Poor reliability of the GWML?

[londonmidland]

Without fail, there seems to be almost daily infrastructure problems affecting services on the ‘core’ of the GWML, mainly focusing on the Paddington to Reading and Didcot section of the line.

Most of these issues seem to be Network Rail/infrastructure related, be it overhead wire issues, signalling failures or a points failure. This can severely affect both local and long distance GWR services, as well as the Elizabeth Line services for a number of hours.

The question is, why is the GWML so frequently plagued with problems? Is it the sheer number of services using the line? I notice the GEML, which has a similar amount of traffic, doesn’t seem to be nearly as bad in comparison.

 

[Sly Old Fox]

I think this thread is monthly at this point.

 

[swt_passenger]

Here’s a a closed thread from late last year. I doubt anything much has changed:

Is the section of gwml beteen Paddington and reading the worst maintained line in the country?

This links into the thread about the poor performance of the EL. So far this week we've had a cracked rail at iver and a cracked rail at maidenhead. Since September we've had points failures, signal failures and ohle issues. I have nothing to compare it with, but travelling on it daily and...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Jamiescott1]

It had been quite reliable this year but this past week there's been a lot of issues (one being a fatality).
Tonight signal failure, yesterday ohle issues, Tuesday and Monday I cant remember the reasons (but there were delays and cancellations), Sunday trespassers on the track.

 

[Purple Train]

It had been quite reliable this year but this past week there's been a lot of issues (one being a fatality).
Tonight signal failure, yesterday ohle issues, Tuesday and Monday I cant remember the reasons (but there were delays and cancellations), Sunday trespassers on the track.

Sunday was very strange. Ground to a halt at Twyford due to trespassers "near Maidenhead", then at Maidenhead due to trespassers "at Burnham", though no sign of anyone there. It was chaos this morning, though I believe it was an incident between Heathrow and Paddington, and Tuesday lunchtime was a bit of a mess as well (though returning to normal) due to an electricity supply failure. I agree with you - it does seem that all the failures from the past year have been saved up for this week!

 

[Reliablebeam]

I've been caught up in a lot of disruption the last few days, including a power supply incident on wednesday - this happens to be a week I've been doing work and recreational travel. It looks like today, another nice day out has been ruined as there is something going wrong.

A lot of my colleagues have given up on the train, even for going into London. I've noticed trains stopping at Didcot seem to get the chop quite often.

 

[Jamiescott1]

I've been caught up in a lot of disruption the last few days, including a power supply incident on wednesday - this happens to be a week I've been doing work and recreational travel. It looks like today, another nice day out has been ruined as there is something going wrong.

A lot of my colleagues have given up on the train, even for going into London. I've noticed trains stopping at Didcot seem to get the chop quite often.

Its been discussed on the now closed thread that I started that the Didcot stoppers are terminated at Reading in times of disruption as part of their contingency plans.
The cancellation Didcot stoppers cause a major headache for those trying to connect to Thames Valley lines.

3 times this week I've had to leave work earlier to catch an earlier overcrowded EL train to connect with Thames Valley branch. Therefore no delay repay due as although my journeys took 45 minutes longer than they should, I left early and arrived at normal time.

 

[The exile]

Its been discussed on the now closed thread that I started that the Didcot stoppers are terminated at Reading in times of disruption as part of their contingency plans.
The cancellation Didcot stoppers cause a major headache for those trying to connect to Thames Valley lines.

3 times this week I've had to leave work earlier to catch an earlier overcrowded EL train to connect with Thames Valley branch. Therefore no delay repay due as although my journeys took 45 minutes longer than they should, I left early and arrived at normal time.

Pity the poor people trying to get to or from Chippenham - blockage east of Reading sometimes means nothing moves east of Bristol.

 

[Reliablebeam]

Its been discussed on the now closed thread that I started that the Didcot stoppers are terminated at Reading in times of disruption as part of their contingency plans.
The cancellation Didcot stoppers cause a major headache for those trying to connect to Thames Valley lines.

3 times this week I've had to leave work earlier to catch an earlier overcrowded EL train to connect with Thames Valley branch. Therefore no delay repay due as although my journeys took 45 minutes longer than they should, I left early and arrived at normal time.

Thanks for the information, missed that! It's often this kind of response to the problem that makes your day worse. The Thames Valley stations don't seem to be a priority for GWR and unlike Reading-ites we don't have other options to get going. @The exile I feel sorry for those of you down that way, I've seen the disruption recently!

 

[Horizon22]

They've been taking mid-week extended late night blocks since earlier this year (Project Brunel)

Even then, without hyperbole, there seem to be daily points failures, axle counter issues, OLE problems, rail defects and the new flavour of the month is vegetation obscuring signals leading to two track railway for hours awaiting response staff. Spring wasn't soo bad, but it feels like late 2023 all over again! Two of the big recent disruptions have very sadly been fatalities which of course doesn't help matters nor the overall impression of the GWML and Thames Valley section being unreliable for GWR, Elizabeth line and freight alike.

The ORR report published in May very clearly spelt out the problems, including the finding they weren't confident NR Western had a long-term strategy outside of the short-term work (which again hasn't achieved much seemingly) of Project Brunel.

 

[MasterPhillips]

Thanks for the information, missed that! It's often this kind of response to the problem that makes your day worse. The Thames Valley stations don't seem to be a priority for GWR and unlike Reading-ites we don't have other options to get going. @The exile I feel sorry for those of you down that way, I've seen the disruption recently!

it’s not that the Thames Valley is not a priority. It’s just the contingency plans agreed with Network Rail, GWR, Elizabeth Line and Heathrow express says the Didcot to Paddington semi fast services should terminate at Reading if there is disruption between Paddington and Reading.

Often the Newbury to Paddingtons are also terminated, and if its really bad the Paddington to Oxfords and Paddington to Cardiffs are cancelled completly.

 

[irish_rail]

it’s not that the Thames Valley is not a priority. It’s just the contingency plans agreed with Network Rail, GWR, Elizabeth Line and Heathrow express says the Didcot to Paddington semi fast services should terminate at Reading if there is disruption between Paddington and Reading.

Often the Newbury to Paddingtons are also terminated, and if its really bad the Paddington to Oxfords and Paddington to Cardiffs are cancelled completly.

The ex Penzance/Plymouths are usually the first long distance to go in my experience terminating at Reading at the first hint of disruption.

 

[Horizon22]

The ex Penzance/Plymouths are usually the first long distance to go in my experience terminating at Reading at the first hint of disruption.

That may be on a case-by-case basis due to extreme late running, but it is certainly not part of the contingency plans listed above.