And especially when the nonstop service catches up with the Ipswich stopper so will likely be crawling through the station at any rate. Cost of an extra couple of minutes(?) to call there to open up more passenger journey opportunities?
The initial timings stated for 720s were far below their potential, but now they have been slowed down even more:
This service would be 2 minutes faster if the adjustment allowance approaching Witham was changed. Before, ½ minute was added for movements to the side platforms, now this has increased to 2.
If it continues to run at the current levels of punctuality and reliability I won't be disappointed. Clean, on time, get a seat is repeatedly stated as what passengers want, they don't all carry stopwatches.
Reliability is generally pretty good so that is a positive. But when it goes pear shaped, I'm not seeing how all this extra recovery tine helps. Passengers might not carry stopwatches - I certainly don't, but they do notice when the train is slowing down or ambling along at a slower than normal speed. And the xx:30 to Norwich will have to amble along more than usual from June because the driver has to dissipate close to six minutes of normal running time not to catch up the train in front - cue lots more running at 70 to 80mph on 100mph track. That doesn't feel like an Intercity service! In fact you might as well add the additional stops.
That's no surprise. I'd rather sit on a 745 for comfort reasons and the limited stops compared to an all stops narrow seat 720. Though on a Sunday the 745's are busy enough being hourly and the Chelmsford stop would make these too crowded.
It was the December 2010 re-write that produced today's basic pattern, with some minor timing alterations along the way since. It wasn't arrived at by chance, a great deal of detailed discussion took place, and the cooperation of the freight companies was a major contribution.
And here in Scotland
Bang on the money in my books. Only just having moved to Chelmsford and travelling to London daily, the most i have been delayed is 8 minutes. Apart from the 3+2 Seating, the 720's are lovely units, not had an issue with one and the fact they are all identical makes things a lot easier.
Never mind a 360, I rode on a pair of 317s that made up six minutes to Colchester!
It's interesting to compare the 317 era on the GN, or the West Anglia mainline, with the 455s on Southern or SWR. The latter are mind numbingly slow. A late running 455 made up seven minutes between Clapham Junction and Sutton. Imagine how much waiting around there would have been if it had been on time. As you say, I'd rather have a good schedule and accept occasional lateness. There is very little recovery time to Hertford East or Cambridge and yet they almost always run on time.
That's good to hear. It does seem to be much busier during the peak than this time last year.
It might not look like there is any recovery time on West Anglia, but the schedules are pretty slack.
I was referring to when they were worked by class 317s. They had to be worked pretty hard to keep time on the standard off peak schedules. There were many times when I wondered if the train was actually going to stop in time. There was usually a bit of recovery at Bishop's Stortford for Cambridge trains and Broxbourne for Hertford trains but other than that they were constantly on the move with short station dwells. The schedules have not changed since so the 720s ought to be able to manage easily. The contra peak 0803/0833 Cambridge trains have lots of slack.
Those were the days!! The 0803/0833 are too tightly timed behind the stopping Cambridge Service. So they have additional pathing time to allow for the fact they catch the stopper before it leaves Cheshunt. Curiously the stopper isn't looped at Broxbourne, so more pathing is added until Harlow Town where the stopper is finally looped. It's all very leisurely slowing to a crawl in places. Looping the stopper at Broxbourne would seem to be a better idea but that looks like it would require a slow down before Shepreth Jn due to trains crossing to/from Royston. Seems priority is given to Thameslink / GN. Again with so much pathing time, why not add some additional stops?
Yep up to 17 tph in the evening high peak hour (mirroring that already operating in the morning peak) compared to 20 pre COVID. The pattern on the main line is also better in my view with most evening peak Clacton services fast Stratford to Chelmsford. Walton on the Naze has its through trains to London restored with a portion off of the 16:14 Liv St - Clacton detached at Colchester restoring the extra 17:26 Col to Walton (which used to run pre COVID) and an 08:01 Walton to Liv St.
It makes sense to include the stop unless there is a political reason why the stop has been omitted. Of course each stop consumes more energy starting the train and additional wear on brakes. I guess that adds up over the year. Then again, slowing down for yellow and red signals following trains ahead probably exacerbates the issue.
I'm not convinced about them arriving in Norwich on time despite the Bi-Directional Running, additionally there is [6] between Liverpool Street and Norwich which covered some but not all of that.
so you will be giving up your Sundays to work them will you These are Class 745 sechedules that were changed a couploe of years ago and have been running on the faster schedules (compared to Mark IIIs and 90s already) so would not be affected by an Class 720 timing changes (different Rolling Stock)
Would be a bit sad if they did, mind you it would be interesting how many different wildly times planners would get from just one train.
But at the expense it seems of a lot of buses at weekends.
Is going to be annoying for Colchester to Chelmsford journeys, looks like a 30 minute gap (nearly) in service in the off peak for that journey.
Doesn't look like it, but a sore point with all the blocks for it. Hopefully will be done soon. However why does it need to be a three platform station? Must cause more blocks.
You bet I will
My most favourite day of the week to be at work.It's actually more convenient for some people to work Sunday and have a day off in the week..You bet I will
Class 720, 755-E and 745 timings are the same - they have been slightly altered e.g. - Liv St to Stratford is 6½ vs 7 for all of the new trains now.
I'll go ahead and mention it now! Monday - Saturday a selection of services have 2 minutes extra waiting at either Witham or Chelmsford, presumably in preparation for a future Beaulieu Park stop. Surprisingly off-peak, only the Ipswich to Liv St stoppers have the extra wait time giving 1tph initially. Nothing yet on Sunday.
