No GWR service on two lines this Sunday

[Doctor Fegg]

GWR have given up on the two Cotswold lines this Sunday - North (Oxford-Worcester) and South (Swindon-Gloucester).

https://www.gwr.com/strike

Sunday 31 July​

Trains will continue to be disrupted. Please make alternative travel arrangements and only travel if absolutely necessary.

There will be no service on the following routes:

• Swindon to Gloucester
• Oxford to Worcester/Hereford

That means no trains all day from a bunch of significant stations (Stroud, Evesham, Pershore, Kemble, Moreton-in-Marsh, Charlbury, Hanborough etc.) and no London service from several cities (Worcester, Gloucester, Hereford, and albeit not a city, Cheltenham).

My memory may be playing up but I haven't known this in 20+ years of living on the (North) Cotswold Line: no infrastructure problems, no strike, the TOC just deciding not to run a service because it's allocated its staff elsewhere.

What gives?

 

[Mag_seven]

Simple explanation - some GWR drivers are having the weekend off. Saturday on strike, Sunday not volunteering for overtime as Sundays are not part of the working week.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Sure, that's a simple explanation for GWR cancellations. It isn't an explanation for why GWR has chosen to entirely nuke the service on these two lines rather than running (say) a 1tp3h service in lieu of, say, a couple of Bristol services.

 

[Kite159]

You would hope they would have ticket acceptance on any local buses

 

[Mag_seven]

It isn't an explanation for why GWR has chosen to entirely nuke the service on these two lines rather than running (say) a 1tp3h service.

I assume they want to concentrate resources on the "main lines".

You would hope they would have ticket acceptance on any local buses

Indeed and as Sunday is not a strike day they should at the very least be providing limited road transport over the routes concerned.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

You would hope they would have ticket acceptance on any local buses

I like the notion that we might have a Sunday bus service! But nope. If I'm going anywhere on Sunday it'll have to be by bike.

Absolutely no signs of RRBs having been laid on, either.

 

[Caleb2010]

As I have always understood it RRB is sourced by the TOC when network rail requires its infrastructure for maintenance!

Emergency RRB (erail) when an incident occurs requiring the emergency movement of people!

However, if the TOC decides not to run a service and they can’t organise RRB’s there’s not much else they can do!

Up here in Scotrail land it’s a regular occurrence for even E-rail RRB’s to be non existent!

 

[Starmill]

As I have always understood it RRB is sourced by the TOC when network rail requires its infrastructure for maintenance!

Emergency RRB (erail) when an incident occurs requiring the emergency movement of people!

Network Rail cover the reasonable costs of road transport if they close a route for engineering work meaning that the planned passenger service cannot run; perhaps this is what you're thinking of.

However, if the TOC decides not to run a service and they can’t organise RRB’s there’s not much else they can do!

In theory they're obliged to provide replacement transport to customers who've already booked. This could be another train or another operator's train, or a bus or a taxi, and it might not be confirmed until the day of travel.

 

[II]

They very busy and popular Oxford<>Paddington tourism route being worked by an hourly 5-car IET today. Surely at the very least a 9-car could have been provided?

Chiltern's awful Oxford<>Marylebone offering at weekends these days does little to help.

 

[Kite159]

They very busy and popular Oxford<>Paddington tourism route being worked by an hourly 5-car IET today. Surely at the very least a 9-car could have been provided?

Chiltern's awful Oxford<>Marylebone offering at weekends these days does little to help.

Agreed there

GWR could even remove the Slough call on a Sunday when they are overcrowded due to being 5 coach units. Might upset some genuine passengers wanting to change for the Windsor branch, but for the greater good those passengers can change at Reading for a stopper

I did notice GWR were running extra 387s to Swindon around 3pm, even a 12 coach set.

 

[Weekender]

GWR have no interest in either of the Cotswold lines and would quite happy to see either or both close.
The Sunday service on the South Cotswold line has been a total lottery for at least the last 7 years and the Hereford line doesn’t fare much better.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Turns out there was a shuttle service on the South Cotswolds today, despite the GWR website claiming there wouldn't be! Nothing on the North Cots.

 

[pdeaves]

GWR have no interest in either of the Cotswold lines and would quite happy to see either or both close.

That is not true.

 

[DaventryRabbit]

Not really a surprise
I always thought that once England got to the Women's Euros Final that many crew who where rostered on lates on Sunday would be asking for a shift swap or simply withdraw their offer to work so as to be in front of the TV at 1700..
Not just on GW but Countrywide. Am sure there was the same problem when England's Men got to the Final last Summer..

 

[Weekender]

That is not true.

So why do you think the weekend cancellations have been so high for so many years on these routes?

 

[HamworthyGoods]

So why do you think the weekend cancellations have been so high for so many years on these routes?

Because there have been ongoing traincrew shortages.

 

[pdeaves]

So why do you think the weekend cancellations have been so high for so many years on these routes?

There is a massive difference between 'having no interest and be happy to see the line close' and having to make difficult decisions to the overall benefit (or least disbenefit) for everyone. How the situation came up is a whole different thing, but it is not indicative of disinterest in particular lines or wishing them closed.

 

[Kingham West]

GWR have no interest in either of the Cotswold lines and would quite happy to see either or both close.
The Sunday service on the South Cotswold line has been a total lottery for at least the last 7 years and the Hereford line doesn’t fare much better.

The service ( except today ) is fantastic on the North Cotswold , best ever and very reliable .

 

[jimm]

GWR have no interest in either of the Cotswold lines and would quite happy to see either or both close.
The Sunday service on the South Cotswold line has been a total lottery for at least the last 7 years and the Hereford line doesn’t fare much better.

You must be in a parallel universe. Ever since the GWR Worcester train crew depot opened, services seven days a week have been far more robust and reliable than they were when the Cotswold Line had to rely on drivers from depots elsewhere to operate the trains.

 

[davetheguard]

Ever since the GWR Worcester train crew depot opened, services seven days a week have been far more robust and reliable than they were when the Cotswold Line had to rely on drivers from depots elsewhere to operate the trains.

Indeed, no turning late running down trains short at Moreton or Evesham when the train crew have to get to Worcester!

As a matter of interest, I wonder how many drivers and guards do GWR now have at Worcester? And did some (or all) of the existing WMR drivers TUPE across, or did GWR create new posts open for drivers to apply for?

 

[Birmingham]

When there were also no services between Worcester and Oxford (the North Cotswolds line) on Sunday 31st July in the same circumstances, there were local instructions at Worcester Foregate Street and Worcester Shrub Hill of alternative routes to London. Curiously, they advised completely different routes: Worcester Foregate Street advised to change at Birmingham Moor Street, while Worcester Shrub Hill advised to change at Bristol Parkway!

 

[TurboMan]

As a matter of interest, I wonder how many drivers and guards do GWR now have at Worcester? And did some (or all) of the existing WMR drivers TUPE across, or did GWR create new posts open for drivers to apply for?

About 40 drivers, around the same number of guards.

It's a few years since the depot was set up, but I don't think TUPE was involved. It was set up as a new GWR driver depot, not as a takeover of an existing WMR depot as far as I remember. It was mostly drivers from other GWR depots who transferred.

 

[davetheguard]

About 40 drivers, around the same number of guards.

It's a few years since the depot was set up, but I don't think TUPE was involved. It was set up as a new GWR driver depot, not as a takeover of an existing WMR depot as far as I remember. It was mostly drivers from other GWR depots who transferred.

Thanks for the reply. I always thought at the time of privatisation, that the use of another TOC's drivers "bought in" rather than their own on the Cotswold Line was a bit unusual. There is/was? a similar set up at Redhill on the North Downs route.

I suppose with the enormous growth in the train service over the years on the Cotswold Line, the opening of a drivers' depot at Worcester is now viable, where it wasn't before.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

There is a massive difference between 'having no interest and be happy to see the line close' and having to make difficult decisions to the overall benefit (or least disbenefit) for everyone. How the situation came up is a whole different thing, but it is not indicative of disinterest in particular lines or wishing them closed.

Indeed. GWR has a contract to deliver the North Cotswold service as specified by DfT.
End of story.
GWR's "interest" does not come into it, though they will be measured on their performance.
Any service development (closure is hardly likely) is also down to the DfT with local interests in mind.

 

[II]

Same again today for the North Cotswold Line. No services from London are going beyond Oxford (which are once again being provided by only a single 5-car unit). There is no shortage of drivers at Oxford today (compared with the usual Sunday levels), and I doubt there are at Worcester either.

 

[cactustwirly]

About 40 drivers, around the same number of guards.

It's a few years since the depot was set up, but I don't think TUPE was involved. It was set up as a new GWR driver depot, not as a takeover of an existing WMR depot as far as I remember. It was mostly drivers from other GWR depots who transferred.

What grade are they? Most services on the cotswold line until recently would have been LTV triancrew rather than HSS?

 

[Western 52]

It's not just the Cotswold line GWR have abandoned today. They've not operated west of Swansea either.

 

[Pete_uk]

The line through Stroud is being replaced by busses today, looks like something is going on up by Swindon, has there been a problem down there?

 

[Biscuit 56]

They were announcing yesterday at Swindon that there would be buses today and tomorrow, so I guess planned work

 

[II]

What grade are they? Most services on the cotswold line until recently would have been LTV triancrew rather than HSS?

Worcester depot was set up as a HSS depot (just before the harmonisation agreement) with an establishment of 30. Since then some new GWR grade drivers have been taken on (8 I think), with the existing HSS drivers invited to become GWR grade and I believe at least 3 have done that so far.