XC Why Don't you care about south Wales? (Cancellations)!

[Envoy]

I see that many Cross Country services on the Nottingham to Cardiff run are not going south of Birmingham today (11 Dec 2023). Cancellations on this route seem all too common. This leaves TfW to pick up double loads between Cheltenham/Gloucester and Newport/Cardiff - unless people go via Bristol Parkway - which also increases the loadings on trains to/from Bristol.

Since TfW transferred their 170’s to East Midland Railway, they have tended to use 2 coach Class 150’s on the Cheltenham to south Wales route which just compounds the problem.

Something is clearly lacking in the running of Cross Country Trains.

Click the following link to see Worcestershire Parkway today and all the cancelled trains on the Nottingham to Cardiff route. (GWR not looking good either).

Realtime Trains | Departures from Worcestershire Parkway all day on 11/12/2023

Train information at Worcestershire Parkway all day on 11/12/2023. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[33017]

I see that many Cross Country services on the Nottingham to Cardiff run are not going south of Birmingham today (11 Dec 2023). Cancellations on this route seem all too common. This leaves TfW to pick up double loads between Cheltenham/Gloucester and Newport/Cardiff - unless people go via Bristol Parkway - which also increases the loadings on trains to/from Bristol.

Since TfW transferred their 170’s to East Midland Railway, they have tended to use 2 coach Class 150’s on the Cheltenham to south Wales route which just compounds the problem.

Something is clearly lacking in the running of Cross Country Trains.

Click the following link to see Worcestershire Parkway today and all the cancelled trains on the Nottingham to Cardiff route. (GWR not looking good either).

Realtime Trains | Departures from Worcestershire Parkway all day on 11/12/2023

Train information at Worcestershire Parkway all day on 11/12/2023. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Looks like that doesn’t show all the cancellations (an RTT weakness), as there are four cancelled out of Cardiff but only two in.

 

[Jason White]

Having caught the 1114 service from Worcestershire Parkway to Nottingham this morning I can confirm that it was not a pleasant experience. Many cancellations leaving WOP with a 2 hourly service. Over 100 people at WOP trying to cram themselves into a 2 car 170. I think XC is being managed by a bunch of amateurs. At least people at CNM, GCR, NWP and CDF have an alternative. People at WOP have to wait ages for the next service. The long distance services have not had special stop orders either making the situation worse. Wish me luck in getting home tonight!

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Yes, CrossCountry axe Cardiff at the earliest sign of any disruption. Its a very unreliable service from all three operators at Central.

 

[Dr Day]

One of the key issues on the Cardiff-Cheltenham corridor as a broadly 60-40 split between XC and TfW at the key stations is that it is considered a low priority for XC as TfW duplicate the route, yet it is also a low priority for TfW as XC also cover the route (albeit not all intermediate stops). Some folk will also say TfW prioritise services to Welsh stations rather than those serving English stations, particularly outside the busier Manchester and Birmingham markets, although I'm not sure in practice politics does have any bearing on what can be difficult operational decisions.

Things appeared slightly better when both TOCs were in Arriva hands (certainly with respect to things like coordinated rail replacement buses, and special stop orders) but now there appears to be less evidence of communication or coordination between the two operators, particularly in times of disruption.

 

[Watershed]

Looks like that doesn’t show all the cancellations (an RTT weakness), as there are four cancelled out of Cardiff but only two in.

I imagine some of the trains will have been P-coded, i.e. cancelled before 10pm the night before and thus deleted from the system as if they had never been planned to run. This dishonest practice is sadly commonplace across quite a lot of TOCs.

 

[JD2168]

It was not just the service to Cardiff that had Cross Country cancellations today, The Reading to Newcastle via Birmingham, Sheffield & Doncaster was mostly cancelled today leaving an hourly service for the remainder of the route.

 

[duffield]

While the Nottingham to Birmingham only service was cancelled due to the Birmingham platform works, my sister has been getting a reliable connection onto the Cardiff to Nottingham train at Cheltenham on her way from Devon to Nottingham. I'll have to remind her it will now be cancelled half the time again like it was before the Birmingham works, and she'll need to make sure she has permission to stay on the long distance XC service until Birmingham or Derby when this happens (as both services are XC this should be a formality but with two advance tickets, split at Cheltenham, it's best to be absolutely sure).