GWR show us their utter contempt, this morning

So this morning at Maidenhead it was a total shambles with a signalling failure meaning that the fast line into London was unavailable and so trains had to be routed via the slow (relief) line via Platform 5 and then back onto the fast line below Maidenhead.
Can't blame GWR for that, but let's assume for a moment that someone at GWR is responsible for having a contigency plan in the event of infrastructure failure.

As you all know, TFL has now largely taken over the stopping services leaving GWR with the long-distance services and some semi-fast services out of Didcot and Reading. You can bet there's no love lost between GWR and TFL, particularly after a GWR driver managed to run a train through a red signal a few months ago and ended up with the train derailed, after a safety trap deliberately threw it off the rails.

Anyway, GWR tried to cover that one up - it caused massive disruption - but TFL weren't having a bar of it so at TFL-run stations they happily explained over the PA what had happened but at GWR stations it was just 'due to an incident'. You can bet that didn't help the relationship between the two companies.

So GWR decided this morning that they would just cancel Maidenhead as a stop for all their scheduled services and send the trains rocketing through Platform 5. This, of course, ensures that their on-time targets remain intact - these are far more important than actually getting their 'customers' (as they so ironically refer to the suffering passengers) - actually where they want to go. Because, you see, those targets determine penalties that the train operating companies pay to the government when they fail to meet them.

GWR staff almost certainly leaned on Network Rail this morning as well to give them priority over TFL services by tying up the relief line for their own services - ensuring that passengers ended up well and truly stranded in Maidenhead watching 'cancelled' services sail on past without stopping and without TFL being able to position a train in to rescue anyone.

Maidenhead's staff, as is so often the case, rose to the occasion by hiding to avoid having to deal with angry passengers, and instead relied on an endless stream of unhelpful automated announcements, while passengers milled dangerously close to the edge of platform 5 - usually the terminating point for the Bourne End service - unaware that high speed trains were being re-routed via this platform.

You might say, well, GWR can't just change the stopping patterns of trains on the spur of the moment. Well - oddly enough - they seem to have no problem doing that when it suits them. The stopping service at 7 27 is classic for this - if it runs late it disrupts a semi-fast service running not long afterwards - so on several occasions it's gotten as far as Slough and then run fast to Paddington. For added excitement, the old diesel units are now receiving the bare minimum of maintenance from GWR and the PA system is often inaudible. Hence, last time this happened, a whole train of passengers got an unexpected trip to Paddington because the driver's announcement was completely inaudible. Did you know a PA defect is actually a critical safety issue and a train is supposed to be withdrawn from service if the PA isn't functioning properly?. I've seen that happen in the past, so I know that's the case.

It's been fascinating to watch TFL take over the formerly GWR-run stations closer to London, such as Hayes and Harlington. When TFL took over the station signage was completely revamped - my favourite was the platform sign which GWR had wrongly printed and someone had used some white paint to just turn a 2 into a rather clumsy 3 - that's GWR style!. It sat there for years - good enough by GWR standards. TFL have staff watching each train dispatch, keeping passengers safe, and generally ensuring things run smoothly and efficiently.

It infuriates me for this slovenly, lazy, inefficient and unsafe train company to still have a franchise. I still remember the day they failed to clear out a train and took a load of passengers by mistake into the sidings at Maidenhead, then tried to make a member of the public delete photos he'd taken as evidence. Sooner or later we'll have a serious accident - but at the very least this contemptuous, arrogant treatment of their 'customers' is totally unacceptable.