Would it be over-pessimistic of me to think that despite the success of this trial, it may still be several years before we actually see any of these in regular service on GWR?  Infrastructure, training, certification, contracts and more still to do, and nothing ever seems to happen quickly.  Might still beat HS2 opening though!

 
I don't disagree with the message, my point was as orange on cream I didn't spot it.   It was only when I went to quote the message and it was black on white that I saw it.

 

The 80% figure caught my eye, I've an app on the phone that monitors state of charge and makes a small fuss when the phone's charging and a set level of charge is reached to allow the user to stop charging it.

80% advised but this can be set to any value.

The app also tracks battery degradation, and indicates that up to 80% is efficient from that perspective, and that it's the 80 to 100% segment that causes the majority of wear to the battery. I'd been wondering about this with respect to electric vehicles and their owners' thirst for range.

Mark

 

My naughty little postscript in orange was supposed to point out that [they/we] are treating the symptoms and not the cause / disease - easing the pain when what is needed is action to fix the causes as far as possible. 

My guesstimate is that 75% of the problems are fixable at source. Whilst that would cost money to do, it would also bring about a huge saving on the work stress of those who are trying to ease the pain, a big saving on delay/repay, and a boost to confidence in the system so that people who are wary about using the train because of its unreliability would (re)turn to rail.

I am disappointed that these fixings at source have not been done - it almost defies logic that they have not. I do have indications that much background work has been done so "they" know what to do.  Perhaps they are waiting for GBR for it to be a flagship policy of improvements once the government takes over the TOCs? 

 

Thanks so much for that Bob - I have to agree that leaving it to the last minute is NOT the way to go.  And indeed the very good and often successful work of those involved to getting a service back, which is appreciated, leads to them being criticised for a false "the xx:xx train is cancelled" but it ends up running.   The very last thing  I would want encourage is a mentality that says "once a cancellation is broadcast, it is never re-instated".

I guess that a sizeable minority of cancellations are reversed - if only there was a tag line that could be added "but we are still trying to find a way of running it"; my understanding is that's a systemic problem - the options available don't include that ...


Again - a systemic option.   Journeycheck assumes once delayed, always delayed.  It is often "hilariously" wrong on certain trains such as the sleeper ... and the very train in question in this thread - the 05:11 from Gloucester to Southampton can be as much as 20 minutes late as it passes Standish Junction, projected as 08:30 rather than 08:09 into Southampton and yet arrive there on time.   Real Time Trains makes rather better predictions, by various methods like taking the time that trains sit at intermediate stations (Swindon, Salisbury and a little at Westbury on the 05:11) and trimming then back as it predicts.  In reality, once a train is significantly delayed, it comes down to a complex mesh of factors such as platform availability at Westbury which can add significantly to the delay, together with factors already mentioned like timetabled intermediate dwells, and it's pretty unpredictable by current algorithms as to whether the delay is recovered, maintained, or gets worse.

 

I think he based the 4 mins on the Greenford round trip.   The battery charge on the train never normally exceeds 80%, that's to do with battery life.

The charger is quick around 800 Volts at several hundred Amps, the train BMS (Battery Management System) controls the charge rate and the train uses 2 sets charging rails each set of rails has its own shore side battery bank

 

No - less than that.   On the Greenford Branch, charging is once an hour at West Ealing - enough for calls at three intermediate stops (which they did make) to Greenford and then the same three stops on the way back. Total running time perhaps 40 minutes.

 
He says charging takes 4 minutes (2:30 in the video), but not how often it needs that; at every stop?

 
YouTuber Jago Hazzard was invited to this week's test:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qeK3182aPQ

 
In the interests of context and ease of future reference, I have expanded the heading of this topic and moved it here.

As ever, I hope this helps.

CfN.

 
Thankyou Phantom for your post ,which throws a very clear light on a situation that many of us have fortunately no experience of.

 
Delays still occurring at Slough

 
Until just now when I went to quote Graham's message did I spot his postscript about solving the root cause - clearly (pardon the pun) my eyesight isn't up to seeing that colour against the background.

 

I think they were convinced a while back, I have had one visit and a few meeting as part of my day job with the NR Technical Authority Engineers to look at items in the safety case and how the lineside and track mounted equipment is to be maintained NR staff competencies etc

 

Angers - I didn't recognise that as somewhere I've ever been. However, it turns out that I did stop for lunch in Angers in 1992. At the gare d'Angers St Laud, as it happens - though I think not the present structure, seen in your picture. I don't have a photo, nor any memory of the event after 30 years. But then I don't remember what I had for lunch last week (not a "senior" issue; I never could).

 
Yeah I appreciate that. As Graham says it would better/great if they fixed the root cause.

Thanks - I can understand that, although I'm fairly sure that it was showing as 'on time' at least for a short time on the National Rail app when the route included Bristol Parkway (which I assume corresponds to 'went off its booked route' - might have misunderstood).

 
I have spent a bit of time trying to find the specifics of the cancellation and reinstatement of these services without success.

However it seems GWR are in a bit of a no win situation when it comes to cases like this.   When the services were cancelled it was in the earnest belief that they would not run.   They could have delayed the announcement but then run the risk of being criticised for making it even more short notice.  Control and the rosters staff are eternal optimists and always hope they can pull something out of the hat and run a service.  So work continues behind the scenes to rescue a service or reduce a shortform until they run out of all options.   If they waited until they reached that point there would be a rash of last minute cancellations/alterations.   The current situation is not ideal, but personally if there are going to be cancellations I'd rather know as early as possible, even if it is later reinstated.

As for this morning's service from Gloucester, the confusing messages are down to the way the automated system works.  Once it went off its booked route at Standish Junction the system lost it and so defaulted to delayed.   It was only when it approached Swindon and picked up its planned route that the system started to update again.

 
Delays to services at Slough

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires at Slough trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines.

Train services running through this station may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 17:30 02/07.

 
Looks as if John Osborne has just left it.....

 

Part of my frustration is that the information systems have just green and red lights.  I know that in the end it runs or it doesn't, but a "This train may be cancelled" or "this train may be delayed" warning with "please check back in an hour" might do wonders.




Better still - have enough of the right people available at the might time in the right place and don't have to cancel, or say you're cancelling, so many trains!

 
True, although that's 6.5 hours in the future so perhaps it allows them a bit more freedom.

Not like this morning's early Gloucester-Southampton (which I mentioned above - apologies for the repetition). I normally leave the house at ~6:05 to catch the 6:32 Melksham departure, and at that time it was showing as 'delayed' (after previously being 'on time', and 'delayed' before that). So I went from the front door back to my room and got my laptop out to start working, planning on catching one of the later services.

Then at ~6:15 I refreshed the web page and it had gone back to 'on time' Laptop back in rucksack, dash downstairs and jog most of the 1.6 miles to the station. Where it was now showing as 15 minutes late 

 

Now in Angers ...



And standing on the balcony of our hotel room, look back in angers 

 

Looking carefully - that's all just one train ...

 


FRUSTRATION ... I know that things have to be moved around during the day sometimes, but flagging up trains as cancelled, letting people know that they won't be able to get home anything like as easily as normal ... and then saying "just kidding" or "we didn't really mean that" is enough to put people off using the train!

 
Twenty minutes later - reinstated.

 
.

 
Realtimetrains, that helps you know where your train is, has now been joined by Realtimetickets, which will sell you a ticket for it. It also allows you to do things like set a starting point and a budget for a day trip and the site will suggest destinations.

Mark

https://www.realtimetickets.co.uk/

 
Not surprisingly it is the same on the Didcot - Banbury trains today with a lot of cancellations.

 
Well, fancy that! St Malo! With the fortified old town (intra muros) in the background.

 

Just to pick up on a couple of points from the above
(I know I mentioned 2026, but sounds like it could be 2027 now)

You won't automatically be reassessed when the new regs come in (2026 / 2027), that will still be depending on when your award has been given until
Then, you (and everyone else) will be reassessed by whatever the guidelines are then - I am going to assume your date is before then, so you would be reassessed under the same regs as now

I don't know if you have, but if not it would be worth calling the DWP and asking for a print out of your assessment, you will see where you have "scored" your points, and off the record be aware of what you need to ensure you emphasise next time, anything you were close to scoring on you can see where you need to adjust maybe how you answer.

As for the person completing your report, they all go through the correct training and regular auditing to ensure their work is "up to standard", there are a large number that don't get to the assessment stage due to not hitting the required standard

They are trained to ask the questions that the DWP white paper etc has determined necessary, and from gaining that evidence this information is given to the DWP to make a benefit decision.

Having worked with and in relation to a "welfare benefits advisor" they are not trained and are passing comments that are not helpful, from my many years of working with the DWP and privatised companies, sadly this is part of the problem that they make an award, then push the blame onto someone else when they don't have the knowledge and training of those involved.

I will pick up on this paragraph of yours, that I do take issue with:
"These will continue to be farmed out to private companies who don't give a shit about individual claimants' needs. They are box tickers doing the DWPs bidding and only care about preserving their lucrative contracts and 'performance' bonuses. They employ healthcare 'professionals' who are often anything but. These assessors very often don't have any training in the disciplines needed to understand and accurately assess individual claimants health issues. A real world example:"

The reason the business was "farmed out" was because the DWP could not employ enough medical staff and goes back to the early 2000's. It was claimed that if the DWP were doing their own assessments, then scoring it themselves the process was open to errors and manipulating information.

I would be interested to think why you believe the person doing your assessment "don't give a shit", they would not be doing the job if they didn't care, it is a very difficult line of medical work to get into compared to many others in the medical profession.

It is 100% a false claim that there any "performance" bonuses for benefit awards, as already mentioned it is solely down to the DWP who gets any benefit and nothing to do with the outsourced companies.
Their only targets are to get people assessed within X number of days, the delays in this are down to GP's etc etc who either don't issue relevant medical evidence or even fail to reply.
You mention your score went down, do you know what evidence was supplied?, do you know if it was relevant to the DWP criteria? Had the regs changed since your previous assessment?

Again another false claim is that "They employ healthcare 'professionals' who are often anything but. These assessors very often don't have any training in the disciplines needed to understand and accurately assess individual claimants health issues"....

Everyone employed has gone through the relevant education and training to be in the medical profession
Then as above they all undertake months of classroom training to educate them on what the DWP require them to ask etc in an assessment.
They then start assessments being mentored 1-2-1, and ONLY when they are correctly completing assessments will they start doing them on their own. That process will take as long as it takes, but if the required standard is not hit within a number of months they would be offered the chance to retrain or be let go.

Next they start assessments on their own where 100% of there work is audited to check quality etc, again this will take as long as it takes, but if the required standard is not hit within a number of months they would be offered the chance to retrain or be let go.

ONLY then are they QUALIFIED to complete assessments.
Auditing still continues to ensure quality is met.

Sadly there is much misinformation about the process, and of course on TV they will only ever focus on those who clearly will never lose their benefit, but if they showed the workshy person sat in the pub all day it would not make the required headlines.

On a personal not, PLEASE do not worry, those that are unwell will not be impacted, I myself have not long been awarded PIP for a number of MH conditions, so can appreciate the angle you are coming from, but also from having worked in that sector I can see "how it should be"