SWR Winchfield Timetable Anomaly from 20 September 2026

[HantsWalker1]

The latest version of Timetable 10, from Sunday 20 September, has been published by SWR, covering Basingstoke and Alton to London Waterloo.

This shows that off-peak trains on weekdays from Basingstoke to London Waterloo only call at Winchfield hourly. However, off-peak trains on weekdays from London Waterloo to Basingstoke call at Winchfield half-hourly. The on-line Journey Planner doesn't show this change taking effect until Monday 5 October.

This change appears to be incorrect for 2 reasons. The date the change takes effect is inconsistent between the paper and online timetables. Why would there be an hourly service from Winchfield towards London but half-hourly towards Basingstoke?

 

[Deepgreen]

Welcome to the forum. RTT also shows the pattern you describe, so it must surely be a 'planning error' (to use one of RTT's terms!). If so, yet again, does no-one check anything anymore?!

 

[Big Jumby 74]

I may be old school, but a quick communication with SWR about this (possible human error?) may have been a better way of getting it corrected PDQ, rather than mentioning same on a secondary non industry (forum) site?

 

[Deepgreen]

I may be old school, but a quick communication with SWR about this (possible human error?) may have been a better way of getting it corrected PDQ, rather than mentioning same on a secondary non industry (forum) site?

No harm in asking here, especially as a lot of industry employees view this forum. Yes, though, IF it is the error is seems to be, it should be reported, if not already done.

 

[swr444]

This is probably part of the autumn timetable changes, same with west Byfleet on the up on 2F services and readings also only calling at Longcross hourly.

 

[HantsWalker1]

Thanks for suggesting I contact SWR regarding this change. I received the following reply to my timetable enquiry:

"Thank you for contacting us.
I am sorry to learn of your disappointment regarding the timetable change.
Our train planning teams continually seek to optimise our services and have used this timetable change to make some adjustments to deliver capacity where it is most needed.
We're sorry this has meant only one service to London. We are continuing to monitor demand and will be introducing more of our new Arterio fleet of trains over the coming months."

That confirms it's not an error. I'll make sure I catch a stopping train from Basingstoke on Wed 7 Oct that actually stops at Winchfield, for a walk that I'm planning!

 

[Phillipimo]

This shows that off-peak trains on weekdays from Basingstoke to London Waterloo only call at Winchfield hourly. However, off-peak trains on weekdays from London Waterloo to Basingstoke call at Winchfield half-hourly. The on-line Journey Planner doesn't show this change taking effect until Monday 5 October.

Forgive but on RTT I can only see this change taking place from October 5th, the half hourly service shows on Sep 21st for example.

I assume the reason the hourly service is only towards London is because the London to Basingstoke trains have 3 minutes of allowances approaching Basingstoke, so any leaf fall related delays can be absorbed without a timetable change in this direction.

 

[HantsWalker1]

A full explanation of the changes is now available on the SWR website. As suspected, it is due to the autumn leaf fall.

Autumn weather conditions | South Western Railway

Seasonal changes can have an impact on rail conditions, sometimes affecting how we run our trains. This autumn, we are working with Network Rail to reduce the impact leaf fall can have on our services, so that we can keep you moving safely.

www.southwesternrailway.com

 

[abn444]

I don't remember them doing this before but I might have missed it. It seems odd them describing it as "minor" when these changes are more drastic than a lot of the major timetable changes recently. Also how are they managing to stop some trains and not others, surely both halves of the hour have the same padding? Another thing is it doesn't seem to affect the peak time as much when surely that's when there's less padding so how is that going to work?