Ashchurch Tewkesbury Rail atdrpg

29/06/2021

Plastic waste is being installed on a mainline railway by Network Rail! 🍼🚄

New railway sleepers are being made from recycled bottles, food packaging and general used plastic to form a support which doesn't rot or degrade as opposed to their usual wood or concrete material.

This new technology will help the UK work towards a more sustainable future by repurposing waste and producing a sleeper that is resistant against the weather, needing less maintenance.

Do you think plastic waste should be used in more infrastructure?🧐

13/05/2021

I am very concerned about the news that Hitachi have withdrawn the overwhelming majority of their train fleet due to safety concerns. So yesterday I met by Zoom with the Rail Minister, Hitachi and GWR to get answers on behalf of Cheltenham commuters.

The cause of the withdrawal, as I’m sure you know, is the discovery of cracks in the ‘bogeys’ in the trains’ undercarriages. Hitachi are surveying the damage, and are not yet able to provide a timetable on when the trains will be repaired.

Getting to London

GWR are recommending customers from Cheltenham travel via Birmingham on Avanti West Coast services to London Euston. They have agreed with Avanti and Crosscountry that GWR tickets can be used on these trains, and there are no changes to their timetable pattern.

GWR’s aim is to bring their Class 387 electric fleet into Swindon to connect with these services for travel to London Paddington. They have managed to secure the additional derogation needed to do so and have started to train on board staff on the operation of the train into Swindon. This is not likely to be completed until Tuesday however.

Getting to London via Swindon today is very difficult. It involves using the shuttle to Swindon, then taking a service to Didcot to connect with a London service. The best option is therefore to travel via Birmingham.

Alternatively, you may want to travel by coach – I myself drove to Oxford and picked up the Oxford Tube last night.

Getting to Swindon

There is a shuttle from Cheltenham to Swindon today.

There will also be an hourly Crosscountry service between Cheltenham and Gloucester, which will connect into a shuttle service from Gloucester to Swindon.

General Advice

GWR's advice remains not to travel on their long-distance routes. Refunds can be claimed through their website www.gwr.com, or tickets can be used for travel on services later this week or at the weekend. Local, branch and regional services are unaffected.

GWR are working on options that will help them to operate a limited long-distance timetable. It will be much reduced, but they are looking at this in the round. This includes looking at trains that might be available and can be moved from other parts of the country, including Charter trains, using buses for some journeys, agreeing ticket acceptance on other train services and making the best use of our other fleets including extending the use of their Thames Valley electric fleet to Swindon.

Details of the revised timetable will be entered into journey planners by Network Rail.

Other

I am advised that more staff have been brought into stations and onto social media platforms to help with advice.

08/05/2021

Great Western Railway JourneyCheck provides real time, up-to-date train times and train disruption information keeping you informed about any delays or cancellations on the network and helping you know what to do when your journey is affected. Train Cancellations, Delays, Alterations and Engineering...

07/04/2021

If you are travelling with us, travel with confidence.

For more information on how we are keeping you safe go to gwr.com/safety

28/02/2021

Were you a rail commuter this time last year? When it becomes reasonable again what do you expect to do?

Our Passenger Forum (2441 Members, 21964 Threads, 299762 posts as I write) is conducting a poll at http://www.passenger.chat/24728 asking you that question. Better to ask, to learn, to be informed by passengers than to guess as we talk to the rail industry - so PLEASE come along and respond to the poll.

We'll ask you to register ( http://www.passenger.chat/register ) if you're not already a member - all rail passengers and interested parties welcome; we're primarily Thames Valley, South West England and South Wales based but we don't put geographic limits on membership ;-) . Registration helps us keep the forum clean and free, and helps us ensure that polls are valid and not "loaded".

31/01/2021

Passengers can be a lot more confident about travelling by train safely according to RSSB – with the risk of Covid-19 infection being less than 0.01% on an average journey.

21/01/2021

Latest lockdown travel information;

20/12/2020

As always, check before you have to travel;

Rail operator Great Western Railway (GWR) has announced it will cancel “a small number” of services over Christmas due to a coronavirus outbreak among staff.

12/12/2020

Please find the new timetable information valid from 13th December 2020 below;

Check train times for routes across the South West and GWR network. Find current timetables or create your own personal timetable online.

01/12/2020

Transport Focus latest Newsletter for your perusal;

The December 2020 edition of Transport User Voice is out now. You can read more on: the different restrictions in place around Great Britain and the effect on public transport our chief exec talks about what Christmas is looking like and what needs to be done to provide certainty for transport users...

29/11/2020