GWR train 'forced' to reverse back to Swindon

[Mike_Walker]

Yes I do and whilst there can be bad days it's nowhere as bad as you suggest.   

 

As you correctly observe, GWR is currently operating on a Direct Award rather than a franchise.  This has been renewed several times since 2014 at the request of the DfT.  If they thought GWR and First were not making a good job they would, presumably, not been keen to do so.

 

Timetables are largely specified by the DfT not the operator - the Covid reductions were specifically dictated by the DfT as is the reinstatement.  Mark and I recently discussed a particular issue and he admitted to being as frustrated as me but he could only do what the DfT permitted.

 

On the subject of equipment:

Generally, the decisions on what equipment is used where is dictated by the DfT and GWR have to do as they are told.

The Class 769s were not GWR's choice but were allocated to them by the DfT who also specified moving the Turbos west and sending some of GWR's 150s to Northern despite GWR providing evidence to the DfT that this would be detrimental to service provision.

We only have the short HSTs sets as a result of some serious "desk thumping" on the part of Mark and his colleagues.  The DfT was totally opposed and remains so!  But without them the west services would be much reduced.

Additional 387s have been "borrowed" (three from c2c and six from GX not "everyone built" as you seem to believe) to allow the type to be more widely including to Cardiff to cover for non-available IETs, a situation likely to last for years whilst the crack repairs are carried out.  Incidentally, the c2c units can only be used on the Kennet Valley line as they don't have compatible systems for use on the main line, the GX units can be used on the GWML and work in multiple with the GWR cousins.  It is easy to sit on the side lines and throw stones but you need to have an in-depth understanding of the minute detail of stock to understand why certain actions are taken and why.

A refurbishment of the Turbo fleet has just started but it will be nowhere near what GWR management wanted. Why?  Because the DfT rejected the proposal.

GWR would, in an ideal world, acquire a brand new fleet of units for west services to replace all the existing 150, 158, 165 and 166 fleets to say nothing of the 769s (less said about that disaster the better!) but it is not in their power.

 

You obviously have not held senior management roles in the industry and appear to have a poor understanding of how it is structured and operates.  Please stop wasting our time with your tiresome whinging. 

Edited October 8, 2021 by Mike_Walker

[Bomag]

15 minutes ago, Mike_Walker said:

 

You obviously have not held senior management roles in the industry and appear to have a poor understanding of how it is structured and operates.  Please stop wasting our time with your tiresome whinging. 

 

I have no ideas if the person you are aiming at has held a senior manager role, but the evidence from GWR is their managers have a poor understanding of how to operate a railway, at least on Sundays.  In terms of whinging, you are the one who seems to be more guilty of it.

[rab]

I get the feeling a mod carrying a padlock

could be eyeing up this thread!

[AY Mod]

8 minutes ago, fiftyfour fiftyfour said:

Maybe it's you who is wasting time telling everyone

 

You're starting to get a bit of a reputation and it's not a good one. I'm removing your access to the topic.

[Jonboy]

I don’t work on the railways and never have.
 

I do remember a few years back getting on a packed peak service (unusual but had a meeting to get to) and a gentleman who’s badge identified him as Mark Hopwood and another suit being stood next to me and checking with the guard if anything more could be done to make conditions more comfortable for passengers, such as was there more space in the end carriages he and his colleague could go and direct people too to assist the guard…

[Mike_Walker]

6 minutes ago, Jonboy said:

I don’t work on the railways and never have.
 

I do remember a few years back getting on a packed peak service (unusual but had a meeting to get to) and a gentleman who’s badge identified him as Mark Hopwood and another suit being stood next to me and checking with the guard if anything more could be done to make conditions more comfortable for passengers, such as was there more space in the end carriages he and his colleague could go and direct people too to assist the guard…

Sounds typically Mark.

Anyway, probably a good time to draw this discussion to a close - it's been done to death.

[Rivercider]

I have not travelled to or through Bristol since pre-Covid days, but have made quite a few journeys westwards in recent months. One early morning journey in August must have been about the most delayed I have ever had (excluding days of strike action, or severe weather).

Perhaps I should not have relied on a 05.45 departure on a Monday morning after engineering work, but that was cancelled. Then the next service at 07.09 failed to show at the booked time, and was eventually shown cancelled at about 07.30. No broadcast or other messages from staff, merely the screen showing 'delayed' until the cancellation.

Edit - I should add that other passengers asked whether there might be a bus replacement, or taxis, but were met with a shrug and the comment that buses would take even longer to arrive at that time of the morning.

The 07.37 service eventually arrived at about 08.00, but that was a Taunton only service, which left me waiting for a connection west from there. I cannot remember what the next move was, I think I was over two and a half hours late arriving in Exeter, and over 3 hours late away from Exeter, suffice to say my planned day of coast path walking had to be amended!

A former BR colleague more in touch with local services often sees me at work and gives me tales of woe, which makes me glad to be out of it.

 

cheers

 

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by Rivercider
clarification

[caradoc]

7 hours ago, fiftyfour fiftyfour said:

A question for you- do you use the GWR service and do you think its all fine?

 

 

Living in Scotland I do not use GWR that often, but being in Oxford at present I used one GWR train on Wednesday and two today, and all were on time, clean and adequate for the passenger loadings. So no complaints from me ! 

 

[The Stationmaster]

On 08/10/2021 at 11:14, 40F said:

 

 

Not at all. Everybody thinks they can do better than the people in charge when things go wrong and are quick to assume that they know all the answers. Don`t forget we are still coming out of a pandemic and that there are staff shortages and other related problems. Do we want headlines like the ones published in the Sun years ago saying "It only takes two weeks to train train drivers so why can`t we do it ". There was a national outcry. People are only human beings and EVERBODY makes mistakes . So before ranting and raving take into account all the circumstances involved.

Also don`t forget that an element of instructions/advice given out don`t apply to me and I am the only passenger that matters comes into play from a minority, and that the situation can change minute by minute.  

Having spent way over a quarter of a century working on the WR (and longer on BR/a successor in privytisation days) I have for more years than I dear to remember become utterly fed up with the ignoramuses who claim they could run it better than the professionals.  it's dead easy to criticise management, especially senior management, and any halfwit can do that, in fact many halfwits do exactly that - what is a lot harder is actually being able to do the job people say they could do better than those who are doing it.

 

And don't forget that GWR is not a franchise - it is a management contract so lots of things it would have done in the past as a franchise are no longer possible because the whip hand now sits in DafT - where they definitely don't seem to know as much about railways as some of those who sat in the predecessor Ministry who we were dealing with 30 years ago.   And Mark Hopwodo was always very good as responding to passenger organisations and being honest with them when things went wrong - now those decisions don't rest with him or even in GWR.  Equally anyone can say that Sundays should be made part of the guaranteed week (as we once called it) but the economics of that don't always stack up and DafT are under pressure from The Treasury to save money - a decision to do that doesn't simply rest at Swindon but is a lot further up the tree.  In any case what on earth is wrong with rostered Sundays - that was the practice, and it worked - for many years supported by a suitably enhanced rate.

 

Oh and yes even in the best of worlds things can go wrong.  I wouldn't give tuppence for an SSO unless I saw it in writing, it's far too easy to confuse verbal messages so the answer is ti use teh full flexibility of modern radio sysyems to transmit an SSO to a printer in the driving cab (not a new idea admittedly as it was planned back in teh early 1990s once radio systems could handle it.

[w124bob]

I seem to recall that Mark Hopwood was the area manager at Chester back in the early days of First Northwestern. I remember him chairing an a meeting with ASLEF company council meeting, hadn't realised he must have been quite new to the railway back then. I cant remember exactly when this was but it was very soon after the First group buy out of the WR ex BR management run franchise. Those with long memories may remember that they had bid for and won the NW franchise. After about 18 months they sold out to First Group  "some say" that was the plan all along. I always assumed that Mark and his counter part at Piccadilly at the time came from a bus background.   

Edited October 9, 2021 by w124bob

[Mike_Walker]

Mark was the Operations Director for FNW from 2001-2004.  Prior to that he had a short spell at Railtrack hq and before that he was Performance Manager at Thames Trains after starting as a BR management trainee   From FNW he joined National Express as MD of their London Lines group of companies until joining GWR in 2008.

 

Again I'd refer you to the two-part interview with him in the June and July issues of the Railway Magazine where his entire career is covered.

 

During his time with TT Ladbroke Grove happened which had a deep effect on him which remains to this day.