Hull Trains " Sees biggest timetable transformation in its history": could we see further improvements?

[westv]

Hull Trains Sees Biggest Timetable Transformation in its 23 Year History | News | Hull Trains

Hull Trains are now running 10 carriages on a number of services, bringing an extra 4,000 seats a week.

www.hulltrains.co.uk

Hull Trains has announced it is now running extended 10 carriage trains on a number of its services from Wednesday to Sunday due to growing passenger numbers, bringing an extra 4,000 available seats per week for customers.

Introducing this extra capacity, especially on a Sunday, has been an aspiration of the operator for some time now and it is delighted to finally be able to launch these longer train services. e. The change will bring additional seats and offers to Hull Trains’ services for customers.

Extra carriages being added for some days

 

[HullRailMan]

It’s been doing this for months, and the Sunday 10-cars kicked in at the December timetable change. They are very often full so it’s useful extra capacity. Would be ideal to see the 5 car units extended to 7/8/9 permanently so there’s extra capacity on every service.

 

[YorkRailFan]

Hull Trains is going to need this extra capacity with the upcoming strikes impacting LNER.

 

[westv]

It would be nice to have extra services, not just more carriages.

 

[IanXC]

Of course before the pandemic for the May 2020 timetable HT seemed to be working on adding an 0457 Hull to Kings Cross and a 2230 Kings Cross to Hull to their service. I wonder if we will see these ideas resurrected?

 

[A S Leib]

Have they ever expressed a desire to run extra services to / from Beverley, or extending those services to Bridlington?

 

[dodecahedron67]

Of course before the pandemic for the May 2020 timetable HT seemed to be working on adding an 0457 Hull to Kings Cross and a 2230 Kings Cross to Hull to their service. I wonder if we will see these ideas resurrected?

I’d be a big fan of that 2230 KGX Hull train to be honest. Currently if I’m down south finishing late, I have to fork out for the 2100/2200/2300 LNER, but a 2230 HT that I could use my FG staff on would be lovely

 

[Adam0984]

Of course before the pandemic for the May 2020 timetable HT seemed to be working on adding an 0457 Hull to Kings Cross and a 2230 Kings Cross to Hull to their service. I wonder if we will see these ideas resurrected?

Also GC were planning on running an early Wakefield Kirkgate to King's Cross and late one back to get rid of the Sunderland night stop unit and crew

 

[cslusarc]

I'd like to see all OAOs on the ECML (including GC, HT & LD) exclusively operate 10-car trains between Kings Cross and Doncaster in order to maximize the number of passengers per train path.

 

[deltic]

I'd like to see all OAOs on the ECML (including GC, HT & LD) exclusively operate 10-car trains between Kings Cross and Doncaster in order to maximize the number of passengers per train path.

Agreed - seems bizarre that on congested routes OAOs are allowed to run short trains thereby further constraining capacity

 

[gledhill56]

I'd like to see all OAOs on the ECML (including GC, HT & LD) exclusively operate 10-car trains between Kings Cross and Doncaster in order to maximize the number of passengers per train path.

Would this not introduce a performance risk when splitting and joining at Donny if one half of the train is delayed?

 

[Adam0984]

I think they'd love to but capacity at King's Cross is a premium with them regularly stacking 2 OAOs on the same platform. It would probably require a quick detrain, shunt to the sidings and come back for a quick boarding and go

 

[swt_passenger]

I think they'd love to but capacity at King's Cross is a premium with them regularly stacking 2 OAOs on the same platform. It would probably require a quick detrain, shunt to the sidings and come back for a quick boarding and go

I’d often thought it would have been useful to have a turnround siding in the spare tunnel bore. Of course with the 6 track remodelling that would now have to be a bit further away, or in the next tunnel, but I think something is still possible.

 

[Adrian1980uk]

I'm guessing they might need to order more rolling stock in the future (maybe along with limo) as working the existing fleet flat out might become a challenge to have a reliable timetable without short forming.

 

[dk1]

It would be nice to have extra services, not just more carriages.

That’s quite unlikely even if the ECML timetable recast is accepted. Especially if the twice daily Sheffield option gets approved.

Would be ideal to see the 5 car units extended to 7/8/9 permanently so there’s extra capacity on every service.

That has operational consequences when sharing platforms & when required to operate in multiple even to/from maintenance etc.

It’s the reason most OA operators & LNER operate 5-car sets.

 

[Clarence Yard]

Not really. The reason the OAO run five car sets is that is what their business model worked best with at the time of ordering. Unlike LNER, they cannot afford to run empty carriages around. They have to earn a profit.

The problem comes when passenger demand goes up at a greater rate than their business model predicted and, for two of them, the manufacturer of their sets says that no more sets or indeed individual cars are available until at least 2028!

 

[Mugby]

I fail to understand why an increase in capacity is being trumpeted as a 'Timetable Transformation' ?

 

[Baxenden Bank]

I fail to understand why an increase in capacity is being trumpeted as a 'Timetable Transformation' ?

Agreed.
Capacity 'transformation' possibly.

 

[ainsworth74]

I think they'd love to but capacity at King's Cross is a premium with them regularly stacking 2 OAOs on the same platform. It would probably require a quick detrain, shunt to the sidings and come back for a quick boarding and go

Do they stack regularly at Kings Cross? I don't dispute it can happen but observation seems to indicate that the OAOs almost always occupy platforms alone.

 

[mike57]

Hull Trains has announced it is now running extended 10 carriage trains on a number of its services from Wednesday to Sunday due to growing passenger numbers, bringing an extra 4,000 available seats per week for customers

They were certainly running 10 cars when went on holiday in October. It was a Saturday and they were full. Advance fares are reasonable and journey is a lot more comfortable than changing at Doncaster and joining a packed LNER service. For a secondary destination the roughly 1 train per 2h is probably about right, and you are better dealing with increased demand by running longer trains than trying to run more frequently, even if that were possible on the ECML.

Would they lengthen to 8 or 9 car or try and and order some more 5 car units?. I dont think they could run 10 cars (or even 8 or 9) to Beverley, only 4 of the 5 cars fit on the platform, and Howden is a challenge, the back unit is completely off the platform.

Have they ever expressed a desire to run extra services to / from Beverley, or extending those services to Bridlington?

It would be useful, but I am not sure if there is enough business to justify the extension. Beverley - Bridlington is 28 mins calling at Driffield, so if they extended the 06:05 from Beverley back to Brid you would be looking at a 05:35 ish departure, are signal boxes open? Brid station doesn't open until 06:00 I think, so yes we would use it, and it would give a useful early departure, but our few times a year custom isn't going to make the business case... We have travelled from Beverley a few times and custom seems to be picking up, so I really dont know, Hull trains seem able to develop markets, but I am not sure there is a market to develop.

 

[westv]

Do they stack regularly at Kings Cross? I don't dispute it can happen but observation seems to indicate that the OAOs almost always occupy platforms alone.

That's been my observation too.

 

[mrgreen]

One of the shorter platforms (but still adequate for 5 cars) was removed in the latest changes at Kings Cross. That would have been a strange move if OAO were so short of platforms as to need to double up regularly.

 

[WAB]

Do they stack regularly at Kings Cross? I don't dispute it can happen but observation seems to indicate that the OAOs almost always occupy platforms alone.

It’s been a while since I looked at the KX platform graph but I’m sure there are a few stacks, and I think at least one was with an LNER. It would depend just how much other operators would need to compromise to free up another platform for the appropriate time to enable a double unit.

 

[Paragon]

I fail to understand why an increase in capacity is being trumpeted as a 'Timetable Transformation' ?

Maybe the ‘transformation’ is their application to run KX - Sheffield twice a day (via Retford).