Basingstoke

[Tom]

Re-opened 30 mins early, all testing went OK.

 

[Dennis]

Hooray; after recent problems around the network with this kind of work, there must be a lot of people breathing a huge sigh of relief.

One less excuse for delays...

 

[paul1609]

Myself and the other 3 commuters who still use Portsmouth Harbour in the morning rush hour were treated to self congratulating announcements about Basingstoke over the PA this morning even on the disused platform 1. This was punctuated by frequent announcements about SWT cancellations because of faulty rolling stock! (The ex TPE 158s appear to be dying on their feet).

 

[Dennis]

Myself and the other 3 commuters who still use Portsmouth Harbour in the morning rush hour

How are things progressing around there?

 

[thefab444]

Talking of the TPE 158s, saw 158742 (it seems 158744/808 are attached to the Totton - Romseys) with 'Basingstoke' on the front and 'Rambler's Excursion' on the rear at Eastleigh earlier on. Also interesting to note, 307 and 308 both working at least some part of today, though 307 had dud Aircon in at least one coach.

 

[Coxster]

I noticed a couple of FGWs on the Basingstoke locals were cancelled but I'm not sure if that was to do with Basingstoke or not. A few late trains around the same time but certainly no closures of the area or anything.

 

[Tom]

Suspect it was probably a train failure more than anything.

 

[paul1609]

How are things progressing around there?

At the Harbour;
Platform 1 OOU UFN
5tph;
2 X SWT London Wat via Guildford
1 X SWT London Wat Via Basingstoke
1 X FGW Cardiff
1 X Southern Brighton Stoppers

At Portsmouth & SSea
Platform 3 & 4 OOU UFN (low level station)
Service as above.

Most other trains terminate at Fratton (usually in Platform 2 which is now reversible)

Fratton Depot
Carriage Line to P SSea OOU Ufn but in use as a headshunt for depot.
Entry to the depot is via Fratton Yard North of Fratton.

Signalling
Mostly the old system but between Fratton and Portsmouth Harbour interim signalling using absolute block controlled from the reopened Harbour signalbox.
Known as Portsmouth Interim Signalling System Mk 2 (**** 2)

There seemed to be been a lull in any further work being carried out whilst basingstoke was done.

At weekends it is common for Fratton to Harbour to be closed and bustituted but not when Bournemouth diversions are on as it appears they cant be accomodated if everything is terminating at Fratton.

Traffic.
I would guesstimate that Rail currently has lost 80 % of the inward business to portsmouth that it had prechristmas. Traffic to london seems better but most people seem to be joining at Fratton

Compensation
To the TOCs rumoured to be £990,000 per day.

 

[Kris]

You probably won't be able to see it from inside - but I was stopped outside Basingstoke today on the down and the signal gantry doesn't look level.

Sort of like this -

Think someone forgot their spirit level.

 

[Dennis]

Compensation
To the TOCs rumoured to be £990,000 per day.

Thats some bill NR is racking up there (original cost was only meant to be £100 million)...presumably this is being passed on further down the chain to the contractors or Siemens.

 

[thefab444]

Hmmm, is Platform 1 at PMH dead permantly? So now 1 & 2 out of use... how many are left? 3? 4?

 

[Tom]

There are 4 platforms there IIRC, P2 doesn't exist.

 

[richa2002]

Thats some bill NR is racking up there (original cost was only meant to be £100 million)...presumably this is being passed on further down the chain to the contractors or Siemens.

Oh the joys of privitisation.

 

[Coxster]

Think someone forgot their spirit level.

No wonder you were stopped - they seem to have forgotten the third rail too

 

[Kris]

Yeah yeah - and the rails run out :tongue5:

 

[Tom]

"Welcome on board this Desiro to Salisbury.... "

 

[paul1609]

"Welcome on board this Desiro to Salisbury.... "

Despite encouraging noises at times Stagecoach have never really come up with the goods on Waterloo to Exeter St Davids. Journey times have lengthened quite considerably during their franchise. There is no point in using faster trains until someone sorts out the infrastructure. I think that there is an interesting comparison with Marlyebone to Birmingham. Chiltern have come up with the goods SWT focus seems to be elsewhere. Personally Id have liked The London to Exeter via salisbury and Cardiff to Weymouth/Portsmouth/ Brighton Services to have formed a seperate franchise as the original plans. As it is First are plainly not interested in the Ex Wessex Routes and London to Salisbury doesnt seem to feature highly for SWT either

 

[Kris]

I think it does. There are plans to up the service to 2 trains an hour and to increase the length of the trains.

SWT's hands are tied until Clockwork Snail make infrastructure improvements.

 

[scb201]

Yes, chiltern have a different kind of franchise. When the Dft were talking of longer franchises, SWT talked of putting up the cash for the dualing of the whole line. I think a similar thing actually happened at Chiltern, the Dft changed their mind on the West of England line. That could really make the route profitable with a nice reduction in end to end journey times.

 

[Tom]

They could actually beat the London - Exeter times on FGW with the current stock if they threw some "fast" services in and the whole line was at 90mph.

 

[thefab444]

SWT not interested in WoE? Why are they refurbished 19 158/159s then?

What gets me is the 'slow' Salisbury - Waterloo services don't call at Clapham, just Basing and Woking, but the 'fast' services call at Clapham, Basing and Woking!

 

[paul1609]

SWT not interested in WoE? Why are they refurbished 19 158/159s then?

What gets me is the 'slow' Salisbury - Waterloo services don't call at Clapham, just Basing and Woking, but the 'fast' services call at Clapham, Basing and Woking!

I'd agree that SWT are very good in keeping the 159s in top notch condition but the current journey times are something like 20 mins slower than NSE days as the times have been padded so much.

Theres a lot of small infrastructure improvements that could have been improved over the years quite cheaply that just havent been progressed.
For instance;
the 30 mph restriction at Wilton on the Down at the end of the double track could easily have been improved to 80 mph.
a dynamic loop could have been provided north of tisbury. The second line remains in situ for some miles to serve a disused armament depot at Dinton.

SWT seem happy with the status quo, they just make encouraging noises when approached by the various authorities

 

[Jim]

The problem with the Exeter - Waterloo's is the fact they sit outside Wilton Junction for 5 mins to await the Waterloo - Exeter

 

[Kris]

Again - it's not down to SWT but Flopwork Fail to come up with the money and government to approve.

There was talk of upping most of the 85mph line speeds to 90 when I was there but again it's down to NR to push it and change the signs.

It'll take these speeds easily.

As for the 30mph at Wilton we have the same situation running into Eastleigh on the Up - 15mph. Should have put 60mph points and flashing yellows in when they replaced them years ago.

I'm going to suggest that they relay the line all the way from Soton Parkway into Eastleigh - Get the freightliners out of the way earlier....... Don't hold your breath!

 

[paul1609]

To be honest Kris if London waterloo to Exeter was run by Chiltern they would have pestered NR for infrastructure improvements by now. Some of the minor improvements could have been financed by the Dfts minor rail improvement scheme which was considerably underspent last year. Swt are good at talking about improvements in e-motion and staff mess rooms but I'm pretty sure that there will have been no requests to NR in black and white from them at all.

 

[Kris]

Probably truth in what you say. I was talking to a Salisbury driver today in Soton messroom and he bought the subject up.

He said that the double tracking from Chard to Pinhoe was being curtailed at Axminster with SWT's approval plus the other loop being cutback too.

Don't know why - you'd think that with such a high revenue line - mainly open station - SWT would be pressing strongly for double track throughout.

 

[Tom]

It's called being able to run 1tph, as well as cutting costs. If the service goes t*ts up, then the 1tph gets cut and trains get curtailed to Gillingham & Yeovil. Suspect Honiton may be used as well...

 

[Mojo]

To be honest Kris if London waterloo to Exeter was run by Chiltern they would have pestered NR for infrastructure improvements by now. Some of the minor improvements could have been financed by the Dfts minor rail improvement scheme which was considerably underspent last year. Swt are good at talking about improvements in e-motion and staff mess rooms but I'm pretty sure that there will have been no requests to NR in black and white from them at all.

Would they? From my experience of travelling on Chiltern, they're only interested in the flagship, most profitmaking route.

Passengers for Aylesbury were treated abysmally, having cut short trains and cancellations for the Birmingham line.

 

[paul1609]

Would they? From my experience of travelling on Chiltern, they're only interested in the flagship, most profitmaking route.

Passengers for Aylesbury were treated abysmally, having cut short trains and cancellations for the Birmingham line.

To be honest i dont have much experience of the Aylesbury Route but all TOCs prioritise their routes. In the case of SWT the Portsmouth Direct is very much a 2nd class route when compared with the Bournemouth Line.

However Chiltern manage 3 trains per hour peak and 2 tph off peak to Aylesbury via Chesham. All day reliability is over 99% and puntuality 93%.
This is by far the best performance of any TOC.

 

[Tom]

Via Chesham? hock: How do they manage that? That's a single line!