Swindon delays, 26/5

[aar0]

Appears to be a signaling problem near Swindon, and a broken frieght train to boot. Any further information?

Guard on the GWR HST keeping us updated, although there's no a/c...

 

[A Challenge]

Must be horrible without it!

 

[LiftFan]

What a surprise, as of late the signalling in this area has gone down the drain. Just the other day my friend was late coming into class as there was a signal failure near Bath Spa that meant he missed the connection to get to Chippenham after getting off the train from Trowbridge.

 

[broadgage]

Why no air conditioning ?

Reports suggest that it is not the HST that is broken, so surely the power cars should still run and provide ETS for air conditioning etc.

 

[aar0]

Must be horrible without it!

So hot the guard's brought round bottled water. Vestibule doors locked open, although I just had to convince someone that it will be cooler with the windows down! Buffet car cool and has ice...

 

[aar0]

Why no air conditioning ?

Reports suggest that it is not the HST that is broken, so surely the power cars should still run and provide ETS for air conditioning etc.

As I said, we've been told it's a freight train broken down, HST now thumping towards Bristol.

 

[aar0]

Now running none stop between Cardiff and Swansea, not had that before.

 

[nickswift99]

The a/c units in particular carriages may have failed. I was on the 1405 Paddington-Penzance service where coaches A and E had no a/c. This meant the rest of standard class was a disaster with plenty of people stood from Paddington to Taunton.

10/10 to the train crew who were doing a sterling job in the circumstances and 0/10 to the seated passenger near me who was loudly complaining that it was "dangerous" and "what would happen if there was an accident?" - which, apparently, was "bound to happen".

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

Signalling panel failure affecting all services between Bath and Swindon. Diversions via Bristol Parkway were then affected by problem with a freight train at Bristol Parkway which was longer than the loop it was put into.

 

[313103]

Now running none stop between Cardiff and Swansea, not had that before.

Actually happens more often then you would think and no given reason either, sometimes train will only be twenty minutes late and they run it non stop, other times it could be an hour late with another right behind it and they will run it as booked. Another thing they sometimes do is extend the Cardiff terminator to Swansea. The SWML has been dreadful the last three days with long delays, cancellations and disruption due to numerous problems.

Seems aircon is also a big problem the two 175s and the one 158 i used today had air cons not working in at least one of the coaches so much so that one of the 175s was binned at Cardiff. At least the 158 was bearable due to the windows being able to open.

 

[Parallel]

Looks like it was a really really bad day for GWR generally. The delays throughout the whole of the Bristol area have been staggering, with some trains running at least 80 mins late.

My train this morning was about 20 late and had no air con in any of the carriages (was a refurbished 158), and my train back was 30 mins late. Looks like in addition to the signalling problems (there were some towards Portsmouth in the morning too), there also look to have been train faults all over the place, in turn leading to crew shortages!