Avanti West Coast cancellations

[voyagerdude220]

Was just going to say the exact same thing. 1S06 is now terminating at Preston due to no train crew to take it forward to Glasgow. Rail replacement transport to be organised from Preston.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Jul 2022 ==

I do find it strange how Avanti's Twitter feed is full of 'funny' jokes/pictures but not one public tweet about disruption, for several days.

1S06 19:30 Euston to Glasgow appears to already be planned to terminate at Preston this evening. Not good!

 

[Butts]

Got 0624 from Sandwell & Dudley to Edinburgh this morning - bang on time thank god after yesterdays shenanigan's.

 

[trainophile]

We were on a refurbed Pendolino yesterday with seat reservations B01 and B02, guess what, the seat numbers started with 03 and 04. There's now an enlarged luggage rack where presumably 01 and 02 used to be. Lucky it wasn't rammed and we did find alternative seats.

 

[dk1]

After being burned a few times, all of my long distance UK travel is by car these days. Delays can still happen on the roads, of course, but one generally has more options if they do.

But no toilet. That & the inability to have a beer would always steer me back to the train regardless of a bit of disruption.

 

[Dave91131]

I think many of the examples cited in this thread about numerous and successive cancellations of Avanti services with passengers forwarded on road transport and likely not reaching their destination until sunrise the following day is more than "a bit of disruption" to be honest.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think many of the examples cited in this thread about numerous and successive cancellations of Avanti services with passengers forwarded on road transport and likely not reaching their destination until sunrise the following day is more than "a bit of disruption" to be honest.

I would say "the weekend service has totally collapsed to the point of uselessness" is a totally justified statement.

 

[mmh]

But what did Avanti inherit from Virgin traincrew wise when they took over the franchise at the end of 2019?

Anything less than a good establishment of traincrew would have left them vulnerable when taking covid into account.

Every single person through TUPE!

 

[Watershed]

Every single person through TUPE!

Very drôle. What @HexDriver was getting at is that there was and is a disproportionate reliance on overtime at Virgin. Now that's coming home to roost with lots of crew having retired, and many of those that remain choosing not to volunteer for overtime on weekends.

 

[E16 Cyclist]

Very drôle. What @HexDriver was getting at is that there was and is a disproportionate reliance on overtime at Virgin. Now that's coming home to roost with lots of crew having retired, and many of those that remain choosing not to volunteer for overtime on weekends.

Couldn’t have put it better myself

 

[Bletchleyite]

Very drôle. What @HexDriver was getting at is that there was and is a disproportionate reliance on overtime at Virgin. Now that's coming home to roost with lots of crew having retired, and many of those that remain choosing not to volunteer for overtime on weekends.

Indeed. That however does not prevent Avanti asking DfT to allow them to implement an emergency timetable they can run on the staff they have, and implementing it.

Free clue for Avanti: if you've not sorted this by Dec, don't add the extra Liverpool, and put MKC/WFJ/RUG stops in the 2tph fast Brum instead of running the semifasts. Those are self-contained diagrams on Hitachis which can easily be lopped out without hitting anything else.

 

[Peregrine 4903]

Indeed. That however does not prevent Avanti asking DfT to allow them to implement an emergency timetable they can run on the staff they have, and implementing it.

Free clue for Avanti: if you've not sorted this by Dec, don't add the extra Liverpool, and put MKC/WFJ/RUG stops in the 2tph fast Brum instead of running the semifasts. Those are self-contained diagrams on Hitachis which can easily be lopped out without hitting anything else.

There is no way that will happen, can't rip up Dec 22 now by changing stopping patterns after all the work that has been put into it.

 

[liam456]

Shame for people wanting the last Glasgow train again today. Avanti must have a pretty slick rail replacement bus service waiting for it at Preston by now given its constant cancellation this week!

 

[Huntergreed]

Indeed. That however does not prevent Avanti asking DfT to allow them to implement an emergency timetable they can run on the staff they have, and implementing it.

Provided they don’t take a “Scotrail” approach (bringing forward all the last trains to an unreasonably early time such as 19:00 - 20:00 on some routes), I wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to this. It would add some much needed certainty and at least improve their image and reliability! (Less trains are much better than more trains but half of them cancelled)

Free clue for Avanti: if you've not sorted this by Dec, don't add the extra Liverpool, and put MKC/WFJ/RUG stops in the 2tph fast Brum instead of running the semifasts. Those are self-contained diagrams on Hitachis which can easily be lopped out without hitting anything else.

Probably almost impossible to change the Dec 22 timetable now, and I would imagine even an emergency timetable would need to be recast from Dec as other trains will have been pathed all around the new Avanti paths.

 

[Birmingham]

Probably almost impossible to change the Dec 22 timetable now, and I would imagine even an emergency timetable would need to be recast from Dec as other trains will have been pathed all around the new Avanti paths.

What is going to happen if Avanti only want to run 2tph to Brum from the December timetable, as now? Currently they serve WFJ and RUG with the same train, and the other MKC. Would it be the semifast WFJ MKC RUG and one fast COV EUS?

 

[Huntergreed]

What is going to happen if Avanti only want to run 2tph to Brum from the December timetable, as now? Currently they serve WFJ and RUG with the same train, and the other MKC. Would it be the semifast WFJ MKC RUG and one fast COV EUS?

Almost certainly it’ll be one of the following:

1) The semifast (WFJ, MKC and RUG) and then the hourly Scotland (return of the Glasgow? We can hope!) which will run direct to COV

2) They’ll implement an emergency timetable ysing 1tph and put the WFJ, MKC and RUG stops onto the Glasgow Path.

3) They’ll run an emergency timetable and adapt the paths so the Scotland will retain the MKC stop and the other will cover WFJ and RUG.

It really depends on whether they introduce an emergency timetable or not and how they decide to approach it. I would rather they sent one 11 car 390 to Birmingham an hour and kept the late services than ran 2 per hour and finished the services at 7 or 8PM.

 

[The Planner]

Indeed. That however does not prevent Avanti asking DfT to allow them to implement an emergency timetable they can run on the staff they have, and implementing it.

Free clue for Avanti: if you've not sorted this by Dec, don't add the extra Liverpool, and put MKC/WFJ/RUG stops in the 2tph fast Brum instead of running the semifasts. Those are self-contained diagrams on Hitachis which can easily be lopped out without hitting anything else.

Extra Liverpool isnt starting Dec 22 anyway, it hasnt got rights yet.

 

[childwallblues]

Last night my 2007 to Liverpool was cancelled. I went to the enquiry office at Euston and asked if there were alterntives. I was told the 2107. I asked whether we could travel on the 2030 to Crewe we were told no but we were told no but we could travel on the 2040. We travelled on the 2030 anyway and the 2238 from Crewe to Lime Street LNWR service to Lime Street.

 

[SCDR_WMR]

Last night my 2007 to Liverpool was cancelled. I went to the enquiry office at Euston and asked if there were alterntives. I was told the 2107. I asked whether we could travel on the 2030 to Crewe we were told no but we were told no but we could travel on the 2040. We travelled on the 2030 anyway and the 2238 from Crewe to Lime Street LNWR service to Lime Street.

If they say no, just ask the train crew working the service. At the moment I will take anyone who's affected by the Avanti cancellations as it's the right thing to do in my eyes. Most LNWR conductors seem to doing to same....the other way around rarely happens though but worth asking anyway

 

[Watershed]

Last night my 2007 to Liverpool was cancelled. I went to the enquiry office at Euston and asked if there were alterntives. I was told the 2107. I asked whether we could travel on the 2030 to Crewe we were told no but we were told no but we could travel on the 2040. We travelled on the 2030 anyway and the 2238 from Crewe to Lime Street LNWR service to Lime Street.

There's no need for ticket acceptance to be allowed to travel on the next service that complies with your ticket's route/TOC restrictions. That said, in this case, unless I'm missing something, there was no benefit to travelling on the 20:30 rather than the 20:40. The 20:40 overtakes the 20:30 and gets to Crewe earlier.

 

[Bletchleyite]

There's no need for ticket acceptance to be allowed to travel on the next service that complies with your ticket's route/TOC restrictions. That said, in this case, unless I'm missing something, there was no benefit to travelling on the 20:30 rather than the 20:40. The 20:40 overtakes the 20:30 and gets to Crewe earlier.

Either the OP had a walk up Any Permitted ticket in which case they could use what they liked at that time, or they had an Advance in which case they could use the 2030 as far as Crewe but then NOT, absent specific acceptance or arrangements, the LNR service as a connection. Might be worth doing if you didn't want to sit at Euston for as long, but not quicker.

 

[Watershed]

Either the OP had a walk up Any Permitted ticket in which case they could use what they liked at that time, or they had an Advance in which case they could use the 2030 as far as Crewe but then NOT, absent specific acceptance or arrangements, the LNR service as a connection. Might be worth doing if you didn't want to sit at Euston for as long, but not quicker.

The 21:07 is scheduled to arrive at Liverpool at 23:33, 1h10m after the 20:07. So Article 16 of the PRO would have applied and Avanti were obliged to arrange ticket acceptance with WMT.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The 21:07 is scheduled to arrive at Liverpool at 23:33, 1h10m after the 20:07. So Article 16 of the PRO would have applied and Avanti were obliged to arrange ticket acceptance with WMT.

However, if they did not, the OP had no entitlement to simply travel on the LNR service unless they had a walk-up ticket in which case they could use whichever service they felt like.

 

[childwallblues]

There's no need for ticket acceptance to be allowed to travel on the next service that complies with your ticket's route/TOC restrictions. That said, in this case, unless I'm missing something, there was no benefit to travelling on the 20:30 rather than the 20:40. The 20:40 overtakes the 20:30 and gets to Crewe earlier.

There is an advantage. The Manchester train uses P5 at Crewe whilst the Preston uses P6 which is cross platform for the Liverpool which uses P11.

 

[Watershed]

There is an advantage. The Manchester train uses P5 at Crewe whilst the Preston uses P6 which is cross platform for the Liverpool which uses P11.

But there is no guarantee that this will happen in practice. Last minute platform changes are quite common at Crewe, particularly during disruption.

10 minutes is plenty of time to use the lifts if necessary.

 

[childwallblues]

But there is no guarantee that this will happen in practice. Last minute platform changes are quite common at Crewe, particularly during disruption.

10 minutes is plenty of time to use the lifts if necessary.

But we chose not to.

 

[voyagerdude220]

19:30 London Euston to Glasgow Central is again showing as terminating at Preston this evening.

 

[liam456]

The one time I need to travel London to Glasgow the overhead wires are down! Fingers crossed for 1S90...

 

[londonmidland]

Yep. OLE down in the Beattock area, affecting both lines. A lot of ex-Edinburgh and Glasgow services are re-starting from Preston.

 

[liam456]

Interesting how Avanti 's journeycheck says that disruption is expected until the end of the day while TPE says disruption expected until 18:15 today. Either way I think I'll just be happy if get to Glasgow this evening....

 

[childwallblues]

Yep. OLE down in the Beattock area, affecting both lines. A lot of ex-Edinburgh and Glasgow services are re-starting from Preston.

Amazing how Avanti cannot make the effort to get crews to Carlisle to save 90 minutes on a rail replacement bus.