ATW 14th May timetable published

[Michael.Y]

Irresistible force meets immovable object. The iron fist of franchise commitments versus the business case of transporting more ferry passengers. Delaying the departure from Holyhead so as to not maroon Stena Explorer pax for an extra hour and a half and therefore give them the best possible connection to London versus the requirement to serve Rhyl et. al. Solution - two services, a fast and a stopper. Works in theory (10 minute change at Chester from platform 2-1 is quite doable), but as with everything in public transport, there's always that risk of delays. As someone who winces when full and standing on the 1239 HHD-Maesteg pulling into Rhyl, Prestatyn et al seeing the armies of buggies waiting to be let on when there's no room, I certainly see the logic and reasoning.

Just a quick word about perceived demographics -- the earlier sailing (the Irish Ferries service) sails directly from Dublin whereas the later sailing (the Stena Explorer) sails from Dún Laoghaire -- as such I imagine most foot pax and as such most train pax will be coming from the city centre rather than the out-of-town port, which I imagine will be mostly car drivers. (The prices are identical for both services - £33 / €41)

 

[merlodlliw]

I'm shocked nobody has mentioned another major change to the timetable which occurs on Monday to Friday now

The 1523 from Holyhead to Birmingham International (1G60) now leaves at 1544 & now runs non stop from Llandudno Junction to Chester
There is a new service now leaving Junction at 1625 (1D95) which calls at the stations which 1G60 now does not (Colwyn Bay, Rhyl, Prestatyn, Flint) which terminates at Chester. 1D95 is run with a 158 which was the rear unit detached at Junction from 1D14 (1309 Birmingham Intl - Holyhead) arriving at Junction at 1612

The connection at Chester from the Holyhead train to the Euston train has now been almost halved as 1G60 doesnt arrive until 1725 with now 3 trains from North Wales arriving at Chester within 15 mins of each other, and if 1D14 is running late like it was today it makes everything else run late!!!!!!

Theres also a few of the other Holyhead services (From Birmingham) that have been strengthened to 4 cars from 2 (either full journey or as far as to/from Llandudno Junction)

I put up the ATW letter to stakeholders sometime in April,where the 1625 Junction and 1544 Holyhead were described by Mike Bagshaw Director plus others he called "better use of limited stock & over a thousand extra seats"etc, however the letter never mentioned cuts to services from May timetable.

Anyhow I have found another cut to services from May,look at the rail replacement bus service on Saturday nights,last train into Junction from Cardiff.
This rail replacement service now runs Bangor & Holyhead only,cutting out all other stops.

Bob

 

[redthunder]

Certainly does work in theory I'll grant you that, but if that 1523 service from Chester is late for whatever reason (unless its severely delayed like more than around 30-40 mins) that goes out of the window completely, ive been on that service 5 times since it changed, 4 of them were running too late to make the connection and Virgin Trains wait for no late train

Plus they havent even given an ounce of thought to the local residents there at all, all they seemed to care about is the ferry passengers

Prime example when the old 1523 used to run, that used to connect to the 1633 Blaenau Ffestiniog train with a 10 minute connection, now it misses by 10 minutes, so to connect you either have to get the train before (1434) and wait at Junction for over an hour (if your going from any of the Anglesey request stops its over 2 hours waiting at Junction now!!!!!)