday afternoon. So which do you cancel? For HSS the Stroud Valley is regrettably usually picked on - it’s easier to cover with road transport compared to the mainline. The volumes of passengers are so much smaller. There’s also the fallback of West division services, XC via Gloucester/Bristol. There’s even sometimes scope to borrow a West division unit and crew to work between Swindon and Gloucester/Cheltenham. Beyond that everything is busy, and it’s all difficult to cover. There just isn’t a bottomless supply of replacement buses to drawn down on - and the frequent major blockades sap a fair chunk of resources we would usually call out for crowding relief - of the 23 coaches I requested over Saturday and Sunday night shifts; 7 were able to be procured. 7.

I can’t see a viable plan B that would have prevented this.

The training is behind schedule. IET introduction is not. HST withdrawal is not. DfT won’t budge on last two despite representations being made at a very senior level. There are more drivers and guards on the books than there have ever been; more still going through training now.

 

[Dai Corner]

Thanks for this post @JN114 , and the regular reports of operations from your perspective. I enjoy reading them as I'm sure others do.

 

[Mintona]

It wasn’t particularly good yesterday. And with England playing in the World Cup next Sunday I predict problems then too.

 

[jimm]

A lot of cancellations on the Cotswold line today too. We went from an hourly service to London, to a 4 hourly one ....

Where was this "lot of cancellations?" on the Cotswold Line?

The only non-runners were the 10.34 Paddington to Hereford and 14.32 return and the 16.28 from Worcester to Paddington. And the 18.38 from Hereford was terminated at Oxford.

Realtimetrains for Evesham yesterday

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced/EVE/2018/06/17/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

And please try to be accurate. The cancellations resulted in a gap in late afternoon of trains from Evesham to London of three hours (14.55 to 17.55), not four.

Your post makes it sound as though large parts of the service on the line were wiped out across the day - they weren't, unlike around Bristol.

 

[47421]

"uncovered turns ... well over 100"

Wow, how did they end up in this situation? Not taking a dig (well only partly), genuinely curious how could be so short of such a basic resource. I get it doesn't make sense to have too many expensive drivers on the books with not enough work, but to be so short seems very strange. First have been in charge on GW for years and years, why haven't they got a grip of this?

 

[bnm]

And please try to be accurate. The cancellations resulted in a gap in late afternoon of trains from Evesham to London of three hours (14.55 to 17.55), not four.

Well, that's all right then.

GWR can pat themselves on the back for only leaving a three hour gap between services. In both directions. Well done GWR. A praiseworthy performance.

I'll be more critical of a little hyperbole and exaggeration here when GWR stop cancelling and short forming so many weekend services across their entire network.

I'm today helping an acquaintance draft a complaint to GWR after their train, 1509 Great Malvern (destination Reading), was cancelled. They were advised by the station help point to travel via Birmingham, and made the assumption that this would be fine with their 'via Evesham' ticket. No such ticket acceptance had been arranged by GWR and my acquaintance had to buy a single from Gt Malvern to Birmingham Moor St once on board the WMT service. WMT guard refusing any discretion. After calling me for advice I told them to throw themselves on the mercy of CrossCountry once at New Street. Fortunately XC accepted their explanation.

 

[LordCreed]

"uncovered turns ... well over 100"

Wow, how did they end up in this situation? Not taking a dig (well only partly), genuinely curious how could be so short of such a basic resource. I get it doesn't make sense to have too many expensive drivers on the books with not enough work, but to be so short seems very strange. First have been in charge on GW for years and years, why haven't they got a grip of this?

Sundays not being part of the working week is the biggest cause.

 

[father_jack]

Sundays not being part of the working week is the biggest cause.

The company not engaging with the unions/putting their hand in their pocket while offering the public more and more "services" is the biggest cause.

 

[Warwick]

Any new franchise should come with the proviso that the company will take on a sufficiency of staff to roster for a seven day week. This nonsense of a seven day service with a six day roster is farcical.

 

[father_jack]

Any new franchise should come with the proviso that the company will take on a sufficiency of staff to roster for a seven day week. This nonsense of a seven day service with a six day roster is farcical.

I worked my uncontracted "booked" Sunday yesterday- I will do an extra "unbooked" one next Sunday. My rest day this week is Thursday- I'm working it. That's NO day off this week and one instead of two off next week. Anyone see the problem ?

 

[JN114]

Wow, how did they end up in this situation? Not taking a dig (well only partly), genuinely curious how could be so short of such a basic resource. I get it doesn't make sense to have too many expensive drivers on the books with not enough work, but to be so short seems very strange. First have been in charge on GW for years and years, why haven't they got a grip of this?

As @LordCreed says:

Sundays not being part of the working week is the biggest cause.

Is kind of the root of it, but as @father_jack goes on to say it’s more complex than that. I deal with the train service side of things more than traincrew, so I don’t fully understand the ins and outs of the Sunday working process - but while it’s true to say bringing Sundays into the working week would probably help solve the issue; it’s not fair to thus lay blame at traincrews’ door for not working their Sundays. There are pay and conditions negotiations ongoing between the unions and the company with the proposals to harmonise terms and conditions between the various divisions of GWR. I don’t know whether Sundays have ended up on that particular table, again father_jack’s comments infer they are not; but I wouldn’t like to speculate as to why that is. I would only say engagement is a two-way street.

I'm today helping an acquaintance draft a complaint to GWR after their train, 1509 Great Malvern (destination Reading), was cancelled. They were advised by the station help point to travel via Birmingham, and made the assumption that this would be fine with their 'via Evesham' ticket. No such ticket acceptance had been arranged by GWR and my acquaintance had to buy a single from Gt Malvern to Birmingham Moor St once on board the WMT service. WMT guard refusing any discretion. After calling me for advice I told them to throw themselves on the mercy of CrossCountry once at New Street. Fortunately XC accepted their explanation.

That’s disappointing if that’s the case. Ticket acceptance is easy to arrange; and WMR are normally more than happy to oblige when asked - indeed they’ve only refused when they’ve had serious disruption; of which I didn’t see any when I came in at 7. Are you happy to PM me about the matter?

 

[bnm]

’That's disappointing if that’s the case. Ticket acceptance is easy to arrange; and WMR are normally more than happy to oblige when asked - indeed they’ve only refused when they’ve had serious disruption; of which I didn’t see any when I came in at 7. Are you happy to PM me about the matter?

Thanks for the offer. Waiting on my friend of a friend to call this evening. I think we'll probably be okay raising the complaint without outside assistance. Too many cooks and all that.

I have ample experience dealing with GWR customer relations. Right up to senior management level. Just glad it's no longer me out there experiencing the woeful service they provide. I'm no longer living in the heart of GWR land and I've returned to driving. I'm now in South Western territory. You can imagine my disappointment when I heard FirstGroup had followed me to this part of the world having won the SW franchise.

 

[JN114]

Thanks for the offer. Waiting on my friend of a friend to call this evening. I think we'll probably be okay raising the complaint without outside assistance. Too many cooks and all that.

Fair enough, understandable!

 

[PHILIPE]

Any new franchise should come with the proviso that the company will take on a sufficiency of staff to roster for a seven day week. This nonsense of a seven day service with a six day roster is farcical.

It would require more staff on the books so that means costing the TOC more money. Enough said ?

 

[jimm]

Well, that's all right then.

GWR can pat themselves on the back for only leaving a three hour gap between services. In both directions. Well done GWR. A praiseworthy performance.

I'll be more critical of a little hyperbole and exaggeration here when GWR stop cancelling and short forming so many weekend services across their entire network.

I'm today helping an acquaintance draft a complaint to GWR after their train, 1509 Great Malvern (destination Reading), was cancelled. They were advised by the station help point to travel via Birmingham, and made the assumption that this would be fine with their 'via Evesham' ticket. No such ticket acceptance had been arranged by GWR and my acquaintance had to buy a single from Gt Malvern to Birmingham Moor St once on board the WMT service. WMT guard refusing any discretion. After calling me for advice I told them to throw themselves on the mercy of CrossCountry once at New Street. Fortunately XC accepted their explanation.

Considering the number of cancellations that the Cotswold Line was suffering at the back end of last year and earlier this year, when the service was indeed wiped out for hours on end on occasion - the Saturday of the Easter weekend being probably the lowest of low points, a day when people in this neck of the woods certainly did have plenty to complain about - I see no reason not to pick up someone for posting something that makes it sound like the Cotswold Line service was wiped out most of the day yesterday - it wasn't.

Had the service gone up the spout in the way that happened at Bristol yesterday, then I expect GWR would have arranged ticket acceptance via Birmingham. It wasn't, so they didn't.

I am sorry your acquaintance had a rough time - but there was an alternative route from Malvern, unlike in the Bristol area, or as is the case at stations east of Worcester when the Cotswold Line service does run into problems.

 

[JN114]

Had the service gone up the spout in the way that happened at Bristol yesterday, then I expect GWR would have arranged ticket acceptance via Birmingham. It wasn't, so they didn't.

To be fair to the honourable gentleman - due to infrequent service and poor connections; any up service cancellation between Hereford/Malvern and Worcester on our side will ordinarily result in LM ticket acceptance via Birmingham - indeed it’s so common that it’s probably easy for whomever answers the help points at the Malvern line stations to just presume it’s been or being arranged, when for whatever reason my colleagues on day shifts yesterday didn’t.

We normally do the ticket acceptance via Bromsgrove; the Guards on that route tend not to question it - perhaps where the acquaintance was on the Stourbridge line instead that’s where we’ve had some issues arise. Crews that don’t normally see our passengers as it doesn’t normally make sense for them to go that way.

I would trust customer relations will do the right thing by it and reimburse for the additional ticket purchased without any hassle once the situation has been understood in full. If not I’m sure the honourable member will be able to draw upon their previous dealings with GWR to see the matter resolved satisfactorily.

 

[Essan]

In future, I will bear in mind that when you have an hourly train service, on a line where the stations are unmanned, with in most cases no nearby amenities, and two consecutive trains are cancelled, leaving you to wait 2 hours in the middle of nowhere, it's not a lot and certainly nothing to complain about

(To be fair, it had been reported to me that there were more cancellations than that, and I failed to check if that was indeed the case. mea culpa)