The Trains

Sat 21 Sep 2013, 13:01

Yes. First Great Western has explained that it needs to "refresh" its fleet of High Speed Trains and that this will involve one set being taken out of service at a time. Unfortunately, the stock which formed the 1551 from Paddington was the easiest to commandeer, being in much less use than the others. Its daily programme was merely an 0640 from Bristol to London (arr. 0816), where it remained until 1551 for the train to Worcester and the 2059 back to London. The 0640 from Bristol has been withdrawn altogether, with reports of resultant overcrowding on the 0630 and 0700 departures.

FGW decided to rearrange the schedules for the Class 180 (Adelante) stock, so that it could operate the, now, 1552 departure from Paddington. The stop at Slough has been removed and the call at Reading is to pick up passengers only. This is to reduce overcrowding between London and Reading, but it does nothing to help the situation after Oxford.

In fact, I have observed this train at Reading on three occasions since the change and found it full and standing on all three, although the degree of overcrowding did vary considerably.

It is understood that the refurbishment programme could last up to 3 years.

Sat 21 Sep 2013, 12:51 (last edited on Sat 21 Sep 2013, 12:53)

No all of the afternoon and early evening trains seem to be 5 carriages these days.
Every one I have been on absolute chaos with people standing, sitting in corridors etc. Its really disgraceful.
Also they can't seem to make their minds up where the train is stopping. For the past several weeks they have turfed people off at Paddington saying it will not stop at Reading and to catch the Swansea train instead! Then perversely the train proceeds to stop at Reading and sometimes Didcot as well! This seems to happen regularly now.
Perhaps its a cynical way of FGW making the train less crowded?
Obviously given the low ticket prices FGW can't afford to put on any extra carriages.

Fri 20 Sep 2013, 20:13

I was under the impression that the 5 car Adelante was just temporary. Is this no longer the case?

Fri 20 Sep 2013, 17:48

The 1649 from Oxford (1551 London) was again seriously overcrowded tonight to the point of being dangerous, especially for any one who is elderly. It is a severe downgrading of the service especially as this is on of the busiest evening trains from Oxford.

Fri 20 Sep 2013, 12:58

See here:

www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=12851.0

and

www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=12904.0

Yes, the 1551 is now a 5 car Adelante for the forseable future, both this train and the following stopping service are now standing room only most days.

Fri 20 Sep 2013, 12:11

I expect Charlbury is committed to its inferior rail service (see earlier complaints here about the non-late trains from Paddington) until (fingers crossed) Chiltern Railways opens its fast service to Marylebone from Water Eaton park and ride. We can expect frequent and reliable trains leaving London until after midnight, and good discounts for booking off-peak in advance online. But I'll bet that FGW will suddenly up its game...

Fri 20 Sep 2013, 11:57

Does anyone know if the 15.51 from Paddington (which forms the 16.49 from Oxford) to Worcester is to remain as a short Adelante train? Overcrowding and standing room only from London is the norm since the train was changed from a 125/ HST set some weeks ago.