They do mention looking at replacement bus services for the Heart of Wales and I strongly agree it's sensible to include local buses in the rail schedules as if they were TfW rail services more widespread.
The station isn't exactly convenient. It's right next door to the airport, yet on the wrong side of the runway so the bus has to go around. At least the connection is short, assuming that the bus driver waits for delayed trains. If the Welsh Government are short of funds ("if" isn't really in question here) they'd be better off developing the site for housing - it would both provide a better return for the Welsh taxpayer and serve a more useful purpose if it became a new town than it currently does as a moneypit airport (must be at least £100m poured into it so far).
In order to bring Sundays inside the week, staffing complements have had to increase. I'm not, sure how many across the board but let's say 16%. If you include the extra staffing for planned increases in weekday services it is even higher.
The X19 timetable in the Conwy Valley used to fill the gaps in between the trains. Then it became part of the TrawsCymru network as the T19 with mutual acceptance of return tickets. All good stuff, but Conwy Council couldn't afford to keep funding the service and there was no help from Cardiff so the route got pulled.
Indeed. And the single time I used the service the bus driver informed us unequivocally that our railway tickets are not accepted for bus travel, despite the information on the website saying they were. In the end we were begrudgingly carried without a further charge but of course many people wouldn't want to dig in on a point like that. My friend held an Anytime Day Return from Llandudno Junction to Bleanau Ffestiniog with Staff Travel Card discount on an eticket, I held I think an Explore Wales pass on credit card sized tickets with 26-30 Railcard discount. Both were considered not to be permitted.
The trains are timed to more or less pass at Rhoose station and the bus drivers know this & wait to pick up passengers from west & east.
You may say nobody uses the first train of the day, but currently the 0645 from Barmouth to Machynlleth offers an 0822 arrival at Aberystwyth by changing trains at Dovey Junction or Machynlleth. Only takes an hour to from Aberdovey to Aberystwyth. Pushing it back to 0921 is clearly not great. It'd be quicker to buy a boat and sail yourself there.
25 minutes is not challenging. A 101 or 142 could do it in 20 minutes with clear signals.It was so simple yesterday that the train arrived at Chester 6 minutes early by the public timetable. Being timed for a 75mph sprinter but formed of a Cl 197 probably helped.
Realtime Trains | 1D15 1227 Crewe to Bangor (Gwynedd) | 14/04/2024
Real-time train running information for 1D15 1227 departure from Crewe to Bangor (Gwynedd) on 14/04/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.www.realtimetrains.co.uk
Currently the unit off 2G20 works 2J03 and 2I20, then attaches to 1I20. The most likely scenario is that the unit will stable at Machynlleth from approx 0900 to 1400.
How much faster is a 230 compared with a 150? A 150 is already better than a 153.
Lower cost to operate perhaps, but depending on the route it may lose you the customer. On rural routes the timings may let you get away with it, but you've also got to consider the nature of the human involved. Mr Big travelling down to his important meeting might refuse to consider using buses, do you want to lose his 1st class return fare to London/Cardiff/Manchester for the sake of a few quid saved on the feeder service? If Mr Jones can't get his bike on (he'll need it for his journey from the station to work) then he's going to invest in some driving lessons. It will vary by route, an 04:30 departure on one of the main line routes is more likely to have such passengers than the first train from Pwllheli. Incidentally Avanti pissed off quite a few MPs when they withdrew the 04:48 ex-Holyhead. It was the only way that anyone from Holyhead or Bangor could be in London before 09:00, and the alternative service for Llandudno Junction and east thereof involves getting up a whole hour earlier, for only a 25 minute gain by the time that the connection from Crewe arrives at Euston.
Assuming that you've got a 197 to spare. The ones which have been covering the service recently weren't surplus, they've been poached from somewhere else.
It's hinted not. Bus seems to be being explored for the benefit of the Heart of Wales initially, which makes a lot more sense because the bus can more easily replicate that train service.
It also leaves a 60 minute gap from Chester to Crewe after the Crewe shuttle 0547, and then a further 45 minute gap after the next shuttle at 0647. No direct Chester to London until 0732. Really poor.
And yet on a Saturday Avanti do manage run that train, albeit starting at Chester where passengers can connect from 1V90. If they did that on weekdays it would be better than nothing.
I guess it's because there is no 0535 Blackpool North to London Euston on Saturdays, so the slot is vacant. They could go back to attaching the service from Chester as they used to back when there were Voyagers, but only if they were to run the Blackpool portion as an 805 I guess. Of course they could also bin the Blackpool portion entirely.
Nope, not even close, the mast through depart from Aberystwyth is 19:30 so is about 2 hours too late ! Which ironically, is the time the train before it departs at 17:30 and does connect to the last through train.
I must say, you’ll be lucky to see 1 person in the round trip most days. Saturdays you might have a handful heading further a field and it’s a shame they wouldn’t run it Saturday only! I have never known anyone to use it to get to Aberystwyth, doesn’t mean they haven’t done but it’s very few and far between if anyone does.
Good points. I was told it was a 30% increase at Mach.
The last service for Shrewsbury is the 1929 from Aberystwyth, 2011 from Machynlleth. This is the service to which the 1742 from Pwllheli attaches.
The two services used to combine at Crewe. Now the weekday service is a double Voyager from Blackpool, and the Saturday service is a double Voyager from Chester. I get that they can't run it from Holyhead because that is one of the depots where they're struggling for drivers but failing to at least run a portion from Chester is a slap in the face. Mind you, Cestrians are used to that from Avanti, anyone remember the days when there used to be a regular London train?
It is very poor indeed. And of course no service from Poulton-le-Fylde either, except for the Sunday evening service, which doesn't even go to London. Very poor.
To be fair I don’t think Bletchleyite was trying to suggest anything, just asking if it’s possible TFW have retimed it to allow it to connect and have a better use case for people and to improve passenger numbers on it. Which as we both said, it doesn’t.
I think you may have missed most of what has been said. We would all love improvements. And so would TFW. They are having to close a £150 million deficit and are having to delay any improvements that they committed too.
They have never mentioned any sort of improvement on the Shrewsbury - Manchester corridor since Welsh Government took over the franchise.
Nantwich & Whitchurch get a more consistent service though the day in the proposed timetable, with the 2 hourly Manchester 197 operated services calling, plus some rush hour calls on the MKIVs. That serves about 90% of the people who would benefit from an hourly local service - the current 2 hourly service is pretty quiet most of the day, especially when traffic from those two stations is discounted.
Calls at Whitchurch and Nantwich on the Manchesters arent great for long distance passengers however - I much prefer it when the train runs non stop Shrewsbury to Crewe.
Yes. All fair enough. No easy answer on any of that really.
There's always been a tension here because of course Manchester is a pretty popular destination from Nantwich and Witchurch, enough that clearly the direct services have tempted some people to use them who would otherwise have driven. It's definitely better not to stop, of course, as amply demonstrated by the introduction of a stopping service on Sundays.
A large part of the demand on the route, to Nantwich especially, is from Manchester and not just Crewe - and unfortunately, due to the legacy of the appalling resignalling of the line, you can't give very quick connections between a local and a fast service to get around it that way. To be fair, Manchester - Cardiff will still get every second service running more limited stop (Crewe - Shrewsbury - Ludlow), and Nantwich & Whitchurch will still get a ~hourly service alternating between Crewe and Manchester, it does seem like a decent compromise, and a much better investment of limited resources than in running an hourly local service.
The market to South Wales would be tiny. Nearly everyone will either use the bus to Cardiff, park at Merthyr Tydfil, Ebbw Vale Parkway or Abergavenny for a train to Cardiff, or simply drive the whole way.
