Marston Vale line suspension over - FULL services start running 19/02/24

[Peter Sarf]

It's designed for the car, though the Redways are actually quite nice to use for cycling. Flooding isn't the norm (indeed the whole city is designed with a system of balancing lakes to prevent it) but due to the severe rainfall in recent days which has flooded all over the country combined probably with a blocked drain.

I assume you did that to be on the first Marston Vale service of the restart? If so I'd have grabbed a Travelodge or Premier Inn - MK has vast hotel overcapacity which is only usually full during Silverstone and prices can be very attractive indeed. Surprised the sit-in there was open overnight, they are mostly drive through only between about midnight and 6am.

My bold, "drive through only" so aptly amplifies your point.

 

[Bletchleyite]

My bold, "drive through only" so aptly amplifies your point.

It's not an MK thing, it's most branches nationally. The reason for it is that you get too many assaults overnight, particularly involving drunk people. The ones that do open for walk ins late for that crowd tend to have private security.

Anyway, back to the Vale (apologies for the OT bit, I thought for a minute we were in the New Towns thread as that also touches on the MV)? I might have a ride this evening, hopefully it will be smooth.

 

[sibbahz]

It's not an MK thing, it's most branches nationally. The reason for it is that you get too many assaults overnight, particularly involving drunk people. The ones that do open for walk ins late for that crowd tend to have private security.

Anyway, back to the Vale? I might have a ride this evening.

I will be headed home from MK on it this evening. Hopefully there are no teething problems!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I will be headed home from MK on it this evening. Hopefully there are no teething problems!

There do seem to have been some minor delays this morning. Hopefully not related to unit reliability.

 

[H&I]

Whilst the £1 flat fare will surely attract substantial numbers of passengers in the short term, including people who will have gone out of their way to explore the line, the line will have to close when East West Rail engineering works are taking place to upgrade the line, which could easily wipe out all the gains.

I assume you did that to be on the first Marston Vale service of the restart? If so I'd have grabbed a Travelodge or Premier Inn - MK has vast hotel overcapacity which is only usually full during Silverstone and prices can be very attractive indeed.

Staying in a hotel would no doubt be more comfortable, but since I would still have to wake up at 04:30 to catch that first train, I don’t consider it value for money to pay for an entire night’s stay. I’ve done so many of these “first service” events before (for example, I’ve done all new stations to open in 2023 except for Inverness Airport, as well as the Wolverhampton tram extension and a few rolling stock introductions) that it is now second nature for me to catch the last train and wait outside the station overnight. Granted, it is very tiring for me and usually I am completely knackered by the midday but it does save me a bit of money.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Whilst the £1 flat fare will surely attract substantial numbers of passengers in the short term, including people who will have gone out of their way to explore the line, the line will have to close when East West Rail engineering works are taking place to upgrade the line, which could easily wipe out all the gains.

It's by no means certain that EWR East will ever happen. I'd bet on it not doing, personally, and if it doesn't go past Bedford I can certainly see it may make more sense to make more of the line's local potential (with some new developments) rather than strip half the stations out.

If you asked me to bet any Anytime Day Single from Woburn Sands to Bletchley* whether EWR wouldn't in the foreseeable future be anything other than Oxford-MKC, I'd happily go for that.

So I don't think we need to worry about that, at least for now.

* Also joking as per the LNER thread, but £1 is a lot more reasonable

 

[sibbahz]

Looks like they failed to deliver a full service, they have cancelled the last run of the day due to an "operational incident"
Wonder if the bus will return tonight?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Looks like they failed to deliver a full service, they have cancelled the last run of the day due to an "operational incident"
Wonder if the bus will return tonight?

Realtime Trains has it as OL - This service was cancelled due to the signalbox not being open (OL).

Presumably a Network Rail staffing issue. Not good!

 

[12LDA28C]

I’ve done so many of these “first service” events before (for example, I’ve done all new stations to open in 2023 except for Inverness Airport, as well as the Wolverhampton tram extension and a few rolling stock introductions) that it is now second nature for me to catch the last train and wait outside the station overnight. Granted, it is very tiring for me and usually I am completely knackered by the midday but it does save me a bit of money.

The train service is being reintroduced after an extended period, I don't really see how that qualifies as a "first service" event as you call it?

 

[sibbahz]

Realtime Trains has it as OL - This service was cancelled due to the signalbox not being open (OL).

Presumably a Network Rail staffing issue. Not good!

Oh no! Wonder if it will become a regular thing. Looks like the rest are running.

 

[H&I]

The train service is being reintroduced after an extended period, I don't really see how that qualifies as a "first service" event as you call it?

It is the first time the full timetable has been in place for over a year.

 

[12LDA28C]

It is the first time the full timetable has been in place for over a year.

Maybe so, and I'm sure the locals are glad to have the trains back but even they are unlikely to stay out overnight to celebrate the event. I hope it was worth the wait!

 

[H&I]

Maybe so, and I'm sure the locals are glad to have the trains back but even they are unlikely to stay out overnight to celebrate the event. I hope it was worth the wait!

Well, it’s all about being able to fit an event around one’s schedule and careful planning. I did everything I would have done on a Sunday evening, but rather than head to bed I popped over to Euston. I was back in London by 10 am the next morning, so although it was exhausting I didn’t take any time out of my schedule to do it.

I feel like it was worth the wait, not just because of the resumption of the full timetable, but because I don’t often have cause to ride a Class 150 in the first place or use any of Northern’s services, so it was a bit of a change in experience for me (the 150s still kept their full Northern colours inside).

On the other hand, I haven’t bothered with any of the South Wales Metro re-openings due to the longer distances involved. Maybe when the Class 756s and 398s enter service (and then I may consider booking a hotel)!

 

[Doctor Fegg]

There's a bit of an obsession about people buying cars to get around public transport issues on here. In reality pretty much everyone who can drive already runs a car somewhere like Milton Keynes - it would for instance be pretty awful to not be able to go anywhere on a Sunday.

Certainly round here - and I suspect MK is not too different - it's not one car vs no car, it's two cars vs one car.

It's not uncommon for one adult in the household to drive to work (potentially including dropping off kids etc.) and the other to get the train. The collapse of the Marston Vale service has probably seen a few one-car families move up to being two-car, sadly.

 

[andythebrave]

I ventured out this afternoon as it would have been foolish not to for £1.30 return.

What a novelty, trains that ran to time (near enough) and looked clean and it all meant that I didn't have to drive which is a blessed bonus.

On the subject of line closures for EWR (mentioned up thread) I don't see why that should be an issue; after all, Brent Cross something or other was done without any significant disruption and there are pretty much no services on the line overnight.

 

[Silverlinky]

Realtime Trains has it as OL - This service was cancelled due to the signalbox not being open (OL).

Presumably a Network Rail staffing issue. Not good!

Correct, NR couldn’t cover the shift in Marston Vale box, will potentially be the same all week.

 

[dk1]

So good to see it back up & running.

 

[DarloRich]

When I arrived at Bletchley on the 01:39 from Euston this morning, I had more than two hours to wait for the 05:17 to Bedford, the first Marston Vale Line departure that day. I decided to walk to the 24-hour McDonald’s next to Stadium MK. I found the walking provision rather poor. The footpaths were dimly lit, and one section was partially flooded. At junctions, priority seems to have been given to the car with pedestrians forced to use the dingy underpasses. It certainly is not a walkable area, which only serves to encourage people to stick to the car.

Why would you do that? It is great you want to ride on my line but it really isn't worth this level of "investment"! It isn't really a special event. I would have booked a cheapo hotel and took it easy. There is no cachet to be won here!

This board never ceases to amaze me!

 

[H&I]

Why would you do that? It is great you want to ride on my line but it really isn't worth this level of "investment"! It isn't really a special event. I would have booked a cheapo hotel and took it easy. There is no cachet to be won here!

This board never ceases to amaze me!

I don’t think it’s a huge investment both in terms of time and money.

 

[DarloRich]

I don’t think it’s a huge investment both in terms of time and money.

i live in Bletchley and wouldn't want to be there at 0230!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Looks like the last round trip has been P-coded for today and tomorrow. Not a great start, but at least not WMT's fault if Network Rail can't staff the box.

 

[AdamWW]

Looks like the last round trip has been P-coded for today and tomorrow. Not a great start, but at least not WMT's fault if Network Rail can't staff the box.

It's not their fault if they can't run the train, no.

But in principle they could provide a replacement rather than just removing it from the timetable and washing their hands of it, though?

I presume that any compensation Network Rail might owe a ToC for preventing them running a train doesn't get paid if the train is removed from the timetable.

 

[Bletchleyite]

But in principle they could provide a replacement rather than just removing it from the timetable and washing their hands of it, though?

Yes, agreed, they really should offer a taxi service, which would probably be entirely sufficient. What's having a couple of taxis run it going to cost? £100 or so maybe at most?

 

[sibbahz]

Yes, agreed, they really should offer a taxi service, which would probably be entirely sufficient. What's having a couple of taxis run it going to cost? £100 or so maybe at most?

The LNWR website is making it sound like the last service of the day is replaced by a bus, so they might have done that.
Two random buses towards Bedford appeared in the national rail app yesterday.

On another note, looks like there is a train fault today. Few cancellations!

 

[Bletchleyite]

No RRB in the planners.

Have they only got 2 out of 3 units working? Surely you would just lose one round trip if you had to swap the unit.

 

[AdamWW]

No RRB in the planners.

Have they only got 2 out of 3 units working? Surely you would just lose one round trip if you had to swap the unit.

LNWR say:

Buses replace trains due to short notice changes to our timetable
We're experiencing some short-term operational issues, which means that buses will replace some or all trains.

National Rail show the 17:47 from Bletchley cancelled "because of a fault on this train" and replaced with a bus.
And the 22:38 cancelled "because of a short-notice change to the timetable" (and no bus).

I don't know what "because of a short-notice change..." is supposed to tell passengers. It sounds as useful as saying it's cancelled because it's not going to run.

(Maybe an indication that it's been p-coded, but if so a bit obscure and I thought in that case it wouldn't show up at all, rather than showing up as cancelled).

Neither cancelled train seems to be showing at all on Realtimetrains.

 

[Silverlinky]

No RRB in the planners.

Have they only got 2 out of 3 units working? Surely you would just lose one round trip if you had to swap the unit.

The other unit will replace the faulty one (GSMR radio issue) but one circuit will be cancelled to allow the driver to swap the units over, 1645 from Bletchley and 1747 from Bedford cancelled, new unit in traffic to take over the 1847 round trip.

 

[DarloRich]

Looks like the last round trip has been P-coded for today and tomorrow. Not a great start, but at least not WMT's fault if Network Rail can't staff the box.

Cancelled upto and including 2nd March

Number of days since last service alteration: zero

Number of days of full service since December 2022: Zero

Sigh.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

There's a bit of an obsession about people buying cars to get around public transport issues on here. In reality pretty much everyone who can drive already runs a car somewhere like Milton Keynes - it would for instance be pretty awful to not be able to go anywhere on a Sunday.

That's not to say it never happens. Different area, but I bought a car last year to get around failing public transport. I'm on a 3yr licence for medical reasons and had to renew so it wasn't a quick process, but so far it's been worth every penny to avoid the woeful service provided by TPE and Arriva Yorkshire. My main motivation though was the Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade work with will mean bustitution for large chunks of the next few years. Added bonus, my alcohol intake has also reduced significantly!

 

[Peter Sarf]

I wonder if the shortage of signalling staff is a long term problem OR if it is just that one of them has gone on holiday (half term).