Paddington to Bristol Parkway non stop

[yorkie]

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[Bald Rick]

Part of that though is the NR timetabling by committee and death by risk assessment approach.

i think it’s more that the funder has had to decide who to annoy the least, but there you go.

If I had the luxury of all of the relevant facts at my fingertips (eg all other rail movements, signalling distances, linespeeds etc) then I'd have a go.

all the information you need is at your finger tips. Realtime trains has the base timetable (use the December 22 timetable for this exercise), and the timetable planning rules and line speeds are all on the NR website. You don’t need any more info to create an example timetable. Just a standard hour will be enough to shut me up.

But why waste time when so many have already made up their minds that it would be a pointless exercise as the passenger numbers wouldn't be there?

personally I haven’t made up my mind. I think it’s very unlikely you (or even a team of crack timetable planners) would be able to produce a timetable for a regular fast Birmingham - Exeter service that doesn’t compromise frequency, connectivity or journey times for existing heavy flows, but I’m happy to be proved wrong.

 

[stuu]

There seems to be a lot of very defensive attitudes about the current timetables on here which I find strange. We are at a crossroads and need something transformational, not just more of the same. I'm not convinced HS2 is it.

We should be looking at a true Intercity network throughout Britain, which doesn't encompass commuter and local traffic, just fast Intercity type services. Yes it would be a complete timetable re write, and would cost money, but something needs to be done to face upto the environmental crisis and improve rail use.
Trotting out the usual defence of the current timetables on here by some just won't wash forever.

Not convinced. People's daily journeys are to work/school etc, not Intercity. If you want to improve rail usage, local journeys is where the biggest gains are going to be, which doesn't fit with superfast services.

Ultimately the question is what is the rail network for

 

[The Planner]

Aren't/didn't Chiltern plan to run an Oxford-Birmingham service in the near future. Highly likely that would call at Banbury and Leamington (and Solihull) - so it might enable one of the XC's to run non-stop from Oxford to Coventry.

Banbury and Leamington are well enough served, and need London/Birmingham most - which they wouldn't be down on. 1 tph to Reading and to the North/W should be fine.

There is a view that if the second XC goes via Coventry an extra Banbury to Birmingham would run. XC won't run fast Oxford to Coventry.

There seems to be a lot of very defensive attitudes about the current timetables on here which I find strange. We are at a crossroads and need something transformational, not just more of the same. I'm not convinced HS2 is it.

We should be looking at a true Intercity network throughout Britain, which doesn't encompass commuter and local traffic, just fast Intercity type services. Yes it would be a complete timetable re write, and would cost money, but something needs to be done to face upto the environmental crisis and improve rail use.
Trotting out the usual defence of the current timetables on here by some just won't wash forever.

The infrastructure involved to deliver that would be immense , as you wouldnt be binning off the local stuff.

Yes, my comments are sometimes deliberately provocative. It's motivated by a lifelong interest in railway operations, finding problems that really shouldn't happen, but having attempted solutions dismissed too readily, by those who claim that I don't understand all of the variables.
Of course I can't work miracles and of course there are some situations where a proposal simply isn't workable, but it doesn't help when there sometimes are advancements to be made, to be blandly told "you don't understand". Or expected to magic up a solution from not being told the facts, and then being dismissed when the suggestion doesn't quite work.
So yes, I do provoke when I feel like I'm watching a chess game, when I can see checkmate in 3 moves, but when those who can't blandly claim that it doesn't exist.
The point is, we should all be working together for the betterment of the railways. And no, I don't claim to have a magic wand, but I do think there's a bigger picture which, while I might not immediately see it clearly, others who believe they do might not either.


If I had the luxury of all of the relevant facts at my fingertips (eg all other rail movements, signalling distances, linespeeds etc) then I'd have a go. But why waste time when so many have already made up their minds that it would be a pointless exercise as the passenger numbers wouldn't be there?
I'm guessing that the pathing exercise could be achieved, but it might require some minor sacrifices and it's likely to be vulnerable to problems with the inevitability that there will sometimes be late running trains around it, which we both know would magnify as soon as we ran tighter against capacity constraints.
True success would depend on investment, and yes we all bang our heads on walls about lack of Government interest for that.

As Bald Rick says, it is relatively straightforward to knock something up. Running times derived from RTT and the TPRs which are downloadable off the NR website are enough to knock up some standard hours (though freight operators would shout at me at this point)

Part of that though is the NR timetabling by committee and death by risk assessment approach.

There is risk assessment yes, as on paper doesnt mean it works, but at the end of the day it is down to a relatively small number of people doing the donkey work. The working groups for Dec22 werent as big as you may think.

 

[Dai Corner]

Not convinced. People's daily journeys are to work/school etc, not Intercity. If you want to improve rail usage, local journeys is where the biggest gains are going to be, which doesn't fit with superfast services.

Though we're continually told that since the pandemic lockdowns commuter traffic is down due to more working from home and leisure traffic is leading the recovery in overall passenger numbers.

 

[185143]

It doesn’t sound like anything could convince you to take the train though, and that’s fine. If you like the coach, get the coach and everyone’s happy.

I doubt I'd have even considered the Coach if I was staying nearer Paddington to be honest. I only thought of looking at the Coach in that case as my hotel was literally round the corner from the Coach station.

 

[irish_rail]

Though we're continually told that since the pandemic lockdowns commuter traffic is down due to more working from home and leisure traffic is leading the recovery in overall passenger numbers.

Indeed. And I'd argue it depends alot where in the UK you are. From my own observations as rail staff, the south west seems ripe for better intercity journies, whilst local service wise, it could never compete with roads due to the lack of line coverage. Its amazing how many people down here drive when going "up country" or even fly in the case of people going to Scotland.

 

[stuu]

Though we're continually told that since the pandemic lockdowns commuter traffic is down due to more working from home and leisure traffic is leading the recovery in overall passenger numbers.

That is obviously true in some places and not in others.. but the basic point stands, people don't do long journeys very often. It may be the case that a much better local service moves far more people than a better intercity service. Which should take priority in use of scarce resources?

 

[robert thomas]

Maybe I was just unlucky having several trips with XC, boarding at Southampton (heading to Birmingham), occupying a seat until Reading where the train became crowded, and only then did the reservations flicker into action. Which then led to myself and others being turfed out of our seats by those with reservations, by which time all of the unreserved seats had become occupied by others. Believe me this happened a good few times.

It is not unusual for me to board a London bound train at Neath for all seats to be shown as unreserved and then by the time the train reaches Bridgend the seat reservations switch on and finding a vacant unreserved seat suddenly becomes a problem.

 

[cle]

There is a view that if the second XC goes via Coventry an extra Banbury to Birmingham would run. XC won't run fast Oxford to Coventry.

That might be the new plan? I was sure that there was an intention for Chiltern to run an hourly Oxford-Moor St (out of its bays). As well as a third to Marylebone (slower)

I'd assume that if that service ever happened, in theory XC could run fast. Not to say that they'd want to though.

 

[Techniquest]

Hearing that there may be people who've drunk 12 pints on board is enough to put me off. At least there's more chance of avoiding them on a 9 coach train.

I'm more amazed the young sir in question is able to tolerate the coach journey after 12 beers! I'd struggle to do more than stumble up the road, let alone put up with a journey to anywhere of significance length!

Coach journeys aren't often too bad in my experience, but they can be unpleasant on certain routes. The train certainly wins in almost every situation for me, so much so these days that I don't even think about the potential to go by National Express unless it's a destination not served by rail! I definitely can't recommend trying a coach journey to you, although I still feel in certain places it can be just fine.

As for the whole thing others have gone into on a select few super-fast runs on XC, this has been tried in years gone by with hired-in HSTs. I can't remember the exact calling pattern now, but the last time I did Manchester to Newquay on such a working it was non-stop Birmingham to Bristol and I *think* non-stop to Plymouth. I think it may also have gone non-stop to Par, but I'm not sure now. While loadings were reasonable, and on a 220 it would have felt more, it wasn't as if it was overly loaded. I suspect the trains before and after it would have been heaving.

Like most people, I haven't had seat reservations issues on XC all that much. The odd bit here and there where someone's fallen asleep in my seat, but they have always been other options so it's never been a problem. The whole reshuffling thing, again never been a problem for me, but it's also worth noting in that respect that I rarely travel with XC. I did have a couple of days of heavy XC use in January 2022, but generally speaking I avoid them like the plague. The thought of enduring XC puts me off doing Birmingham to Leicester/Peterborough direction or indeed to Derby/Nottingham, quite honestly!

Stripping out services at busy places like Taunton or Tiverton is going to go down like the Titanic. Even if it's just a couple of trains a day to put in a super-fast XC, it's not worth the hassle as far as I can see. You'd have as much chance of that happening as TfW deciding to strip out stops at Wellington (Shropshire) and Telford Central!

 

[cle]

As for the whole thing others have gone into on a select few super-fast runs on XC, this has been tried in years gone by with hired-in HSTs. I can't remember the exact calling pattern now, but the last time I did Manchester to Newquay on such a working it was non-stop Birmingham to Bristol and I *think* non-stop to Plymouth. I think it may also have gone non-stop to Par, but I'm not sure now. While loadings were reasonable, and on a 220 it would have felt more, it wasn't as if it was overly loaded. I suspect the trains before and after it would have been heaving.

I remember being at Reading and seeing a Newquay with Par as the next stop. I thought it was a mistake (window slips). But seeing your post, perhaps it was a charter or something around a surfing event etc, makes more sense.

 

[Horizon22]

I remember being at Reading and seeing a Newquay with Par as the next stop. I thought it was a mistake (window slips). But seeing your post, perhaps it was a charter or something around a surfing event etc, makes more sense.

A couple of these do run from Paddington around Boardmasters time but not sure if XC have run similar.

 

[lnerazuma]

An additional non stop PAD-BPW service has been timetabled after fatality incident nearby Swindon tonight.

Realtime Trains | 1Z36 2325 London Paddington to Swansea | 10/10/2022

Real-time train running information for 1Z36 2325 departure from London Paddington to Swansea on 10/10/2022. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[Horizon22]

An additional non stop PAD-BPW service has been timetabled after fatality incident nearby Swindon tonight.

Realtime Trains | 1Z36 2325 London Paddington to Swansea | 10/10/2022

Real-time train running information for 1Z36 2325 departure from London Paddington to Swansea on 10/10/2022. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Probably helps ensure the crew aren’t too delayed back into Swansea as well.