I really am having a great time on FGW services this month!

On Saturday 17 November there was a major 'security alert' at Reading causing the station to be closed around 0915.  We were making a long journey from Salisbury to Kingham in Oxfordshire.  It should have been on a normal day a straightforward connecting journey to Basingstoke, Reading then Kingham on the Worcester line.  There were engineering works around B'stoke so there was a bus from Andover.  In fact SW Trains were running the buses and trains very smoothly and we arrived in B'stoke in plenty of time for the connecting train.  However when we arrived the 0937 was to Reading was already cancelled with the advertised reason being crew shortages.  However almost immediately after there was meant to be a through Cross Country service but this wasn't even advertised.  SW Trains staff then made the announcement about the closure of Reading and that they were trying to organise coaches to come down from Wimbledon to try and ferry people onwards.  Remember at B'stoke all other trains were also buses!

Eventually about half an hour later Reading was re-opened and we were told that the 1037 would run to Reading.  Which it did.  Packed of course, all understandable of course.  SW Trains staff at Basingstoke were very helpful and informed.  I wish the same could be said at Reading.  Quite understandably staff there were fraught owing to the closure and passengers' many questions but it was their lack of knowledge that slightly concerned me.  They just didn't seem to know which trains had arrived, which had left which doesn't say much for their communications system and I really felt for them, they were trying extremely hard to provide information to which they only had partial access to.  Our onward connection to Kingham should have been at 1122 by the time we arrived at Reading but this was just marked as delayed for ages, and then disappeared off the board, no announcement at all.  We found a member of staff who assumed it had gone!  We said it can't have as we saw no train arrive at the platform (it was hailing from London Paddington).  It arrived at about midday still advertised for stations to Worcester Foregate Street.  When we were on and the train was moving we received an announcement that it would terminate at Oxford!  If we had known this beforehand we'd have never continued our journey.  We were so delayed it would have made continuing and trying to have a day out pointless.

While we were very patient and understanding of the circumstances out of FGW's control I felt that a lack of commnications was at the heart of people's discontent.  There was no way on literally _just_ leaving Reading a decision could be made to simply terminate the train.  Why not just tell people that at Reading and allow them to make the choice as to whether to continue their journey?  In the end several people queued up at Oxford to have their tickets endorsed to return back.  We requested to abandon our journey and received a slip of paper with an Oxford station stamp explaining.  It remains to be seen whether we get a full refund.

Good grief!  It sounds like Central Command at Swindon must have been burning up by Saturday afternoon.

I must reiterate how excellent the staff were at both Reading and Oxford in accommodating our abandoned journey.

It is ... and as well as the very serious nature of the issues that drive someone to that, my thoughts go out to everyone - FGW staff and many others - who are affected by it and have to cope with the aftermath.  One of those areas where we know everyone is doing what they can to reduce the chaos.

At the Portsmouth end, everyone is at a near complete standstill. Staff were telling me that they dont expect the line to be open until at least 6pm.. tho he did say it depends at which point the police are happy that they understand what happened. SWT staff are bundling people into taxis and hastely aquired buses. Tis a bit chaotic.. but understandable.