Summer 2000 service was half hourly after the 1922 London Victoria to Beckenham Junction, then 1937, 2004, 2034 etc up to 2304, 2337 to West Croydon. Sunday half hourly.
The xx.40 from Coventry and xx.40 from Euston are currently both non-stop, the former originates from beyond Preston, the latter is just a Birmingham service. So the down service to Preston and beyond still makes a number of intermediate calls. I think there’s no plan for more non-stop services each hour.
I meant that I thought e.g. the 07:16 and 11:16 to Blackpool North and 10:16* to Edinburgh were supposed to go over to nonstop between Euston and Coventry with Watford Junction, Milton Keynes Central and Rugby only keeping some early morning / evening Preston services.
You could be right, someone else can probably clarify. I thought the plan was to have 1 fast and two semi-fast services per hour, which we have, but one of them doesn’t go beyond Birmingham, so presumably some things could get swapped around.
They will get taken out of Blackpool if anything.
It's the other way round - two fast and one semi-fast per hour.
Drops to two direct via the Trent Valley each way if the track access application is anything to go by.
Thank you!
Chiltern will always struggle to compete with GWR for Oxford to London traffic, because (a) GWR is the established main operator, and (2) Paddington is a better connected terminus, especially now with the Lizzie Line, whereas Marylebone is a bit of a backwater. Far better for Chiltern to concentrate on providing a good service to the customers that rely on them than to leave them with fewer trains while chasing a market that is already well catered for.
And places where Marylebone's easier to reach than Paddington are generally those with relatively easy bus / driving access to Oxford (or at least an Oxford park and ride) and the M40.
Marylebone yes, but it's a few minutes walk to Baker Street, which is very well connected. Agree Paddington would still be preferable for the majority.
For a while, it was nearly even - when GW was a disaster and running turbos. Now, admittedly no comparison. But it's not all end to end, and for Kidlington and broader area folks, even Cotswolds, driving to Parkway is far easier.
How is that being resourced? More Class 91 diagrams? Or Hitachi meeting contractual availability targets for the 80x fleet?
xx:40 in odd hours northbound, xx:37 in odd hours southbound according to the ECML change website.
Seriously. Nothing was any better under Connex? Their management of the South Central services was really shocking and disgraceful.