How unusual is it for a train on a route to skip all intermediate stations?

[wilbers]

Just wondering because I was coming back from Newcastle to Penrith and my train to Carlisle was cancelled so I ended up on the one an hour later (with taxi provided for me and the other 4 people on the train also going Newcastle ->Carlisle -> Penrith). The later train was the 1923 which along with the 1855 to Hexham are both formed from splitting the incoming train from Whitby. The 1855 was so delayed it actually set off at 1921 with announcements that it would only be stopping at Hexham (and hence skipping all of the other 8 stops it was scheduled to make). I've never noticed anything like this happen before - in general (not on that line specifically) does it happen that trains are told to skip all stations other than its destination, or is that quite rare?

Also meant the train I was on was very overcrowded as it had 2 trains worth of people on it (didn't notice if there were still "standees" at Carlisle, but there were certainly still some at Haltwhistle) + a few more that couldn't go on the Hexham non-stopper.

 

[dk1]

I’ve done it a few time London-Norwich. Really look forward to it hoping it’s going to be a record breaking run but in reality with being out of path other trains constantly get in your way & by Shenfield my dreams are already shattered lol.

 

[Seejwalker]

In a word yes. It can be an almost daily occurrence and it’s purpose is to help the service recover.
The term used is “running fast” and would see a train miss certain stops if not all of them, in order to help it meet it’s booked return timings.
This is normally the case following severe service delay.

 

[Western 52]

This happens on the Coryton line in Cardiff. Non stop Queen Street to Coryton. Passengers for intermediate stations alight on the return journey. Extra miles for free I guess!

 

[mrcheek]

Its fairly common, especially on lines with regular services and tight turnarounds. Often happens on Merseyrail, and the Cardiff local lines, since if the train is further delayed it can screw up the whole network.

 

[PedroHav]

It happens occasionally with Southern. Missing out stations running into Southampton to make up time. Also between Chichester and Havant.

 

[wilbers]

so its common to skip some stations, and although less common to skip all intermediate stations it would still be likely to happen somewhere in the country most days?

 

[skyhigh]

so its common to skip some stations, and although less common to skip all intermediate stations it would still be likely to happen somewhere in the country most days?

Definitely, I'd be surprised if it didn't happen multiple times every day.

 

[Dr_Paul]

I've experienced this several times on the South-Western at Kingston. If an up Shepperton or Kingston Loop service is running late, it will quite often run non-stop from Kingston to Waterloo, or stop at Norbiton (the next station) then non-stop. Both the guard and the station announcer make clear announcements to this effect. If one is going to Waterloo, it's rather nice to get a non-stop run. Once, however, a late service ran non-stop from Teddington so it just went straight through Kingston, which was annoying for me. The non-stop specials usually go across from the up slow to the up fast at the town end of Raynes Park and return to the up slow at the town end of Vauxhall.

A couple of times I've been on a down from Waterloo which was running late, and both ran non-stop to Kingston. I think they went over to the down fast from the down slow just before Vauxhall, but I can't be sure; they may have gone across just outside Waterloo (is that possible from platforms 1 to 5?). They pulled up at the disused down fast platform at New Malden, then went to the down slow and then off to Kingston.

 

[Starmill]

I have myself once been on a train to Hexham that had come via the Durham Coast, and ran non-stop from Newcastle to Hexham. It was quite interesting really and the train just about made an on time departure from Hexham for its next working, which is the idea! Doesn't strictly fit this situation as it had started elsewhere, probably Nunthorpe. But still.

 

[zero]

Had it on London Overground Norwood Junction to New Cross to get back on time

 

[Whiggism]

Yes it’s usually common on the Thameslink Sutton loooper. A couple instances where they would skip the stations after Sutton (via Mitcham Junction) to Streatham.

 

[miklcct]

Do you count trains which are scheduled to skip all intermediate stations by running non-stop from the origin to the destination?

 

[TC7]

I've experienced it with southeastern a fair few times heading from London towards Hastings, with trains suddenly going High Brooms, Tunbridge Wells, Hastings at very short notice after London Bridge or even Waterloo East on occasion

 

[patrick.hearn3]

Add Bristol - Weston-Super-Mare, running non-stop and omitting Nailsea, Yatton, Worle etc. Infrequent, but more likely on late running services ex-London.

 

[yorkie]

I've experienced it with southeastern a fair few times heading from London towards Hastings, with trains suddenly going High Brooms, Tunbridge Wells, Hastings at very short notice after London Bridge or even Waterloo East on occasion

Not quite non-stop from Charing Cross to Hastings then I think we can rule out that ever happening.

Skipping several intermediate stations is one thing but it's quite rare for a train to skip all intermediate stations, as per the thread title.

Indeed the example given in the opening post isn't actually within that definition, because it came from Whitby!

 

[SouthEastBuses]

This has once happened me to on a CrossCountry Voyager back in May. I boarded the train at Bristol Temple Meads (arrived on time) going to Plymouth, and was supposed to stop at Taunton, Tiverton Parkway, Exeter, Newton Abbot, Totnes and Plymouth. However, due to a 40 minute delay which meant we were stuck for 30 minutes at Yatton, the train had to skip Tiverton Parkway, Newton Abbot and Totnes. Thankfully, it didn't affect me as I was only planning to travel to Taunton, where the train stopped as normal.

 

[D6130]

A couple of times in the past year or so, I have boarded a late-running Blackpool-York or Manchester Victoria-Leeds service at Hebden Bridge to find that it will be running non-stop to Leeds via Dewsbury in order to assist with service recovery. Passengers for Halifax, Bradford and New Pudsey were advised to alight at Hebden Bridge and wait for the following service....but, of course, there are always a few with headphones on, or who don't speak English, or just don't listen to announcements!

 

[jojoseph72]

I’ve seen with Thameslink on days where there is significant disruption and sees the bunching up of services to the same destination it isn’t uncommon to see the most disrupted services to skip intermediate station only stopping at key stations and for the ones behind (less disrupted) to pick up the slack of the trains that’s now running fast.

 

[Gathursty]

I'd like to see this happen on the Heart of Wales or Far North and see if we can break some records along the way.

 

[Seejwalker]

I've experienced this several times on the South-Western at Kingston. If an up Shepperton or Kingston Loop service is running late, it will quite often run non-stop from Kingston to Waterloo, or stop at Norbiton (the next station) then non-stop. Both the guard and the station announcer make clear announcements to this effect. If one is going to Waterloo, it's rather nice to get a non-stop run. Once, however, a late service ran non-stop from Teddington so it just went straight through Kingston, which was annoying for me. The non-stop specials usually go across from the up slow to the up fast at the town end of Raynes Park and return to the up slow at the town end of Vauxhall.

A couple of times I've been on a down from Waterloo which was running late, and both ran non-stop to Kingston. I think they went over to the down fast from the down slow just before Vauxhall, but I can't be sure; they may have gone across just outside Waterloo (is that possible from platforms 1 to 5?). They pulled up at the disused down fast platform at New Malden, then went to the down slow and then off to Kingston.

I signal those lines and as soon as there’s any sort of distribution the Shepperton service is first to be cancelled.

 

[kbizzle]

Happens quite a bit on the Salop to Birmingham line. If the local is running 20L they'll either spin it at Wolverhampton (due to average 7 mins turn around in New Street) or they'll just call at Wellington, Telford then next stop Wolverhampton.

 

[voyagerdude220]

There was a heavily delayed Cross Country train last Saturday evening which unusually ran none stop Birmingham to Oxford, Oxford to Basingstoke (avoiding Reading) and Basingstoke to Southampton Central. It left Birmingham New Street 118 late and terminated short at Southampton Central 79 late.

 

[Class15]

I think Stratford trains can be made to run non stop from Willesden if necessary.

 

[Dren Ahmeti]

There was a heavily delayed Cross Country train last Saturday evening which unusually ran none stop Birmingham to Oxford, Oxford to Basingstoke (avoiding Reading) and Basingstoke to Southampton Central. It left Birmingham New Street 118 late and terminated short at Southampton Central 79 late.

Getting the Reading West Curve in is pretty rare, and messes us the direction the unit(s) is/are in.

 

[Jimini]

Found it -- interesting one aye! Non-stop Brum to Leamington (via. Solihull I'm guessing) saved 11 mins (still called at Leamington and Banbury), then the lack of reversal at Reading saved another 15 mins.

Realtime Trains | 1O30 1827 Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth | 16/07/2022

Real-time train running information for 1O30 1827 departure from Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth on 16/07/2022. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Throwback to the Reading remodelling timetables!

 

[Sm5]

Happens on Southern all the time,
Countless times an Epsom to Victoria has expressed to Clapham after Sutton, only to wait on the streatham hill to balham incline due to being early.

ive done a Thameslink round the loop via Wimbledon thats skipped all stations except Wimbledon To Sutton to get back to time.

hopefully they will announce it on board so you can get off, but several times they have not, leading to frustration.

 

[yorkie]

Found it -- interesting one aye! Non-stop Brum to Leamington (via. Solihull I'm guessing) saved 11 mins (still called at Leamington and Banbury), then the lack of reversal at Reading saved another 15 mins.

Realtime Trains | 1O30 1827 Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth | 16/07/2022

Real-time train running information for 1O30 1827 departure from Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth on 16/07/2022. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Throwback to the Reading remodelling timetables!

Good work going on there; the train immediately behind called at the usual points and only got to Eastleigh over half an hour after that train got all the way to Southampton Central.

 

[Harpers Tate]

Doesn't always work. Last autumn, I was travelling from Leeds to Skipton in the morning. The incoming service was substantially late and so in a vain attempt to recover the diagram, Northern decided to run it non-stop to Skipton. This was clearly announced on platform and train. Great idea, which, if it had worked, would have put the set in Skipton in time for an almost on-time deaprture back to Leeds.

The train got as far as Shipley where, "cleverly", the preceding Bradford > Skipton stopper was NOT delayed by all of about 2 minutes to allow the (now) "express" to proceed at line speed; rather it was dispatched on time. And so the (now) "fast" train followed it stop/start arriving in Skipton something like 15 minutes after it should have departed for its return.

Not very joined-up thinking IMO.

 

[Snow1964]

A couple of times I've been on a down from Waterloo which was running late, and both ran non-stop to Kingston. I think they went over to the down fast from the down slow just before Vauxhall, but I can't be sure; they may have gone across just outside Waterloo (is that possible from platforms 1 to 5?). They pulled up at the disused down fast platform at New Malden, then went to the down slow and then off to Kingston.

When I used to commute to Waterloo from Kingston, had it a few times. Fastest was one from platform 5 at Waterloo straight onto fast line (prior to rebuild platform 5 was used by both fast and slow), New Malden crossover, Norbiton in 16.5 minutes, Kingston in 18 minutes.

There is no equivalent crossover at country end of New Malden anymore (used to be until 1960s), so even skip stop trains take nearer 25 minutes