Most unreliable service ex London.

[irish_rail]

What is the least reliable "intercity " service out of London in terms of its always cancelled or departs late?

I'd plump for 1c89, the 1635 London to Plymouth. Realtime trains shows it departed Paddington on time just once in the past week, and my own experience in the past is that it ALWAYS departs late or is cancelled, indeed I have NEVER experienced it departing ontime.

In the case of c89, it is the fact two 5 car sets join at Paddington (one ex Exeter and one ex Oxford) that generally cause the delay or cancellation.

Anyone else got any contenders for least reliable intercity service?

 

[317362]

That gets my vote as a frequent user who can't get an earlier one but is an hour later home if this is 10 late

 

[Boff]

Avanti's probably the worst out of London, pretty much half of their Glasgow/Edinburgh services are cancelled past Preston - in fact here's a weekend one that has managed to only be cancelled 56% of the time!
https://www.ontimetrains.co.uk/journeys/EUS/GLC/18:30/23:12/VT;dayOfWeekRange=Weekends;dateRange=12W

 

[irish_rail]

That gets my vote as a frequent user who can't get an earlier one but is an hour later home if this is 10 late

12 percent departed and arrived on time! Wow that really is as bad as I feared. And it inevitably delays the following 1c90 which follows it most of the way to Plymouth. Time someone stepped in and sorted the issues with this service.

 

[LiftFan]

I often find 1J93 ex Paddington is often one of the first to be cancelled with staff shortages or other disruption.

 

[FGW_DID]

Time someone stepped in and sorted the issues with this service.

Have you actually flagged it up to the performance team or just moaned about it on t’internet?

 

[irish_rail]

Have you actually flagged it up to the performance team or just moaned about it on t’internet?

Yes it has been flagged to control, though I suspect they are too busy to do anything. Also, surely the "performance team" should be aware how problematic this service is?!

 

[800301]

What is the least reliable "intercity " service out of London in terms of its always cancelled or departs late?

I'd plump for 1c89, the 1635 London to Plymouth. Realtime trains shows it departed Paddington on time just once in the past week, and my own experience in the past is that it ALWAYS departs late or is cancelled, indeed I have NEVER experienced it departing ontime.

In the case of c89, it is the fact two 5 car sets join at Paddington (one ex Exeter and one ex Oxford) that generally cause the delay or cancellation.

Anyone else got any contenders for least reliable intercity service?

I don’t think that allowing 2 sets to be coupled, cleaned and turned around in 20 mins at quite a busy time, that are frequently late into Pad in the first place was the best idea and I was hoping it would have been changed in the last timetable change. It was cancelled Tuesday after both units coupled mechanically but not electronically, they then failed to uncouple resulting in them having to be manually uncoupled after which it was decided best for both units to be returned to North Pole for investigations, even when there aren't issues coupling, the trains that form it are frequently late into Pad

 

[zwk500]

12 percent departed and arrived on time! Wow that really is as bad as I feared. And it inevitably delays the following 1c90 which follows it most of the way to Plymouth. Time someone stepped in and sorted the issues with this service.

What would you propose be done?

 

[A S Leib]

I don't think it's quite what you're looking for, but the 18:04 to Brussels has only departed less than 10 minutes late 50% of the time in the past twelve weeks. It does have the excuse of passengers being delayed and turning up for border control with less than an hour to spare though – I've got to border control at Brussels for the last train of the day to London after it was supposed to have left and still got on – and it hasn't been cancelled at all in that time frame.

 

[irish_rail]

What would you propose be done?

That's above my pay grade isn't it, but plenty of people are paid a lot of money to come up with innovative solutions to problems such as this. It isn't acceptable that GWR customers are frequently delayed on this train (and let's not forget the 1703 departure behind that inevitably gets severely delayed by the 1635 being late).
Whether it could depart a few minutes earlier (all of the xx35 south west "stoppers" tend to get caught up by the following xx03 ) so maybe finding a new path at say xx28 or similar - off top of my head I can't remember what time other services leave Padd. That would make a very tangible difference to all west country fasts that wouldn't then inevitably be delayed around Castle Cary.

Specifically on 1c89, the most obvious solution would be to find a 9 car from somewhere and run it as such , but this would cause a set imbalance at Exeter where it is booked to divide, so as I say, it needs someone who is good at this kind of thing to come up with a way around it somehow. I suppose it could potentially be formed of a 10 car set that arrives as a 10 car set as opposed to needing to couple up in Paddington.

 

[317362]

Yesterday and today, 1C89 has been formed 1x9 instead of 2x5 and has been fairly punctual as a result..credit if something has been changed from this user

 

[43055]

Doesn't look like it happens now but one of the London - Nottingham services only had a 10 min turn around at St Pancras at one point, so can't imagine that one was on time most of the time. Think it was either the 1305 or 1335.

 

[irish_rail]

Yesterday and today, 1C89 has been formed 1x9 instead of 2x5 and has been fairly punctual as a result..credit if something has been changed from this user

I imagine it's more likely temporary due to the block between Bristol and Weston-super-Mare changing the set diagrams a bit, but we can live in hope! Rather highlights the problems with portion working. I feel very sorry for the Swansea route these days which more often than not only gets 5 car trains instead of the booked 10. Nothing will change of course. Whenever I mention a shuffle on here I soon get shouted down by those that think it would be sacrilege for LNER to take a fairer share of the unwanted 5 car fleet,but I'm getting off topic now and will shut up!

 

[Penmorfa]

The Avanti Euston to Wrexham service runs regularly but very often ends up at Holyhead

 

[Horizon22]

I often find 1J93 ex Paddington is often one of the first to be cancelled with staff shortages or other disruption.

That and that once a day Banbury service.

Specifically on 1c89, the most obvious solution would be to find a 9 car from somewhere and run it as such , but this would cause a set imbalance at Exeter where it is booked to divide, so as I say, it needs someone who is good at this kind of thing to come up with a way around it somehow. I suppose it could potentially be formed of a 10 car set that arrives as a 10 car set as opposed to needing to couple up in Paddington.

"Find a a 9 car from somewhere" being the crux of the problem in the evening peak!

Paddington has a couple of journeys that are essentially peak extras and don't have long diagrams - these will always be the first to go if something is cancelled.

 

[dk1]

The Avanti Euston to Wrexham service runs regularly but very often ends up at Holyhead

It splits at Chester. If only one unit available it would be the Holyhead. The Wrexham portion is regularly cancelled due to crewing issues.

 

[robbeech]

How has the LNER evening Sunderland service been doing? Many a time that only ran beyond Newcastle once in a week.
Can never remember if it was crew hours / locations or signaller hours that meant it only had a spare 10 minutes or so before it had to be terminated short.

 

[A S Leib]

How has the LNER evening Sunderland service been doing? Many a time that only ran beyond Newcastle once in a week.
Can never remember if it was crew hours / locations or signaller hours that meant it only had a spare 10 minutes or so before it had to be terminated short.

55% of services ran, 17% ran on time, 48% within five minutes at King's Cross. For the 18:23 via Hartlepool, 67% ran and only 33% were within fifteen minutes of being on time.

 

[gazthomas]

It splits at Chester. If only one unit available it would be the Holyhead. The Wrexham portion is regularly cancelled due to crewing issues.

Avanti in North Wales is a disaster, I find myself going on Facebook to ask for contingency seat reservations from Crewe to Euston as quite often the North Wales service will be cancelled. What's more gaulling is when the cancelled Voyager flies by ECS

 

[dk1]

Avanti in North Wales is a disaster, I find myself going on Facebook to ask for contingency seat reservations from Crewe to Euston as quite often the North Wales service will be cancelled. What's more gaulling is when the cancelled Voyager flies by ECS

Yes that’s quite common with the traincrew shortages. Better to get the unit where it should be to restart the service en-route or for its next working. The driver would need to do the same.

 

[Jimini]

Yes that’s quite common with the traincrew shortages. Better to get the unit where it should be to restart the service en-route or for its next working. The driver would need to do the same.

Doesn’t half sting a bit though when it happens!

 

[dk1]

Doesn’t half sting a bit though when it happens!

Best not to look at RTTs lol

 

[OneOfThe48]

When Thameslink ran to Littlehampton that was surely the least reliable service.

I think it went about two months at one point without actually reaching Littlehampton.

 

[CarrotPie]

When Thameslink ran to Littlehampton that was surely the least reliable service.

I think it went about two months at one point without actually reaching Littlehampton.

So what difference does the withdrawal of it make then?

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

Avanti London - Holyhead are shocking some as low as 13%

 

[OneOfThe48]

So what difference does the withdrawal of it make then?

They switched the service over to Southern (now runs from London Bridge instead of up the Thameslink Core) so now it actually runs.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Specifically on 1c89, the most obvious solution would be to find a 9 car from somewhere and run it as such , but this would cause a set imbalance at Exeter where it is booked to divide, so as I say, it needs someone who is good at this kind of thing to come up with a way around it somehow. I suppose it could potentially be formed of a 10 car set that arrives as a 10 car set as opposed to needing to couple up in Paddington.

There aren't enough 9 cars unfortunately - 35 9 cars compared with 57 5 cars.

0648 Cheltenham to Paddington is booked a 10 car, but the number of times it's been reduced to a 5 car is beyond any levels imaginable. It's not so bad on a Monday or a Friday, where a lot of people still tend to work from home in the wake of the pandemic, but Tuesday to Thursday is a really busy day, the latter in particular, to the point where its been recorded as full and standing from Kemble. It's been reported to control, but there simply isn't enough that can be done now that the 2+4s are on their way out.

 

[irish_rail]

There aren't enough 9 cars unfortunately - 35 9 cars compared with 57 5 cars.

0648 Cheltenham to Paddington is booked a 10 car, but the number of times it's been reduced to a 5 car is beyond any levels imaginable. It's not so bad on a Monday or a Friday, where a lot of people still tend to work from home in the wake of the pandemic, but Tuesday to Thursday is a really busy day, the latter in particular, to the point where its been recorded as full and standing from Kemble. It's been reported to control, but there simply isn't enough that can be done now that the 2+4s are on their way out.

I'm aware there isn't enough 9 cars on GWR, which Is why I'm advocating either building some additional carriages to bring some 5s up to 9, or take some of LNERs 9s in exchange for a few 5s in a "levelling up" exercise. I hear on another thread LNER are looking at dropping Glasgow and Stirling trains, so maybe they have a little excess capacity that could be shared ? I also am fully aware that none of the above will ever happen for a multitude of reasons, I am just pointing out what should happen in a fairer world.

 

[CarrotPie]

I also am fully aware that none of the above will ever happen for a multitude of reasons, I am just pointing out what should happen in a fairer world.

In a fairer world, the Azums would be loco-hauled like the MkIVs, and BREL could knock up some extra carriages in three months, but that of course wouldn't be necessary, because enough had been built originally...