Why no semi fast south West Trains Surbiton to Woking, 7pm - 8pm Mon to Fri

[infobleep]

Hi there

Hopefully this hasn't been asked before. Does anyone know why there are no semi fast or fast services from Surbiton to Woking between 1900 and 2000 Mondays to Fridays?

From 2000 onwards there are 4 semi fast trains an hour. Two to Basingstoke and two to Alton. Before 1700, there are also four fast services an hour. During the peak, there is 1 semi fast at 1700, 1 fast at 1739 and 1 at 1640. These all go to Basingstoke. After that there is nothing for Basingstoke until 2000, bar the 1848 slow service. For Alton the last semi fast is at 1641 and the next 2011, with nothing at all in between. Yet trains run to Alton from Waterloo during this time.

There are slower trains to Basingstoke between 1700 and 1900, which would use up paths but not between 1900 and 2000. There is just one additional train then, the 1918 to Woking.

There must surely be a good reason for all of this. Is it due to trains arriving later into Waterloo and having less time to reach Alton and Basingstoke? I would have thought 1640 to 1940 would be peak time still for numbers of trains leaving Waterloo.

UPDATE. just remembered there is a 7.06 stopping service to Guildford from Surbiton, via Cobham, so that would take up another path. However none of these are taking up the regular paths of the semi fast services to Alton and Basingstoke from Waterloo.

 

[HarleyDavidson]

There's loads of anomalies like that:

Portsmouth only gets 1 fast train an hour in the peaks, which then goes to an hourly stopping train.

Yet Alton gets a ½ hourly semi fast service all day long, yet in the evening you'd be lucky to fill 1 x 450 between Farnham & Alton and that's all evening after 1900.

DaFT is to blame, they're the one's who set the timetable. Which TBQH is drivel & I'm not alone in that thought, loads of passengers think it too.

 

[infobleep]

There's loads of anomalies like that:

Portsmouth only gets 1 fast train an hour in the peaks, which then goes to an hourly stopping train.

Yet Alton gets a ½ hourly semi fast service all day long, yet in the evening you'd be lucky to fill 1 x 450 between Farnham & Alton and that's all evening after 1900.

DaFT is to blame, they're the one's who set the timetable. Which TBQH is drivel & I'm not alone in that thought, loads of passengers think it too.

It's annoying because I work in Kingston and if I wish to leave work and board a train with loos, I need to either make sure I've left in time for the 6.40 or hang around until 8pm. The connection frequency to Guildford also reduces from 5-6 trains, two of which are direct, to 3 and one of those only arrives in 9 minutes later than the preceeding service. None of these 3 trains have loos of course.

 

[infobleep]

South West Trains have been allowed to order new trains. Was it there idea or DfTs?

Lots of people just got off the 8pm service, so there clearly is demand for a fast service from London to Surbiton.

The previous fast service gets in at 7.18.

 

[HarleyDavidson]

You have a problem with the down slow between Surbiton & Woking in the peaks and that someone in their infinite wisdom has decided that you get stopping services between those stations just 5' apart. That seldom works.

1715, 1720, 1745, 1750, 1815, 1850.

The xx15 & xx45 are the 455 operated ones and because of the loadings unless you really go like hell & you get a signaller whose got the balls to pop you in the DS (Pl.3) at Surbiton so you can approach at 45-50 instead of 20 & depart at 30-40 instead of 20, you're stuffed.

It doesn't help when you get a considerable number of ignorant ******* who keep loading a number of non folding bikes on in the peaks (THEY ARE BANNED! ) who add to the delays.

I've found that to keep a Woking bay on time, I need to use Pl.3, go like stink and then use Step 3 brake as late as possible at each station to maintain the timings & then you get the buffoons at Walton & Weybridge who will always just go through 4 sets of doors nearest the exit, at a very leisurely pace, who promptly screw that up, so you have the 8 or 12 car train sitting on your backside. It would be better if the 455 service did a skip stop pattern to help keep the distances between the two services, especially if the next one is a 12 car!

In all of the times I've done them I've only managed to get to Woking RT on less than 12 occasions.

And of course timekeeping will go right down the drain in the next few months when leaf fall causes adhesion problems, so hand notching + earlier and lighter braking will be the order of the day.

 

[swt_passenger]

South West Trains have been allowed to order new trains. Was it there idea or DfTs?

DfT's, quite clearly. The latest order was done to achieve the DfT sponsored 10 car service to Reading, a part of the CP5 HLOS.

Similarly, the 458/5 conversion and 456s cascade from SN were to deal with CP4 HLOS requirements - 10 car Windsor and some 10 car inner suburban.

TOCs just don't order that sort of quantity of new trains without the DfT's backing and approval - but DfT has to specify the need for the extra stock in the first place.

 

[455driver]

I've found that to keep a Woking bay on time, I need to use Pl.3, go like stink and then use Step 3 brake as late as possible at each station to maintain the timings & then you get the buffoons at Walton & Weybridge who will always just go through 4 sets of doors nearest the exit, at a very leisurely pace, who promptly screw that up, so you have the 8 or 12 car train sitting on your backside. It would be better if the 455 service did a skip stop pattern to help keep the distances between the two services, especially if the next one is a 12 car!

No need for any of that, just alter your stopping point at Esher (2 coaches further forward), Hersham (2 coaches back), Weybridge (a coach further forward) and West Byfleet (2 coaches back) so that the muppets have to walk along the platform to get to the exit instead of them all queueing back onto the train!

The guard was notified of the alterations before departure from Waterloo just to save any misunderstanding!

In all of the times I've done them I've only managed to get to Woking RT on less than 12 occasions.

I was nearly always on time (as long as I was RT at Wimbledon) when I adopted the above practices!

Bloomin amateurs!

 

[HarleyDavidson]

I'll be slapping your short hairy legs when I get hold of you, cheeky sod!

 

[455driver]

Try my little trick, it works!

 

[HarleyDavidson]

I'll give it a shot, next time it's raining hard.

 

[infobleep]

You have a problem with the down slow between Surbiton & Woking in the peaks and that someone in their infinite wisdom has decided that you get stopping services between those stations just 5' apart. That seldom works.

1715, 1720, 1745, 1750, 1815, 1850.

The xx15 & xx45 are the 455 operated ones and because of the loadings unless you really go like hell & you get a signaller whose got the balls to pop you in the DS (Pl.3) at Surbiton so you can approach at 45-50 instead of 20 & depart at 30-40 instead of 20, you're stuffed.

It doesn't help when you get a considerable number of ignorant ******* who keep loading a number of non folding bikes on in the peaks (THEY ARE BANNED! ) who add to the delays.

I've found that to keep a Woking bay on time, I need to use Pl.3, go like stink and then use Step 3 brake as late as possible at each station to maintain the timings & then you get the buffoons at Walton & Weybridge who will always just go through 4 sets of doors nearest the exit, at a very leisurely pace, who promptly screw that up, so you have the 8 or 12 car train sitting on your backside. It would be better if the 455 service did a skip stop pattern to help keep the distances between the two services, especially if the next one is a 12 car!

In all of the times I've done them I've only managed to get to Woking RT on less than 12 occasions.

And of course timekeeping will go right down the drain in the next few months when leaf fall causes adhesion problems, so hand notching + earlier and lighter braking will be the order of the day.

Perhaps they felt too many passengers couldn't arrive for their train on time so they required another shortly after. If only they had remembered that passengers of other train routes are no better and also require a similar service.