Bristol to great Malvern train?

[lemonator140]

I’ve noticed that whenever I’m going home from Bristol to Worcester, there appears to be the odd GWR train that carries on towards Great Malvern.

After looking into it, there seems to be 1 Bristol-Malvern train and 1 Malvern-Bristol train per day which are both at odd times, 18:40 and 21:15 respectively.

It’s left me with a few questions

• Why do these trains carry on to Malvern?
• Why once per day?
• Why in the late evening?
• To match, Shouldn’t there be some extra trains that carry on to Bromsgrove, Kidderminster, Droitwich or even Hereford?

I’ve read that there are plans to improve Worcestershire’s connections to the rest of the south-west and London, is this the start of this phase?

 

[JohnRegular]

Not that it answers your question but there were certainly Malvern trains from further afield via Bristol until quite recently - definitely Southampton, I think even Brighton. So probably not the start of anything new!

 

[A S Leib]

Bristol-Malvern train and 1 Malvern-Bristol train per day which are both at odd times, 18:40

If you're working in central Bristol and finishing at around 17:30, that seems a reasonable time.

 

[Kite159]

Most likely they head to Great Malvern to get out of the way of Worcester and the limited platform space available at Shrub Hill/Foregate Street

 

[John R]

I’ve noticed that whenever I’m going home to Worcester from Bristol, there appears to be the odd GWR train that carries on towards Great Malvern. After looking into it, there seems to be 1 Bristol-Malvern train and 1 Malvern-Bristol train per day which are both at odd times, 18:40 and 21:15 respectively. It’s left me with a few questions lol.

Why do these trains carry on to Malvern? why once per day? and why in the late evening? To match, Shouldn’t there be some extra trains that carry on to Bromsgrove, Kidderminster, Droitwich or even Hereford?

I’ve read that there are plans to improve Worcestershire’s connections to the rest of the south west and london, is this the start of this phase?

They used to be regular - at least every two hours. So to some extent the remaining service is what's left of a better service until a couple of years ago.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

It was a Chris Gibb Wales & West innovation from the more adventurous early days of privatisation. They figured the services were waiting around at Worcester, so might as well go to Malvern and back in dead time.

 

[lemonator140]

Not that it answers your question but there were certainly Malvern trains from further afield via Bristol until quite recently - definitely Southampton, I think even Brighton. So probably not the start of anything new!

Yeah I remember those, used to be able to get to Brighton direct from shrub hill, I think until around lockdown… which feels like last yea lol Now I’ve got to go via Paddington or Birmingham

Most likely they head to Great Malvern to get out of the way of Worcester and the limited platform space available at Shrub Hill/Foregate Street

Makes sense now you say it

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Most likely they head to Great Malvern to get out of the way of Worcester and the limited platform space available at Shrub Hill/Foregate Street

Platform 3 at Shrub Hill, which W&W/Wessex would use at times, isn’t that busy

 

[Anonymous10]

Not that it answers your question but there were certainly Malvern trains from further afield via Bristol until quite recently - definitely Southampton, I think even Brighton. So probably not the start of anything new!

Used to be weymouth to great Malvern i think.

 

[FuzzyDuck]

Used to be weymouth to great Malvern i think.

Definitely did that route for a day out at the sea in the 70's.

 

[Kite159]

Platform 3 at Shrub Hill, which W&W/Wessex would use at times, isn’t that busy

But would mean the train not serving Foregate Street which is the better located Worcester station, and being limited in size due to P3 being quite short

 

[Horizon22]

Fairly sure this service used to be at least every 2 hours, but would appear to have no standard terminus with services terminating at Great Malvern, Malvern Link or sometimes Worcester Foregate St and shunt.

 

[Parallel]

The 17:37 from London Paddington doesn’t run beyond Worcester Foregate Street so this Bristol - Malvern train provides a 10 minute connection for any Malvern commuters travelling back from London.

Since the service became hourly, turnaround of services from Bristol looks to have reduced a lot, from the few trains I’ve checked, so not enough time for them to continue to Great Malvern.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

But would mean the train not serving Foregate Street which is the better located Worcester station, and being limited in size due to P3 being quite short

It would, but nonetheless Wessex/W&W did it.

 

[swt_passenger]

Not that it answers your question but there were certainly Malvern trains from further afield via Bristol until quite recently - definitely Southampton, I think even Brighton. So probably not the start of anything new!

I think mid 2022 was the end of the Brighton to Great Malvern. Many ’off-piste’ services seemed to be withdrawn at about the same time, the rationale was that the stock was better used in the TOC’s main operating area.

I also think by then there had been no opposite direction service between the endpoints, the early departure from Brighton was formed by a GWR train from Fratton or Portsmouth, so although there was nominally ‘2 GW trains per day’ at Brighton it was effectively only one in the eastbound direction arriving from the wider GW area.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

Pre-Covid I used to regularly commute home on the 1707 from Bath which at the time was the 1450 Great Malvern-Weymouth. Only, it regularly wasn’t, as it was formed off the 0900 ex-Brighton and was regularly turned short at Worcester to make up time. From memory I think the turnround at Malvern was about 20 minutes and that included the empty move to/from Malvern Wells to change platforms.

Never been a fan personally of long-distance local services, that’s mainly what intercity trains are for!

 

[The exile]

Never been a fan personally of long-distance local services, that’s mainly what intercity trains are for!

An InterCity service might be fine if you’re travelling from Cheltenham to Exeter; less so if your journey is Malvern Link to Bradford on Avon. In practice however it was always a bit of a lottery as to whether your train would actually run through or have a set swap at Bristol.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

An InterCity service might be fine if you’re travelling from Cheltenham to Exeter; less so if your journey is Malvern Link to Bradford on Avon. In practice however it was always a bit of a lottery as to whether your train would actually run through or have a set swap at Bristol.

How many people actually make that journey though? And how many would be put off if the Malvern train terminated at Bristol for a connection to Bradford.

 

[berneyarms]

I’ve noticed that whenever I’m going home to Worcester from Bristol, there appears to be the odd GWR train that carries on towards Great Malvern. After looking into it, there seems to be 1 Bristol-Malvern train and 1 Malvern-Bristol train per day which are both at odd times, 18:40 and 21:15 respectively. It’s left me with a few questions lol.

Why do these trains carry on to Malvern? why once per day? and why in the late evening? To match, Shouldn’t there be some extra trains that carry on to Bromsgrove, Kidderminster, Droitwich or even Hereford?

I’ve read that there are plans to improve Worcestershire’s connections to the rest of the south west and london, is this the start of this phase?

It does offer a connection out of the Paddington train which turns back at Worcester.

 

[The exile]

How many people actually make that journey though? And how many would be put off if the Malvern train terminated at Bristol for a connection to Bradford.

Wasn’t actually arguing that the flow justifies a through service that doesn’t also make operational sense. However, I can think of lots of circumstances where a through long journey in a slower local service is preferable to an intercity journey involving more changes.

 

[Worcester man]

I’ve noticed that whenever I’m going home to Worcester from Bristol, there appears to be the odd GWR train that carries on towards Great Malvern. After looking into it, there seems to be 1 Bristol-Malvern train and 1 Malvern-Bristol train per day which are both at odd times, 18:40 and 21:15 respectively. It’s left me with a few questions lol.

Why do these trains carry on to Malvern? why once per day? and why in the late evening? To match, Shouldn’t there be some extra trains that carry on to Bromsgrove, Kidderminster, Droitwich or even Hereford?

I’ve read that there are plans to improve Worcestershire’s connections to the rest of the south west and london, is this the start of this phase?

I believe. the Malvern services are residuals from the old 2 hourly Malvern / Worcester– Bristol service via Gloucester. However, following financial support / pressure from the local councils serving Bristol and Gloucestershire, in 23/24 the GWR hourly service between Gloucester and Bristol was increased to 2 trains an hour in each direction, one of which was extended to finish / start at Worcester FS / SH. This created an hourly service each way between Bristol and Worcester on Weekdays and Saturdays (2 hourly on Sundays). Unfortunately, the limited turn round gap for most services meant running on to Malvern was no longer routinely possible.

As to service improvements for Worcestershire, single line capacity currently prevents further improvements on the Cotswold Line to/ from London but,

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/may-2025-timetable-change-actual-gen-only.278309/unread

and checking provisional entries on RTT, the North / South service for Worcestershire Parkway is to be significantly improved from the May timetable change, with an extra service to Cheltenham and Birmingham each hour between 0800 and 2000. The Northbound trains going on to Derby, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh and the Southbound services to Bristol Parkway and Bristol TM

 

[jimm]

What doesn't seem to have been mentioned is that at the time it was boosting the Bristol-Gloucester and Worcester frequencies (well, expect for the morning peak period...) GWR said that it needed to take out most of the runs up the hill to Great Malvern and back in order to have enough units available to cover the extra services south of Worcester.

 

[class ep-09]

What doesn't seem to have been mentioned is that at the time it was boosting the Bristol-Gloucester and Worcester frequencies (well, expect for the morning peak period...) GWR said that it needed to take out most of the runs up the hill to Great Malvern and back in order to have enough units available to cover the extra services south of Worcester.

I wonder, when GWR gets 175’s running in Cornwall and move more Turbos to Bristol , whether Bristol - Worcester trains will be extended back to Gt Malvern.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

I wonder, when GWR gets 175’s running in Cornwall and move more Turbos to Bristol , whether Bristol - Worcester trains will be extended back to Gt Malvern.

That isn’t the plan. 175 deployment releases 800s (to high speed fleet resilience), HSTs (to leasing company) and 158s (to Bristol area fleet.) If anything I suspect some Turbos will go west, to release a 150 for the Newquay enhancement and east, for Thames fleet resilience?

 

[class ep-09]

That isn’t the plan. 175 deployment releases 800s (to high speed fleet resilience), HSTs (to leasing company) and 158s (to Bristol area fleet.) If anything I suspect some Turbos will go west, to release a 150 for the Newquay enhancement and east, for Thames fleet resilience?

Fair enough.

 

[Pokelet]

The other consideration being that with runs to Malvern now greatly reduced how many Gloucester drivers still have it on their route cards?

 

[class ep-09]

The other consideration being that with runs to Malvern now greatly reduced how many Gloucester drivers still have it on their route cards?

There are few (2-3 I think) runs to Gt Malvern per day worked by Gloucester drivers so as such all of them should maintain route knowledge.

 

[Class 170101]

Looks like one return working now

 

[Pokelet]

Looks like one return working now

Yes in the evening. Worcester GWR drivers sign to Malvern and down to Bristol with 165/166 being learnt, although that's not much good if a 158 appears like happened last Tuesday Wednesday and Friday.

I'm surprised they didn't cut them all to Foregate Street with everything turning at Henwick.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

There are two on Saturdays still; one in the early morning and one in the mid-late evening.