New South Western franchise: Awarded to First/MTR

[SpacePhoenix]

GWR's Great - Malvern to Brighton was delayed by cows on the line after Bath Spa, and then the swans on the line in Portcreek Junction area.

Chances of the same train being delayed twice by separate but similar incidents?

Someone been playing Pink Floyd's "Animals" album on that train?

 

[387star]

One last hurrah for South West Trains - this plaque has appeared at Surbiton over the past few days, a Fair while after SWT lost the franchise!

There's plenty of evidence of past operators if you look for them

for instance Harlington has signage on the flower beds indicating they are part sponsored by first capital connect

I saw a WAGN plaque somewhere too

 

[PudseyBearHST]

Gosh. Are you sure it wasn't just a SWR pin badge attached to the tie,?

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No, definitely a tie. It's dark blue in colour with a SWR logo towards the top. I would take a picture of it but i have no idea how to upload it onto a forum.

 

[Ianno87]

I'm not sure it was known that the 350s would be spare when the ITT was first issued. We should find out soon enough, afaik the loosing bidders still have to release details of their bid at some point.

It's not Jim Bowen assessing the bids for DfT is it?

"Let's have a look at what you could've won - a speedboat!"

 

[PudseyBearHST]

No, definitely a tie. It's dark blue in colour with a SWR logo towards the top. I would take a picture of it but i have no idea how to upload it onto a forum.

Edit: Just downloaded taptalk and seems easy to upload pictures. See below


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[PudseyBearHST]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[urpert]

There's plenty of evidence of past operators if you look for them

for instance Harlington has signage on the flower beds indicating they are part sponsored by first capital connect

I saw a WAGN plaque somewhere too

One of the bridges over Penge High St still has a "Connex South Central: the way to run a railway" banner.

 

[Malcolmffc]

One of the bridges over Penge High St still has a "Connex South Central: the way to run a railway" banner.

The bridge under Chessington North has a sign saying “In case of a Bridge strike, contact Railtrack”

 

[MartinB1]

Edit: Just downloaded taptalk and seems easy to upload pictures. See below


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Gosh, it's looking like a gradual drip feed of uniform then.

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[TheManBehind]

Gosh, it's looking like a gradual drip feed of uniform then.

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Perfectly normal. Earlier this year I saw VTEC gateline staff at KGX wearing NatEx jackets still...

 

[TEW]

Gosh, it's looking like a gradual drip feed of uniform then.

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Frankly I think what the staff wear is pretty much irrelevant. New ties don't equal more punctual or reliable trains, and that's all the travelling public really care about.

 

[pompeyfan]

Proposed timetables now online available here:

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/contact-and-help/timetable-consultation

Appears Liphook and Godalming are early winners.

 

[MartinB1]

Frankly I think what the staff wear is pretty much irrelevant. New ties don't equal more punctual or reliable trains, and that's all the travelling public really care about.

Well.. 455's/458's/707's being replaced by a new fleet, 442's being reintroduced, new timetable meaning that there will be extra services on a whole number of routes.

As far as uniform goes, surely staff looking professional will enhance their own professionalism, give faith to passengers and the public. Or maybe staff on not only the railway, but the armed services, retail staff airlines, postal workers, emergency services, hospitals, health centres etc etc should just wear whatever they like.

Of course it's fundamental that the infrastfructure is invested in, that goes without saying. Uniform however is also important, and is relatively low cost compared to the new trains.

In terms of punctuality new trains should improve the reliability, but really it's NR that need to pull their fingers out. The amount of semi permanent ESRs/TSRs, signal failures is an absolute joke.

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[PudseyBearHST]

Gosh, it's looking like a gradual drip feed of uniform then.

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Yes looks like it but to be honest the only think that is going to change is the colour of the shirt and trousers.

 

[swt_passenger]

Proposed timetables now online available here:

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/contact-and-help/timetable-consultation

Appears Liphook and Godalming are early winners.

Table 165 - Portsmouth - Southampton - Weymouth

Confirms that it is the Portsmouth to Southampton stopper that is extended to Weymouth, westbound it runs slightly later as far as Southampton and usually departs from Southampton at xx00 (probably with a long stop as it departs St Denys at xx47). So it ought to mean the Brockenhurst layover has gone, and yes, that is shown in table 158, the mainline services.

The new semifast SWR Portsmouth to Southampton looks like it will run from the Harbour in every hour, and from Fareham it will follow the existing flight of three fast trains, ie SN > GW > SN > SW. Has some extra peak hour stops at intermediate stations.

(I think I guessed at the possible position on the clock face a few months ago.)

Be good if the draft timetables showed the non-SWR services as well, but it looks (so far) as though they have fitted the changes on the Netley line around the other TOC services...

 

[Dr_Intoxicated]

Proposed timetables now online available here:

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/contact-and-help/timetable-consultation

Appears Liphook and Godalming are early winners.

The link the Windsor lines does not seem to work and I do not wish to give SWR my phone number which seems to be a prerequisite to contacting them via the website.

Edit:

Looking more carefully at the website the links that work call the timetables directly whereas the Windsor line seems to call some JavaScript to do it so it is a case of bad coding.

 

[zoneking]

At last - they have removed the 2 hour dearth of trains from Epsom to Guildford in the am peak. Can't rely on Southern with all these strikes.

 

[swt_passenger]

Table 158 (SWML to Weymouth) has major changes to now, in fact in terms of Waterloo departures forget the present TT. A first glance through shows there are some evening peak fast trains eg from 1642 until 1912 off Waterloo that will be first stop Winchester.

 

[SWT_USER]

Really poor, don't they proof read this stuff before putting it out? Currently looks like this:

Please download the full consultation document here.

XXXXXXXX

Please download the timetable information specific to your services below:

Table 149 Windsor Lines

Table 150 Ascot to Aldershot and Guildford

Table 152 Main Suburban Lines

Table 155 London to Woking, Guildford, Alton and Basingstoke

Table 156 Portsmouth Direct Line

Table 158 South Western Main Line

Table 158A Salisbury, Romsey and Chandlers Ford to Southampton

Table 159 Brockenhurst to Lymington

Table 160 West of England

Table 165 Portsmouth to Fareham, Southampton and Weymouth

No link to download the full consultation and the first link (to the Windsor line consultation) doesn't work. :roll:

 

[Kite159]

Just saw this posted on the local newspaper website (sorry if already posted):

South Western Railway to give away free food and drink to train passengers for National Customer Service Week

TRAIN operator will give away 30,000 breakfasts, 90,000 coffee vouchers and 100,000 packets of jelly beans as part of National Customer Service Week.

South Western Railway (SWR) will be giving out the freebies to commuters on their way to London as part of the week running from October 2.

Breakfasts will be served on trains, coffees will be poured at stations and sweets will be handed out to travellers in a bid to make customers experience that little bit better.

Christian Neill, SWR’s head of customer experience, said: “Delivering great customer service really matters to us, so we want to celebrate Customer Service Week in style.

"Our customers deserve to be treated and we think they’ll really enjoy our great giveaways, making their journeys even better.”

http://www.andoveradvertiser.co.uk/...k_for_train_passengers_next_week/?ref=mr&lp=2 (Beware very advert heavy)

 

[deepeetw]

Really poor, don't they proof read this stuff before putting it out? Currently looks like this:



No link to download the full consultation and the first link (to the Windsor line consultation) doesn't work. :roll:

Windsor available here:

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/~/media/pdfs/timetable-consultation/swr-table-149.xlsx

 

[adc82140]

The new Ascot departures from Guildford are xx:05 and xx:35. Currently GWR depart in the same direction at xx:09 (and xx:44, but this isn't an issue)- I presume the GWR trains will be rescheduled as well- they skip stop Wanborough, so will catch up with SWR before Ash.

Farnborough loses out- from 4tph off peak to 3.

 

[Kite159]

As expected the Clapham Junction call has been swapped over from the Exeters to the Salisbury locals, interestingly it looks like the Woking call on Exeter* services is pick-up only

Looks like I will need to remember it will be XX:55 from Waterloo rather than XX:50, and seems a bit odd there is a couple long distance services calling at Whitchurch only. I'm happy with the shift of the 22:20 to become the 22:55 & the 23:40 becoming the 23:55.

----

Interesting with the Waterloo service shifting from XX:59 to XX:05, hence allowing the use of Network Railcards from the 10:05 service. New named train as well "The Sarum Express", the 08:47 Salisbury to Waterloo, with an additional 08:53 service which will make my life easier as normally that service is busy as it comes up from Exeter, I can remember a few times it was F&S after Andover on the days when SWT had the £14 day returns promotions.

An odd 07:39 Southampton - Yeovil Pen Mill service as well.

 

[swt_passenger]

Really poor, don't they proof read this stuff before putting it out? Currently looks like this:

No link to download the full consultation and the first link (to the Windsor line consultation) doesn't work. :roll:

Perhaps they wanted to helpfully put the timetables into the public domain in advance of the consultation, hence the XXXX?

...and the Windsor lines might just be a bog standard error, that will be rectified once it is pointed out (to them)...

 

[pompeyfan]

Interestingly (if you can call it that) there’s a few direct trains from bigger Netley line stations to Waterloo via Guildford.

 

[swt_passenger]

An odd 07:39 Southampton - Yeovil Pen Mill service as well.

That seems to be an extension of that hour's normal Romsey to Salisbury service AFAICT, so it isn't actually extra from Southampton. I expect the note to table 160 is only showing its second call at Romsey to avoid confusion.

In the current timetable that unit would just sit in P6 and form the next Romsey rounder.

 

[swt_passenger]

Interestingly (if you can call it that) there’s a few direct trains from bigger Netley line stations to Waterloo via Guildford.

I think that's a good idea - although people probably wouldn't use it all the way to London, as it would be quicker to double back at Southampton, it provides a good new journey opportunity for stations as far as Guildford. The corresponding down service exists to at a sensible time of day.

Seems they are probably just making maximum use of what would otherwise be an ECS starting at Fareham or Havant. Similar suggestions have been made about the present day odd workings that go that way, although they are in the pm period...

 

[HarleyDavidson]

What a load of rubbish that Portsmouth Direct service is.

SWR should be eliminating stops NOT increasing the number of them because all it does is make the A3 even more appealing with a journey time from Guildford to Portsmouth being around about 50 mins, compared to the 1hr 10 or more by train, a train where you have to put up with kids and people jabbering on their mobiles.

Compare that to the ability to come & go when you like, be down to Portsmouth quicker than the train and have the music you want or to have peace & quiet no jibbering buffoon on the phone & no kids.

It might cost a tad more, but at the end of the day I get more freedom by car than by train and so the choice that I & many others will make is CAR!

 

[pompeyfan]

What a load of rubbish that Portsmouth Direct service is.

SWR should be eliminating stops NOT increasing the number of them because all it does is make the A3 even more appealing with a journey time from Guildford to Portsmouth being around about 50 mins, compared to the 1hr 10 or more by train, a train where you have to put up with kids and people jabbering on their mobiles.

Compare that to the ability to come & go when you like, be down to Portsmouth quicker than the train and have the music you want or to have peace & quiet no jibbering buffoon on the phone & no kids.

It might cost a tad more, but at the end of the day I get more freedom by car than by train and so the choice that I & many others will make is CAR!

Agreed that the decision to add calls is ridiculous one, no way does Godalming need or deserve 4tph.

 

[adc82140]

and 50 mins to Portsmouth in the car is peak traffic as well. Nearer 40 off peak. No competition.