Glorious NSE Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 A week or two back I mentioned in another thread about GWR suffering from short notice of weekend timetables - at present according to the National Rail site that is running at about 5 weeks notice rather than I believe a required 12 weeks.This makes it impossible to book discounted advance tickets, or in fact have any confidence in there being trains running at all!With the 12 week deadline for a May holiday coming up, I checked out our other London route from Exeter, and was absolutely gobsmacked at the messages on their website:https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/planned-improvements/february-worksFor example: Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 February Timetables for this weekend have not yet been updated in on-line journey planners. Pdf timetables for these routes will be published here. That's just 8 DAYS away!As it is now affecting both our local TOCs, I've sent the following off to Transport Focus today: Is there anything that can be done with regard to enforcing Network Rail's provision of timetable data? I'm led to believe that they are supposed to provide 12 weeks of notice to operators to enable accurate timetables and advance fares to be available. That is apparently not occurring for either of our local operators between Exeter and London at present. On GWR, they appear to be running at circa 4/5 weeks notice, well under that threshold based on the information on the National Rail site. On SWR, i'm utterly amazed to see that they are currently saying the uploaded timetable is wrong for next weekend, 17th/18th February - just 8 DAYS away from writing this! That's appalling. https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/planned-improvements/february-works Whilst predictable weekday travel is understandably important for commuters, and we accept that engineering work may affect trains at weekends, at least some kind of knowledge of what network is available in advance is surely critical for travellers. My own situation is that i'm trying to book travel for a holiday in May, if 12 weeks notice was available then I would be able to accurately do that within the next week or so. I will be travelling with a young family and suitcases, so a disrupted journey with bus substitutions or multiple enforced changes is something to be avoided - if I know engineering work will be taking place on one route then I can travel via the other, but if I have no advance notice of engineering work on either route (which appears to be the case at present) that is not an option.I believe this issue is a Network Rail one and not the fault of the TOC, hence complaining to Transport Focus rather than the TOCs. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D854_Tiger Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 Before Xmas, my mom booked ahead on XC Brum - Southampton only to find it was all off at Didcot for a bus the rest of the way, the train manager told her they had only been given three days notice of the engineering. I guess it's something to do with all the work going on for GW electrification, all the delays causing the project planning to get into a mess. Who would want to be a project manager on that project. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted February 9, 2018 Author Share Posted February 9, 2018 Who would want to be a project manager on that project. Or a resource manager at the TOC for that matter... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted February 9, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 9, 2018 Before Xmas, my mom booked ahead on XC Brum - Southampton only to find it was all off at Didcot for a bus the rest of the way, the train manager told her they had only been given three days notice of the engineering. I guess it's something to do with all the work going on for GW electrification, all the delays causing the project planning to get into a mess. Who would want to be a project manager on that project. Not so much GWML electrification rather poor timetable process management within NR I think. The blockades which resulted in XC passenger being dumped into road coaches for a middle chunk of their journey were publicised some time in advance by GWR to its intending passengers although I don't know if precise timetable in formation was available. I believe there were only one, or possibly two, weekends in October when electrification work resulting in total blockades at Reading were imposed at short notice. Everything else is fairly straightforward service verification and uploading against plans which should be know well in advance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted February 15, 2018 Author Share Posted February 15, 2018 Not had a response from Transport Focus as yet.However, the issue I had personally is semi-resolved.GWR are still happy for me to book a ticket for the 08:38 to Paddington on Sunday the 6th May, but it's now been announced elsewhere that the line into Paddington is entirely shut on the 6th, so I can ignore that!SWR now has timetables and advance fares updated for the 6th, so knowing that Paddington is closed I have booked with SWR.Hopefully NR won't decide to close their network after agreeing the timetables. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted February 15, 2018 Author Share Posted February 15, 2018 ....TF now have replied, they say I should complain to NR directly before they can do anything.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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