WMR Snow Hill reduced timetable

[Nova1]

Changes to Snow Hill line services from Mon 2 August | West Midlands Railway

www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk

Not seen anyone post about this yet. WMR have introduced a reduced timetable on the Snow Hill lines because of coronavirus.

Some of these changes are significant - down to 1tph between Birmingham Snow Hill and Stratford-Upon-Avon (only via Henley-In-Arden/Whitlocks End), no service via Dorridge (bus replacement), along with some other strange random gaps in the timetable elsewhere.

Also ticket acceptance with Chiltern for solihull area stations, and Chiltern adding some additional stops in the solihull area, as well as ticket acceptance on X20 for Stratford Parkway and Solihull stations.

 

[Sprinter107]

Its worth checking the times before you travel. There is only one WM train per hour off peak for Dorridge. And that once per hour train doesn't stop at Small Heathband Tyseley in one direction. There is also a 2 hour gap for WM trains at Dorridge for Birmingham early evening, also the same gap on the Shirley line in one direction, so its worth consulting the timetable before travel.

 

[DavidGrain]

WMR have acquired Chiltern's Class 172s. Pity they could not borrow some Chiltern drivers to drive them. Chiltern Drivers have route knowledge from Kidderminster to Dorridge.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

WMR have acquired Chiltern's Class 172s. Pity they could not borrow some Chiltern drivers to drive them. Chiltern Drivers have route knowledge from Kidderminster to Dorridge.

Chiltern are hardly blessed with spare drivers or units. However (as mentioned earlier) Chiltern are helping a bit with additional stops. Widney Manor now has a better London service than some cities.

 

[peteb]

Horrendous service this morning, some stations left with a less than 2 hour frequency service. Just stopped at Hagley, no more Birmingham bound trains till well after 12 o clock and Blakedown seems to be missed out even by those trains running. Kidderminster to Worcester bad, 1014, 1040 and 1114 all cancelled.

 

[172101]

Chiltern are hardly blessed with spare drivers or units. However (as mentioned earlier) Chiltern are helping a bit with additional stops. Widney Manor now has a better London service than some cities.

Chiltern have plenty of spare units 9/165 & 8/168 on a weekday, but the drivers may be a problem.

 

[PHILIPE]

Chiltern have plenty of spare units 9/165 & 8/168 on a weekday, but the drivers may be a problem.

They are the problem

 

[barbette165]

Just curious, ignoring Chiltern's lack of available crew, would Chiltern drivers be allowed to do Stratford-on-Avon to Birmingham via Solihull? Would they be disallowed because they don't normally do the northern bound curve at Hatton?

 

[Nova1]

Just curious, ignoring Chiltern's lack of available crew, would Chiltern drivers be allowed to do Stratford-on-Avon to Birmingham via Solihull? Would they be disallowed because they don't normally do the northern bound curve at Hatton

I used to see during disruption some chiltern trains divert north on the loop, but I haven’t seen this in a very long time.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

Just curious, ignoring Chiltern's lack of available crew, would Chiltern drivers be allowed to do Stratford-on-Avon to Birmingham via Solihull? Would they be disallowed because they don't normally do the northern bound curve at Hatton?

Chiltern have used the north curve at Hatton for fifteen years. There is an ECS move (currently 5D10) from Moor Street which has run since Chiltern started serving Stratford.

 

[NewClee153]

stations.


View attachment 100805

Yup, it’s an absolute disgrace, they can’t even run this timetable without cancellations.

They’re blaming covid - which is valid - but fail to acknowledge the staffing issues they had prior to covid

 

[Nova1]

They’re blaming covid - which is valid - but fail to acknowledge the staffing issues they had prior to covid

These staffing issues go long back, even into the previous franchise and it's been getting really awful recently, I can't even really rely on the trains anymore around here

 

[NewClee153]

Changes to Snow Hill line services from Mon 2 August | West Midlands Railway

www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk

Not seen anyone post about this yet. WMR have introduced a reduced timetable on the Snow Hill lines because of coronavirus.

Some of these changes are significant - down to 1tph between Birmingham Snow Hill and Stratford-Upon-Avon (only via Henley-In-Arden/Whitlocks End), no service via Dorridge (bus replacement), along with some other strange random gaps in the timetable elsewhere.

Also ticket acceptance with Chiltern for solihull area stations, and Chiltern adding some additional stops in the solihull area, as well as ticket acceptance on X20 for Stratford Parkway and Solihull stations.


View attachment 100805

These staffing issues go long back, even into the previous franchise and it's been getting really awful recently, I can't even really rely on the trains anymore around here

I just don’t use the Snow Hill line anymore, it’s entirely unusable

Luckily my local station is Smethwick Galton Bridge so I just use Lower Level services

 

[DavidGrain]

Yesterday because I wished to go to Birmingham International, I drove to Sandwell and Dudley rather than my local station on the Snow Hill lines. At Sandwell & Dudley I was met with a hadwritten board listing cancelled Avanti trains but fortunately not the one I was aiming for. On returing in the eveing I heard the cancellation of an Avanti train becausse of shoratge of crew. A friend who was on New Street during the week said that Cross City trains were also being cancelled.

 

[NewClee153]

I’ve tried contacting customer services asking for some more clarity on how long this is going to go on for, probably to no avail whatsoever.

I can understand cancellations and revised timetables, what I can’t understand is the lack of transparency or an end date in sight

 

[Nova1]

I’ve tried contacting customer services asking for some more clarity on how long this is going to go on for, probably to no avail whatsoever.

I can understand cancellations and revised timetables, what I can’t understand is the lack of transparency or an end date in sight

They are having a pretty awful shortage of train crew, and it’s badly affecting all WMR services.

I guess they don’t really know when the issue will go away. The logical answer would be “when coronavirus goes away” (who even knows when that will happen) or if they suddenly manage to finish training a ton of train crew.

Today there’s been a large amount of cancellations in the evening between Snow Hill and Worcester. Lots of rail replacement buses. I worry that they will have to reduce service further.

I was travelling to Stratford-Upon-Avon today from Worcester and boarded a train at Stourbridge Junction that was advertised and shown as going all the way, until suddenly they announced the train would be terminating short at Snow Hill… now waiting at Moor Street for the next train

 

[DavidGrain]

I’ve tried contacting customer services asking for some more clarity on how long this is going to go on for, probably to no avail whatsoever.

I can understand cancellations and revised timetables, what I can’t understand is the lack of transparency or an end date in sight

I am told that it is not just on the Snow Hill lines that these cancellations are taking place. If you give them an end date to Covid, I am sure they could tell you when the new drivers will have been trained and when the existing drivers will have been trained on the class 196s and the class 730s.

 

[NewClee153]

I am told that it is not just on the Snow Hill lines that these cancellations are taking place. If you give them an end date to Covid, I am sure they could tell you when the new drivers will have been trained and when the existing drivers will have been trained on the class 196s and the class 730s.

I'm talking specifically about the Snow Hill lines, I understand the staffing issues they’re having, which is why the previous timetable was 4tph, instead of 6.

But they’ve reduced it even further to 3tph, I spoke to them directly on Twitter and they said the reason for the reduced timetable (from 2nd August) is due to the amount of train crew having to self isolate - the rules on self isolation are changing next Monday, but the timetable isn’t?

They are having a pretty awful shortage of train crew, and it’s badly affecting all WMR services.

I guess they don’t really know when the issue will go away. The logical answer would be “when coronavirus goes away” (who even knows when that will happen) or if they suddenly manage to finish training a ton of train crew.

Today there’s been a large amount of cancellations in the evening between Snow Hill and Worcester. Lots of rail replacement buses. I worry that they will have to reduce service further.

I was travelling to Stratford-Upon-Avon today from Worcester and boarded a train at Stourbridge Junction that was advertised and shown as going all the way, until suddenly they announced the train would be terminating short at Snow Hill… now waiting at Moor Street for the next train

It’s just completely unusable at this point. I’m fortunate that I have the option of working from home, it would be completely unfeasible for me to attempt to use the service

I can see further cancellations leading to more infuriating passengers, loss of trust and a further decrease in passenger numbers.

I'm not silly, I know the long term staffing issues are ongoing, but I was under the impression that the recent reduction in timetable was related to staff having to self isolate?

 

[Nova1]

Service yesterday was really unacceptable south of Birmingham Snow Hill. A gap of two hours in both directions, with no ticket acceptance on buses or any rail replacement transport sourced. (screenshot of trains at Henley-In-Arden)

 

[DavidGrain]

I went into Birmingham this afternoon. No problems going in early afternoon. However my train at 4.24 back was packed and I was standing. I had to take my mask off because the train was so hot and stuffy and I could not breave. However standing in the doorway I held my mask covering one side of my face and turned my head to the window.

 

[barbette165]

Real Times Trains is showing that the previous train at 4:02 was cancelled so there was a 50 minute gap since the last service at 3:33. The problems are made worse because they haven't recast the timetable, they've just removed diagrams, so the intervals have gone from every 10 minutes to 10,20,30, so even without any cancellations, trains will not be loaded evenly.
Another problem seems to be that unit availability seems to have got worse. So even though they've gone down to 3 trains per hour, they're still having to to short form journeys.

 

[Nova1]

And again, another day of a large amount of cancellations. This station (Henley-In-Arden) only gets 1tph, to have this many cancellations is horrible. All are cancelled due to "an issue with train crew" or "unavailability of train crew"

 

[james60059]

Same with the Nuneaton - Leamington line, been a fair few occasions lately when services have been cancelled which leaves the line with no train whatsoever (currently 1tp2h), only saving grace then is the RRB which fills in the alternate gaps.

Anyway back on topic, I was participating in a photo charter yesterday which seen all of us meet at Becketts Farm, near Wythall Station but seeing the issues that was happening with WMT, I took the option of driving there instead of using the train.