I am hoping to bump into representatives from Flight Free UK at Heathrow tomorrow evening so I can quiz them about alternative methods of getting to Singapore. 

 
The comment from Mr. Glaister probably comes under the heading of 'Stating The Bleeding Obvious', but...

The graphs in the BBC article indicate that overall SWR performance since nationalisation in May 2025 has been largely static (punctuality) or worsened (cancellations).

However I saw a recent interview with Lawrence Bowman, SWR MD, in which he stated that he was now able to work towards what he called 'Full Establishment'. This was explained as having sufficient staff to run the defined timetable without recourse to Overtime or Rest Day Working.

Perhaps the DfT / Treasury clowns have now had a 'public ownership' change of approach - it seems to be accepted that it was government stopping this application of common sense.

It will be interesting to see if this actually happens and, if so, whether it produces the expected improvements.

 
An interesting case / place these days.   Trains long gone.

 
Incidentally, do we think more recent posts on this thread still fit properly under ‘Campaigns for new and improved services’?

 

…this being Richard Bowker, lately of the ‘Green Signals’ podcast, for those who’d rather know what it is before clicking on it!

 


I rebooted the worker server, but not the receptionist, at that time. As the machine comes back online, there is a small window in which not all processes have started and this can happen.     There does seem to be a loading issue which I am looking into, and which is why I did a resetting reboot in the first place.

 
This quote, from the article, sums it up quite well doesn’t it?

 

Yes - or, rather, 8 of the 9 trains were already cancelled in the engineering plan and this is the final nail in the coffin.

 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6n04j4lzlz5o



On our way to TravelWatch SouthWest last Friday, the Cross Country train to bring a lot of delegates showed up as "delayed" when I was (an hour earlier) at Bristol - ongoing story told elsewhere on the Coffee Shop - and the delegated arrived the best part of an hour late.   On our way back, I took the Cross Country Edinburgh service as far as Bristol and it was full and standing, with the "extra luggage" section in the coach I was in filled not with luggage but with people.   It was only a couple of minutes late - within tollerance, though optimists who hoped to connect to the London train in less that the official connection time were disappointed.

Shiona gave a presentation I found interesting, though others suggested she said no more than might have been expected from the MD of such a company. It did include an admission that they had/have problems and hinted that they were hoping for an announcement soon. (see above - BBC).  No slide set to share or even give you key photos - just one slide introducing herself and the rest was talk-only.

Here - not written up and shared with some trepidation - are my notes

Questions were asked about fare levels, especially for long distance journeys, and the rather awkward business of passengers saving money by splitting then having to change seats during the journey.  My understanding of what was said in reply to the questions didn't really provide a positive answer - they were more along the lines of "not in our bailiwick to deal with / fix that".

 

This is the one train of the day that's been cancelled, right?

 
Interesting article

BBC News - Publicly owned rail is popular. But is it making the trains run on time? - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ck5yn0n14r8do

 

 
07:52 Westbury to Swindon due 08:36
07:52 Westbury to Swindon due 08:36 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

17:45 Swindon to Westbury due 18:26
17:45 Swindon to Westbury due 18:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

 
Hopefully it will be running - cancelled today "because of more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time".

 
This is an update video item, from YouTube, posted within the last week - 14 minutes worth of time for anyone interested in this project.

CfN. 

 

I liked that rather quirky 'Pride of Cornwall' bus turning up to replace a train at Melksham. 

 
We're now into Tuesday, so I'll post my other bid:

3.  Melksham - Community Campus car park.  Still under construction, apparently, from all the holes in the surface and Helas fencing.

 

Hmm. That'a very significant drop from previous auction sales:

 
And those eight bids from four bidders, with the selling price being a little over guide, is described as a "bidding war" by Devon Live. 

 
An update, from the BBC:

 
An update, from the BBC: