TPE July timetable change

[Jamesrob637]

In contrast to Northern, TPE have been praised by the way in which they have put many Novas back into service and doubled up 185s on most if not all of the rest. Even the late services which would barely warrant a double under normal circumstances, are longer.

Obviously not every gap has been plugged (still a limited service to Edinburgh and a few hours missing on South TPE etc.) however it begs the question as to why one TOC can get things right and another can't.

It isn't just about the trains themselves though. TPE never put the annoying "Essential Travel Only" on their Twitter page, though in their defence Northern did remove it come yesterday morning

 

[route101]

Yes , services are also limited to Glasgow

 

[Greybeard33]

I watched the livestream of the Rail North Committee meeting today, and it was stated that TPE (unlike Northern) is not planning a further timetable uplift in September. Apparently the current TPE service pattern is as much as can be reliably provided with the available resources and is likely to continue until the December 2020 timetable change.

The meeting video can be viewed at:

TfN Rail North Committee 14-07-20 - Tuesday 14 July 2020, 11:00am - Transport for the North Webcasting

TfN Rail North Committee 14-07-20 - Tuesday 14 July 2020, 11:00am - Transport for the North Webcasting

transportforthenorth.public-i.tv

 

[Jamesrob637]

I watched the livestream of the Rail North Committee meeting today, and it was stated that TPE (unlike Northern) is not planning a further timetable uplift in September. Apparently the current TPE service pattern is as much as can be reliably provided with the available resources and is likely to continue until the December 2020 timetable change.

The meeting video can be viewed at:

TfN Rail North Committee 14-07-20 - Tuesday 14 July 2020, 11:00am - Transport for the North Webcasting

TfN Rail North Committee 14-07-20 - Tuesday 14 July 2020, 11:00am - Transport for the North Webcasting

transportforthenorth.public-i.tv

Well as long as little to nothing is booked 3-car and nothing further gets cancelled. Look at TPE Twitter to see what I mean. There are enough Novas to cover the intended North and Anglo-Scottish routes now.

 

[_toommm_]

No departures from Leeds to Piccadilly for three hours in the morning is particularly annoying for me, and the 06:00 going to Victoria breaks my connection at Piccadilly, meaning I’ll be late often again.

Poor show IMO. They managed to go to Piccadilly in lockdown but now seemingly can’t for that extended period of time.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

No departures from Leeds to Piccadilly for three hours in the morning is particularly annoying for me, and the 06:00 going to Victoria breaks my connection at Piccadilly, meaning I’ll be late often again.

Poor show IMO. They managed to go to Piccadilly in lockdown but now seemingly can’t for that extended period of time.

They're running what is operationally convenient for them, rather for passengers. As another thread said, the TOCs are behaving as if they were running a model railway.

 

[Brooke]

Hi folks, apologies if the wrong place but was the most relevant thread I turned up.

TPE are regularly (daily?) running an apparently empty train from Hudds up to Marsden and back - see for example: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/N14139/2020-08-17/detailed.

Assuming it’s basically a way to turn the train, why don’t they just run into and then back out of Plat 4 at Hudds? Or alternately run the train in service up to Marsden and provide another service for their customers?

On Sunday I believe it did even run into Plat 4 on arrival from Leeds but still ran up to Marsden and back assuming RTT is correct.

 

[_toommm_]

Hi folks, apologies if the wrong place but was the most relevant thread I turned up.

TPE are regularly (daily?) running an apparently empty train from Hudds up to Marsden and back - see for example: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/N14139/2020-08-17/detailed.

Assuming it’s basically a way to turn the train, why don’t they just run into and then back out of Plat 4 at Hudds? Or alternately run the train in service up to Marsden and provide another service for their customers?

On Sunday I believe it did even run into Plat 4 on arrival from Leeds but still ran up to Marsden and back assuming RTT is correct.

Presumably to aid platform capacity at Huddersfield?

 

[Brooke]

Presumably to aid platform capacity at Huddersfield?

Ah, could be! That’s one reason I hadn’t thought of - thanks!

 

[_toommm_]

Ah, could be! That’s one reason I hadn’t thought of - thanks!

The long answer, being that the problem with Huddersfield is that until it is remodeled, you effectively only have two through platforms: 1 and 8. Platform 2 is used exclusively by the Huddersfield to Sheffield services, platform 4 is used by the Leeds to Huddersfield and Huddersfield to Manchester stoppers for most of the day, Platform 5 can only be used by Northern services to Bradford and Castleford due to its length (or lack thereof), and 6 is also used by the Leeds to Huddersfield stoppers.

Marsden is a great place to turn trains around as Platform 3 has little to no booked work and is off the mainline, and there's ample space for it to wait half off the platform so that no one confuses it with a passenger service and attempts to board it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Aug 2020 ==

Tonight has been a good use of this provision, albeit due to an unfortunate reason. There's been a fatality at Morley, with services running with Wakefield Kirkgate. This has naturally meant a build-up of trains needing through platform space at Huddersfield as they wait for their slot through the area. 5J77 has been sent to Marsden, but has been kept there for a while now. This means trains can wait in Huddersfield which is safer overall, as a long wait outside of a station can and has led to unauthorised detrainments, which would really stop the job.

 

[Brooke]

Very informative, thanks. It’ll be good if & when the remodelling project brings some increased capacity and resilience - seems much-needed (or did pre-COVID anyway).