Great Western Train service requirements document (26th August)

[Snow1964]

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The DfT has added Great Western Train service requirements document on 26th August

Published 9 October 2020
Last updated 26 August 2021 - hide all updates

1. 26 August 2021
   Updated rail franchise agreement and added train service requirement.

Train service requirement is 92 pages long, so linking rather than quoting in full

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1013738/great-western-train-service-requirement-2020.pdf

There is also a revised franchise, 907 pages long

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1013732/great-western-rail-franchise-agreement.pdf

The Train service requirements cover following
InterCity Great Western Main Line (GWML) InterCity West of England (W of E)
Thames Valley Inner
Thames Valley Outer
North Downs Regional Interurban Bristol
Devon and Cornwall

The Franchisee shall include the following services in the Timetable:
Great Western Main Line
A1 London Paddington – Reading – Swindon.
A2 London Paddington – Cardiff Central – Swansea.
A3a London Paddington– Bath Spa - Bristol Temple Meads/Weston super Mare
A3b London Paddington - Bristol Parkway - Bristol Temple Meads/Weston super Mare
A4 London Paddington/Swindon - Cheltenham Spa

West of England
B London Paddington – Plymouth/Penzance

Thames Valley Inner
C1 London Paddington – Reading
C2 –Not Used
C3 West Ealing – Greenford
C4 Slough – Windsor & Eton Central
C5 Maidenhead – Marlow
C6 Twyford – Henley-on-Thames

Thames Valley Outer
D1 London Paddington – Oxford (Fast services)
D2 Reading – Didcot Parkway
D3 Didcot Parkway - Oxford
D4 Oxford – Banbury
D5 Oxford – Worcester Foregate Street - Hereford
D6 London Paddington – Reading – Newbury – Bedwyn
D7 Reading – Basingstoke

North Downs
E Reading – Redhill / Gatwick Airport

Regional Interurban
F1 Cardiff Central – Portsmouth Harbour
F2a Cardiff Central – Bristol Temple Meads
F2b Bristol Temple Meads – Westbury
F3 Westbury – Southampton Central
F4 Westbury – Weymouth
F5 Westbury – Swindon
F6 Southampton Central – Brighton

Bristol
G1a Bristol Temple Meads – Taunton – Exeter St David’s
G1b Bristol Temple Meads – Weston super Mare
G1c Bristol Parkway – Bristol Temple Meads
G2 Bristol Temple Meads – Severn Beach
G3 Bristol Temple Meads – Gloucester
G4 Gloucester - Great Malvern

Devon and Cornwall
H0 Cardiff Central and Exeter St David’s – Penzance
H1 Exeter St David’s – Plymouth
H2 Plymouth – Penzance
H3 Exeter St David’s – Exmouth
H4 Exeter St David’s – Paignton
H5 Exeter Central – Barnstaple
H6 Exeter St David’s – Crediton
H7 Plymouth – Gunnislake
H8 Liskeard – Looe
H9 Par – Newquay
H10 Truro – Falmouth Docks
H11 St. Erth – St. Ives

 

[Nunners]

The DfT has added Great Western Train service requirements document on 26th August



Train service requirement is 92 pages long, so linking rather than quoting in full

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1013738/great-western-train-service-requirement-2020.pdf

There is also a revised franchise, 907 pages long

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1013732/great-western-rail-franchise-agreement.pdf

The Train service requirements cover following
InterCity Great Western Main Line (GWML) InterCity West of England (W of E)
Thames Valley Inner
Thames Valley Outer
North Downs Regional Interurban Bristol
Devon and Cornwall

The Franchisee shall include the following services in the Timetable:
Great Western Main Line
A1 London Paddington – Reading – Swindon.
A2 London Paddington – Cardiff Central – Swansea.
A3a London Paddington– Bath Spa - Bristol Temple Meads/Weston super Mare
A3b London Paddington - Bristol Parkway - Bristol Temple Meads/Weston super Mare
A4 London Paddington/Swindon - Cheltenham Spa

West of England
B London Paddington – Plymouth/Penzance

Thames Valley Inner
C1 London Paddington – Reading
C2 –Not Used
C3 West Ealing – Greenford
C4 Slough – Windsor & Eton Central
C5 Maidenhead – Marlow
C6 Twyford – Henley-on-Thames

Thames Valley Outer
D1 London Paddington – Oxford (Fast services)
D2 Reading – Didcot Parkway
D3 Didcot Parkway - Oxford
D4 Oxford – Banbury
D5 Oxford – Worcester Foregate Street - Hereford
D6 London Paddington – Reading – Newbury – Bedwyn
D7 Reading – Basingstoke

North Downs
E Reading – Redhill / Gatwick Airport

Regional Interurban
F1 Cardiff Central – Portsmouth Harbour
F2a Cardiff Central – Bristol Temple Meads
F2b Bristol Temple Meads – Westbury
F3 Westbury – Southampton Central
F4 Westbury – Weymouth
F5 Westbury – Swindon
F6 Southampton Central – Brighton

Bristol
G1a Bristol Temple Meads – Taunton – Exeter St David’s
G1b Bristol Temple Meads – Weston super Mare
G1c Bristol Parkway – Bristol Temple Meads
G2 Bristol Temple Meads – Severn Beach
G3 Bristol Temple Meads – Gloucester
G4 Gloucester - Great Malvern

Devon and Cornwall
H0 Cardiff Central and Exeter St David’s – Penzance
H1 Exeter St David’s – Plymouth
H2 Plymouth – Penzance
H3 Exeter St David’s – Exmouth
H4 Exeter St David’s – Paignton
H5 Exeter Central – Barnstaple
H6 Exeter St David’s – Crediton
H7 Plymouth – Gunnislake
H8 Liskeard – Looe
H9 Par – Newquay
H10 Truro – Falmouth Docks
H11 St. Erth – St. Ives

I've had a brief look at the service specification and it looks like pretty much the December 2019 timetable (with half-hourly Bristol superfast). Reading-Redhill and -Basingstoke look like they're half-hourly (I think the plan was 3tph at some point?). There may be some peak extras that are missing but I'm not too familiar with the timetable in the peaks

 

[HS2isgood]

Table A/B:

- London-Swindon-XXX services to be coordinated and run every 15 minutes, calling at Reading. Those include services running west of Swindon. Didcot Parkway gets 3 tph fast calls.

- London-Swansea to be hourly off-peak and half-hourly in the evening peak. All services first stop Swindon, except the peak extras, which are first stop Bristol Parkway. Services to Cardiff to be half-hourly all day and all of them first stop Swindon (if I read right, this means Wales has no Reading services).

- One service extends to Llanelli all the week, three on Saturdays. One Paddington-Pembroke Dock on Summer Saturdays and a Swansea-Pembroke Dock.

- Half-hourly London-Bristol via Bath Spa, calling only Swindon, Chippenham and Bath Spa, with a London-bound fast in the morning calling only at Swindon and Bristol Parkway. Four services extend to Weston-super-Mare, and three to Taunton. 1 or 2 (depending on direction) to Exeter St. Davids.

- A half-hourly superfast, to Bristol, calling only Bristol Parkway, four of them running to Weston-super-Mare. One a day to Exeter St Davids.

- A hourly London-Cheltenham Spa, calling at Swindon, Kemble, Stroud, Stonehouse and Gloucester. A few Swindon-Gloucester extra services (I think 5-6 a day) with connections to London.

- A hourly London-Plymouth calling Reading, Taunton (except the 3 via Bristol services), Exeter St Davids and Newton Abbot (3 services can skip it). Three London-Exeter extras, two London-Plymouth (skipping Newton Abbot too) and three London-Newton Abbot a day, to give a half-hourly service to Exeter in the evening peak.

- Newbury gets 13 calls towards Exeter and 8 towards London. Pewsey gets 11 westbound and 9 eastbound. Westbury and Castle Cary get 10 calls, and Tiverton Parkway a hourly service.

- Nine services extend to Penzance, three to Paignton and, in the summer, one to Newquay.

Tables C/D (Thames valley):

- 2 tph Paddington-Reading, calling at Ealing Broadway, Hayes and Harlington, Slough, Maidenhead and Twyford. In the peak direction, an extra 2 tph, calling only at Slough, Maidenhead and Twyford. This means the London-Didcot Parkway semi-fast is split at Reading outside the peak. A few early/late services make extra calls.

- The Greenford branch will run 2 tph, the Windsor and Eton Central 3 tph, and the Marlow branch will run 2 tph in the peak changing at Bourne End and 1 tph direct off-peak. The Henley-on-Thames branch will be half-hourly too.

- 2 tph Paddington-Oxford, calling at Slough (off-peak) and Reading, but not at Didcot Parkway, except a few early/late services. 1 tph of those continues to Worcester Foregate Street.

- 2 tph Reading-Didcot stoppers, merged with the extra Paddington-Reading services on the peaks, but starting Reading off-peak.

- 2 tph Didcot-Oxford, calling roughly all at Radley, 1 tph at Culham and five trains at Appleford.

- Eleven Oxford-Banbury stoppers, which may run through to Didcot.

 

[Ianno87]

When you say 'XXXX first stop Swindon', I presume it is at GWR's discretion to add calls at Reading/Didcot to meet the 15 minutes / 3tph requirements respectively. i.e. not everything will be fast to Swindon.

 

[Nunners]

When you say 'XXXX first stop Swindon', I presume it is at GWR's discretion to add calls at Reading/Didcot to meet the 15 minutes / 3tph requirements respectively. i.e. not everything will be fast to Swindon.

That's what I assumed when I read it - i.e. the London-Swindon and London-Wales/Bristol specs will be combined as 1 train as they are now

 

[HS2isgood]

When you say 'XXXX first stop Swindon', I presume it is at GWR's discretion to add calls at Reading/Didcot to meet the 15 minutes / 3tph requirements respectively. i.e. not everything will be fast to Swindon.

Oh ok! I didn't understand, I was surprised at the apparently 3 tph Swindon terminators.

 

[Mintona]

Blimey that’s a lot of trains. Surprised the superfasts look to still be included. I guess if you’re paying for the trains anyway, it makes more sense to run them and try and make some money from ticket sales than leave them sat in the sidings (current 800 issues aside).

 

[Dai Corner]

Blimey that’s a lot of trains. Surprised the superfasts look to still be included. I guess if you’re paying for the trains anyway, it makes more sense to run them and try and make some money from ticket sales than leave them sat in the sidings (current 800 issues aside).

I think it may be more of a case of keeping train crew busy. The trains could be utilised by doubling up all the five car sets.

 

[dk1]

I run a bus and coach company, must of our drivers are off throughput the summer period as they are pro ratio, perhaps it’s something government should think more about with these branch lines, if the buses can cope this summer covering for trains, could be a long term possibility for permanently being buses

on note of spare capacity I would have thought railways would too as the demand on peak hour travel has drastically reduced

The spare trains not needed for peak capacity tend to be EMUs (both AC & DC) around London & the SE which are of no use for helping out capacity in most of the country where DMUs are severely overcrowded on many routes. Even on routes electrified the training costs for traincrew would be enormous & that’s without considering any maintenance issues away from their normal depots.

 

[Dai Corner]

The spare trains not needed for peak capacity tend to be EMUs (both AC & DC) around London & the SE which are of no use for helping out capacity in most of the country where DMUs are severely overcrowded on many routes. Even on routes electrified the training costs for traincrew would be enormous & that’s without considering any maintenance issues away from their normal depots.

Though GWR are using Cl 387 EMUs between Paddington and Bristol Parkway, and possibly Cardiff in the future.

 

[dk1]

Though GWR are using Cl 387 EMUs between Paddington and Bristol Parkway, and possibly Cardiff in the future.

Oh yes but that’s not really off their patch as already operate to Didcot/Swindon. They will be excellent crowd busters for Millenium Stadium events in the future.

 

[Dai Corner]

Oh yes but that’s not really off their patch as already operate to Didcot/Swindon. They will be excellent crowd busters for Millenium Stadium events in the future.

Indeed.

By the way, it's called the Principalty Stadium now, as the Principality Building Society sponsors the WRU (Welsh Rugby Union).

 

[dk1]

Indeed.

By the way, it's called the Principalty Stadium now, as the Principality Building Society sponsors the WRU (Welsh Rugby Union).

Well every day is a school day. Cheers!!

 

[Horizon22]

A1 is a little confusing in the plan. It might be a formalisation of the current 387 services that are running to Bristol Parkway a few times day. Or does it combine with one of the other Ax in the Train Plan such as the Bristol / S. Wales / Cheltenham trains?

 

[Mintona]

I think it may be more of a case of keeping train crew busy. The trains could be utilised by doubling up all the five car sets.

I think the traincrew are already being kept fairly busy! Running half hourly Bristol superfasts will mostly be done with 5 car trains, if they are actually to launch properly. I guess you could sell a decent chunk of fairly cheap advances on them and try to keep the traditional route for tickets to Bath and Chippenham.

 

[John Luxton]

Devon and Cornwall

H5 Exeter Central – Barnstaple
H6 Exeter St David’s – Crediton

Where is Okehampton due to open later this year?
Or should that read Exeter - Crediton - Okehampton?

 

[Annetts key]

Where is Okehampton due to open later this year?
Or should that read Exeter - Crediton - Okehampton?

Internally, Network Rail are referring to this as the Dartmoor Line. I don’t know the actual date, but I do know that additional maintenance staff posts are being proposed. So it must be soon.

There may be more information in one of the other topics (search results for Okehampton)

 

[Nunners]

I think the traincrew are already being kept fairly busy! Running half hourly Bristol superfasts will mostly be done with 5 car trains, if they are actually to launch properly. I guess you could sell a decent chunk of fairly cheap advances on them and try to keep the traditional route for tickets to Bath and Chippenham.

I think the plan was that most Bristol passengers would go on the superfast. I think the 'slow' Bristols will be advertised as Bath at Paddington (and maybe Reading at Bristol?). Bath in particular produces enough passengers to keep the traditional Bristol services busy, even as 9 carriages

 

[Annetts key]

I think the plan was that most Bristol passengers would go on the superfast. I think the 'slow' Bristols will be advertised as Bath at Paddington (and maybe Reading at Bristol?). Bath in particular produces enough passengers to keep the traditional Bristol services busy, even as 9 carriages

I don’t travel on the Bristol T.M. - Bath - Paddington services very often now. But back when they were formed by HST sets (so obviously pre-COVID19) there was rather a lot of people getting off or on at Didcot, Swindon and Bath Spa.
And these services were well used by people travelling between Bath Spa and Bristol T.M.

 

[John Luxton]

Internally, Network Rail are referring to this as the Dartmoor Line. I don’t know the actual date, but I do know that additional maintenance staff posts are being proposed. So it must be soon.

There may be more information in one of the other topics (search results for Okehampton)

Someone informed me on a FB page associated with the former Withered Arm that target date for reopening is going to be the introduction of the December timetables.

The point I was making was that Okehampton wasn't included on the Devon and Cornwall franchise specification.

 

[Annetts key]

The point I was making was that Okehampton wasn't included on the Devon and Cornwall franchise specification.

Sorry, I thought auto-correct/auto-suggest had got the better of you.

 

[Bikeman78]

I think the plan was that most Bristol passengers would go on the superfast. I think the 'slow' Bristols will be advertised as Bath at Paddington (and maybe Reading at Bristol?). Bath in particular produces enough passengers to keep the traditional Bristol services busy, even as 9 carriages

The fast trains never really had the chance to get going. On the two occasions that I used them they were nearly empty. I bailed off the wedged Swansea-PAD at Bristol Parkway onto the fast that was booked in to PAD only three minutes later. Actually the second time I got to London earlier as the up Swansea was late and the fast overtook at Reading. Back of the net!

 

[Ianno87]

Blimey that’s a lot of trains. Surprised the superfasts look to still be included. I guess if you’re paying for the trains anyway, it makes more sense to run them and try and make some money from ticket sales than leave them sat in the sidings (current 800 issues aside).

I think the traincrew are already being kept fairly busy! Running half hourly Bristol superfasts will mostly be done with 5 car trains, if they are actually to launch properly. I guess you could sell a decent chunk of fairly cheap advances on them and try to keep the traditional route for tickets to Bath and Chippenham.

The fast trains never really had the chance to get going. On the two occasions that I used them they were nearly empty. I bailed off the wedged Swansea-PAD at Bristol Parkway onto the fast that was booked in to PAD only three minutes later. Actually the second time I got to London earlier as the up Swansea was late and the fast overtook at Reading. Back of the net!

Did Paddington-Bristol and back last week and passengers are certainly returning in numbers

The super-fasts are almost certain relatively cheap to run, and I'd wager will be strong revenue generators.

 

[Kite159]

They should only bring back the Bristol superfasts when they have enough staff to ensure all the other lines don't suffer from cancellations. Ie Swindon - Cheltenham Spa.

 

[Horizon22]

The fast trains never really had the chance to get going. On the two occasions that I used them they were nearly empty. I bailed off the wedged Swansea-PAD at Bristol Parkway onto the fast that was booked in to PAD only three minutes later. Actually the second time I got to London earlier as the up Swansea was late and the fast overtook at Reading. Back of the net!

Yeah they ran for about 1 month if I remember correctly and that wasn’t even the full spec. I’d say they’re probably the last thing to come back if GWR don’t have their full IET fleet back and repaired.

 

[Mintona]

Yeah they ran for about 1 month if I remember correctly and that wasn’t even the full spec. I’d say they’re probably the last thing to come back if GWR don’t have their full IET fleet back and repaired.

They peak Superfast service ran from December 2019 to March 2020. The off peak service never began, it was supposed to in May 2020.

 

[Nunners]

They peak Superfast service ran from December 2019 to March 2020. The off peak service never began, it was supposed to in May 2020.

I think there were a handful off-peak as well - the ones serving Weston

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

There were a very small number of off peak services which ran for diagram balancing purposes only. The fact that a couple of them involved Weston-super-Mare was a coincidence.

 

[tiptoptaff]

They should only bring back the Bristol superfasts when they have enough staff to ensure all the other lines don't suffer from cancellations. Ie Swindon - Cheltenham Spa.

It doesn't work like that, as you well know.

 

[DLJ]

There were a very small number of off peak services which ran for diagram balancing purposes only. The fact that a couple of them involved Weston-super-Mare was a coincidence.

Pretty sure the weekday 1445 ex Paddington superfast I caught to Temple Meads a couple of times went on to Weston. Through Didcot Parkway in under 30min once(!) Would be good to have them back.