Could an additional hourly service run on the Botley Line without altering the existing timetable?

[PTR 444]

Never a possibility IMHO. They never really explained how they’d magic away all the existing services…

The “Echo” probably should have written Southampton - Eastleigh and Southampton - Fareham separately. The way they’ve done it leads to assumptions about through services that just aren’t likely, once you consider both routes separately it becomes more realistic.

Then, the Botley line has already previously had a half hourly service in the peak flow directions. That’s not too revolutionary.

The existing timings for occupation of the Eastleigh - Fareham line are xx28-xx48 in both directions with the crossing move at Botley, so you could theoretically run an additional hourly service timed at xx58-xx18 without conflict. It’s just whether this would be better as an Eastleigh - Fareham shuttle or part of a longer service.

 

[Matt Taylor]

The existing timings for occupation of the Eastleigh - Fareham line are xx28-xx48 in both directions with the crossing move at Botley, so you could theoretically run an additional hourly service timed at xx58-xx18 without conflict. It’s just whether this would be better as an Eastleigh - Fareham shuttle or part of a longer service.

It's pretty straightforward really, Portsmouth to Winchester hourly and Portsmouth-Winchester-Waterloo hourly which provide a doubling of frequency between Portsmouth and Winchester without adding to the congested lines into Waterloo and also eliminating the lengthy layover at Portsmouth Harbour of the current services.

 

[PTR 444]

It's pretty straightforward really, Portsmouth to Winchester hourly and Portsmouth-Winchester-Waterloo hourly which provide a doubling of frequency between Portsmouth and Winchester without adding to the congested lines into Waterloo and also eliminating the lengthy layover at Portsmouth Harbour of the current services.

In addition to the existing service, could a Portsmouth portion be split from the xx39 ex Waterloo service at Eastleigh to give the Botley Line 2tph through to London?

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

In addition to the existing service, could a Portsmouth portion be split from the xx39 ex Waterloo service at Eastleigh to give the Botley Line 2tph through to London?

Does it need 2tph to London? There seems to be this obsession with running everything to a London terminal when a shuttle to Winchester would provide a perfectly good connection.

 

[swt_passenger]

Does it need 2tph to London? There seems to be this obsession with running everything to a London terminal when a shuttle to Winchester would provide a perfectly good connection.

It already had a short period of 2 tph to/from London in the peak flow direction, ie up am and down pm, (pre COVID), as I also mentioned in an earlier reply. I’d expect that to return anyway.

 

[PTR 444]

On another thread, there is talk about increasing service provision on the Reading - Basingstoke line. Would extending a hypothetical second Fareham - Eastleigh train to Reading instead of Winchester or London be a better use of paths?

 

[Ianno87]

It's pretty straightforward really, Portsmouth to Winchester hourly and Portsmouth-Winchester-Waterloo hourly which provide a doubling of frequency between Portsmouth and Winchester without adding to the congested lines into Waterloo and also eliminating the lengthy layover at Portsmouth Harbour of the current services.

Does it need 2tph to London? There seems to be this obsession with running everything to a London terminal when a shuttle to Winchester would provide a perfectly good connection.

Simplest would be to take the Waterloo-Bournemouth stopper (that forms a 30 minute frequency with the Waterloo-Fareham-Portsmouth service between Waterloo and Eastleigh) and divert that to Portsmouth instead, which suits the Botley-Fareham single line. Then have a seperate Southampton-Bournemouth stopping service for the local stations west of Southampton (which few people use as a through train to Waterloo anyway)

 

[HamworthyGoods]

Simplest would be to take the Waterloo-Bournemouth stopper (that forms a 30 minute frequency with the Waterloo-Fareham-Portsmouth service between Waterloo and Eastleigh) and divert that to Portsmouth instead, which suits the Botley-Fareham single line. Then have a seperate Southampton-Bournemouth stopping service for the local stations west of Southampton (which few people use as a through train to Waterloo anyway)

That does however then drop Eastleigh to Southampton down to an hourly service which isn’t palatable for what is a much bigger flow than the Botley line.

 

[Ianno87]

That does however then drop Eastleigh to Southampton down to an hourly service which isn’t palatable for what is a much bigger flow than the Botley line.

Depends whether there's another way that could be provided, e.g:

-Double the Chandlers Ford service to 2tph (looks do-able on the single line), or
-Add an Eastleigh stop into one of the Weymouth services each hour.

 

[30907]

In principle the timetable comfortably allows an additional train each way, while still leaving space for the occasional ECS to and from Eastleigh/Northam/Fratton. Whether you could do something worthwhile with it I don't know - without a total timetable recast you would require two units which (obviously) gives long turnrounds, and the paths don't fit with anything at the Fareham end (apart from the Portsmouth-Southampton stopper!).