State of South Western Intercity Services

[159]

Just a query about long-distance SWR services.
In my opinion, these are not run like proper Intercity services, which they should be.
Some of these lines, e.g. to Portsmouth, are using commuter-grade 450s.
Also, include 4 bike spaces per carriage - you should see how crowded these get on weekends.
The services themselves are quite slow, except when it comes to peak times - to get to Southampton, the Poole and Bournemouth, one has to stop at Clapham Junction, Woking, (BSK), Winchester and then a slow calling pattern all the way to Weymouth.
The services are too regular as well - I would welcome a more diverse calling pattern off-peak, e.g.
0.5tph Wat-CLJ-Salisbury-Exeter,
0.5tph Wat-WOK-BSK-Andover-Salisbury,
0.5tph Wat-Salisbury-Yeovil-Axminster-Exeter
0.5tph Wat-BSK-Westbury-Bath-Bristol
and 1 tph BSK-Exeter semi-fast,
1.5 tph BSK-Exeter slow

These services also only achieve 100mph from Farnborough to around St Denys. Line speeds could be easily upgraded to 125mph in that section and 100 from Wimbledon (current 80).
NR should create more passing loops on WoE and quad track and straighten out the New Forest part of SWML.

 

[Bletchleyite]

They *aren't* proper Intercity services (primarily used for occasional trips), they are commuter services and are run as such. The 450 issue will be solved with the coming of the 442s. They have much more in common with medium to long-distance commuter services like the ex-LM Birmingham services or most of Southern.

The only "proper InterCity" service SWR really has is the hourly Weymouth fast which uses InterCity standard rolling stock (444s). The Exeter is sort-of but it's more a string of regional express services stuck together like the Liverpool to Norwich.

 

[AlterEgo]

They *aren't* proper Intercity services (primarily used for occasional trips), they are commuter services and are run as such. The 450 issue will be solved with the coming of the 442s. They have much more in common with medium to long-distance commuter services like the ex-LM Birmingham services or most of Southern.

The only "proper InterCity" service SWR really has is the hourly Weymouth fast which uses InterCity standard rolling stock (444s). The Exeter is sort-of but it's more a string of regional express services stuck together like the Liverpool to Norwich.

Agreed, the Exeter is basically a regional express. It’s definitely the secondary route to Exeter from London. I’ve done the whole trip on one occasion from Exeter to London and I was probably the only one going the whole way. There’s a good turnover of passengers at multiple stations en route from what I saw.

 

[wastedlife]

After Crossrail 2, there is potentially a case for faster, intercity services; until then, the capacity constraints and commuter demand between intermediate stations are such that true intercity style services aren't going to work. Even then, you'd question whether the business case stacks up, just taking passengers off existing, slower, trains they would have taken anyway rather than attracting new passengers. You're not going to get 125 mph out of the third rail, and I suspect even after redoubling throughout (so, not in my lifetime) and introducing a very limited stop Exeter express, that the SWML will remain slower than the GWML to Exeter.

 

[Drsatan]

AFAIK there is no capacity for any additional services between Yeovil Junction and Exeter due to the lengthy sections of single track. This has been discussed elsewhere on this forum. I'd suggest running an hourly Exeter St Davids - Axminster service which would provide the intermediate stations with a half-hourly service.

 

[swt_passenger]

Just a query about long-distance SWR services.
In my opinion, these are not run like proper Intercity services, which they should be.
Some of these lines, e.g. to Portsmouth, are using commuter-grade 450s..

That's probably because the Portsmouth line has been classed by NR and DfT as a commuter route for quite a few years.

 

[Matt Taylor]

There needs to be a major upgrade of the permanent way to raise speeds further, Woking to Wimbledon in particular is awful even at 90mph.

 

[pompeyfan]

There needs to be a major upgrade of the permanent way to raise speeds further, Woking to Wimbledon in particular is awful even at 90mph.

Haslemere - Witley on the up is another noticeable issue.

 

[DarloRich]

Just a query about long-distance SWR services.
In my opinion, these are not run like proper Intercity services, which they should be.
Some of these lines, e.g. to Portsmouth, are using commuter-grade 450s.
Also, include 4 bike spaces per carriage - you should see how crowded these get on weekends.
The services themselves are quite slow, except when it comes to peak times - to get to Southampton, the Poole and Bournemouth, one has to stop at Clapham Junction, Woking, (BSK), Winchester and then a slow calling pattern all the way to Weymouth.
The services are too regular as well - I would welcome a more diverse calling pattern off-peak, e.g.
0.5tph Wat-CLJ-Salisbury-Exeter,
0.5tph Wat-WOK-BSK-Andover-Salisbury,
0.5tph Wat-Salisbury-Yeovil-Axminster-Exeter
0.5tph Wat-BSK-Westbury-Bath-Bristol
and 1 tph BSK-Exeter semi-fast,
1.5 tph BSK-Exeter slow

These services also only achieve 100mph from Farnborough to around St Denys. Line speeds could be easily upgraded to 125mph in that section and 100 from Wimbledon (current 80).
NR should create more passing loops on WoE and quad track and straighten out the New Forest part of SWML.

they are commuter services NOT intercity services.

There needs to be a major upgrade of the permanent way to raise speeds further, Woking to Wimbledon in particular is awful even at 90mph.

That will have to join the queue