Winter timetable: Manea goes from 4 to 29 daily trains

[jamesontheroad]

As per earlier discussions elsewhere on the forums, with the winter timetable change, NR and Greater Anglia have confirmed that the rather windswept little halt of Manea in Cambridgeshire will finally get added to the Peterborough-Ipswich/Colchester route from 28 December.

Manea currently has twice daily service in either direction with CrossCountry, but no Greater Anglia service (in spite of GA maintaining the station). The additional platforms at Peterborough means Ipswich trains no longer have to vacate the terminus so quickly and can accommodate a stop at Manea.

Info: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/48.aspx#GreaterAnglia

From 28h December 2013

Saturdays
The following trains will start a few minutes later than the current timetable and call additionally at Manea:
07.45, 09:47, 11:45, 13:45, 15:45 and 17:45 Peterborough to Ipswich
19.45 Peterborough to Colchester

From 30th December 2013

Ipswich to Cambridge / Peterborough
Mondays to Fridays
The following trains will start a few minutes later than the current timetable and call additionally at Manea:
07.45, 09:45, 11:45, 13:45, 15:45, 17:45 and 19:45 Peterborough to Ipswich
09.58 and 19:58 Ipswich to Peterborough

The following trains will also call additionally at Manea:

05.40 Colchester to Peterborough
08.03, 11:58, 13:58, 16:00, 17:49 Ipswich to Peterborough
21.45 Peterborough to Ipswich

The following trains will also call additionally at Manea:

05.40 Colchester to Peterborough
08.00, 09:58, 11:58, 13:58, 15:58, 17:58 and 19:58 Ipswich to Peterborough
21.45 Peterborough to Colchester

 

[Z12XE]

That's good to see, I thought this station was another stuck in the infamous circle:

Better Service not justified, no demand because of No demand for current service, due to service too poor.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

It's encouraging to read this, perhaps some other poorly served stations / routes could also get an improved service, like that Denton line in Greater Manchter and Teesside airport for example.

 

[jamesontheroad]

That's good to see, I thought this station was another stuck in the infamous circle:

Better Service not justified, no demand because of No demand for current service, due to service too poor.

Harling Road, Eccles Road, and Spooner Row are all still in the same boat. I've driven past Spooner Row a few times, and there's a small village with a school and a pub. The other two are somewhat removed from the villages they're named after. In most parts of Norfolk and Suffolk, new residential developments have to be within the existing footprints of existing villages and settlements. To my mind, all three could conceivably be home to new homes, perhaps creating commuter communities for people working in Norwich or (more likely, given the strain on house prices there) Cambridge.

In the last twelve or so years that I've been using the Breckland Line and the Peterborough-Ely line there have been a number of modest improvements.

In 2002, Anglia Railways resumed direct Norwich-Cambridge service. After a couple of years (perhaps the mid to late 2000s?) there was something of a calling pattern 'swap' between Anglia and Central Trains, which rationalised things a bit. CT and now EMT generally call at Ely and Thetford only, with a few additional stops at the top and tail of the day. A remember for a while that CT were still calling at places like Brandon, which didn't make much sense for long distance services but was actually very convenient for me at the time.

In the far distant future we can dream of Peterborough-Ely being wired, but I'd also favour Ely-Norwich being wired at the same time. Given the distances people are prepared to commute into London I could imagine a Thameslink route via Ely to Norwich stimulating some development of these rural communities.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Harling Road, Eccles Road, and Spooner Row are all still in the same boat.

On the links to the three stations that you name in the quote above, the annual 2010/2011 passenger footfall numbers are:-
Harling Road.......3494
Eccles Road.......1676
Spooner Row.......640

Manea seems to show a figure of 3050 in the last 2011/12 table, which showed a drop from the 2010/2011 figures.

 

[Boysteve]

It's encouraging to read this, perhaps some other poorly served stations / routes could also get an improved service, like that Denton line in Greater Manchter and Teesside airport for example.

Teeside Airport surely needs more flights, it's really struggling right now.

 

[edwin_m]

It's encouraging to read this, perhaps some other poorly served stations / routes could also get an improved service, like that Denton line in Greater Manchter and Teesside airport for example.

Anyone that has been to Teeside Airport station will know it is very convenient for viewing the runway but the best part of half a mile's walk from the terminal or indeed just about anywhere else. The only hope for this, as proposed as part of the Tees Valley Metro project that doesn't seem to be going anywhere, is to relocate it westwards to where the access road crosses the railway. This would be slightly closer to the terminal but more importantly serve some of the nearby employment areas. Between them they might just about generate enough passengers to justify a reasonable train service.

 

[W-on-Sea]

It's encouraging to read this, perhaps some other poorly served stations / routes could also get an improved service, like that Denton line in Greater Manchter and Teesside airport for example.

Of the three halts on the North Cotswolds Line, each of which get one train each way a day (Mon-Fri only), I reckon one or perhaps two could possibly attract wider usage if they got a more regular service.

Ascott-under-Wychwood (2,702 passengers in 2011/12) is probably the most promising, as it could serves several villages (some of which are expanding), apart from the one it is located in, has reasonable road access, and is on one of the stretches of line that was recently re-doubled; and the platforms are not teeny-tiny, as they are at the other two. And the car park looks as though it could be extended without too much trouble.

The case for Finstock (1,982 passengers in 2011/12) is a little less strong, as it is perhaps too close to Charlbury, but it does benefit from being on a secondary (B) road, with a regular bus service (to Witney in one direction, and Chipping Norton in the other), and could also serve as a railhead for a wider area. Points against: it's not in the village itself, it has no car park, and no obvious place for one to be constructed; platform is very short.

I'm not sure there is such a case for Combe (which surprisingly, to me, has more passengers than Finstock: 2,638 in 2011/12). It's relatively inaccessible (if in one of the loveliest parts of Oxfordshire), and Hanborough (which really should be developed as a sort of "Witney Parkway": even if the other two halts are nearer, the road to Hanborough is very much better) is not far away at all.

 

[Starmill]

Isn't this nice! Is it just me going mad or are there a few stations to which this is happening at this timetable change? Melksham? Dunston? Is that right or are there more? Very encouraging indeed!

 

[Eagle]

Hartlebury too.

 

[Starmill]

Hartlebury too.

That was it

 

[tractakid]

Monifieth. Still a 9 hour gap with no trains though!

 

[Eagle]

Monifieth. Still a 9 hour gap with no trains though!

A lot of stations have a 9-hour gap, it's just it usually happens to be overnight...

 

[tractakid]

A lot of stations have a 9-hour gap, it's just it usually happens to be overnight...

Oh shush! This one is 08:11 till 17:57.

In MK the night time gap between (any) departures is only 1h44, in Bletchley, 1h6.

But yay at all the stations in this thread. Does make them slightly less interesting though! Most if not all retain their existing services which are usually different to the ones being added though, so interest there remains.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Of the three halts on the North Cotswolds Line, each of which get one train each way a day (Mon-Fri only), I reckon one or perhaps two could possibly attract wider usage if they got a more regular service.

FGW do put a bit of effort into Ascott; there are additional trains stopping there on Saturdays during December for Christmas shopping. Even then, I suspect potential is limited (if you're going to drive, you might as well continue to Charlbury); Shipton has a little more potential as a railhead for Burford.

Finstock and Combe are probably lost causes, I'm afraid, and I'll be surprised if they survive if/when Charlbury-Wolvercote is redoubled. At present they attract the occasional cycling commuter in good weather. They could potentially attract walkers at weekends.

Hanborough already is effectively "Witney Parkway" - hence the new car park extension.

 

[The Planner]

Finstock and Combe are probably lost causes, I'm afraid, and I'll be surprised if they survive if/when Charlbury-Wolvercote is redoubled. At present they attract the occasional cycling commuter in good weather. They could potentially attract walkers at weekends.

Considering the aversion to closing stations I'd be surprised if they died, I can't see Wolvercote Charlbury being doubled for a long time yet if ever.

 

[grahame]

That's good to see, I thought this station was another stuck in the infamous circle:

Better Service not justified, no demand because of No demand for current service, due to service too poor.

Isn't this nice! Is it just me going mad or are there a few stations to which this is happening at this timetable change? Melksham? Dunston? Is that right or are there more? Very encouraging indeed!

I live in Melksham and Z12XE is spot on - it's been that vicious circle for quite a number of years and it took county council (Wiltshire), train operator (First), our MP (Duncan Hames) and the Department for Transport to all work positively together - with Chambers of Commerce, Rail User groups and others backing them - to break the circle. Prior to 8th December, we had a gap from 07:20 to 19:11 in trains calling - makes the 9 hours mentioned elsewhere in the thread look like just the blink of an eye - and that for a town with a population in its immediate urban / built up section of around 24,000.

The new service adds 6 round trips each way per day taking us up to 8, and it also cuts journey times from Westbury and Trowbridge to Chippenham and Swindon. There's a lot of work and encouragement to be done locally - most of our residents aren't used to taking the train, many of them don't even know we have a station, and those of us who do travel quite often by rail must get out of the habit of taking a car up to Chippenham, or a Bus into Bath ...