22:12 Swindon to Westbury due 22:55
22:12 Swindon to Westbury due 22:55 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

 

Now cancelled throughout, and the Swindon -> Westbury leg too

 
Day trip to Weymouth - we won't get you home ...

 

 
Very odd.  Arrived seven minutes late.  Then left for Salisbury, apparently in service, 22 minutes late.

 


Here's another odd one ...


... BobM - you been overselling again?? 

 

As an aside the 17:35 was never shown as cancelled so I am wondering if it was a guard that was missing and the plan was to run the 16:24 empty up to Swindon and pick up a guard there for the return.

 

Don't know about cancelled, then back on, but GWR cancellations locally are woeful.

Route group EF10 (Bristol Suburban) cans 9.18%
Route group EF13 (South Wales - South Coast) canx 13.75%

and when do actually run only 57.2% are on time (EF10) and 52.6% are on time (EF13)

https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-website/files/about-gwr/what-you-can-expect/our-performance/GWR-Periodic-Web-Report-P2604.pdf

 


I really wish there was a better way of doing this.    I appreciate that the folks at GWR on the day are struggling for staff but 16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:06 will be cancelled in the early morning reads pretty darned definite, discourages passengers, and fuels the unreliability reputation this line has.

Questions - with stats like those on ontimetrains which is currently showing 11% cancellations over the last 12 weeks - how do trains that are cancelled but then re-instated show up?   Are they counted as cancelled, as running, or double counted?   Does anyone have (or fancy to guess) at what proportion of announced cancellations end up running after all?

 
Third one now also running.

 
The first two now re-instated.

 

 

 
There may be fuel or maintenance considerations in play, I don't know.    The unit removed at Bristol Temple Meads usually goes to St Philips Marsh overnight and then comes out to form the 05:51 to Portsmouth Harbour the following morning.

 

The train from Portsmouth to Cardiff that calls at 19:11 is 2x158s this evening, one of which is detached at Temple Meads anyway.  Just saying.  It would be significantly late up to Swindon but has a long layover there so the rest of the evening service would be saved and on time.  Just wondering what I have missed ...

 
Here we (don't) go again


After twenty to seven in the evening, the Cardiff -> Portsmouth service is not going to be rammed - any chance of dropping 2 cars of one of the longer ones to maintain service?   

 

Aware of the slow running, BobM ... will be taking a look at the pattern of traffic that's causing it.  It's intermittent but I do have logs to go back through when I'm fresher over the next couple of days.   I came home a week before originally planned / both Lisa and I find that beyond 2 weeks apart gets hard / so have a quiet few days once I recover from my 04:10 to 23:30 journey (door to door) on Friday.

 
Look behind you!

I suspect because the site seems to be running a little slow, you didn't see my post just before yours.   Mine took 30 seconds from pressing post til actually submitting.

 

It reminds me of a pantomime - "oh yes it will" - "oh no it won't" - "oh yes it will" - "oh no it won't".  How are the customers supposed to organise their day with this going on?

 

Oh no they won't.



Perhaps that's a service that is supposed to be staffed by an Exeter crew for route learning and crowds at Newquay are delaying trains and have a knock on in Wiltshire?

 
Only the 18:10 from Castle Cary has been cancelled again because crew were delayed so the 19:43 is also a non runner.

 

Which means the 19:43 from Swindon to Westbury will now also run.

 

Good summary ... Services from Swindon to Westbury and beyond usually *do* use the short bay platform 2, but it's far from rare for them to use platform 1 or platform 3.    In summary, a system that is so stretched that when something goes wrong there aren't the resources available to organise or run the logically mitigated services.

Of course, we're talking one service here as to why it didn't run ... and just accepting the seven that were cancelled later in the day with a stoic shrug of the shoulders. 

 

At face value it would have seemed sensible to send the empty stock from Bristol straight to Swindon.  However it is formed of two units totalling five carriages.  One unit is normally detached at Westbury station and goes to the sidings. Unfortunately it had already set off and reached Bath before being blocked.  Had it reached Swindon it would have been too long for the bay platform so would have taken up one of the through platforms until time to set off for Weymouth. 

It could probably have run to Westbury as a five with the rear two locked out of use but I suspect the bigger issue was crewing.  The empty units would have had no guard and there probably wasn’t time to get one up from Westbury even if the driver was able to take the train forward.   In the limited time available I suspect Control went for the defensive option.

 

 

 
Yesterday (Saturday 9th August 2025) was one of those days where so many trains were cancelled and some of it was bit by bit that I have used Real Time Trains to summarise:



The first cancellation was understandable due to "person hit by train" though that happens far too often and at dreadful cost.  The second train should have run with the empty going up to Swindon for it from Bristol rather than through the closed line at B-o-A.  The later cancellations were TOC failures to provide enough trains or staff to work them.

 
18:10 Castle Cary to Swindon due 19:34
18:10 Castle Cary to Swindon due 19:34 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

19:43 Swindon to Westbury due 20:25
19:43 Swindon to Westbury due 20:25 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

 
Quoting a friend who's up in Reading for the day from his timeline:


A cancellation of the first train this morning because of the person hit by train on the neighbouring line was understandable.   But if the empty / feeder was coming in that way, it could simply have gone to Swindon and picked up the diagram from there.  Yes, I know others will tell me that the robustness capacity has been taken out of the system and that wasn't possible because [insert reason given here].

Edited by bobm to remove profanity in quote

 

Robustness - not bustness then?

 
Alterations to services between Westbury and Swindon via Melksham

Due to a shortage of train crew between Westbury and Swindon disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Train services between Westbury and Swindon via Melksham may be suspended. Melksham will not be served.

Customer Advice
As the result of a shortage of train crew we are unable to operate the Westbury - Swindon - Westbury via Melksham train service in either direction for the remainder of the day. Road transport will operate in place of the trains but will not be running to the same schedule as the train they replace.

 
And there's no getting back from the seaside - not that you could have got there in the first place!!

 
22:12 Swindon to Westbury due 22:55

22:12 Swindon to Westbury due 22:55 will be cancelled.

This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

 

 

Yes, it could.   That's a service which in the early days of our service improvements, GWR were going to run about half at hour later (on weekdays anyway). We asked them, and they agreed and implemented , the earlier time.  It cuts that gap from what was the 07:50 to about 10:30 (Melksham times) at the very time people want(ed) a first off peak train.

On a Saturday there were two trains from Westbury to Swindon - 08:00 and 08:40 I think. "For robustness" GWR cut the second one - we've one train less in the Saturday timetable now - but the robustness has not been delivered and at times I feel we were cheated.

 
Arrived at Swindon 23 minutes late, but the return working left on time at 11:05.

 

27 minutes late off Westbury, so first train on the day left Westbury at 10:19. 

 

On some routes especially it would seem that "Saturday is the new Sunday" when it comes to crew shortage.

09:52 Westbury to Swindon due 10:36
09:52 Westbury to Swindon due 10:36 will be starting late from Westbury.
This is due to train crew being delayed.

 
I was on the 22:31 from Swindon to Melksham last night.  A significant flow (guessing 20+) off the Cheltenham Spa train onto it at Swindon, in addition to the 'local' traffic ... it provides an extra service into Chippenham that fills the first gap in the evening in the half hourly service as well as the Melksham / Trowbridge link.  Not sure how many got off at Chippenham but certainly more got on as well - perhaps 10 off at Melksham and I don't know how many remained on the train.    It astonishes me that traffic remains so robust in spite of - as we see this morning - 6 out of 14 services that call at Melksham cancelled already for the day. 

Sundays are said to be a problem - but this is a Saturday.   Special cases will always be raised and, yes, there is a fatality this morning at Bradford-on-Avon (but how much is that a special case? Another fatality yesterday at Hitchin threw my travel plans - it's a daily toll).  I hear of new incentives and initiatives to sort these things out - but heard those things before and after a week or two it sinks back ... the $64,000 question - what can be done to fix the issues and how can passengers work together to help it?    Our problems on this line are not unique, but they seem to be on steroids compared to elsewhere.

 
07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:28
07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:28 will be cancelled.
This is due to the emergency services dealing with an incident.

08:44 Swindon to Weymouth due 11:08
08:44 Swindon to Weymouth due 11:08 will be cancelled.
This is due to the emergency services dealing with an incident.

 
A fatality between Avoncliff and Bradford on Avon seemingly involving the 0546 Bristol Portsmouth has prevented the unit for the Westbury Swindon and return working to Weymouth getting to Westbury, resulting in their cancellation
https://www.journeycheck.com/greatwesternrailway/

 

 

 
16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:06
16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:06 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

17:35 Swindon to Westbury due 18:19
17:35 Swindon to Westbury due 18:19 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew

 

 
20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:06

20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:06 will be terminated at Gloucester.

It will no longer call at Cheltenham Spa.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

 

 
Driver reported a rough ride near Lavington viaduct on the London bound line.

 
Well whatever the issue with the track was, it isn’t a problem now:

 

Thanks for flagging those up.   

Reading carefully, it would appear that the problem is not on the line through Melksham - but rather on the Westbury to Pewsey and Newbury segment - so long distance trains are being diverted along the line through Melksham which is single track and has inadequate capacity, and the local service which is all we have at Melksham Station is being culled/ sacrificed once again.


I note that no alternative bus service is reported here for Westbury to Swindon or part thereof.  I live in hope that with stop boards now in place at Melksham, the semi-fasts from Exeter and Taunton, Castle Cary and Westbury will also be calling at Trowbridge, Melksham and Chippenham.

 
Cancellations to services at Westbury
Due to a safety inspection of the track at Westbury some lines are blocked.
Train services running through this station may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

09:52 Westbury to Swindon due 10:36
09:52 Westbury to Swindon due 10:36 will be cancelled.
This is due to a safety inspection of the track.

11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:48
11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:48 will be cancelled.
This is due to a safety inspection of the track.

 

And it now suggests

 

Or put another way - cancelled throughout with the 18:10 Gloucester to Westbury extended to Salisbury?  (EDIT - looking at RTT it does look the 5O09 becomes 2O09 at Westbuty)

Real Time Trains shows the 17:50 running - as 5O09 (empty coaching stock). Are we sure that's a track safety inspection as nothing else seems to be disrupted, or is its really a shortage of train managers?

 

 

Worse than expectations - 20 minutes late on leaving Melksham and failing to make the onward connection which is very popular.   Beyond Warminster that's a one hour delay.  Never mind - at least it's running - just another (this one relatively minor) hiccough in the system.

 

 

 

Could be a number of faults occurring en route which require the train to be taken out of passenger service at the first opportunity.  Driver vigilance device, other fault in the cab, windscreen wiper failure, door issue etc.   Then no available spare to pick up the return working even from Westbury (or possibly crew if the driver took the defective unit to Bristol).

 

 
The 11:27 Weymouth-Chippenham terminated at Westbury and ran ECS to St Philips Marsh.

 

Cab satnav equipment failure? 

 
 
Err ... what sort of repairs are needed to a train that can number into Westbury from the South West, but then not carry on North East to Melksham and Chippenham?

 

Frankly, I wish that was a problem.  It's not - the services have been so unreliable of late that people are put off using them.

Yesterday ...

 
15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58
15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58 has been cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:05
16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:05 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

17:35 Swindon to Westbury due 18:18
17:35 Swindon to Westbury due 18:18 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

18:35 Westbury to Swindon due 19:17
18:35 Westbury to Swindon due 19:17 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

19:44 Swindon to Westbury due 20:29
19:44 Swindon to Westbury due 20:29 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

 
Earlier today that quartet were advertised as being three coaches instead of two. Now shrunk to zero.  Underlines the chronic shortage of rolling stock in the central region.  The cascade of more units from the west cannot come soon enough. 

 
09:52 Westbury to Swindon due 10:36
09:52 Westbury to Swindon due 10:36 will be cancelled.
This is due to a broken down train.

11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:48
11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:48 will be cancelled.
This is due to a broken down train

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 13:01
12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 13:01 will be cancelled.
This is due to a broken down train.

13:13 Swindon to Westbury due 13:55
13:13 Swindon to Westbury due 13:55 will be cancelled.
This is due to a broken down train.

 

Message for Melksham ... "We'll get you there for a day out - just won't get you home ...".

 
19:38 Weymouth to Swindon due 22:00
19:38 Weymouth to Swindon due 22:00 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

22:12 Swindon to Westbury due 22:55
22:12 Swindon to Westbury due 22:55 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

 

 

 


Much better advise than I got when I phoned in to GWR last night ... asking what I should do with the 14:31 (which connected to the London train at 15:14 from Swindon was cancelled.   I was told I should catch the 11:57 instead and my ticket would be honoured, on I could wait for the 17:08 which (there was some confusion on the agent's system) was probably running.

When I demurred, the agent suggested I get a taxi to Swindon to pick up my connection there and then see if GWR would refund it because the change otherwise was going to be so long.   He suggestd I call I again in the morning to see if the situation had changed, and advised me that my ticket might not be accepted if I made my own way to Chippenham to join the London train there.

Very pleasant and polite conversation - and in terms of practical suggested alternatives as useful as a chocolate teapot. 

 
We have been factually logging failures ... some feedback from local social media that points to the consequences ...   last weekend when the return train from Weymouth did not run beyond Westbury


and


and


and

 

Oh dear ... this is what I have purchased for tomorrow - first stage of a journey by ferry and train.  No through ticket available so split along the way, and a number of reservations ...

 
Sun, 20 July 14:05 Frome to Swindon due 14:58
20/07/25 14:05 Frome to Swindon due 14:58 will be terminated at Westbury.
It will no longer call at Trowbridge, Melksham, Chippenham and Swindon.
This is due to a shortage of train crew

Sun, 20 July 15:44 Swindon to Frome due 16:38
20/07/25 15:44 Swindon to Frome due 16:38 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.
This is due to a shortage of train crew


Sun, 20 July 18:10 Castle Cary to Swindon due 19:34
20/07/25 18:10 Castle Cary to Swindon due 19:34 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Sun, 20 July 19:43 Swindon to Westbury due 20:25
20/07/25 19:43 Swindon to Westbury due 20:25 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

 

 

 

Through service running from Swindon Chippenham and Melksham to Weymouth for a day out ... unmarketable as  there's no through train coming back ... and the last service at Melksham is cancelled. 

 
... and now re-instated.....

 

 

 

That 21:16 is the train that I would expect to be the quietest of the day. However - Lisa and I returned on it on Monday evening (14.7.2025) from Trowbridge into Melksham.  With Lisa's mobility issues and my 40lb pack, I was more concerned at getting us on and off the train than counting passengers, but 8 people got off at Melksham.  On the normal ratios I would expect that a couple of people got on as well, and that for every 1 who got on/off at Melksham there were 2 through passengers - so that's an educated guess of 30 passenger in total - [30,10].

I was very concerned as we travelled up from Portsmouth that the train manager checking our tickets when I said we would be changing at Westbury advised us to carry on to Bath Spa and change there because the service "is poor from Westbury but every half hour from Bath".    But we were actually on the train from Portsmouth that has a good (5 minute) connection at Westbury up to Chippenham and Swindon, and with staff advice to avoid the TransWilts train even on a weekday when it's supposedly running, it's a wonder that numbers are not floundering far more than they are.


Had we taken train manager advice, we would have had to change trains in Bath Spa, arriving there at 21:34, taking two awkward lifts with a mobility scooter to catch the 22:12 London train and arriving into Chippenham at 22:25 ... whereas with the change at Westbury or Trowbridge, the arrival was at 21:40 - three quarters of an hour earlier.  (I have checked how they ran on Real Time Trains).   The service from Bath Spa to Chippenham is every half hour during the day but every hour in the evening, so even if we were both able bodied to make a quick connect at Bath we would have been stuck there for quite a while in the evening when all we wanted to do was to get home.

I was puzzled by the advice to go to Bath ... realised why it was practical when I remember that we had Chippenham to Portsmouth period returns as we went out from Bath and were coming back to Melksham and these were tickets valid to/from either actually used stations.  Still poor advice indeed ...

Once I recalled the ticket was a Chippenham one, I did explain to our train manager - who was a trainee with a supervisor watching and then helping - that we were headed for Melksham - "in which case change at Westbury". And a further question from me "why Westbury which will involve a change with 2 lifts and a subway with a mobility device when it's same platform at Trowbridge?".   The train manager and supervisor agreed that Trowbridge made sense - "we advised Westbury because there are staff there who can help if the Swindon train is not running but you clearly know what you are doing ..."

Worked like a treat - saw others dashing through to the stairs at Westbury and the Swindon train waiting on the other island platform, but we just dropped back at Trowbridge - easy!

 
21:16 Westbury to Swindon due 21:58
21:16 Westbury to Swindon due 21:58 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12
22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

 
BBC Bristol referred to cancellations from Swindon due to a late running freight train. I thought that was a bit strange but your post explains it JayMac

 
Root cause was a SPAD by a freight train at Thingley Junction, with the driver unable to continue. The freight train has just resumed its journey with a relief driver.

 

 

26 minutes late departure from Trowbridge. As it is due to sit at Swindon from 10:28 to 11:05 before returning it should be just the one run that's delayed.

Originally, the 10:02 from Melksham was planned to be at 10:32, and at the time the previous train was 07:50 ... suggested by the community (and perhaps others and an analysis of passenger needs) these trains are now 08:02 and 10:02, with a longer gap then to 12:32.

 

That's true, though there are still plenty of additional shifts being worked, just not enough. 

Also, since privatisation, there has been a significant uplift in the number of daily services run without enough additional drivers taken on.

 

 

And ironically, since privatisation, salaries have risen to such an extent that those volunteers no longer want the overtime, and their employers have done nothing to fill the gap.

 

Nothing about what people should do from Melksham or Trowbridge - but we did do what GWR asked of us from Melksham which is put out a "don't use GWR" message.   What an extraordinary thing for a company to do ...

 

Indeed - and it makes sense.  For it to work well, it needs staff (volunteers) who have reason to want to work extra - to earn extra money, because they enjoy the work and the folks they work with, to support the team/organisation they work for,  to provide mental stimulation, or to get out of the house away from the screaming kids / in-laws ...

Once it becomes "expected" of them and less enjoyable and they feel "obliged", a system which is good for both employee and employer ceases to work well.   A story was told to me about a bus company who employed a bus-washer six days a week (Saturday overtime) ... so good was his work that he was given a pay rise - a big "thank you" from him and he cease Saturday work because he didn't need the extra money.  I wonder sometimes about just how much staff enjoy working on a variety of routes, and I wonder if restricting route knowdledge also restricts volunteering ... I wonder if so much chopping and changing between trains along the way rather than driving the whole way is a de-motivator.

 

The railway, nationally, has always run on volunteers working additional shifts.

 

But surely the management contract specifies a minimum level of service, and thus that implies a certain number of staff contractually employed to work it.

Or are you saying GWR have accepted a contract that can only be performed if volunteers choose to help up, and GWR cannot incentivise the staff to volunteer.  Illogical (but if DfT are involved, plausible)

 

Given that these franchises are now management contracts that are micromanaged by DfT, how many of these things are actually in GWR's power to change?

1) I suggest that increasing staff is probably subject to DfT approval, and even then would take many months.
2) Yes as far as I can see this is down to GWR
3) I am not sure where they are going to get these from at certain times.  The bus/coach industry is cut-throat and a company that has vehicles and drivers sat around is likely to go out of business very quickly. 
4) Again DfT have demanded that they reduce the number of trains in service to cut costs.  That is why the HSTs have largely gone and other so called surplus stock. 

 

Interestingly the banner headline on GWR seems to imply multiple failings on GWRs part.

1) failed to have enough serviceable staff
2) failed to update journey planners in timely way
3) failed to hire in replacement buses (or coaches, or charter train)
4) what trains they run will be busy because not lengthening them

And what do they mean by "Your comfort and safety are our priority.  Please check live updates...."   is that PR speak for we can't be bothered to get you there.

https://www.gwr.com/sunday-disruption

 

Indeed - but the word "should" can cover a whole host of evils.  They "should" have enough staff in the right place, at the right time, with the right route knowledge and other training, and enough working trains, to provide a full service in all but the most exceptional circumstances.

 
Being the last train of the day AND knowing there will be day trippers from Weymouth, onward travel from Westbury should be made available?

 

Our risk assessment has been NOT to market day trips from Melksham to Weymouth at present due to the significant risk of people having a severely upset trip in one or both directions.  The other part of the risk assessment related to how bad the effect of the risk would be.   The next train from Westbury to Melksham as I understand it is 34 hours later;  robust passengers who know what they are doing could travel on to Bath and catch the 23:20 bus into Melksham at midnight.  And in theory there will be/ would be station staff around to help with onward transport, which in the evening sometimes involves a wait of 90 minutes.

I wish our decision had not been vindicated. And a corollary question is to ask what to do - as a community where we want to use the train -  about this state of affairs. 

 

But don't forget, as we are repeatedly told, apparently there is no shortage of staff 

 
Gosh, never mind tomorrow, not much of a service today.