It's been a difficult summer weather-wise, and other factors such as the side effects of pending re-organisation, budgetary control, world events, and so on all have their effect.   And so standards slip, or feel like they are slipping, right across the board.  How much of the slippage in our region is just a refection of nationwide ills, and how much of the performance issue is more regional of local?

I went to Open Train Times, where they produce station performance rankings, and share with you a map showing where the stations in a particular area come in a ranking. I also took a number of stations starting with "M" across Great Britain, and had the site plot their rankings for the last 6 months.





I personally question the Open Train Times evaluation algorithm, as I feel it give too little weight to cancellations, and so too much wait to delays.  However - the shape of the curve, where things have got better and where worse, is very informative.

 

I don't think any of the operators is doing especially well at the moment, so this is not a GWR thing.  I think it's the 'new normal' until GBR is up and running when there might be more structure and therefore more accountability and control.  At the moment it's a mess organisationally and that feeds down to the operational side of things.

And when I say GBR is up and running, I don't mean in December when GWR moves under direct government operation, but when the whole GBR organisation steps out of the shadows and into the limelight.  Scheduled for next year still?


Happy to be corrected, but I think any service that skipped a station (including services that start/terminate short) are counted as a 'half' cancellation for the 'All Cancellations' figure.

 
Abysmal is polite.

How would the semi-permanent cancellation of the Padd to Didcot services be represented on here?  The services ‘operated’ but skipped Twyford, Maidenhead and Slough for much of the month.

 
GWR have now published performance figures for 4 weeks 26 July - 22 August 2026

Once again, depending on how polite you are, somewhere between awful and abysmal

Cancellations overall 7.02%

but certain lines did worse, eg
London - Cotswolds 10.16% cancelled
Outer Thames Valley 9.81%
North Downs 9.33%
London - South Wales 9.07%
Bristol Suburban 8.67%
South Wales - South Coast 8.51%
Plymouth and Cornwall 8.24%

Some of the cancellations were due to external factors, so not all GWRs fault (although how quickly they recover from an incident is really a function of control).   But worryingly some areas had over 6% cancelled that were totally due to GWR

However you look at it, a commuter doing 5 return trips (10 return journeys) shouldn't have to put up with 1 of those 10 cancelled

https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-website/files/publications/performance-report/gwr-performance-report-period-2705.pdf

Of the trains that did run, only about half (51.96%) actually ran on time, with one group not even managing 30% on time.

If you use the more generous within 3 minutes,  GWR didn't even get 7 in 10 meeting that spec, with the worst group achieving just a lowly 44.67%

Sometimes I try and encourage public transport use, but am I wasting my time when GWR seems so out of its depth and performs so badly, and seems to be getting worse.   This is not a bad day, it is ongoing for months.

Am I being unrealistic, or are these figures some accepted new normal ?

 
Following the recent incident between Rouen and Caen, there has now been another, apparently larger scale and more organised incident in the Netherlands-

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8ly49w9g1edo

I have already seen speculation on-line about the involvement of Russian involvement. Having regard to the veiled threats made by Putin, I am not inclined to dismiss this as paranoia.

 
The aftermath of the 1987 storm, was unique.
The power failed across the south east, which remained disconnected from the rest of the grid. a "black start" of the south east was performed, and the area run for some hours as an island, still disconnected from the rest of the grid.

 
If I have planned in advance to travel, I will always check Realtimetrains before travelling, but if a spur of the moment thing I would just turn up, but that would mainly be because I would be on route that I know there are regular services available

 
Timetable, fares, terms and conditions some six months later ...

 

Ah ... yes ... that reminds me ...

 
Late notice extra ... from https://www.facebook.com/groups/wwrug

 
An update, from the BBC:

 
"Customers holding a valid ticket [...]"

So I have a Network Railcard discounted ticket from Waterloo - Exeter, possibly split at Honiton.  Is that valid to travel on GWR via Taunton?

I have a series of split tickets Paddington - Plymouth, with a Network Card split at Newbury, Pewsey and Hungerford.  Is that valid to travel on a non-stopping service?

I have a Sheffield - Taunton not via London ticket Is that valid to travel via London?

"[...] using a direct or reasonable alternative route"

How is everyone going to know my train was cancelled across all those regions/operators?  Can I just buy a cheaper ticket and make it up or will I be expected to have proof?

 

Here's the danger to the passenger experience (and so to the number of customers in the medium term and beyond) of removing this as a through train - although Recent Train Times does suggest that this failure is the exception rather than the rule.

 

From Huffpost



I can ... understand ... that frustration.  I have a number of connections with guests from Ukraine who are highly intelligent, very well qualified, but with qualifications that are not recognised in the UK.  The lady who's got a second degree in environmental sciences, really bright and "with it", and is stacking shelves in a store in Swindon.    In contrast, I had a job lined up for when I finished my Batchelor's degree, ((sure, I got an upper second with honours (too lazy to have got a first))), but whether or not I passed and got "letters" didn't matter to my employer, and it's never been of any consequence to getting a job since.

 

This bus is in replacement of the cancelled 15:56 Plymouth to Penzance - cancelled "due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time".  Due to call at all stations to Liskeard at 16:42.   The replacment bus, due Liskeard at 17:32 (50 minutes later) leaves out Dockyard, Keyham, St Budeaux and Menheniot.

Is it just me, or does the word "replacement" (which I have automatically used) worry you too where the alternative / substitute offered / suggested is very different from the product that's supposed to be there?

 
A couple of things I have picked up overnight - a bus that's running the rest of this week ("rail replacement") from Plymouth to Liskeard at 15:55, calling at Devonport, Saltash and St Germans and arriving Liskeard at 17:32 - that's 97 minutes by bus for a journey that takes a maximum of 45 minutes on the very slowest of trains, and half of that on a typical fast train or one, perhaps, with just one stop.   It shows the advantage of rail over road on this corridor, and though I can guess why it's being run (GWR not having enough trains or staff) it's a really poor substitution in my view.

And in the other direction, two extra calls at Saltash

https://www.facebook.com/SaltashRail/posts/pfbid02dHmXCLCLjtRHNY6LG49ePA7RtR9C6MhDRKLZp8bhBaESHFcYsiXQ3SkaXwWk1VKRl

 
The opening day of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was a chapter of things going wrong - very wrong indeed, and far more so than we see to this day ...  see the description  on Wikipedia that reports locomotive failures, people getting off trains between stations (and sadly dying as a results of then being hit by a train), hostile crowds of people, disruptive passengers (refusing to detrain), and trains being there and in working order but not able to run the planned service (facing the wrong way).

 
From another thread - good question - I would be guessing at a general answer


Personally, leaving from home, I usually check.  I need to allow 25 minutes from home before the train's departure and I would rather plan an alternative if my train is cancelled or seriously delayed.  I do not really want to be waiting / sorting stuff out when I get to the station, as there is usually a very long wait for the next train, even assuming that's running. With a shuttle up and down, staff, infrastructure or train problems tend to mean that if one train's cancelled, there's a higher chance that the next one(s) are as well.   Sometimes, 1 train cancellation will result in my aborting a whole day's travel

If a train is shown as delayed, with a new estimated time before I leave home, I will tend to leave home anyway as the train may leave before the estimate.  For example, the 05:11 from Gloucester calls at Melksham at 06:29, but if it is advertised at being 10 minutes late from Gloucester, that will show up as 10 minutes late at Melksham too on Journeycheck, but that's only an estimate and it may well make up most of that delay by a quicker reversal at Swindon.

Travelling home from elsewhere, I inevitably keep an eye in on what's happening ahead.  At this point, journeys cannot realistically be aborted (except in extremis) and I look to amend plans if something is going wrong. Unlike the outward journey, poor performance of more frequent services inbound to connecting stations make a difference - outbound, I can often realistically wait for the next train, but inbound a longer distance train cancellation of delay makes a big difference - between catching and failing to catch a connection. Also inbound / afternoon train services are more prone to cancellation.

That's just personal - based on experience and the metrics of my local station.  What about others?

 

Good question - I would be guessing at an answer on that.   In fact I'll start a poll / new thread (here) as we're straying from the original topic.

 
Re police specials and truncheons: I stand corrected.  My source was my memory of a tour of Painswick one evening in the 1970s or 1980s given by, I think, a special constable.  Apart from the issue of truncheons, I believe he also said that Painswick is used as an early session in the training of specials, because it is a nice quiet town, with the implication that if they can't cope with that then they certainly won't manage Gloucester on a Saturday night.

I can confirm that Painswick is indeed a nice quiet town - I went on a pub crawl back then and it didn't take long - I only found one bar.

Returning to the subject of food stocks, I am still working though the dried pasta and jars of tomato-based sauces that I got at the start of Covid-19 in early 2020 (remember that?) in preparation for a long lockdown.  They have kept well.

 
I think its an excellent idea,but how many travelers would check their booked train is not cancelled before they leave home?

 
The longest taxi journey that I recall, was Minehead to Nunhead at a cost of about £200.
That was after the Hatfield accident.

 

I can also confirm the above.
I recall a press report, of a mother and child trapped in house fire. A special constable broke the window with his truncheon, and saved the mother and child, and two pet cats. The child was badly cut by glass shards, but was given  prompt first aid treatment and survived with no lasting harm.
The cats were unconscious from smoke inhalation, but revived with oxygen.
This incident was noteworthy not only for the heroism of the special constable, but it also led to fire engines carrying oxygen masks suitable for pets.

 

No I do not have a bunker.
However I am promised a bunk in a neighbours bunker, in return for my help in designing and equipping it.
Most unusually the bunker in question is ABOVE ground, due the flood risk.
Looks like a small hill, but in is fact man-made.

 

That ‘further notice’ being today.  Though of course this mornings fatality rather overshadowed it.

 
Did you happen to post that from your blast-proof underground bunker in Minehead, broadgage? 

CfN. 

 
We should be prepared for exceptional weather events, such as have occurred in the past.

A winter like those of 1947, and 1963, would be interesting.
Or more probable, a wind storm like 1987.
Severe flooding similar in scale to the east coast floods of 1952 could result in substantial loss of life.

Most people, and most organisations are almost totally unprepared for such events. HMG advising food stocks is a small and belated effort to improve matters.

IMHO we need a proper civil defence department (and re-branding the fire brigade by adding the words "and civil defence" does not count !)

 
Burford Bridge Hotel to a hotel near Paddington Station, early 1990s, 25 miles.  Last train from Box Hill was cancelled. Called BR (from a call box near the station with a rapidly dwindling supply of loose change) explaining that we were at a wedding reception but were returning to Bristol that night and would now not make the last train back from Paddington.  BR person told us to return to the hotel and a taxi would come and take us to a hotel near Paddington Station where they would book us a room.  We were told that our tickets would be okay to use the following (early) morning.
Everything went as arranged but as a footnote, on our arrival back at the reception party, one of the guests, a  complete stranger to us,  kindly offered to book us a room there when they heard what had happened.  By then all the revised arrangements had been made so we had to decline....pity really, it was quite a bit of a do.