Atomic Systems

Hi

I just wondered how many other trains were canceled on the 29th Dec

I was traveling on the 10:31 from Liskeard to Truro (Plymouth to Penzance Local)

Also the 15:30 from Truro to Liskeard (Penzance to Plymouth Local)

Guy

gblandford wrote:Hi

I just wondered how many other trains were canceled on the 29th Dec

I was traveling on the 10:31 from Liskeard to Truro (Plymouth to Penzance Local)

Also the 15:30 from Truro to Liskeard (Penzance to Plymouth Local)

Guy

Not sure but there was a HUGE number of cancelled trains in the Bristol area last Thursday (28th), sickening. I stood on a very full Cardiff - Portsmouth between Bristol and Bradford on Avon, it left Bristol late due to the sheer number of people boarding, it then left Bath even later as the guard ejected some guy with a bike and left Bradford on Avon late as passengers argued with the guard.

The return working was 20 or so minutes late not to mention various other delays and cancelations. Saying this I didn't expect any less of Worst Great Western.

Cheers,
Ali

FGW are rubbish when it comes to timetables. I travel from Bristol Parkway to Paddington. They have changed the times to 1 train an hour! Stupid in my opinion because the trains are now packed as ever

Are you sure about that?

Just checked on RJIS and it gives Bristol Parkway to Paddington every 30 mins,xx02 and xx32.

Maybe you travelled over christmas and it might have been a reduce timetable,I work at Whitchurch Hants station and SWT put a saturday timetable between christmas and new year

I could of have been. But they cancelled the trains every half hour. They said that was the winter timetable.

Just saw an interesting service revision on the FGW live updates.

17:00 Brighton to Worcester Shrub Hill due 22:10
This train has been revised.It will no longer call at: Warminster, Dilton Marsh, Westbury, Trowbridge, Bradford-On-Avon, Avoncliff, Freshford, Bath Spa, Oldfield Park and Keynsham.This is due to late running of the service..

Running nonstop from Salisbury-Bristol Temple Meads. Missing out TEN station stops. Never know that to happen before on those services. Lucky jammers onboard that train. A nice long non-stop journey for a change. Without the train keep stopping at stations every several minutes. (Of course the vast majority of people on that train wont care any less that the train is running nonstop or not! And of course some people will not be too pleased that the train is not stopping at those stations that they want to board or depart!) This is the sort of thing I want to happen every time I go down to Bristol and back! Or indeed any long distance journey. Gets revised to run nonstop missing out numerous station stops. Allmost like the old BR days with the much longer gaps between stations they had on some of their services back then. I know they had some services which were timetabled to run nonstop between Bath-Salisbury and vice versa as part of their Network Express services.

Regarding the posting from Wertyuv about Bristol Parkway-London Paddington journeys. When I go down to Bristol, Parkway is more conveniently located than Temple Meads. I usually get the train to Parkway outbound.. But homeward bound I usually go from Temple Meads. As I allways found that the trains from Parkway-London Paddington were fairly full when I got on, what with them coming from Swansea or wherever. Especially on a Sunday evening or Bank Holiday Monday All the window seats were usually taken, leaving only aisle seats available. Or worst still, frequently no seating available atall in Second Class. Anyway, to cut the story short. I allways go back from Temple Meads now. As with the services usually starting from there, or maybe Weston-Super-Mare. I can allways manage to get my preferred seat of a window seat. And have two seats to myself.

XPTE wrote:Just saw an interesting service revision on the FGW live updates.

17:00 Brighton to Worcester Shrub Hill due 22:10
This train has been revised.It will no longer call at: Warminster, Dilton Marsh, Westbury, Trowbridge, Bradford-On-Avon, Avoncliff, Freshford, Bath Spa, Oldfield Park and Keynsham.This is due to late running of the service..

Running nonstop from Salisbury-Bristol Temple Meads. Missing out TEN station stops. Never know that to happen before on those services. Lucky jammers onboard that train. A nice long non-stop journey for a change. Without the train keep stopping at stations every several minutes. (Of course the vast majority of people on that train wont care any less that the train is running nonstop or not! And of course some people will not be too pleased that the train is not stopping at those stations that they want to board or depart!) This is the sort of thing I want to happen every time I go down to Bristol and back! Or indeed any long distance journey. Gets revised to run nonstop missing out numerous station stops. Allmost like the old BR days with the much longer gaps between stations they had on some of their services back then. I know they had some services which were timetabled to run nonstop between Bath-Salisbury and vice versa as part of their Network Express services.

well i find it wierd that it did not calling at westbury, its got a low speed thru it and its a major junction. that would have upset a few people, esp if they had to catch a connecting service..... could you sue them if you missed an important job interview, or is it in the small print saying something along the lines of "when you buy this £300 pound ticket for a jounrney that lasts all of ten mins, FGW has the right to screw you right over and make last minuite alteration even if you are going for a well paid job interview......."

Fun and games to one side, I trust FGW are lenient as to where and when people travel regardless of ticket type - not long ago I was at Newcastle, and I asked a woman on the desk what time was the next train to Thirsk. (Sunday, no trains York-Middlesbrough, replacement coaches to Thirsk). She was adament that I had to change at Northallerton because York was "too far south" even though the coaches were every 2 hours or something, and one of the afternoon journeys on the internet planner had shown a connection at York!! In the end I spent a couple of hours Christmas shopping, which was fortunate as everyone was still waiting for the York train which I would have caught due to overrunning engineering works in Scotland. The last 2 or 3 hours worth of GNER trains turned up in about 20 mins, including the one stopping at Northallerton which, as it was running late, meant I only had to wait about 10 mins vice 40 for the coach I don't whinge, I just curse...

Anyway, if I was heading from Paddington to Swindon and ended up at Bristol, would I find myself arguing the odds with the conductor on the way back?

FGW just don't know when it comes to timetables. Their punctulity rates are the lowset in the uk

Pompeyfan wrote:

XPTE wrote:Just saw an interesting service revision on the FGW live updates.

17:00 Brighton to Worcester Shrub Hill due 22:10
This train has been revised.It will no longer call at: Warminster, Dilton Marsh, Westbury, Trowbridge, Bradford-On-Avon, Avoncliff, Freshford, Bath Spa, Oldfield Park and Keynsham.This is due to late running of the service..

Running nonstop from Salisbury-Bristol Temple Meads. Missing out TEN station stops. Never know that to happen before on those services. Lucky jammers onboard that train. A nice long non-stop journey for a change. Without the train keep stopping at stations every several minutes. (Of course the vast majority of people on that train wont care any less that the train is running nonstop or not! And of course some people will not be too pleased that the train is not stopping at those stations that they want to board or depart!) This is the sort of thing I want to happen every time I go down to Bristol and back! Or indeed any long distance journey. Gets revised to run nonstop missing out numerous station stops. Allmost like the old BR days with the much longer gaps between stations they had on some of their services back then. I know they had some services which were timetabled to run nonstop between Bath-Salisbury and vice versa as part of their Network Express services.

well i find it wierd that it did not calling at westbury, its got a low speed thru it and its a major junction. that would have upset a few people, esp if they had to catch a connecting service..... could you sue them if you missed an important job interview, or is it in the small print saying something along the lines of "when you buy this £300 pound ticket for a jounrney that lasts all of ten mins, FGW has the right to screw you right over and make last minuite alteration even if you are going for a well paid job interview......."

These sort of revisions(running nonstop and missing out all those station stops) to services along these lines are very rare. I usually look on the FGW live updates every night now, out of habit. And have never saw an instance like this before.

But I think in this instance FGW made a sensible decision to run nonstop between Salisbury-Bristol. The service was scheduled to depart Salisbury at 1911. It was running half hour late and actually departed at 1941. There was actually another service due to depart at 1941, but this was also running a bit late. So the conductor would have made an announcement that the train would be running non stop to Bristol after Salisbury. And for any passengers for intermediate stations to change to the proceeding service. Mind you, this may(or may not) have caused overcrowding on the other train. So maybe it would have been better better for the service to be revised to call Westbury, then nonstop to Bristol.

I don't know if you can sue train companies if you miss a job interview(or something else equally important) if their services are delayed on cancelled.

johncard wrote:Anyway, if I was heading from Paddington to Swindon and ended up at Bristol, would I find myself arguing the odds with the conductor on the way back?

I don't think that would happen. If the service was revised to run non-stop to Bristol from Paddington, it would have to say so on the departure boards and/or the conductor making a clear loud announcement on the train before it departs that it would be running nonstop. They wouldn't surely be allowed to revise the service after it had departed to run non-stop to Bristol. This would cause a MAJOR inconvenice to some passengers, in particular anyone who wanted to get out at Reading! They would have to have it stop at the next advertised station i.e. Reading or Didcot Parkway, and give an announcement for any passengers for Swindon, Chippenham, or Bath Spa to depart the train and wait for the proceeding service.

On a side note though, some of the PA systems onboard some of the trains I have been on are terrible. You can't make out a word they're saying. They're babbling on for ages, can't make out a word.

They can do it.

And the conductor on the train back should have no problem with letting you travel, since if he contacts his control to find out whether you're telling the truth, it should be quickly obvious that your story is correct.

If the local train between Telford and Codsall is cancelled as it sometimes is, I generally jump on the ATW fast train that runs in front of it and overtravel to Wolverhampton, then go back on the down local train. Never had a problem, or been made to pay an excess fare, by doing that.

I work in Maidenhead and my boss caught the train in from Pangbourne, due to overcrowding on the train the doors closed before he was able to make his way though the carraige to get off.... next stop Paddington, I admit to laughing as it happened to him but had the shoe been on the other foot I would have been furious.

To make matters worse for him, upon arriving at Paddington the ticket inspector was adament that he should pay a penalty for travelling without a valid ticket, after a much heated debate with him and his collegues they allowed him to travel back to Maidenhead free of charge.... how very kind of them.

15:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 17:15
This train has been revised.It will no longer call at: Didcot Parkway, Swindon and Chippenham.This is due to congestion caused by earlier delays

Not quite non-stop London-Bristol. But would have liked to been on that train earlier. Reading-Bath Spa non-stop!

if they don't sort it out Ruth Kelly will terminate the franshise