So you are basically proposing that people from the south west just grin and bear it. After all, what's an extra hour or so travelling with SWR from Exeter to Waterloo instead?..... It isn't really fair is it, that GWR customers are having to make all these sacrifices for such a long period for pretty much no discernible benefit.
I agree that the suggestion that it’s all fine because they have another option that’s an hour longer is ridiculous. Not to mention given how that went last time OOC works closed the GWML, with significant queues at Reading and trains leaving full and standing for a 1hr 30 journey, which is absolutely ridiculous. SWR has not even close to the capacity to handle all of GWR’s passengers from Reading. That then means OOC works are affecting users of SWR too, because all their trains are turning up full and standing all the way to Waterloo.
Although good points have been made about the benefits of HS2, they’ve failed to answer the question that started this, which was it doesn’t benefit the current users of the GWML who are affected by the works. Someone from Bristol, Cardiff or Penzance who would take XC, but may take HS2, isn’t as affected by these works because they aren’t travelling into London now. Meanwhile those of us who have suffered going on a decade of disruption now have half a decade more almost guaranteed. For most people living outside Reading that has been to bring the Elizabeth line, from which they have seen little benefit, at least from the bit that the disruption was for.
There was also disruption for electrification, and although that has brought benefits, for those out to Bristol and Oxford significant amounts of enabling works caused a lot of disruption, just for the electrification to never materialise.
Personally, living between Didcot and Reading when not at uni, all this disruption has brought a worse service. We lost direct trains to Oxford, and to many stop towards London, replaced by a semi fast service that it’s still quicker to change at Reading than take.
For a few days at Christmas, for the next three years. Some perspective is needed here
That’s sort of forgetting that there will be significantly reduced services a decent amount of weekends, increasingly more into next year with no late night Saturday and early morning Sunday service.
Thats reduced GWR services, delayed GWR services with congestion, heavily reduced Elizabeth Line services and no service to Acton Mainline a fair chunk of the time.
I travelled last week and thinks to congestion caused by OOC works my first train was 30 minutes late, which caused me to miss my connecting train, and as the next train was removed from the timetable for the works, I suffered a two hour delay. There was no other disruption than these works.
