Faster London to Cheltenham trains

[Susannah]

Does anyone know when the faster trains from London to Cheltenham (a little under 2 hours) will be implemented? Have been offered a job in Cheltenham and considering the commute. Any info from anyone already doing that commute also appreciated!

 

[Mag_seven]

Does anyone know when the faster trains from London to Cheltenham (a little under 2 hours) will be implemented? Have been offered a job in Cheltenham and considering the commute. Any info from anyone already doing that commute also appreciated!

The proposal is for that service start with the December 2019 TT change.

 

[cle]

There is a thread on the Golden Valley route somewhere. It was contentious at points (Cheltenham vs Gloucester) as there was a proposal in the future to have 2tph to London - one direct to Gloucester as today, and one running direct to Cheltenham, without the reversal.

The latter would obviously have a much bigger journey time benefit (and possibly offer the quickest to Worcester too).

 

[Susannah]

The proposal is for that service start with the December 2019 TT change.

Thanks, that's really helpful. I don't suppose you know how concrete the proposal is for that service?

 

[Susannah]

There is a thread on the Golden Valley route somewhere. It was contentious at points (Cheltenham vs Gloucester) as there was a proposal in the future to have 2tph to London - one direct to Gloucester as today, and one running direct to Cheltenham, without the reversal.

The latter would obviously have a much bigger journey time benefit (and possibly offer the quickest to Worcester too).

Interesting, thank you!

 

[Mag_seven]

I don't suppose you know how concrete the proposal is for that service?

My understanding is that GWR have proposed it as part of a package of train service alterations to take account of the new train fleet, but Network Rail have still to agree to that new timetable.

 

[The Planner]

Dec 19 is offered back in June, so it won't be long before you find out.

 

[SouthDevonian]

Cheltenham station is a mile or so from the town centre and even further from major employers such as GCHQ, Zurich, Capita & GE Aviation. However there are buses but they add to the commute time.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Does anyone know when the faster trains from London to Cheltenham (a little under 2 hours) will be implemented? Have been offered a job in Cheltenham and considering the commute. Any info from anyone already doing that commute also appreciated!

The season ticket is rather expensive as you'll no doubt be aware (currently £10,672 p/a if you restrict yourself to the 'via Stroud' route only, which effectively means you can't go via Bristol). You can decrease the cost a little by getting two season tickets - one from London to Didcot Parkway, which is £5,256 p/a, and another from Didcot Parkway to Cheltenham, which costs £5,064 p/a, so that's a total of £10,320 p/a. Not a massive saving but better than nothing!

Also, if you have, or are eligible for, a Railcard (or even in some cases if you aren't) then, depending on the frequency and hours of your commute it may be cheaper to buy daily tickets.

But enough of that - I just wanted to make sure you were aware that the commute is likely to take up a considerable part of your income, so hopefully you have factored that into what they are offering you. You might even like to ask whether they have a season ticket loan scheme, or whether they would consider a commute allowance (if you are a particularly desirable candidate then this could be on the cards).

Also hope you're aware that, coming from London, the timetable is currently not geared for a commute to Cheltenham. To arrive into Cheltenham for a typical 9am start you either need to take the 05:19 departure from Paddington and change at Swindon (arriving at 07:47), or take the 06:20 from Euston and change at Birmingham (arriving at 08:50, which would not be covered under an ordinary London-Cheltenham season ticket).

 

[II]

Also hope you're aware that, coming from London, the timetable is currently not geared for a commute to Cheltenham. To arrive into Cheltenham for a typical 9am start you either need to take the 05:19 departure from Paddington and change at Swindon (arriving at 07:47), or take the 06:20 from Euston and change at Birmingham (arriving at 08:50, which would not be covered under an ordinary London-Cheltenham season ticket).

Which, according to the drafts, will become much better from December as a direct 06:33 from Paddington arrives Cheltenham at 08:29. Not sure I'd want to do that commute all week though! There's also an 05:33 direct for the real early birds - all in all, three direct trains from London will arrive in Cheltenham well before the first one does currently.

 

[Susannah]

The season ticket is rather expensive as you'll no doubt be aware (currently £10,672 p/a if you restrict yourself to the 'via Stroud' route only, which effectively means you can't go via Bristol). You can decrease the cost a little by getting two season tickets - one from London to Didcot Parkway, which is £5,256 p/a, and another from Didcot Parkway to Cheltenham, which costs £5,064 p/a, so that's a total of £10,320 p/a. Not a massive saving but better than nothing!

Also, if you have, or are eligible for, a Railcard (or even in some cases if you aren't) then, depending on the frequency and hours of your commute it may be cheaper to buy daily tickets.

But enough of that - I just wanted to make sure you were aware that the commute is likely to take up a considerable part of your income, so hopefully you have factored that into what they are offering you. You might even like to ask whether they have a season ticket loan scheme, or whether they would consider a commute allowance (if you are a particularly desirable candidate then this could be on the cards).

Also hope you're aware that, coming from London, the timetable is currently not geared for a commute to Cheltenham. To arrive into Cheltenham for a typical 9am start you either need to take the 05:19 departure from Paddington and change at Swindon (arriving at 07:47), or take the 06:20 from Euston and change at Birmingham (arriving at 08:50, which would not be covered under an ordinary London-Cheltenham season ticket).

Thanks for the response! All interesting things to consider, and especially helpful about the slight reduction in cost for the season ticket. The timetable is indeed a tricky factor, but hadn't considered the Euston option. I'm now leaning towards a mid-week let in Cheltenham, as it's clear that the toll of the commute would be considerable, with weekends and hopefully a work-from-home day back in London. Thanks again!

 

[Susannah]

Which, according to the drafts, will become much better from December as a direct 06:33 from Paddington arrives Cheltenham at 08:29. Not sure I'd want to do that commute all week though! There's also an 05:33 direct for the real early birds - all in all, three direct trains from London will arrive in Cheltenham well before the first one does currently.

Thanks, that's helpful to know - would make the commute (even it were just Monday/a few days a week) certainly much easier.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Thanks for the response! All interesting things to consider, and especially helpful about the slight reduction in cost for the season ticket. The timetable is indeed a tricky factor, but hadn't considered the Euston option. I'm now leaning towards a mid-week let in Cheltenham, as it's clear that the toll of the commute would be considerable, with weekends and hopefully a work-from-home day back in London. Thanks again!

Agreed - I think the maximum length of door-to-door commute I would consider doing 5 days a week would be around 1.5 hours. But even that is long, and I would certainly want to be sure of having a seat and being able to do something I wanted during the commute (sleep, work, read etc.).

If you can find arrangements to commute less frequently, or even potentially work from home one or two days a week, I would consider a longer commute than 1.5 hours.

 

[Nunners]

Which, according to the drafts, will become much better from December as a direct 06:33 from Paddington arrives Cheltenham at 08:29. Not sure I'd want to do that commute all week though! There's also an 05:33 direct for the real early birds - all in all, three direct trains from London will arrive in Cheltenham well before the first one does currently.

Do you have a link to the drafts, or is it insider only at the moment?

 

[dk1]

Have there not been rumours that GWR would like to extend the fast Cheltenham services through to Birmingham?

 

[Nunners]

Have there not been rumours that GWR would like to extend the fast Cheltenham services through to Birmingham?

That would be excellent, it would offer a much quicker service from Swindon/Stroud valley to Birmingham and also offer a cost-effective alternative (hopefully) to the stupidly expensive cross-country fares to Birmingham

 

[dk1]

That would be excellent, it would offer a much quicker service from Swindon/Stroud valley to Birmingham and also offer a cost-effective alternative (hopefully) to the stupidly expensive cross-country fares to Birmingham

Remember you heard it here first

 

[The Planner]

New one on me! how they expect to fit them north of Barnt Green would be entertaining.

 

[jimm]

Have there not been rumours that GWR would like to extend the fast Cheltenham services through to Birmingham?

The only thing that has been floated, as noted above, and only as a potential long-term goal, is the idea of running 2tph though the Stroud Valley, with one serving Gloucester and the other running direct from/to Cheltenham, or running extra London-Worcester trains that way,

However, the new timetable will actually see the end of the handful of GWR London-Cheltenham trains that currently run to/from Worcester, as all the stabling sidings at Worcester will be in future be used overnight for IETs operating Cotswold Line services, as a result of adjustments to that route's timetable.

 

[Class 170101]

The season ticket is rather expensive as you'll no doubt be aware (currently £10,672 p/a if you restrict yourself to the 'via Stroud' route only, which effectively means you can't go via Bristol). You can decrease the cost a little by getting two season tickets - one from London to Didcot Parkway, which is £5,256 p/a, and another from Didcot Parkway to Cheltenham, which costs £5,064 p/a, so that's a total of £10,320 p/a. Not a massive saving but better than nothing!

The train must stiop at Didcot Parkway for the cheaper combination to be valid though.

However, the new timetable will actually see the end of the handful of GWR London-Cheltenham trains that currently run to/from Worcester, as all the stabling sidings at Worcester will be in future be used overnight for IETs operating Cotswold Line services, as a result of adjustments to that route's timetable.

I'm surprised GW are cancelling that bit if only for route retention of IEP crews between Cheltenham and Worcester for diversions during engineering works on North Cotswold route.

 

[brad465]

The only thing that has been floated, as noted above, and only as a potential long-term goal, is the idea of running 2tph though the Stroud Valley, with one serving Gloucester and the other running direct from/to Cheltenham, or running extra London-Worcester trains that way,

However, the new timetable will actually see the end of the handful of GWR London-Cheltenham trains that currently run to/from Worcester, as all the stabling sidings at Worcester will be in future be used overnight for IETs operating Cotswold Line services, as a result of adjustments to that route's timetable.

Reading this thread through I was thinking all the way down the best way to speed up a London-Cheltenham journey time would be to run a service that omits Gloucester. The higher service frequency of course ensuring if trains stopped reversing there nowhere would see a service reduction.

 

[Hadders]

The train must stiop at Didcot Parkway for the cheaper combination to be valid though.

Not any longer. Check condition 14 of the NRcoT.

14. Using a combination of Tickets

14.1 Unless shown below, you may use a combination of two or more Tickets to make a journey provided that the train services you use call at the station(s) where you change from one Ticket to another.

14.2 If you are using a Season Ticket, daily Zonal Ticket, or another area based Ticket such as a concessionary pass, ranger or rover in conjunction with another Ticket and the last station at which one Ticket is valid and the first station that the other Ticket is valid are the same, then the train does not need to call at that station for your combination to be valid.

 

[jimm]

Reading this thread through I was thinking all the way down the best way to speed up a London-Cheltenham journey time would be to run a service that omits Gloucester. The higher service frequency of course ensuring if trains stopped reversing there nowhere would see a service reduction.

It may speed up a run to or from Cheltenham, but the key point is whether there is actually enough traffic out there to justify such a service. As we won't even see a regular hourly London-Gloucester and Cheltenham service until the end of this year, anything more is in the highly speculative category for now.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

The train must stiop at Didcot Parkway for the cheaper combination to be valid though.

Quite apart from the fact that a combination of season ticket plus [other ticket] does not require you to stop at the changeover station, all trains from Paddington to Cheltenham stop at Didcot, and only one service back to Paddington doesn't, the 16:20 (which the OP wouldn't take for a 9-5 commute).

 

[LAX54]

also with those long commutes, a 2 hour trip can turn into a much longer one with only a small amount of disruption on the way !

 

[Mister Ed]

Quite apart from the fact that a combination of season ticket plus [other ticket] does not require you to stop at the changeover station, all trains from Paddington to Cheltenham stop at Didcot, and only one service back to Paddington doesn't, the 16:20 (which the OP wouldn't take for a 9-5 commute).

It's a good point, but do be aware that if you change at Swindon to or from one of the remaining Cheltenham shuttles you may be using a Paddington service that does not stop at Didcot, especially if there is disruption.

 

[Mag_seven]

It may speed up a run to or from Cheltenham, but the key point is whether there is actually enough traffic out there to justify such a service. As we won't even see a regular hourly London-Gloucester and Cheltenham service until the end of this year, anything more is in the highly speculative category for now.

Bearing in mind that Swindon-Kemble was re-doubled some time ago now, when will we see an increase in frequencies on this route? The line has been stuck with just an hourly service for ages now.

 

[jimm]

Bearing in mind that Swindon-Kemble was re-doubled some time ago now, when will we see an increase in frequencies on this route? The line has been stuck with just an hourly service for ages now.

Swindon-Kemble was redoubled largely to enable diversions of South Wales services via Gloucester during the blockades of the Severn Tunnel for electrification work without them needing to take the paths of the Cheltenham/Gloucester-London services past Swindon and, in the long term, to remove the risk of delays to the route's normal services posed by the long single-line section between Swindon and Kemble.

It wasn't in order to allow a higher-frequency service, though the December timetable will produce a Turbo-worked Swindon to Gloucester commuter train in the morning and one back in the afternoon, in addition to the hourly IETs on the London service. If that pair of trains proves popular, then there's a possibility more could appear in future timetables

 

[dk1]

Swindon-Kemble was redoubled largely to enable diversions of South Wales services via Gloucester during the blockades of the Severn Tunnel for electrification work without them needing to take the paths of the Cheltenham/Gloucester-London services past Swindon and, in the long term, to remove the risk of delays to the route's normal services posed by the long single-line section between Swindon and Kemble.

That was exactly how I understood it.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

Incidentally from this May, the 1754 (M-F) Swindon-Cheltenham commuter service will be starting back from London Paddington at 1636 formed IET. This alleviates one of the most overcrowded services currently operated by Turbo / Sprinter.