Why does this page exist?

Until a couple of years ago, train travellers in Wiltshire and the rest of the South West of England were an accepting bunch. In Wiltshire, Wessex Trains provide a service of 10 trains a day calling at Melksham as part of their Swindon to Southampton run - and usage of the service was growing at between 10% and 35% per annum depending on which statistics you considered. Sure, the trains were cancelled occasionally, often a bit doggeared and dirty and sometimes a few minutes late - and the publicity for them was awful especially as major stations such as Swindon where Wessex Trains (part of the National Express) group were very much the junior partner - swamped by First.

Then on 1st April 2006, the First group took over as the Train Operating Company. The following December they withdrew ALL through trains and left just 2 round trips a day on the Swindon to Westbury section. They did a "consultation exercise" on their draft timetable, but when we asked for the morning service to be a little later than proposed and the evening service a little ealier, they produced a final timetable that did the exact OPPOSITE - a train that starts at 06:19 in the morning, and a second that completes its run at 20:20. "At least you'll see a change in reliability" they said , and we did - for the worse! Monitoring over 2 week periods, up to 40% of the meagre remaining services were cancelled.

Promises of six extra services a day from December 2007 also turned to dust - again, the drafts were produced and discussed then a final inappropriate timetable imposed (to be fair, we do have one extra train a WEEK). And once again the new service has not only abysmal timing (the morning train is even earlier ... the evening one even later) but once again we're getting cancellation rates like 50% (3 day period in December). Now First will tell you (correctly) that they have to run to a specification laid down by the Department for Transport. Indeed they do, but they ARE allowed to run the trains at the time we want (they actually had to have the spec changed to allow them to run that early train so early!), and they certainly are allowed to run a reliable service!

Actually, all is NOT gloom and doom. I think First, the Department for Transport and the local transport authority - Wiltshire County Council - are listening a bit more now - and I think we would ALL like to work with them to get an appropriate (timing and reliability) service on the TransWilts.

Story summary ... here

Here are some of the recent / current problems over the FGW area as a whole:

2010090219:00Falmouth Docks19:28Trurocomplete cancellation, rolling stock issues, knock-on effect
2010090218:36London Paddington19:26Bourne End-
2010090218:33London Paddington21:15Exeter St Davidsextra stop(s), rolling stock issues, knock-on effect
2010090218:12London Paddington19:13Henley-On-Thamesshort working, rolling stock issues
2010090218:07Basingstoke18:31Readingcomplete cancellation, rolling stock issues, knock-on effect
2010090217:39Reading18:05Basingstokecomplete cancellation, rolling stock issues
2010090217:39Penzance23:50London Paddingtonextra stop(s), rolling stock issues, knock-on effect
2010090216:44Penzance19:48Exeter St Davidsshort working, rolling stock issues
2010090216:42Gloucester20:08Weymouth-
2010090216:37Oxford18:31London Paddington-
2010090216:12London Paddington17:16Readingskipping stop(s), rolling stock issues
2010090215:41Bristol Temple Meads16:32Gloucester-
2010090215:23Exmouth16:51Paignton-
2010090214:27London Paddington16:14Oxford-
2010090213:43Barnstaple15:19Exmouth-
2010090213:38Westbury14:37Bristol Parkway-
2010090213:18Reading14:16London Paddington-
2010090213:10Weymouth16:32Gloucestershort working, infrastructure issues
2010090213:03Gatwick Airport14:19Readingshort working, rolling stock issues, knock-on effect
2010090212:45London Paddington15:43Swanseaotherwise altered, catering change
2010090211:53Exmouth13:37Barnstaple-
2010090211:34Reading12:50Gatwick Airportshort working, rolling stock issues, knock-on effect
2010090211:10Weymouth14:33Gloucester-
2010090210:18Paignton11:50Exmouth-
2010090210:12Bristol Parkway11:00Weston-Super-Marereinstated
2010090210:00Penzance15:24London Paddingtonotherwise altered, catering change
2010090209:06London Paddington14:26Newquayotherwise altered, catering change
2010090209:00Brighton14:37Great Malvernotherwise altered, catering change
2010090208:36Taunton10:03Bristol Parkwayshort working, rolling stock issues
2010090208:26Great Malvern11:36Westbury-
2010090208:23Exmouth10:10Paignton-
2010090207:40Paignton11:38London Paddingtonextra stop(s), rolling stock issues, knock-on effect
2010090207:15Gloucester08:12Great Malvern-
2010090207:09Paignton08:21St James' Parkshort working, rolling stock issues, knock-on effect
2010090207:01Portsmouth Harbour08:20Brightonotherwise altered, catering change
2010090206:58Swansea09:59London Paddingtonotherwise altered, catering change
2010090206:49Weston-Super-Mare09:14London Paddingtonotherwise altered, catering change
2010090206:47Worcester Shrub Hill11:02Weymouth-
2010090206:43Hereford09:47London Paddingtonotherwise altered, catering change
2010090206:34Paignton08:18Exmouth-
2010090206:23Cheltenham Spa08:36Westburyshort working, rolling stock issues
List above is typical length for a 99.5% (better target) running rate for a 48 hour report such as this.
Any cancellations, short or skip stop workings below show a performance below that target.
2010090205:35Exeter St Davids06:28Paignton-
2010090122:30Plymouth00:38Penzance-
2010090121:25Plymouth22:40Exeter St Davids-
2010090119:31Oxford20:29London Paddington-
2010090118:51London Paddington19:50Oxfordrolling stock issues
2010090118:34Reading19:55Gatwick Airportshort working, rolling stock issues, knock-on effect
2010090118:27Exmouth20:08Barnstaple-
2010090117:57London Paddington19:01Reading-
2010090117:36London Paddington21:17Paigntonextra stop(s), rolling stock issues
2010090117:33London Paddington19:06Oxford-
2010090117:10Exeter St Davids17:18St James' Parkrolling stock issues
2010090116:55Paignton18:25Exmouth-
2010090116:37Plymouth17:23Gunnislakerolling stock issues, knock-on effect
2010090116:25Bristol Temple Meads17:08Weston-Super-Mare-
2010090116:12Bristol Parkway17:08Weston-Super-Mareshort working, staffing issues
2010090115:37Basingstoke16:00Readingcomplete cancellation, rolling stock issues, knock-on effect
2010090115:23Taunton17:54London Paddingtonskipping stop(s), infrastructure issues
2010090115:23Exmouth16:51Paignton-
2010090115:07Reading15:31Basingstokecomplete cancellation, rolling stock issues
2010090114:27London Paddington16:14Oxfordskipping stop(s), staffing issues, knock-on effect
2010090114:23Portsmouth Harbour17:43Cardiff Centralshort working, infrastructure issues, knock-on effect
2010090114:07Basingstoke14:30Readingskipping stop(s), staffing issues
2010090113:43Barnstaple15:19Exmouth-
2010090111:53Exmouth13:37Barnstaple-
2010090110:30London Paddington12:15Bristol Temple Meadsotherwise altered, catering change
2010090109:00Brighton14:37Great Malvernotherwise altered, catering change
2010090107:29Cheltenham Spa09:39London Paddingtonshort working, rolling stock issues, knock-on effect
2010090107:01Portsmouth Harbour08:20Brightonotherwise altered, catering change
2010090106:27London Paddington07:25Readingcomplete cancellation, staffing issues
2010090106:08Westbury07:53London Paddingtoncomplete cancellation, rolling stock issues
2010090106:07Frome08:09London Paddingtonotherwise altered, catering change
2010090105:30Bristol Temple Meads07:16London Paddingtonskipping stop(s), rolling stock issues
List above is typical length for a 99% (lower target) running rate.
Any cancellations, short or skip stop workings below show a performance below that lower target.
2010090105:14Reading06:16London Paddingtoncomplete cancellation, staffing issues
2010090105:03Oxford06:49London Paddingtonskipping stop(s), infrastructure issues
2010083122:30Plymouth00:38Penzance-
2010083121:20Oxford22:18London Paddington-
2010083121:03Gatwick Airport22:19Readingshort working, rolling stock issues, knock-on effect
2010083121:00Worcester Foregate Street23:37London Paddington-
2010083120:48Cheltenham Spa21:51Swindonskipping stop(s), rolling stock issues
2010083120:16Penzance22:21Plymouth-
2010083120:03Gatwick Airport21:19Readingshort working, rolling stock issues, knock-on effect
2010083119:57London Paddington21:42Oxford-
2010083119:48London Paddington22:02Cheltenham Spaskipping stop(s), rolling stock issues
2010083119:32Westbury21:29Cheltenham Spaskipping stop(s), rolling stock issues
2010083118:49Worcester Foregate Street21:29London Paddingtoncomplete cancellation, rolling stock issues, knock-on effect
2010083117:50London Paddington20:23Worcester Shrub Hill-
2010083117:21Bristol Parkway20:09Weymouth-
2010083117:00Great Malvern20:00London Paddingtoninfrastructure issues, knock-on effect
2010083116:42Gloucester20:08Weymouthshort working, rolling stock issues, knock-on effect


In order to keep up to date on train reliability, the Save the Train team has learned how to monitor performance ... and the techniques we use for Melksham (population 24,000 - train service cut to 2 a day each way by First) can be applied elsewhere too. We do hope to improve the reporting and statistics from this page in the near future - at the moment, use it with care as we have a few details to resolve and in any case we can only be as good as our sources.

In the table above, we report on 90 different service(s).
Status 'short_run': 15
Status 'catering': 12
Status 'altered': 12
Status 'skip_stop': 9
Status 'canned': 9
Status 'extra_stop': 4
Status 'reinstated': 1
 Reason given 'stock': 31
Reason given 'staff': 5
Reason given 'infrastructure': 5

FGW run about 8500 (guessing - does anyone have an accurate number?) service a week - the figure was 9079 before their Dec '06 cuts - so if we report incidents effecting 50 services over a 2 day period on this page, we're looking at around 2% of services - i.e. 98% are running as normal or were cancelled with more than 24 hours notice so don't actually count as cancelled!
Seven services of the type that don't show up on this page. Line closed from Swindon to Kemble on weekend of 12th / 13th Jan 2008. So 4 TransWilts trains replaced by buses (Why? - Swindon to Kemble is a different line grouped with ours by First as an operational convenience!) and 3 working short. Not a single train running as timetabled!

For further information on First Great Western services, visit their official site. There's also a discussion forum run by passengers (and wannabe passenger).

For contact information, see the Save the Train web site or email the site admin.

This is a test page ONLY and it will tend to present optimistic figures that are showing a brighter picture than really exists.
Known issues:
Only limited status conditions are monitored
Some trains that run past midnight are double-reported
"Planned Cancellations" notified 24 hours ahaed are NOT shown
Failures on route do NOT show

Information from public sources presented by the Save the Train Campaign