Integrated "One West Coast" business unit - what changes may take place?

[The Planner]

Having been subject to it today one thing I'd like to see is a tidying of the utter mess that is the north WCML timetable. There should at least be a 2 hour pattern.

Nothing changes there until freight gets faster. There are alterations and removal of loops planned, but it won't solve it completely.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

Having been subject to it today one thing I'd like to see is a tidying of the utter mess that is the north WCML timetable. There should at least be a 2 hour pattern.

Do you mean the passenger or freight timetable?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Nothing changes there until freight gets faster. There are alterations and removal of loops planned, but it won't solve it completely.

I would like to see underpowered freight being banned - if a 66 can't do it, use two.

Do you mean the passenger or freight timetable?

Passenger. It's a complete mess, the worst being the Windermere sitting in a siding for 20 minutes or whatever it is, but the whole thing is just totally inconsistent.

 

[YamYamDave]

Opportunity to match where people are travelling i.e ticket sales to service + make 1tph to Liverpool and Manchester a non-fast cheaper service using 350s. Decarbonising Birmingham-Manchester (all CrossCountry services) would be of great benefit too.

 

[317 forever]

As the service is formed of 10-car 730s it has to use a through platform to turnaround in at Crewe anyway, for the most part that is platform 11.

Thank you for your explanation.

I rode that service a couple of weeks ago, and wondered why it departed from platform 11 instead of (IIRC) platform 7.

 

[Transilien]

As the service is formed of 10-car 730s it has to use a through platform to turnaround in at Crewe anyway, for the most part that is platform 11.

It would be useful to extend those platforms in a hypothetical Crewe rebuild.

 

[LowLevel]

Its not in 12 for that very reason, its an awful platform.

It's crap utilisation really. The LNR Euston sits in the station on turnaround for 20 minutes providing it's own facilities so would be quite happy out the way on 12.

Instead the Avanti Anglo Scots get dumped over there which are booked a 2 minute dwell and attract plenty of people with luggage and next to nowhere to sit. They want swapping over.

 

[jp4712]

It's crap utilisation really. The LNR Euston sits in the station on turnaround for 20 minutes providing it's own facilities so would be quite happy out the way on 12.

Instead the Avanti Anglo Scots get dumped over there which are booked a 2 minute dwell and attract plenty of people with luggage and next to nowhere to sit. They want swapping over.

Speaking as a very regular user of the Trent Valley LNR, I have to concede that this seems to me like a good idea.

 

[Bevan Price]

Thank you for your explanation.

I rode that service a couple of weeks ago, and wondered why it departed from platform 11 instead of (IIRC) platform 7.

Crewe Platform 7 just about holds an 8 coach Class 350 formation. Anything longer has to use a through platform.

Incidentally, before the 1985 reorganisation, Crewe Platform 12 (as Platform 2) was one of the main northbound departurw platforms, along with the adjacent (and now disused) former Platform 1, and had rather more facilities than it has now.

 

[Falcon1200]

Instead the Avanti Anglo Scots get dumped over there which are booked a 2 minute dwell and attract plenty of people with luggage and next to nowhere to sit.

That is a fairly recent change, for many years the Avanti service did use Platform 11, which is absolutely far more suitable for such trains.

 

[SCDR_WMR]

That is a fairly recent change, for many years the Avanti service did use Platform 11, which is absolutely far more suitable for such trains.

But given the numbers of passengers at Crewe for those services, there is easily 3-4x the number who are waiting for the LNR Euston than the Avanti Scotland. That's why it's that way around, purely keeps more passengers on the retailed central island.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Monday at 09:19 ==

Instead the Avanti Anglo Scots get dumped over there which are booked a 2 minute dwell and attract plenty of people with luggage and next to nowhere to sit. They want swapping over.

And what of those 100+ passengers who board the Euston train, similarly mostly with luggage of some sort?

The only difference is the amount of seating available, something that may need to be looked at in the future given 12 is now not used simply as an overflow platform.

 

[LowLevel]

But given the numbers of passengers at Crewe for those services, there is easily 3-4x the number who are waiting for the LNR Euston than the Avanti Scotland. That's why it's that way around, purely keeps more passengers on the retailed central island.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Monday at 09:19 ==


And what of those 100+ passengers who board the Euston train, similarly mostly with luggage of some sort?

The only difference is the amount of seating available, something that may need to be looked at in the future given 12 is now not used simply as an overflow platform.

The Scottish services are not an inconsequential flow though and don't have the benefit of the train being sat around for ages prior for them to just board it. Of the two trains, one of which is a long distance regional express service people use to travel to London to take advantage of the cheaper fares I know which I would prioritise platform wise.

Of course the optimum answer would be to demolish Crewe Station and rebuild from the ground up given it is a horrid jumble of Victorian and 60s provision in poor condition.

 

[SCDR_WMR]

The Scottish services are not an inconsequential flow though and don't have the benefit of the train being sat around for ages prior for them to just board it. Of the two trains, one of which is a long distance regional express service people use to travel to London to take advantage of the cheaper fares I know which I would prioritise platform wise.

Of course the optimum answer would be to demolish Crewe Station and rebuild from the ground up given it is a horrid jumble of Victorian and 60s provision in poor condition.

Exactly, you would prioritise the train with the longest journey and shortest dwell time. Rather than inconvenience the larger number of passengers.

Difference in priority/opinion.

There is provisions to alter Crewe station somewhat with a new entrance based on the Weston Road side. Platform 12 could do with some waiting areas and retail now it's in regular use, true. But the tracks are a 6-way junction with flows crossing over, there is not a lot that even demolishing and starting again would solve that wasn't expensive in the extreme!