MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

Most trains delayed by hours or cancelled to/from Paddington and
points west of Slough. FGW services in complete disarray. Been going
on on most of Sunday afternoon, evening. BUT few announcements at
intermediate stations, cancellations at short notice despite birng
planned many hours in advance, and NO buses subsituted round the
blockage. Typical reponse of a company that doesn't give a st*ff about
its long suffering paying pax. HEX and Connet apparently running to/
from LHR OK. CJB.

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

CJB wrote:
Most trains delayed by hours or cancelled to/from Paddington and
points west of Slough. FGW services in complete disarray. Been going
on on most of Sunday afternoon, evening. BUT few announcements at
intermediate stations, cancellations at short notice despite birng
planned many hours in advance, and NO buses subsituted round the
blockage.

According to the National Rail site, some buses ARE being laid on:

"Train services between Slough and Reading are being disrupted due to
signalling problems. Alterations and delays of over 60 minutes are
occurring.

A limited train service is operating between London Paddington and
Reading. An amended train service is operating between London Paddington
and Slough, with replacement road transport operating between Slough and
Reading. Road transport is operating between Maidenhead and Marlow.

There is no estimate for a normal service to resume." (timed at 19:30)

Typical reponse of a company that doesn't give a st*ff about
its long suffering paying pax.

Typical comment from someone with an axe to grind? Since some trains
are getting through, how do you know that some short-notice
cancellations were actually "planned many hours in advance"? Are you
sure they were definitely planned to happen rather than being planned as
a contingency in case the failure hadn't been cleared in time?

HEX and Connet apparently running to/ from LHR OK.

As expected, since the signalling system failure is between Slough and
Reading.

I would be interested in an *objective* report on FGW's response to this
Network Rail failure.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

In message . com, at
11:38:07 on Sun, 15 Jul 2007, CJB remarked:
Most trains delayed by hours or cancelled to/from Paddington and
points west of Slough. FGW services in complete disarray. Been going
on on most of Sunday afternoon, evening.

Must have missed that: I departed Reading at 14.33 - the train was
nearly 10 minutes early arriving from Paddington.
--
Roland Perry

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

On 15 Jul, 21:17, Roland Perry wrote:
In message . com, at
11:38:07 on Sun, 15 Jul 2007, CJB remarked:

Most trains delayed by hours or cancelled to/from Paddington and
points west of Slough. FGW services in complete disarray. Been going
on on most of Sunday afternoon, evening.

Must have missed that: I departed Reading at 14.33 - the train was
nearly 10 minutes early arriving from Paddington.
--
Roland Perry

Sounds like cable theft again to me! THere was some major problems at
Barnes a few weeks back for the same reason. I suppose on a Sunday
there are more hi-vis wearing bods about so they wouldn't look so
suspicous. I mean generally a signal failure or signalling problems
wouldnt amount to this level of disruption would it?

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

Roland Perry wrote:
In message . com, at
11:38:07 on Sun, 15 Jul 2007, CJB remarked:
Most trains delayed by hours or cancelled to/from Paddington and
points west of Slough. FGW services in complete disarray. Been going
on on most of Sunday afternoon, evening.

Must have missed that: I departed Reading at 14.33 - the train was
nearly 10 minutes early arriving from Paddington.

I finally got back to London well over two hours late. Train from
Ledbury at 1646 was running fine as far as Oxford, where the train
manager sounded very surprised to announce that the service was
cancelled (after loads of people had gotten on and it was full and
standing).

Then, after about ten minutes of general confusion, the service was
announced as continuing to Didcot so everyone piled back on again to get
to Didcot (in retrospect, a bad idea... I should've followed my instinct
and gotten straight on the coach from Oxford).

More hanging around at Didcot with hundreds of passengers being advised
to wait for the next London train, a 35-minute-late service which was
being reported on the displays as "full and standing from Bath". A
London stopping service from Oxford turned up after about 15 mins, which
about half the passengers decided to gamble on since it was actually
there; it travelled along without incident as far as Reading when it was
announced as terminating there just before arriving.

Mayhem at Reading with various London services standing in the
platforms, a queueing system in operation for Waterloo trains, but
little in the way of announcements other than a scrawled noticeboard
next to the (empty) information desk.

I tried to get on a Railair coach to Heathrow which was about to depart
but my ticket (London Terminals) was rejected ("we don't get any revenue
from that") so I went off and bought another ticket and then waited for
the next coach 30 mins later, boarded with about two other passengers,
and then trundled into London by Tube from Heathrow.

I was not impressed by the poor level of information (except from the
train manager of the original service who cheerfully gave out all the
information he had), and I'll wait with baited breath to see if First
will refund my Railair ticket as well as my original ticket...

Ironically I was almost due a refund for the outward journey on Friday
evening thanks to a racially abusive (and slightly violent) passenger in
my carriage who had to be carted off the train at Slough and delayed it
by about 55 minutes.

--
Dave A
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

Standing at HN28 signal wrote:
On 15 Jul, 21:17, Roland Perry wrote:
In message . com, at
11:38:07 on Sun, 15 Jul 2007, CJB remarked:

Most trains delayed by hours or cancelled to/from Paddington and
points west of Slough. FGW services in complete disarray. Been going
on on most of Sunday afternoon, evening.

Must have missed that: I departed Reading at 14.33 - the train was
nearly 10 minutes early arriving from Paddington.

Sounds like cable theft again to me! THere was some major problems at
Barnes a few weeks back for the same reason. I suppose on a Sunday
there are more hi-vis wearing bods about so they wouldn't look so
suspicous. I mean generally a signal failure or signalling problems
wouldnt amount to this level of disruption would it?

Might well have been weather related. There was an almighty thunderstorm,
with torrential rain, that passed across the area and up through the
Chilterns and across towards Milton Keynes and Bedford at around
16:30-17:00. Could well have been the result of a lightning strike.

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

H&H 16.45:

Turned up at 16.45 Hayes & Harlington for 16.59 train to Oxford. VDU
in foyer said train was on time. Then at 16.55 an announcement stated
that it was cancelled. VDU now saidf it was cancelled - no reason
given. Question: why did they wait until it was almost due to announce
that it was cancelled since all Oxford trains had been cancelled all
afternoon (and still are at 02.00 am next day). Then at 17.05 a
'special' arrived for Slough - but no announcements were made. The
ticket office at H&H wasd closed. There were no station staff on duty.
No announcements were being made. destinations screens remained
uninformative.

Paddington 23.15:

All trains into/out of cancelled or 'delayed.' Last Connect left at
about 23.00. Only ONE local service to Reading 00.35. Question: why
couldn't Connect have laid on an extra service for local stations to
H&H at say 23.45? No NR / FGW customer service staff visible on
concourse. No info. on display screens. NO BUS SUBSTITUTIONS for local
stations - zero, zilch, sfa. No audible announcements (a few inaudible
announcements drowned out by echos as usual).

Typical lack of customer service for a trainco that really does want
to lose its franchise - and the sooner the better.

CJB.

On Jul 15, 11:56 pm, Dave A wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message . com, at
11:38:07 on Sun, 15 Jul 2007, CJB remarked:
Most trains delayed by hours or cancelled to/from Paddington and
points west of Slough. FGW services in complete disarray. Been going
on on most of Sunday afternoon, evening.

Must have missed that: I departed Reading at 14.33 - the train was
nearly 10 minutes early arriving from Paddington.

I finally got back to London well over two hours late. Train from
Ledbury at 1646 was running fine as far as Oxford, where the train
manager sounded very surprised to announce that the service was
cancelled (after loads of people had gotten on and it was full and
standing).

Then, after about ten minutes of general confusion, the service was
announced as continuing to Didcot so everyone piled back on again to get
to Didcot (in retrospect, a bad idea... I should've followed my instinct
and gotten straight on the coach from Oxford).

More hanging around at Didcot with hundreds of passengers being advised
to wait for the next London train, a 35-minute-late service which was
being reported on the displays as "full and standing from Bath". A
London stopping service from Oxford turned up after about 15 mins, which
about half the passengers decided to gamble on since it was actually
there; it travelled along without incident as far as Reading when it was
announced as terminating there just before arriving.

Mayhem at Reading with various London services standing in the
platforms, a queueing system in operation for Waterloo trains, but
little in the way of announcements other than a scrawled noticeboard
next to the (empty) information desk.

I tried to get on a Railair coach to Heathrow which was about to depart
but my ticket (London Terminals) was rejected ("we don't get any revenue
from that") so I went off and bought another ticket and then waited for
the next coach 30 mins later, boarded with about two other passengers,
and then trundled into London by Tube from Heathrow.

I was not impressed by the poor level of information (except from the
train manager of the original service who cheerfully gave out all the
information he had), and I'll wait with baited breath to see if First
will refund my Railair ticket as well as my original ticket...

Ironically I was almost due a refund for the outward journey on Friday
evening thanks to a racially abusive (and slightly violent) passenger in
my carriage who had to be carted off the train at Slough and delayed it
by about 55 minutes.

--
Dave Awww.alwaystouchout.com- Transport projects in London

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

On Jul 15, 4:00 pm, "Jack Taylor" wrote:

Might well have been weather related. There was an almighty thunderstorm,
with torrential rain, that passed across the area and up through the
Chilterns and across towards Milton Keynes and Bedford at around
16:30-17:00. Could well have been the result of a lightning strike.

Yeah we got that here in Luton and it was a pretty widespread event.

Sounds like a bad lightning strike on a trackside eqpt somewhere.

--
Nick

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

In message , at 21:17:21 on Sun, 15 Jul
2007, Roland Perry remarked:
Most trains delayed by hours or cancelled to/from Paddington and
points west of Slough. FGW services in complete disarray. Been going
on on most of Sunday afternoon, evening.

Must have missed that: I departed Reading at 14.33 - the train was
nearly 10 minutes early arriving from Paddington.

Trains to London from Plymouth (and Penzance) substituted by a 150 to
Exeter St Davids "Auto-announcer: 10.41 to Exter St Davids, this train
does not call at Reading or Paddington"/"Person-announcer: Board this
train for Paddington, change at Exeter St Davids". I suppose FGW are
having trouble getting enough rolling stock down here yet.
--
Roland Perry

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

In message , at 10:45:16 on Mon, 16 Jul
2007, Roland Perry remarked:
I suppose FGW are having trouble getting enough rolling stock down here
yet.

VXC not 100% together, either. Train pretty full and two different
ladies both have a reservation for the seat opposite me (verified by the
staff), reservation displays not working (nor are scrolling displays
over the doors) and they are using the traditional printed seat back
labels. No at-seat service in 1st, with passengers asked to go to the
shop and show their FC ticket.

Oh, and I have a wonderful view (not) through a beige pillar, just the
same as on Voyager the way down - do they deliberately give those seats
to people with really cheap tickets?
--
Roland Perry

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

On 15 Jul, 23:56, Dave A wrote:

Mayhem at Reading with various London services standing in the
platforms, a queueing system in operation for Waterloo trains, but
little in the way of announcements other than a scrawled noticeboard
next to the (empty) information desk.

I tried to get on a Railair coach to Heathrow which was about to depart
but my ticket (London Terminals) was rejected ("we don't get any revenue
from that") so I went off and bought another ticket and then waited for
the next coach 30 mins later, boarded with about two other passengers,
and then trundled into London by Tube from Heathrow.

You might have done better to get a Basingstoke service and change
there for Waterloo - SWT are normally very good about accepting off-
route tickets in the event of disruption.

Steve Adams

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

CJB wrote:
Most trains delayed by hours or cancelled to/from Paddington and
points west of Slough. FGW services in complete disarray. Been going
on on most of Sunday afternoon, evening. BUT few announcements at
intermediate stations, cancellations at short notice despite birng
planned many hours in advance, and NO buses subsituted round the
blockage. Typical reponse of a company that doesn't give a st*ff about
its long suffering paying pax. HEX and Connet apparently running to/
from LHR OK. CJB.

Tried to get on the 1607 to Patchway, but it was packed and couldn't get
on. Managed to get a table of 4 for my group of 4 in First Class on the
1627, which left at 1727. Train Manager announced it would be the 1727
to Weston-super-Mare, but was also the 1427 running 3 hours late!

First stop was Slough where some people got off. We were stood there for
about 20 mins, and were all told we could "stretch our legs." We pulled
to the next signal where a NR man was doing handsignals. We sat here for
over 5 mins whilst he and the driver exchanged a sheet of paper. Seems
like a lot of work they do here - what exactly is it for?

We then proceeded at about 15mph (so the TM said) to Twyford where we
stopped to allow people to alight. Train thinned out at Reading and
proceeded normally to Temple Meads where we arrived 2020. The bus to
Parkway wasn't for another half hour so they gave me a taxi voucher.

Got back to Parkway over 2 hours late, which, according to the FGW
Passenger Charter means I'm entitled to a 100% refund of my return
ticket. £169 coming my way!

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

"Mojo" wrote

First stop was Slough where some people got off. We were stood there for
about 20 mins, and were all told we could "stretch our legs." We pulled
to the next signal where a NR man was doing handsignals. We sat here for
over 5 mins whilst he and the driver exchanged a sheet of paper. Seems
like a lot of work they do here - what exactly is it for?

We then proceeded at about 15mph (so the TM said) to Twyford where we
stopped to allow people to alight.

It sounds as though temporary block working was in place from Slough to
Twyford or Reading. This rule book module explains what the signaller would
have to do before allowing any movements.
http://www.rgsonline.co.uk/docushare...l-37709/S5.pdf
He'd then have to clear trains trapped in the area where the signals had
failed, probably calling them on signal by signal. By the time you travelled
temporary block working was in place. Your train had to wait at Slough until
the previous train had cleared the affected area. The handsignalman would
then have had to explain to your driver how far he was being given authority
to travel, and issue him with a temporary block working ticket. This has to
be given up at the end of the affected section. It seems that the permitted
speed is 50 mph, with restrictions to 15 mph over the facing points at
Maidenhead (East) and Twyford (Ruscombe).

Peter

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

On 16 Jul, 11:53, Steve wrote:
On 15 Jul, 23:56, Dave A wrote:

Mayhem at Reading with various London services standing in the
platforms, a queueing system in operation for Waterloo trains, but
little in the way of announcements other than a scrawled noticeboard
next to the (empty) information desk.

I tried to get on a Railair coach to Heathrow which was about to depart
but my ticket (London Terminals) was rejected ("we don't get any revenue
from that") so I went off and bought another ticket and then waited for
the next coach 30 mins later, boarded with about two other passengers,
and then trundled into London by Tube from Heathrow.

You might have done better to get a Basingstoke service and change
there for Waterloo - SWT are normally very good about accepting off-
route tickets in the event of disruption.

Steve Adams

It probably didn't help that Reading to Waterloo trains were diverted
via Weybridge on Sunday and according to the plan were only running
one an hour.

Whenever there is a problem between Reading and Paddington, passengers
are always funnelled to the line via Staines when often the routes via
Basingstoke and Guildford (even walking North Camp - Ash Vale)offer as
quick and generally more comfortable a journey into Waterloo.
Similarly it is all very well saying SWT will accept FGW tickets into
Waterloo - in most cases (not AP), that's no big gesture since they do
anyway.

FGW should do more (i.e. run extra/longer trains) to feed passengers
to Basingstoke or Guildford in the all too frequent case of disruption
just as they seem to expect SWT to increase their service via Staines
to Waterloo.

Jonathan

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 10:45:16 on Mon, 16 Jul
2007, Roland Perry remarked:
I suppose FGW are having trouble getting enough rolling stock down here
yet.

VXC not 100% together, either. Train pretty full and two different ladies
both have a reservation for the seat opposite me (verified by the staff),
reservation displays not working (nor are scrolling displays over the
doors) and they are using the traditional printed seat back labels. No
at-seat service in 1st, with passengers asked to go to the shop and show
their FC ticket.

Oh, and I have a wonderful view (not) through a beige pillar, just the
same as on Voyager the way down - do they deliberately give those seats to
people with really cheap tickets?

Perhaps they have a computer that can correlate critical usenet posters with
AP ticket requests?

Paul

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

"Mojo" wrote in message
k...
CJB wrote:
Most trains delayed by hours or cancelled to/from Paddington and
points west of Slough. FGW services in complete disarray. Been going
on on most of Sunday afternoon, evening. BUT few announcements at
intermediate stations, cancellations at short notice despite birng
planned many hours in advance, and NO buses subsituted round the
blockage. Typical reponse of a company that doesn't give a st*ff about
its long suffering paying pax. HEX and Connet apparently running to/
from LHR OK. CJB.

Tried to get on the 1607 to Patchway, but it was packed and couldn't get
on. Managed to get a table of 4 for my group of 4 in First Class on the
1627, which left at 1727. Train Manager announced it would be the 1727 to
Weston-super-Mare, but was also the 1427 running 3 hours late!

First stop was Slough where some people got off. We were stood there for
about 20 mins, and were all told we could "stretch our legs." We pulled to
the next signal where a NR man was doing handsignals. We sat here for over
5 mins whilst he and the driver exchanged a sheet of paper. Seems like a
lot of work they do here - what exactly is it for?

We then proceeded at about 15mph (so the TM said) to Twyford where we
stopped to allow people to alight. Train thinned out at Reading and
proceeded normally to Temple Meads where we arrived 2020. The bus to
Parkway wasn't for another half hour so they gave me a taxi voucher.

Presumably FGW had a special timetable this Sunday then? Do long-distance
trains leave at xx07 and xx27? Did your HST stop at every station en-route
such as Twyford and Didcot?

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

"Toby" wrote

Presumably FGW had a special timetable this Sunday then? Do long-distance
trains leave at xx07 and xx27?

FGW seems to have a special timetable evry Sunday. Currently (until 22 July)
Sunday long distance departures from Paddington a
xx07 Bristol TM
xx12 Cheltenham (even hours 1212 - 1812)
xx27 Swansea
xx42 Worcester (some to Gt Malvern or Hereford)
xx57 Plymouth or beyond

Peter

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

On 16 Jul, 14:00, "Peter Masson" wrote:
"Mojo" wrote



First stop was Slough where some people got off. We were stood there for
about 20 mins, and were all told we could "stretch our legs." We pulled
to the next signal where a NR man was doing handsignals. We sat here for
over 5 mins whilst he and the driver exchanged a sheet of paper. Seems
like a lot of work they do here - what exactly is it for?

We then proceeded at about 15mph (so the TM said) to Twyford where we
stopped to allow people to alight.

It sounds as though temporary block working was in place from Slough to
Twyford or Reading. This rule book module explains what the signaller would
have to do before allowing any movements.http://www.rgsonline.co.uk/docushare...l-37709/S5.pdf
He'd then have to clear trains trapped in the area where the signals had
failed, probably calling them on signal by signal. By the time you travelled
temporary block working was in place. Your train had to wait at Slough until
the previous train had cleared the affected area. The handsignalman would
then have had to explain to your driver how far he was being given authority
to travel, and issue him with a temporary block working ticket. This has to
be given up at the end of the affected section. It seems that the permitted
speed is 50 mph, with restrictions to 15 mph over the facing points at
Maidenhead (East) and Twyford (Ruscombe).

Peter

Correct, there was a total loss of power to signalling which also
affected the CIS (takes it's cue from the signals) and the block
working was introduced. The most that could be safely fitted in was an
hourly stopping shuttle service using Turbos.

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

In message .com, at
13:38:19 on Tue, 17 Jul 2007, JP
remarked:
Correct, there was a total loss of power to signalling which also
affected the CIS (takes it's cue from the signals) and the block
working was introduced.

Caused by lightning, cable theft, or something else?
--
Roland Perry

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

FGW seems to have a special timetable evry Sunday. Currently (until 22 July)
Sunday long distance departures from Paddington a
xx07 Bristol TM
xx12 Cheltenham (even hours 1212 - 1812)
xx27 Swansea

Interesting. My train, the xx27 was the Temple Meads service (the 1727
which actually left was supposed to be for Weston-super-Mare, but was
terminated at Temple Meads with a transfer to local services.

We stopped at Slough, Twyford, Reading, Didcot P/way, Swindon,
Chippenham, Bath Spa & Bristol Temple Meads. It was announced as
"possibly" stopping Nailsea/Backwell & Yatton, but didn't get past Temple M.

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

In message , at
14:14:55 on Wed, 18 Jul 2007, Mojo
remarked:
Sunday long distance departures from Paddington a
xx07 Bristol TM
xx12 Cheltenham (even hours 1212 - 1812)
xx27 Swansea

Interesting. My train, the xx27 was the Temple Meads service

And I was on the 13.57 to Plymouth.
--
Roland Perry

MAJOR Disruption at Slough on FGW
 

"Mojo" wrote in message
. uk...
FGW seems to have a special timetable evry Sunday. Currently (until 22
July)
Sunday long distance departures from Paddington a
xx07 Bristol TM
xx12 Cheltenham (even hours 1212 - 1812)
xx27 Swansea

Interesting. My train, the xx27 was the Temple Meads service (the 1727
which actually left was supposed to be for Weston-super-Mare, but was
terminated at Temple Meads with a transfer to local services.

We stopped at Slough, Twyford, Reading, Didcot P/way, Swindon,
Chippenham, Bath Spa & Bristol Temple Meads. It was announced as
"possibly" stopping Nailsea/Backwell & Yatton, but didn't get past Temple
M.

On Sunday Swansea trains were booked via Gloucester in the morning, and via
Bath, not calling between Swindon and an extra stop at Patchway, in the
afternoon. By the time of your train I suspect the destination of a
departure from Paddington depended as much upon the availability of a crew
as to any intention of the timetable.

Peter