Would those two days be Christmas Day and Boxing Day, or am I being thick?
Most probably but Heathrow Express do run over those days.
Would those two days be Christmas Day and Boxing Day, or am I being thick?
Most probably but Heathrow Express do run over those days.
There must have been some sort of service, there were a small number of Swindon control staff in over Christmas purely due to HEX.
9H54 stuck at Farringdon westbound since 0726. TfL seem to have given up on the western end of the Lizzie line, not even running to Paddington. Nothing out of Maidenhead since scheduled 0806, which has been stopped at West Drayton since 0830.Meltdown this morning too. Been stuck at Southall for around 30 minutes due to a broken down train in the core
Don’t understand why they couldn’t run into Paddington, is that not the contingency in these situations? I was travelling from Heathrow, departed on time at 0806, ended up getting kicked off at Southall at about 9am. Still seeing cancellations now at 13009H54 stuck at Farringdon westbound since 0726. TfL seem to have given up on the western end of the Lizzie line, not even running to Paddington. Nothing out of Maidenhead since scheduled 0806, which has been stopped at West Drayton since 0830.
Well, quite. It seems that they wanted to run through to destinations -e.g. the 0806 from Heathrow Central (https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:P08301/2024-01-22/detailed), or the similarly timed service from Maidenhead (https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:P10480/2024-01-22/detailed).Don’t understand why they couldn’t run into Paddington, is that not the contingency in these situations? I was travelling from Heathrow, departed on time at 0806, ended up getting kicked off at Southall at about 9am. Still seeing cancellations now at 1300
grabbed a bus and drove that to London instead.
What did the owner of the bus think of that?
Interesting. So poor maintenance? I'm pretty startled we could hit something like that. Apparently caused damage to the front of the train but could have been a lot worse.It appears it may have been cable troughing lids.
Vandalism perhaps?Interesting. So poor maintenance? I'm pretty startled we could hit something like that. Apparently caused damage to the front of the train but could have been a lot worse.
Vandalism perhaps?
So poor maintenance?
Given that this appears to be ‘always’, it sounds more like a timetable issue than an infrastructure maintenance one.The Didcot stoppers are always 2 - 5 minutes late arriving into maidenhead and twyford, often meaning connections onto the branches are missed.
Often on the peak services the delay is leaving Paddington being directed down the reliefs until Ealing.
The off peaks seem to loose time at dolphin junction
The Didcot stoppers are always 2 - 5 minutes late arriving into maidenhead and twyford, often meaning connections onto the branches are missed.
Often on the peak services the delay is leaving Paddington being directed down the reliefs until Ealing.
The off peaks seem to loose time at dolphin junction.
Conjestion issues, not sure if related to less lines in / out of Paddington mentioned previously
Once again the GWML descends into its semi-daily chaos. Admittedly only partly due to the self-demolishing infrastructure this time, as little responsibility can be laid at the door of the railway for people being hit by trains.
However, every time it rains much now the line between Bath and Swindon seems to go aquatic. That's in addition to the age old problem at Chipping Sodbury. What are the odds that Parkway to Swindon will pack up next today for the thousandth time?
Meanwhile, the service recovery (or not) to the South Wales services seems extraordinarily drastic and protracted. Yet another day where the half hourly Cardiff services are more-or-less a work of fiction. The service the S Wales route has been getting in recent months is diabolical with sequences of 5 coach half-trains spiced up with cancellations of afternoon Cardiff terminators so frequent it's becoming normalised.
As it stands the 1427, 1527, 1556 and 1627 services from Parkway to Paddington are all cancelled. The 1653 is (just for a change, recently) still apparently a 5 car excuse all the way from Carmarthen to Paddington. That'll be fun then.
The line from Paddington has been reopened for an hour already as far as I can tell (circa 13:00). Where have all these trains and drivers gone that were presumably either stuck at Paddington or on their way in? It only takes 90 minutes or so to run an empty train fast from Paddington to Cardiff. How can it really be impossible (rather than inconvenient) to run at least one 9 car there and turn it back in the schedule of one of the missing ones?
I'm sure there will be a long long list of reasons, partly relating to the stupid and overconstrained basis on which these trains are provided by Hitachi. This isn't a rant at the controllers who are no doubt doing their best as usual to play 7 dimensional chess in the vice like grip of a ludicrous set of incompatible constraints. It must be like stacking water.
Bear in mind that during such a suspension, train crew are likely to be severely displaced and significantly late for their breaks / book-on/off which causes additional issues for the following few hours. Getting everything back to schedule will certainly take some time and alterations.