1220 SWT from Waterloo

[MCR247]

Hi,

I'm travelling from London Waterloo to Bristol. I'm hoping to travel on the 1220 service on Sat 28th March. The SWT timetable says there is a direct service, splitting at Salisbury, with another portion to Plymouth. But on NXEC booking planner (my preffered booking planner, thetrainline has kept me on please wait for 2hours!:roll it says you have to change at Salisbury because the whole train goes to Exeter!? Which is true?

BTW Sorry if this is the wrong forum

 

[jopsuk]

Hmm, this is confusing. National Rail Enquiries gives the same timings as NXEC. However, the timetable (bear in mind that's what you'll find printed at stations) has entirely different timings, and does indeed indicate splitting. The timings on NRE indicate an extra half hour getting to Woking from Clapham- the timetable indicates nineteen minutes for this section, NRE forty eight minutes!

Looking in the eNational Rail Timetable, SWT appears to be correct.

 

[devon_metro]

It splits at Salisbury to form 1V33 1352 Salisbury - Bristol TM which will be the rear portion of the train. The former heading to Plymouth.

Personally i'd use the FGW route, SWT takes 2hours 45 minutes compared with the longest FGW journey of 1hr45.

 

[dan_atki]

On 28th March there is engineering work at Wimbledon so all services between Clapham and Woking will be diverted presumably via Richmond, Virginia Water, and Addlestone.

Although nothing is showing up around Exeter engineering wise, it is possible SWT will be terminating services there to make up the lost time having the diversion between Clapham and Woking. Obviously an extra half hour each way means that a whole hour is lost on a return journey, and there is also the fact that FGW operate south of Exeter too, and also between Salisbury and Bristol which is likely to result in the decision made to terminate the whole train at Exeter that weekend to keep the replacement timetable simple.

Further information at http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SWTrains/Timetablesearch/EngineeringWorks/090328AWE.htm

 

[moonrakerz]

I live between Salisbury & Bristol and find this direct service to Waterloo very useful, but there are some strange aspects about the way the services are promoted.

If you catch the 0946, the platform announcements say that this is a service to London Waterloo. If you go for the 1400 or 1647 these are announced as services to Salisbury only - even though they are though services to Waterloo.

The terminology on the trains is also not quite as clear as it could be. At Waterloo announcements are made on the train about the service splitting at Salisbury. These refer to coaches 1, 2 & 3 and coaches 4, 5 & 6 - unfortunately the coaches are not physically numbered - they have letters.

The last time I used this service to London my seat reservation was for coach D - in a 3 coach train ! This was leading the train at Warminster; after Salisbury, coach D was leading a 9 coach train. No wonder we get confused.

 

[dan_atki]

The terminology on the trains is also not quite as clear as it could be. At Waterloo announcements are made on the train about the service splitting at Salisbury. These refer to coaches 1, 2 & 3 and coaches 4, 5 & 6 - unfortunately the coaches are not physically numbered - they have letters.

My experience of being on a splitting 159 is that the CIS screens flash coach numbers the whole way through the journey (provided it has been set up) like: Coaches 1,2,3 of 6 and Coaches 4,5,6 of 6.

If the announcements have been set up then on a 159 these are done by announcing the destination of the part of the train you are in: e.g. if the front portion is for Plymouth and the rear for Bristol then the front three coaches will have an announcement 'This part of the train is for [stations to Plymouth]' at the same time as the rear three will say 'This part of the train is for [stations to Bristol]'.

 

[moonrakerz]

My experience of being on a splitting 159 is that the CIS screens flash coach numbers the whole way through the journey (provided it has been set up) like: Coaches 1,2,3 of 6 and Coaches 4,5,6 of 6.

This did not happen as you describe; the screens did display which coaches were going where and also the next stop (once the train was moving) but not which coach you were sitting in.
That was why I made my original comment about confusing people.

If the announcements have been set up then on a 159 these are done by announcing the destination of the part of the train you are in: e.g. if the front portion is for Plymouth and the rear for Bristol then the front three coaches will have an announcement 'This part of the train is for [stations to Plymouth]' at the same time as the rear three will say 'This part of the train is for [stations to Bristol]'.

This certainly didn't happen. The only definite indication that the coach I was in was going to Bristol came after the train had been split at Salisbury. At Waterloo we were told that coaches 1 2 & 3 were for Honiton, 4 5 & 6 for Bristol, but again the door of my coach told me I was in D.
What you describe as should have happened is exactly what I would have expected to happen - but didn't.
Perhaps I picked a bad day ! I am going up again in about 10 days - will observe and listen very closely.

PS: On the way up we were informed that passengers for Clapham Jct had to be in the front 6 coaches (of 9). The announcement concluded:- "If you don't know which coach you are in, walk towards the front of the train; when you have passed a first class section you will be in the right place".