What’s causing delays in the South West ?

[vlvstvir]

Not sure if this has been talked about in other thread - but why are south west services, particularly with GWR around Taunton-Bristol, so bad at the moment?

I regularly commute along this line, and over the past few months services have noticeably deteriorated - whether it’s delays and cancellations caused by train crew problems, general services being cancelled, last minute, or problems with track infrastructure.

Is it just a coincidence that so many issues are compounding?

 

[Deafdoggie]

I was travelling around a bit this weekend & Monday morning at Paddington was chaos for no apparent reason.
Sets were coming empty off depot late, and the reason given was "the train was late leaving the depot"
There was a Carmarthen train that was late in empty, but (just) managed to get boarded (after a scrum through the ticket barriers) on time. They even locked the doors. Then it just sat there. They ended up opening the doors again.
More trains came in empty late off depot, but noone was allowed on the platform till the train had arrived thus creating crushing at the barriers. Some of these trains came in, loaded and left whilst the Carmarthen train still sat there.
The passengers on the concourse joked that whoever was controlling the shambles had clearly had a heavy weekend and was still hungover!
I don't know what perceived risk the railway has about letting people onto an empty platform to wait for an empty train, but the actual risk is injury or death from crushing at the barriers. Sadly, it will take a major incident before it dawns on anyone. The railways are very good at learning from mistakes, but pretty hopeless at preventing them.
In short, GWR seem to have an issue with organising things, and this is causing the delays and problems.

 

[irish_rail]

I was travelling around a bit this weekend & Monday morning at Paddington was chaos for no apparent reason.
Sets were coming empty off depot late, and the reason given was "the train was late leaving the depot"
There was a Carmarthen train that was late in empty, but (just) managed to get boarded (after a scrum through the ticket barriers) on time. They even locked the doors. Then it just sat there. They ended up opening the doors again.
More trains came in empty late off depot, but noone was allowed on the platform till the train had arrived thus creating crushing at the barriers. Some of these trains came in, loaded and left whilst the Carmarthen train still sat there.
The passengers on the concourse joked that whoever was controlling the shambles had clearly had a heavy weekend and was still hungover!
I don't know what perceived risk the railway has about letting people onto an empty platform to wait for an empty train, but the actual risk is injury or death from crushing at the barriers. Sadly, it will take a major incident before it dawns on anyone. The railways are very good at learning from mistakes, but pretty hopeless at preventing them.
In short, GWR seem to have an issue with organising things, and this is causing the delays and problems.

There does seem to be very tight turnarounds at Paddington , and as soon as the incoming train is 15 or so late, it causes an issue. I guess its a symptom of the set shortages GWR is suffering. Meanwhile, other TOCs have sets spare as back up. In good old BR times, the stock would be used where its needed, regardless of who's colour scheme is painted on the side.

 

[Master29]

Not sure if this has been talked about in other thread - but why are south west services, particularly with GWR around Taunton-Bristol, so bad at the moment?

I regularly commute along this line, and over the past few months services have noticeably deteriorated - whether it’s delays and cancellations caused by train crew problems, general services being cancelled, last minute, or problems with track infrastructure.

Is it just a coincidence that so many issues are compounding?

This has been talked about on recent threads.

 

[kentrailman]

Yet again, a "fault with the signalling system in the Southall area" is causing issues today.

 

[Taplowgreen]

Reading - Paddington has been shambolic all week due to signal problems.

Yet again, a "fault with the signalling system in the Southall area" is causing issues today.