SWR - Further Timetable Reductions from 17/1

[Goldfish62]

Completely off topic. I once took a DEMU from Yeovil to Walsall on a railtour, for Bescot open day. An unusual destination from SWR land! IIRC on the way back we did Oxford to Reading in even time.

Back on topic. Reading line emergency timetable from 17/01/22 actually has an extra up morning peak train from Reading, rather than Farnham via Ascot, with extra Aldershot - Ascot to cover loss of the through service. So arguably a slight improvement. I'll find out for real on Thursday morning.

There are two extras in each peak, both diverted from the Camberley line.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

So? We're comparing what Poole has normally had to what it has now. What on earth has Walsall got to with anything?

If you look at the question again you will see that the OP was asking the question does this change make Poole the biggest place without a direct train to London.

I was answering that question not comparing what somewhere used to have compared to what it has now.

That is what Walsall has to do with it!!

 

[Goldfish62]

If you look at the question again you will see that the OP was asking the question does this change make Poole the biggest place without a direct train to London.

I was answering that question not comparing what something used to have compared to what it has now.

That is what Walsall has to do with it!!

Ah - apologies!!!

 

[HamworthyGoods]

Ah - apologies!!!

No worries! I agree it’s not good for Poole which usually has 2tph to London and for somewhere in London & South East you would expect it to!

 

[Bikeman78]

...or suggest that you go away and get the first train in the morning?

Surely they would direct passengers booked on the 2305 to go to Basingstoke (on the 2312 or 2325) and sort out onward travel from there? Either way, I don't think Waterloo would organise a taxi or a hotel. Who do you even ask?

I think most TOCs will get you home if the last train is cancelled. I've had a few taxis over the years.

Not sure what happens with advance tickets. Does the TOC email the passenger if the train is cancelled? Of course the email could end up in the spam folder so it's not foolproof.

 

[Alex C.]

I think most TOCs will get you home if the last train is cancelled. I've had a few taxis over the years.

Not sure what happens with advance tickets. Does the TOC email the passenger if the train is cancelled? Of course the email could end up in the spam folder so it's not foolproof.

If you buy from the SWR website, unless it's changed recently, they won't warn you of the cancellation despite having the ability to do so. The 'official' viewpoint is that you should always check before travel but this isn't mentioned on the booking site - my view is that once they sell you a ticket for a particular service, then they need to honour their contract and get you home.

Most people would consider it unreasonable to wait ~6hrs till the next train in a cold station so they either need to get you home (via Basingstoke, as mentioned) or put you in a hotel overnight and let you take an early train the next day. From experience, a taxi is the more likely of the two but even then you may find they refuse unless you can find a particularly helpful member of staff, leaving you with a choice of either paying yourself and hoping they will refund (for either a taxi or a hotel) or waiting. From experience they are likely to refund you costs you incur but it may take several rounds of emails with customer relations to get them to accept that. If you contact them in advance, they'll almost certainly just offer to refund the ticket and consider that case closed.

 

[Goldfish62]

I think most TOCs will get you home if the last train is cancelled. I've had a few taxis over the years.

That's in the National Conditions of Carriage. They have to.

 

[Fiyero]

That's in the National Conditions of Carriage. They have to.

From previous experience they don’t seem to consider it cancelled, it is just no longer on the tinetable!

 

[Goldfish62]

From previous experience they don’t seem to consider it cancelled, it is just no longer on the tinetable!

Yes, it's utterly contemptible behaviour.

 

[lawried123]

I noticed it on RTT as a VSTP service. Possibly it is an error, but someone somewhere must have planned for it to run, in order for RTT to pick it up;

Realtime Trains - 2Z73 2220 London Waterloo to Reading

Realtime Trains is an independent source of live realtime running information for the Great British railway network.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

I've noticed that on both Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19, SWR JourneyCheck shows the 2150 and 2250 trains Waterloo to Reading as cancelled, leaving the last train as the 2120. Yet last night they both ran.
Does anyone know where SWR JourneyCheck gets its information from, as it seems to be giving incorrect information, certainly last night and possibly tonight too.

Lawrie

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

WFH scrapped from next week so SWR better get on with delivering a progressive reinstatement of the Dec 21 TT over the next few weeks.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

WFH scrapped from next week so SWR better get on with delivering a progressive reinstatement of the Dec 21 TT over the next few weeks.

I thought all the comments above said the current emergency timetable actually provided more peak capacity but was lacking in evening travel? If that’s the case it ought to be able to cope with the end of WFH.

 

[Snow1964]

I genuinely reckon that SWR will attempt to keep this timetable up, certainly on the Metro routes at least, until 701s finally enter service in minimum six months time (could be much longer) The truth is, they cannot restore a “full” service (the planned permanent timetable is a large reduction on what it was anyway) until they get more stock. More 455s are dying by the minute, 456s are all gone, only 12/30 707s remain and 458507/517/534 will never return to Metro routes.

So what happens if the rumoured Government covid restrictions are pulled next week, and everyone including civil service are told to stop working from home and go back to their offices.

Seems to me SWR would be in something akin to a cesspit

 

[Devonish]

So what happens if the rumoured Government covid restrictions are pulled next week, and everyone including civil service are told to stop working from home and go back to their offices.

Seems to me SWR would be in something akin to a cesspit

It won't suddenly be an "all in" situation - remember most offices, especially in the public sector, have move to a hybrid model even before omicrom - at most staff are in 2/3 days a week.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

So what happens if the rumoured Government covid restrictions are pulled next week, and everyone including civil service are told to stop working from home and go back to their offices.

Seems to me SWR would be in something akin to a cesspit

All the comments so far on this thread point to this emergency timetable being very peak heavy, re-introducing peak services on routes to Reading and Haslemere etc that the normal December timetable doesn’t have, so it doesn’t seem like the end from WFH will be a problem.

Evenings are different though….

 

[Goldfish62]

Evenings are different though….

Indeed, everyone can go to work but aren't allowed out late at night... Except at weekends.

All the comments so far on this thread point to this emergency timetable being very peak heavy, re-introducing peak services on routes to Reading and Haslemere etc that the normal December timetable doesn’t have, so it doesn’t seem like the end from WFH will be a problem.

The Reading extras have only been transfered from the Camberley line. There are no additional services east of Ascot. Fewer in fact because of the decimation of Hounslow loop services.

Working from home and mask wearing confirmed dropped from next week.

 

[Feathers44]

All the comments so far on this thread point to this emergency timetable being very peak heavy, re-introducing peak services on routes to Reading and Haslemere etc that the normal December timetable doesn’t have, so it doesn’t seem like the end from WFH will be a problem.

Peak service through from from Epsom into Waterloo has dropped from 6 per hour 8/10-car (pre-Covid) to 4 per hour and now down to 2 per hour 8 car (emergency). So that 16 carriages per hour instead of 50/60.

I’ve no idea how full they are/were in the last 2 years since I don‘t work in London. They used to be rammed back in 2016 when I did use them occasionally. I guess I’ll find out in two weeks time.

 

[Termy]

everyone including civil service are told to stop working from home and go back to their offices

...Yeah, the last time restrictions were removed, my team's response was "Oh okay... No? How about we don't". I fully expect it to be the same again this time, for my remaining month and a bit in the civil service. And I know we aren't the only team who have decided to behave this way.

 

[Bessie]

There will not be a stampede back into the office during the winter months. Who wants to walk in the cold and the dark each morning to the railway station. I can see this SWR timetable remaining in place until mid March by which time a miracle may have happened and there could be the first 701s in service!

 

[geoffk]

There will not be a stampede back into the office during the winter months. Who wants to walk in the cold and the dark each morning to the railway station. I can see this SWR timetable remaining in place until mid March by which time a miracle may have happened and there could be the first 701s in service!

The lack of 701s and the withdrawal of older electric stock doesn't help to explain the two-hourly service west of Salisbury.

 

[Bikeman78]

From previous experience they don’t seem to consider it cancelled, it is just no longer on the tinetable!

Nevertheless, if you possess a ticket for a specific train and they have not informed you that it's cancelled, they need to do something to resolve the situation. On the rare occasion that I've had a flight cancelled, I have been contacted by the airline. I wasn't expected to trawl through the website to discover the fact myself. Same applies to Eurostar.

 

[dk1]

There will not be a stampede back into the office during the winter months. Who wants to walk in the cold and the dark each morning to the railway station. I can see this SWR timetable remaining in place until mid March by which time a miracle may have happened and there could be the first 701s in service!

Why would it matter whether it’s dark or cold? If i was in charge & I wanted to get back to business as usual then I’d want everybody back at their place of work asap & to just get on with things.

 

[Goldfish62]

The lack of 701s and the withdrawal of older electric stock doesn't help to explain the two-hourly service west of Salisbury.

Just as none of it explains services finishing earlier in the evenings.

...Yeah, the last time restrictions were removed, my team's response was "Oh okay... No? How about we don't". I fully expect it to be the same again this time, for my remaining month and a bit in the civil service. And I know we aren't the only team who have decided to behave this way.

Yet a friend of mine who works in the Civil Service was told to get back to the office 2 days per week asap.

Even in the past few weeks there have been plenty of obviously office workers still travelling to and from work.

 

[WesternBiker]

The lack of 701s and the withdrawal of older electric stock doesn't help to explain the two-hourly service west of Salisbury.

Quite. Nor will this level of service suit commuters from west of Salisbury once WFH guidance ends next week.

 

[Goldfish62]

Quite. Nor will this level of service suit commuters from west of Salisbury once WFH guidance ends next week.

WFH guidance actually ended today!

 

[dk1]

Quite. Nor will this level of service suit commuters from west of Salisbury once WFH guidance ends next week.

No WFH guidance from tomorrow mate. All back to normal.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Why would it matter whether it’s dark or cold? If i was in charge & I wanted to get back to business as usual then I’d want everybody back at their place of work asap & to just get on with things.

For a lot of employers they are giving staff the choice. For some that is just because they actually understand the modern world and realise remote working is here to stay, and for others it is more to make sure they actually keep their staff (in some industries doing what you say would simply really in mass resignations).

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I’ve no idea how full they are/were in the last 2 years since I don‘t work in London. They used to be rammed back in 2016 when I did use them occasionally. I guess I’ll find out in two weeks time.

Last night ( Tuesday ) I was at Epsom when the 18.48 arrival from Waterloo came in; it was full and standing and I reckon in excess of 200 people got off it; something like 30 boarded it.

 

[Feathers44]

That will only worsen from now I reckon, probably even if additional services are restored.

 

[WesternBiker]

No WFH guidance from tomorrow mate. All back to normal.

It’s hard to keep up!

Even worse then, with the reduced SWR timetable in advance place. It’s not going to encourage anyone west of Salisbury to travel to work in London…