West Oxfordshire rail passengers left stranded (From Witney Gazette)

what a poor excuse!! sod the passengers, get the train there on time to look good on the timetable. is this FGW again? the passengers pay the wages, and they MUST come first, despite the late running. and why was it that late in the first place?

It was late because a freight train had failed in its path earlier - not much FGW could have done about that. Its funny that when a train is an hour late it hits the news about the delays to rail travellers. The sad accident on the M40 today closed the mortorway for 10 hours but not a mention about the much longer delays to road users.

West Oxon Webwatcher wrote:
It was late because a freight train had failed in its path earlier - not much FGW could have done about that. Its funny that when a train is an hour late it hits the news about the delays to rail travellers. The sad accident on the M40 today closed the mortorway for 10 hours but not a mention about the much longer delays to road users.

whilst there is not much to be done about a failure, that doesn't mean you don't stop to pick passengers up! agreed about the M40 incident, it was very sad, but there are alternative routes around road closures. not many diversions on a railway.

davyboy wrote:

West Oxon Webwatcher wrote:
It was late because a freight train had failed in its path earlier - not much FGW could have done about that. Its funny that when a train is an hour late it hits the news about the delays to rail travellers. The sad accident on the M40 today closed the mortorway for 10 hours but not a mention about the much longer delays to road users.

whilst there is not much to be done about a failure, that doesn't mean you don't stop to pick passengers up! agreed about the M40 incident, it was very sad, but there are alternative routes around road closures. not many diversions on a railway.

FGW would have been obliged to lay on alternative transport, either coaches or Taxis. None of the passengers should have been left stranded.

West Oxon Webwatcher wrote:
It was late because a freight train had failed in its path earlier - not much FGW could have done about that. Its funny that when a train is an hour late it hits the news about the delays to rail travellers. The sad accident on the M40 today closed the mortorway for 10 hours but not a mention about the much longer delays to road users.

How would you feel if you were standing on Moreton In Marsh, Kingham or Charlbury station and the train ran through without stopping ?

West Oxon Webwatcher wrote:
It was late because a freight train had failed in its path earlier - not much FGW could have done about that. Its funny that when a train is an hour late it hits the news about the delays to rail travellers. The sad accident on the M40 today closed the mortorway for 10 hours but not a mention about the much longer delays to road users.

No not much FGW could have done about the initial dealy but that did not mean they could not have stopped the train at the stations where their passengers had been waiting a very long time - and this train finally left Worcester when the next service was supposed to depart, delaying that one and making the wait many endured even longer, as this one sailed straight past - and as the story says, the resulting gap in trains calling at those stations was over two hours, not one.

McVey, when you don't know what happened, just don't bother posting stuff. There was no road transport as no-one at FGW and Network Rail towers would make up their mind and authorise staff to arrange any taxis or coaches

jimm wrote:

West Oxon Webwatcher wrote:
It was late because a freight train had failed in its path earlier - not much FGW could have done about that. Its funny that when a train is an hour late it hits the news about the delays to rail travellers. The sad accident on the M40 today closed the mortorway for 10 hours but not a mention about the much longer delays to road users.

No not much FGW could have done about the initial dealy but that did not mean they could not have stopped the train at the stations where their passengers had been waiting a very long time - and this train finally left Worcester when the next service was supposed to depart, delaying that one and making the wait many endured even longer, as this one sailed straight past - and as the story says, the resulting gap in trains calling at those stations was over two hours, not one.

McVey, when you don't know what happened, just don't bother posting stuff. There was no road transport as no-one at FGW and Network Rail towers would make up their mind and authorise staff to arrange any taxis or coaches

I do know what happened Jimmy Lad, and if the passengers did not take it upon themselves to contact the station manager then that is their fault in being stupid enough to stand on a platform for 2 hours. Us passengers at Oxford station are obviously more savvy. If you don't demand, you don't get.

Ah, the all-seeing, all-knowing McVey, with an opinion on everything. No, you don't know what happened. Staff sought permission to try to get road transport - not that it would have been easy during school run time anyway - but weren't given it.
I'm amazed you ever have time to catch a train anywhere with all the time you spend on this website sharing your 'wisdom' with the world.

It's an unfortunate situation, either you delay the Worcester-London pax even further by stopping everywhere are running out of path from Oxford onwards, or delay the Cotswold pax by running straight through. They can't win. It does sound as if NR co cked up though, not authorising transport. I bet the freight company got off scot free as well!

In the circumstances, the best decision was probably to do exactly what FGW did. Very inconvenient for travellers on the Cotswold Line, I agree, but Oxford passengers had plenty of other trains to catch instead. If the late-running Worcester train had stopped at all its timetabled stations it would have been unavailable for its next scheduled roster from Paddington and hundreds of people would have been seriously inconvenienced, compared with the scores of passengers at stations on the Cotswold Line and the hundreds already on the Worcester train. It really was a case of trying to make the best of a bad situation. Why would FGW have deliberately chosen the worst solution to the problem?

The situation was an inevitable consequence of breaking up British Rail and having numerous companies using the same tracks but not sharing rolling stock.

Perhaps the best solution would be for FGW to consult Good Lord Macvey whenever they encounter an operations problem, ask him for his best advice and then do, as far as possible, the exact opposite.

While I entirely agree with your point about McVEy, I can't agree with your other post.

The train had long missed its next scheduled run out of London by the time it finally got there, even with missing stops. FGW shuffle trains between jobs to cover when there are delays.

The large majority of passengers on Cotswold Line trains are from the intermediate stations, not Worcester. Hundreds of people were seriously inconvenienced at those stations, with the next train on the line heavily delayed as a result of this decision, hence the yawning gap in services. In the past when this kind of thing has happened, the Hereford train was diverted via Gloucester and Swindon, so it didn't screw up the next train as well.

At least the trains are still far more reliable than the buses, and get you to london in one piece eh Jimmy Lad. I wouldn't risk the Oxford Tube if they paid me.

jimm wrote:
Ah, the all-seeing, all-knowing McVey, with an opinion on everything. No, you don't know what happened. Staff sought permission to try to get road transport - not that it would have been easy during school run time anyway - but weren't given it.
I'm amazed you ever have time to catch a train anywhere with all the time you spend on this website sharing your 'wisdom' with the world.

within half an hour of tonights collision passengers at Oxford demanded and were put in Taxis. Like I said if you want to be stoopid enough to sit for 2 hours at a station you will, us at Oxford are not.