X Country Aberdeen to Penzance direct service

[47827]

Except that in 2003 there was an HST operated 0855 Aberdeen to Penzance via the West Coast.

Sorry, I had incorrectly thought it'd only been during the period when voyagers featured on everything north of Edinburgh. Must have been popular with an odd person on an all line ticket before the MTUs arrived.

 

[yorkie]

It is very strange to me that long distance regional trains like this are not reservation required as that could result in not everyone having a seat and very unhappy customers....

If people are unhappy at there being no seats available they can wait for the next train if they don't want to take a chance on having to stand.

But the options are there and most people choose to stand, rather than wait. If you wish to propose an alternative system feel free to create a new thread.

 

[thaitransit]

If people are unhappy at there being no seats available they can wait for the next train if they don't want to take a chance on having to stand.

But the options are there and most people choose to stand, rather than wait. If you wish to propose an alternative system feel free to create a new thread.

I would certainly be one of those who would wait for the next service if I knew I would be standing for hours instead of sitting back in a comfortable 1st class seat while thinking of what I might have for lunch from the buffet car.

 

[hexagon789]

I would certainly be one of those who would wait for the next service if I knew I would be standing for hours instead of sitting back in a comfortable 1st class seat while thinking of what I might have for lunch from the buffet car.

You'll do a lot of thinking then - there isn't one!

 

[weeklycommuter]

In 2016 Cross Country Trains proposed that ScotRail take over four of their six Edinburgh to Aberdeen services to make more seats available on the core Cross Country network but the Minister for Transport in the Government of Scotland opposed this because ScotRail did not have any rolling stock to run these Cross Country services

https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/media/1492/crosscountry-2017-consultation-document.pdf

Plans to cut CrossCountry train services scrapped

Proposed timetable changes would have cut four of the six services operating between Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

www.bbc.co.uk

Aberdeen’s cross border trains secured | Transport Scotland

www.transport.gov.scot

Plans to cut CrossCountry trains to Aberdeen to be scrapped

Plans to reduce CrossCountry train services to and from the north-east of Scotland have been scrapped.

www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com

However as ScotRail will run 300 fewer trains a day from May 2022 than in 2019 perhaps ScotRail will now have the rolling stock to run all the Cross Country Trains Edinburgh to Aberdeen services which would free up a lot of seats for their core network

ScotRail plans to cut 300 train services

The rail operator is consulting on a slimmed down timetable in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic.

www.bbc.co.uk

Obviously if these Cross Country services were transferred to ScotRail it would be disappointing to anyone who wants to travel from Aberdeen to Penzance on a Cross Country train but it would help to ease the desperate shortage of seats on the core Cross Country network

 

[lachlan]

No sign of the Penzance service today and it's not appearing in the National Rail app until March

 

[43055]

No sign of the Penzance service today and it's not appearing in the National Rail app until March

Because of engineering works. Every weekend this month between Exeter and Plymouth and also this weekend and next between Newcastle and York meaning the services will be split with buses in between.

 

[lachlan]

Because of engineering works. Every weekend this month between Exeter and Plymouth and also this weekend and next between Newcastle and York meaning the services will be split with buses in between.

Ah, thanks. I was surprised to see no mention of it this morning (not even a "cancelled")

 

[lachlan]

I'm sure I saw the 8:20 Saturday service in the timetable on Thursday and I've just checked (was planning on catching it) and it has disappeared. Maybe I'm misremembering.

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

I'm guessing the staff shortages issue has affected it (09:27 from Plymouth terminates at Edinburgh). If you're ticket is anytime then get the 07:52 LNER Azuma to Edinburgh (arrives about 10:25) then change to the 11:08 Edinburgh to Penzance service there. Or change at Berwick-upon-Tweed (same platform) - the 07:52 arrives about 11:10 and the 11:08 departs about 11:50.

I hope it goes well !

 

[lachlan]

I'm guessing the staff shortages issue has affected it (09:27 from Plymouth terminates at Edinburgh). If you're ticket is anytime then get the 07:52 LNER Azuma to Edinburgh (arrives about 10:25) then change to the 11:08 Edinburgh to Penzance service there. Or change at Berwick-upon-Tweed (same platform) - the 07:52 arrives about 11:10 and the 11:08 departs about 11:50.

I hope it goes well !

Thank you for this, I don't have a ticket as I'm travelling on a partially sighted person's pass. Just a short hop to Stonehaven today and I could have got up earlier and caught the LNER but ended up going for the 8:27 ScotRail instead. It does mean I'll have to run to work, oh well

I just find it weird that it disappears rather than being listed as cancelled. I've never seen this before

In other news the May 2022 timetable is listing the full 8:20 Aberdeen to Penzance so fingers crossed they can get it back up and running by then!

 

[yorkie]

I'm sure I saw the 8:20 Saturday service in the timetable on Thursday and I've just checked (was planning on catching it) and it has disappeared. Maybe I'm misremembering.

What date were you looking at? Today or another Saturday?

 

[lachlan]

What date were you looking at? Today or another Saturday?

Today, I'm now departing on the ScotRail

One of these days I'd like to do the whole Aberdeen to Penzance journey, but it has to run first!

 

[yorkie]

It was removed from the timetable on 23/03/22:

Edinburgh to Penzance on 02/04/2022 | Train Timetable

Aberdeen to Penzance on 02/04/2022​

CrossCountry service​

Schedule History

• Train added to timetable on 20/10/2021
• Schedule was changed on 02/02/2022
• Schedule was changed on 23/03/2022

​	Scheduled​	Actual​	​
	Station​	Platform​	Arrive​	Depart​	Arrive​	Depart​	Notes​
	Aberdeen			08:20	CANCELLED​
	Stonehaven		08:36	08:37	CANCELLED​
	Montrose		08:57	08:59	CANCELLED​
	Arbroath		09:13	09:14	CANCELLED​
	Dundee		09:31	09:33	CANCELLED​
	Haymarket		10:48	10:50	CANCELLED​
	Edinburgh	19​	10:54	11:08		11:08
	Dunbar	1​	11:28	11:29	11:29	11:30
	Berwick-Upon-Tweed	1​	11:52	11:53	11:52	11:53
	Alnmouth	1​	12:12	12:13	12:13	12:15	The Ticket Office is currently closed at this station.
	Newcastle	6​	12:41	12:42	12:41	12:42
	Durham	1​	12:54	12:55	12:54	12:55
	Darlington	1​	13:11	13:12	13:11	13:12
	York	5A​	13:38	13:40	13:38	13:40
	Leeds	​	14:02	14:05	14:02	14:05
	Sheffield	​	14:54	14:56	14:54	14:56
	Chesterfield	​	15:07	15:08	15:07	15:08
	Derby	​	15:26	15:28	15:26	15:28
	Burton-On-Trent	​	15:37	15:39	15:37	15:39
	Birmingham New Street	​	16:03	16:12	16:03	16:12
	Cheltenham Spa	​	16:50	16:52	16:50	16:52
	Bristol Parkway	​	17:21	17:25	17:21	17:25
	Bristol Temple Meads	​	17:35	17:45	17:35	17:45
	Taunton	​	18:16	18:17	18:16	18:17
	Tiverton Parkway	​	18:28	18:30	18:28	18:30
	Exeter St David's	​	18:44	18:47	18:44	18:47
	Newton Abbot	​	19:05	19:06	19:05	19:06
	Totnes	​	19:17	19:18	19:17	19:18
	Plymouth	​	19:44	19:51	19:44	19:51
	Liskeard	​	20:13	20:14	20:13	20:14
	Bodmin Parkway	​	20:25	20:26	20:25	20:26
	St Austell	​	20:43	20:44	20:43	20:44
	Truro	​	20:59	21:00	20:59	21:00
	Redruth	​	21:10	21:11	21:10	21:11
	St Erth	​	21:29	21:30	21:29	21:30
	Penzance	​	21:39		21:39

 

[lachlan]

It was removed from the timetable on 23/03/22:

Edinburgh to Penzance on 02/04/2022 | Train Timetable

Ah, thank you. My mistake.

The service is next booked to run to Bristol on 21 May, and all the way to Penzance on 28 May according to Real Time Trains