Mainline421
Member
The timetable lists 1tph calling at Branksome and Parkstone https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/timetables
Most of the time at least 3 HST’s are parked up for days or even weeks on end doing nothing. Then when they are pressed into long distance service, they become unreliable after days or weeks of idling. No point in having HST stock if you don’t use it? Yes we all know they cost more to run, but on Summer Saturdays these services are very popular. As before, get 4 out of 5 of them on the rails for a Summer Saturday to provide extra Holiday Trains to/from Devon and Cornwall. For me, there is no real need for 75% of XC services to go further north than York. Perhaps retain a few early morning and mid afternoon services to/from Edinburgh? LNER/Trans-Pennine provide a very good service for the remainder of the ECML going north. This would free up more Voyagers to provide some additional Manchester-South West and even a few York-Southampton/Bournemouth services, to avoid those extra changes for people who would like to go direct from Yorkshire to the South Coast or Manchester/Stoke/Wolverhampton to the South West. Unfortunately as we can all see, this XC timetable is not about making things better for passengers, if anything its forcing more and more onto alternative transport which is very sad. I intend to e-mail XC direct to enquire more regarding this “anti-passenger” dubious timetable.I think the same and used the word collusion in my last post.
I have posted several times about Reading - Southampton - Bournemouth remaining 2 hourly on Saturday and that with numerous trains per hour running north of York some XC services should be terminated there so the sets can run to the South Coast and South-West.
Right now there is no suitable stock available. Only time will tell where the DfT decide to reallocate the West Coast Voyagers and the MML Meridians when they are released.
Further as I understand the HST's are rostered for fewer services.
The timetable lists 1tph calling at Branksome and Parkstone https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/timetables
Go and watch those Scottish Cross country’s when they head to/from Scotland at York. They are often very well loaded, terminating at York transfers those customers to already very well loaded LNER services.Most of the time at least 3 HST’s are parked up for days or even weeks on end doing nothing. Then when they are pressed into long distance service, they become unreliable after days or weeks of idling. No point in having HST stock if you don’t use it? Yes we all know they cost more to run, but on Summer Saturdays these services are very popular. As before, get 4 out of 5 of them on the rails for a Summer Saturday to provide extra Holiday Trains to/from Devon and Cornwall. For me, there is no real need for 75% of XC services to go further north than York. Perhaps retain a few early morning and mid afternoon services to/from Edinburgh? LNER/Trans-Pennine provide a very good service for the remainder of the ECML going north. This would free up more Voyagers to provide some additional Manchester-South West and even a few York-Southampton/Bournemouth services, to avoid those extra changes for people who would like to go direct from Yorkshire to the South Coast or Manchester/Stoke/Wolverhampton to the South West. Unfortunately as we can all see, this XC timetable is not about making things better for passengers, if anything its forcing more and more onto alternative transport which is very sad. I intend to e-mail XC direct to enquire more regarding this “anti-passenger” dubious timetable.
Unfortunately it's down to the lack of a Rest Day Working agreement. You can ask XC as much as you want, but if you get a truthful answer from them, that's what it'll be. Without RDW they cannot reliably crew the HSTs. And in turn, there is very little likelihood of RDW being reinstated until the unrest currently brewing across the industry has been 'resolved'.Most of the time at least 3 HST’s are parked up for days or even weeks on end doing nothing. Then when they are pressed into long distance service, they become unreliable after days or weeks of idling. No point in having HST stock if you don’t use it? Yes we all know they cost more to run, but on Summer Saturdays these services are very popular. As before, get 4 out of 5 of them on the rails for a Summer Saturday to provide extra Holiday Trains to/from Devon and Cornwall. For me, there is no real need for 75% of XC services to go further north than York. Perhaps retain a few early morning and mid afternoon services to/from Edinburgh? LNER/Trans-Pennine provide a very good service for the remainder of the ECML going north. This would free up more Voyagers to provide some additional Manchester-South West and even a few York-Southampton/Bournemouth services, to avoid those extra changes for people who would like to go direct from Yorkshire to the South Coast or Manchester/Stoke/Wolverhampton to the South West. Unfortunately as we can all see, this XC timetable is not about making things better for passengers, if anything its forcing more and more onto alternative transport which is very sad. I intend to e-mail XC direct to enquire more regarding this “anti-passenger” dubious timetable.
I wonder how well loaded they would be if they did terminate at York. How many people are actually travelling from beyond Leeds/Doncaster and wouldn't travel by train if the XC service were terminated at York?Go and watch those Scottish Cross country’s when they head to/from Scotland at York. They are often very well loaded, terminating at York transfers those customers to already very well loaded LNER services.
York isn't flush with platforms but there would still be enough capacity. Platform 6 is mostly just used by the LNER "stopper". So XC could terminate there every other hour for example. Similarly, most of the through platforms are long enough that the Northern Harrogate service could platform share with the XC service (even if it's exceptionally a 10 car Voyager). This certainly isn't a blocker.Also York is a very congested station, where do you suggest the Crosscountry terminate? Since northern introduced the additional Harrogate that takes out a through platform for 25 minutes of each hour.
This is appalling Shapps should be held to account!!What’s happened to XC’s Summer Saturday HST services? Leeds-Paignton, Paignton-Glasgow; York-Penzance, Penzance-Leeds; Glasgow-Paignton, Paignton-Leeds; Glasgow-Penzance, even Manchester-Newquay voyagers? Does no one go on holiday anymore to Devon & Cornwall from the midlands and the north? We always use the 1V44 and 1E67 on a summer Saturday to get to/from Dawlish to/from Bristol and those trains are always busy. With this awful timetable, that now means an extra change at Exeter both ways to get to Dawlish, so unfortunately this year I will be inclined to drive instead as its cheaper and now quicker. Its as if people are being deliberately “put off” travelling to/from great holiday destinations in Devon & Cornwall, with practically no XC summer Saturday services to/from the Midlands and the North? Im surprised councils & businesses in Dawlish, Teignmouth, Torquay, Paignton and resorts in Cornwall have not kicked up a fuss as this summer timetable will no doubt cost these resorts valuable pounds of lost revenue as many people will be put off with the increased prices and the added inconvenience of multiple changes to get to these places.
Trowbridge only ever had them because SWT (later SWR) offered the irregular service to Waterloo. There is no chance of GWR offering anything to Paddington.This is appalling Shapps should be held to account!!
Also am I correct the county town of Wiltshire Trowbridge has NO direct London services ? Surely GWR could provide one ?
Are the specials to Swanage history?
Leisure travel is key !!
Also it irks me 158s are on the Weymouths with tatty turbos on the Portsmouths
Why not?Trowbridge only ever had them because SWT (later SWR) offered the irregular service to Waterloo. There is no chance of GWR offering anything to Paddington.
What was that? Can’t see very much. Was it a short term thing?Except they did:
View attachment 113716
May 2019 timetable 1K71 HST 05:15 Bristol-Paddington called Trowbridge 05:46. Retimed to 05:10 IET from Bristol, 05:41 from Trowbridge December 2019. Immediately pre-Covid. Still in December 2020 timetable also.What was that? Can’t see very much.
Well I never. Was it due to engineering works related to electrification or had it been running long term?May 2019 timetable 1K71 HST 05:15 Bristol-Paddington called Trowbridge 05:46. Retimed to 05:10 IET from Bristol, 05:41 from Trowbridge December 2019. Immediately pre-Covid.
Also it irks me 158s are on the Weymouths with tatty turbos on the Portsmouths
Well I never. Was it due to engineering works related to electrification or had it been running long term?
It was a new(ish) service which was introduced, err, I'm not sure,Well I never. Was it due to engineering works related to electrification or had it been running long term?
I think so. The summer extras from Salisbury to Weymouth were declared hopelessly uneconomic and never to return by SWR in their Dec 2022 consultation. I expect any SWR service to Swanage, which would have been an extension of the Weymouth, is equally unlikely to ever run again.Are the specials to Swanage history?
It’s not on the mainline & can’t imagine it being a money spinner. DfT don’t seem up for much outside the box these days either.Why not?
Yes, there was 1C90 17:06 Paddington to Bristol, arriving Trowbridge 19:01, this one went round the curve and didn't stop at Westbury whereas the morning service did. 1C90 last appeared in the December 2015 timetable, it's not in the May 2016 timetable.Wikipedia states an evening service via Newbury from Paddington ran until 2016. I can’t see any services returning anytime soon.
I got the impression that the extra West of England services (and the Corfe Castle service) owed a lot to the personal efforts of Chris Loder, who was then a senior SWT / SWR manager but is now the Tory MP for West Dorset. I think when he left the company these services lost their internal champion.
They also got nowhere near covering their costs so easy pickings by the DfT to save money.
Were the Corfe Castle summer services heavily promoted at the time?
Yes but at heavily discounted fare which might have got bums on seats but didn’t cover their costs.
Plus it was such a long and roundabout route that it wasn't very attractive
Was it not also disrupted for a period by industrial action?The strikes on SWR also messed things up considerably for the Corfe Castle service - did nothing to build confidence the service would run on any particular weekend.