and a regular pairing makes a reappearance:

 

At this moment of writing, I am not panicked, but our web space provider for the worker machine reports ...


... and I am watching

 
Just wondered whether this affects the forum?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cmly0lg3w5x2o
The Finnish government, Edinburgh council and the BBC are among those to have taken down sites and pages ahead of a software update to a programming language which underpins many online services.

Two critical vulnerabilities have been found with the PHP programming language, which is widely used across the internet. A fix was issued on Wednesday afternoon.

The flaws were discovered by AI, with cyber-security firm Wiz saying they were the "most severe vulnerabilities ever discovered" by the tech, which is reshaping the cyber landscape.

Multiple national cyber-security agencies have urged organisations to rapidly adopt the updates, or consider taking their websites offline.

Finland has temporarily shut down the government's public web services, while the Netherlands' cyber-security agency said it was taking its own website offline due to the vulnerabilities.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh council's website has become inaccessible, as well as the online homes for several BBC programmes including Doctor Who and The Traitors.

.........continues.............

 
Could be a symptom of the fortnight half-term some schools are having now?

 
1A77 0835 Plymouth to London Paddington had a mishap around mid morning, just before Castle Cary.
All West Country trains massively delayed by diversions.
1A82 0910 Penzance to Reading went via Exeter Central and Yeovil, delayed by 52 minutes and terminated at Reading.
Qudos to GWR (?) for providing a train crew with route and traction knowledge going via Yeovil.

 

The question of opening hours for the new entrance not matching train and bus arrivals and departures was also highlighted.  A response has been promised after investigation.

 

(gulp! )  I have now amended the definition for ATP on our 'abbreviations & acronyms' page.

CfN. 

 
Quite a few crew shortage cancellations listed - rather odd midweek?

13:54 Reading to Gatwick Airport due 15:25
14:32 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 16:31
14:38 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway due 15:46
15:05 Reading to Basingstoke due 15:32
15:29 Gatwick Airport to Reading due 17:03
15:52 Basingstoke to Reading due 16:17
16:10 Didcot Parkway to London Paddington due 17:22
16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 19:29
17:03 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 19:01
18:20 Reading to Gatwick Airport due 19:55
18:50 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway due 19:54
19:12 London Paddington to Bristol Parkway due 20:40
19:59 Gatwick Airport to Reading due 21:37
22:10 Reading to Newbury due 22:39
22:47 Newbury to Reading due 23:13
00:19 Reading to London Paddington due 01:13
00:48 London Paddington to Reading due 01:44
01:45 London Paddington to Reading due 02:34
Thu, 22 October 02:24 Reading to London Paddington due 03:11
Thu, 22 October 03:35 London Paddington to Reading due 04:24
Thu, 22 October 04:35 Reading to London Paddington due 05:34

 

I have a GWR smartcard, but also a senior railcard, and don't know if the one can take account of the other. I've read GWR's pages on it and still have only a wooly idea of what the GWR smartcard does or offers. I'm probably starting from the wrong perspective as I was sort of imagining it as similar to an Oyster card, allowing travel as long as the user has credited their Oyster account - which leads me to also also think in an emphasising way about the well travelled guy who expected his Oyster card to work the barriers at Cardiff Central station.

 

and the following 14:53 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street which is usually a nine coach service being the five car 800009.

 

I asked Network Rail the very same sort of question well over a year ago and was told (from my recollection) that the room would be refurbished before being reused(although what for was not specified).
Since then I've observed that the room has gradually had it's utilities upgraded (rewiring, piping etc), has new wooden flooring, new plaster on the walls and looks ready for reusing.
I do hope that a room as architecturally striking as that will be home to the sort of cafe/bar that some other main stations are righly proud of but that this city currently lacks.

 

I raised this at the GWR forum this morning - Thomas Lydon said he would follow this up. I also mentioned the fact that the station map still hasn’t been updated…

 
Closed on Christmas day and Boxing day so not an issue.

 

 
Their concern might be that it becomes a right of way - if it can be proved that they've let at least one person every day through for a number of years, it automatically becomes a public right of way.

 
And yet if you have a GWR payg smartcard, at least their policy allows you to enter and exit the station without charge so presumably would allow you to use it as a shortcut (though I have not actually tried this in practice).

Given they essentially have to have a member of staff on the gates anyway, surely it would make sense to give that person a ticket a machine to allow the same of a small number of tickets (in a the similar way to the excess fares desk on Platform 3). Or of course they could have bothered to do what TfW did in Cardiff and have a ticket office at the second entrance too (though tbh I have no idea how often the Cardiff south side one is actually open).

 

A very - err - predictable delay as the crew comes off a main line service and they are up the swanny this morning


A good example of where things happen outside the contol of the railway industry, but one can't help feeling that their systems are planned in such a way that wider spread disruption than is necessary results.  At least this is not showing up as 2 x cancellations.

 
So, instead, she alights at the Temple Gate stop & walk up the ramp?

 

I had to look up ATP - "Automatic Train Protection" turns out to be "Accessible Travel Policy".  I don't have the context in which the reply was written - so I hope it's a term you used, chuffed, in which case their use of it in writing to you is AOK - otherwise, it's rail jargon, and shouldn't be used without explanation to customers.

The rail industry has "created itself" a problem with multiple gated entrance stations where they offer a complete staffed ticketing service outside only one of them.   Typically the reason for multiple entrances is to reach a different customer catchment area.   You see the same thing at Chippenham.  Bath Spa - less of an issue; it's very easy and perhaps reasonable there to some across the bridge over the Avon from Widcombe and walk under to the ticket office. It would be no shorter to go in and out through 2 sets of barriers.

As an after thought - why is this only an issue for passengers with a disability - or is in an issue for all?  Cynthia Doe gets off the no. 8 bus with her twins in their pushchair, and needs access to the ticket office / travel centre ...

 
Around 2 miles in a straight line, but some of those options are so indirect as to end up almost as long as using the former branch line Phoenix Trail to get to/from Princes Risborough instead. No, I'm not suggesting that as another alternative; there are already far too many options offered, and this whole thing does seem in danger of frittering away a large budget on feasibility studies and consultations without actually resulting in anything happening on the ground.

Ultimately for this to be a facility people use on a day-to-day basis rather than just for a leisure trip on a sunny afternoon, it has to take something close to the most direct route, rather than winding around paths through fields just because they are simpler to upgrade and avoid having to do anything about motor vehicles. Alongside a road is also far less isolated after dark in particular.

 
A topic or update that I have not heard mentioned for a long while, does anyone know what is happening with the former Bonapartes area?
Seems a very long time since it was being used

 
The "Crosscountry at Bridgwater" issue arose as a result of a question from the floor I think.

 
I was refused entry at the new east entrance when asking to use the ticket office despite showing my disdabled railcard. Told to walk down cattle market road and up the ramp and 'we don't want people using this as a short cut.' Challenged GWR on their attitude and breach of accessibility. Got this today....


GWR Header

Freepost GWR Customer Support

www.gwr.com

Case reference: GWR-CR-3495357

Dear xxxxxxx

Thank you for your further comments.

We have acknowledged that an error was made in not allowing you through the gates and, as a result, we did not meet our ATP obligation on this occasion.

As this is a new operation, there can sometimes be unforeseen issues during implementation, mistakes can happen. However, we take these situations seriously and use them as opportunities to learn, review our processes, and put measures in place to help ensure we consistently meet our commitments in the future.

Thank you for bringing your experience to our attention and helping us identify where improvements are needed.

Yours sincerely

Leanne Jones

Executive Correspondence Manager

 

14 hours notice?   Me thinks that the "late running train" might be some sort of timetable change for this evening.

 
To expand on grahame’s comments, Daniel Mumby (local democracy reporter) was sat at the back of the meeting for part of the day, presumably on the lookout for any interesting stories that might emerge. I don’t remember having a reporter present before. It’s good to see this getting coverage, and also good publicity for the work that Travelwatch Southwest do!

 

I recall a journey, at that time, on a "classic" DMU from Sheffield to Huddersfield, reversing somewhere between stations before it headed up to Penistone.  Memories have dimmed over much of it; also very sad at a number of closures including some of electric services - others such as Lancaster to Morecambe and Tyneside electrics

 
This is a report on Ms Rolfe's comments at TravelWatch SouthWest.  And I and a couple of others here heard the words directly, within a great deal else that was said.  Bridgwater is certainly on the radar of Cross Country's MD, with its growth and growth in the area - and that's no bad thing.  However, I feel there's a big push needed to press the case if it's to happen, with issues likes line (and train) capacity, timetable slowing and robustness to be addressed, and whether those are actual or phantom problems. Then the issue of who's choice is it anyway, with Cross County's nationalisation coming closer to the extent that the parent company - who's shareholders are supposedly a primary concern - will see nothing of the cost or benefit because of industry timescales. An action void in some ways that's only broken if all parties are on board.

Shiona was also asked about sky high long distance fares, people splitting tickets and then having to change seats along the way, and whether this was / is something she might address.   She was much less positive about this than about Bridgwater, suggesting that it's not within her scope to do anything about it (hope I got that right). Part of a national system.  Which is all very well until you ask things like "why are Groupsaves NOT allowed on Cross Country" which looks to me very much like a fare differentiation between the TOCs.    Fares were brushed off, Bridgwater was at least given lip service.  And I should add that there were positives on other topics - such as adding in extra units that have been sitting idle to reduce overcrowding, and we have seen an announcement on that since the TWSW meeting.