GWR Systematic/Deliberate Shortforming of Bristol/Swansea Diagrams

[mikeb42]

Apologies if this is in the wrong area: frequent lurker but rare poster here as a long suffering GWR customer rather than an enthusiast...

For weeks now GWR have apparently seen fit to run half a train on the Mon-Fri diagram which from RTT looks to include:

1B28 1145 Paddington 1444 Swansea
1L76 1529 Swansea 1830 Paddington
1C27 1900 Paddington 2043 Bristol TM

Prior to this, 5 vice 10 would have appeared on journeycheck as a shortform for these. I've either been incredibly unlucky on 100% of the times I've been crammed into 1L76 in recent weeks or this is now intentional - and done without mention on journeycheck or a word of apology at the station. I've just checked on iris2 (5 coaches) and journeycheck (not a peep) prior to my next encounter with it and am dismayed to see it happening yet again today.

3.5 standard coaches is at best inadequate for a train which arrives at Bristol Parkway already well loaded at 17:03 Mon-Fri prior to the many longer-distance commuters from the Stoke Gifford office complexes joining.

I don't know for sure whether the service is bolstered by another 5 coaches prior to forming 1C27 as 1L76 is routinely late arriving at Paddington (e.g. recent run of 12L 14L 15L 10L 17L 10L 11L) and I'm legging it to the tube the instant it finally arrives. Nobody in their right mind would think it acceptable to run 5 coaches on a 19:00 departure from Paddington->Bristol, surely?

So, does anyone know what is going on? When did GWR decide that a 5 coach train running to the pre-Dec19 timetable between Bristol/Swansea and Paddington isn't a shortform that needs apologising for?

What is the excuse this time anyway? What's going to happen from Mon 15th if Hitachi/Agility/GWR (quite frankly as a customer I couldn't care less about the absurdly complicated contractual arrangements for procuring the trains apart from the staggering cost) are so short of working IETs that someone has seen fit to make this "normal" practice?

 

[HowardGWR]

Have you tweeted the GWR social medium site?

 

[Clarence Yard]

It's been going on since week 33 (12th November) and is planned. It's for driver training purposes.

The issue is passing out drivers in coupling and rescue, which has to be done at depot during the day, under supervision, with two units. In this case it is being done at Stoke Gifford.

The problem is that 32 cl.800 5 car diagrams is the contractual limit that GWR are allowed to operate on a medium to long term basis and the 5 car units currently work all day. It already has one diagram booked spare but it needs another one, for coupling, to get all the required drivers passed out before the December T/T change date. So it has had to swap diagrams round and de-strengthen one existing passenger diagram to get that other unit.

The de-strengthened working should be 1G02/1L36/1B28/1L76/1U12 (note - the 1912, not the 1900) and this arrangement finishes when the new timetable comes in. There may be variations on days when there is engineering work at start or finish of day.

 

[Mag_seven]

Have you tweeted the GWR social medium site?

To get the answer from "the other side"?

 

[mikeb42]

Thanks, Clarence Yard, for taking the time to provide an actual explanation rather than the generic blether proffered elsewhere. It is appreciated.

Not all customers will want or understand such an explanation, but while it merely explains rather than excuses the sustained issue with this service, it does make it less dismaying.

Today the train is standing by Newport, there are no seat reservations, the guard has apologised but offered no explanation, the screens at the station provide zero information and journeycheck says nothing. Very poor.

Yes, I do know what *real* overcrowding is like having recently been overcarried from Salford Crescent to Wigan literally wedged against the wall by a mass of bodies on a Northern pacer and figuring breaking a window and leaving that way was the only viable exit strategy from the train in the available time.

CY's explanation again demonstrates the absurdity of the way these trains have been procured.

As a professional engineer it looks like a classic example of something I see more and more: Systems that are improved and optimised to such a level of rarefied efficiency that they don't actually work any more. Nowhere near enough slack or contingency for the real world.

If it weren't for regularly reading these forums (so I get something like the actual backstory) I'd think like many of the passengers I overhear. I.e., that GWR couldn't organise the proverbial booze up in a brewery. Rather than a lot of it (like the two perpendicular steel plates masquerading as seats) being down to the malign influence of the DFT. Or most delays being down to Network Rail having auto-ruin mode enabled for most of the infrastructure most of the time.

People standing in aisles on shiny new super-expensive trains from Bristol Parkway on a service *inbound* to London of an afternoon at GWR prices. Abysmal.

 

[father_jack]

Mother and baby with car keys overcarried on totally wedged 1L76 1703 ex BPW the other day after mother in law was left on platform with pushchair......

 

[43096]

Mother and baby with car keys overcarried on totally wedged 1L76 1703 ex BPW the other day after mother in law was left on platform with pushchair......

Not the only part of First's operation where this sort of nonsense goes on: they've been known to cancel TPE services so they could run a crew trainer in its place.

All rather a long way from the glossy corporate world in Aberdeen and what they think is their "Vision" and "Values":

Our Vision
We provide easy and convenient mobility, improving quality of life by connecting people and communities.

FirstGroup is a leading provider of transport services in the UK and North America. Whether for business, education, health, social or recreation – we get our customers where they want to be, when they want to be there. We create solutions that reduce complexity, making travel smoother and life easier.

Our Values
Committed to our customers - we keep our customers at the heart of everything we do.
Dedicated to safety - always front of mind, safety is our way of life.
Supportive of each other - we trust each other to deliver and work to help one another succeed.
Accountable for performance - every decision matters, we do the right thing to achieve our goals.
Setting the highest standards - we want to be the best, continually seeking a better way to do things.

Failing on at least two of those values with this and I'd love to know how this is "making travel smoother and life easier".

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

It’s about seeing the big picture and occasionally having the balls to make a difficult choice. A small number of strategic cancellations today to complete some critical training might save a hundred cancellations later due to lack of staff.

 

[northernbelle]

It’s about seeing the big picture and occasionally having the balls to make a difficult choice. A small number of strategic cancellations today to complete some critical training might save a hundred cancellations later due to lack of staff.

Shhhhh don't say things like that - you can't possibly be suggesting they actually know what they're doing more than a few forum members!

 

[mikeb42]

Shhhhh don't say things like that - you can't possibly be suggesting they actually know what they're doing more than a few forum members!

It may well be this was a least-worst option and was identified with skill and care by whoever made the decision.

That's largely incidental. It shouldn't be happening in the first place. Not even once, or three times, though that would be easier to dismiss. Airily dismissing a decision to inflict it on ~20 consecutive occasions is fine - providing it's not you on the receiving end of the consequences.

It is a small issue but one which is emblematic of the deluge of things that Go Wrong Routinely on this route the last few years. I note with delight that the fare for one of my regular journeys will rise by 6.1% from January, compounding a similar gouge this year. Worth every penny for this level of "service" of course...

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

It is a small issue but one which is emblematic of the deluge of things that Go Wrong Routinely on this route the last few years. I note with delight that the fare for one of my regular journeys will rise by 6.1% from January, compounding a similar gouge this year. Worth every penny for this level of "service" of course...

I’m sure you know full well that DfT sets fares in this country, either by direct regulation or through franchise premium payment agreements which effectively dictates the fare rise on unregulated tickets...

 

[mikeb42]

I’m sure you know full well that DfT sets fares in this country, either by direct regulation or through franchise premium payment agreements which effectively dictates the fare rise on unregulated tickets...

Broadly, yes. Though, again as a customer the absurdly complex contractual web is irrelevant - the end result is all that matters. I hand over 18% more £ to GWR for the same journey as just a few years ago and get this sort of outcome. If I did that to my clients, I'd go bust.

The staff on the ground (with the odd glaring exception) generally seem to be doing their best - and some have quite interesting things to say off the record to regulars! I'm hoping that the word "carnage" used by several to predict what the timetable change would be like was therapeutic exaggeration. My experiences yesterday and today so far suggest maybe not, though that would be rushing to judgement...