I’ll let you guys have a look at this one, probably the most creative service alteration I’ve seen.
It has gone from London - Ipswich - Lowestoft - Norwich
The one benefit of triple traction. I wish I was working that day!!!
I have this question which has been in the back of my mind for years.
During disruption, why do services additionally call at other stations instead of skipping stations?
Just now, there is a fault with the signalling system at Marks Tey (Greater Anglia), and a train is additionally calling at Hatfield Peveral and Ingatestone, which are both after the disrupted area..
As
@800001 has mentioned, this is to fill gaps in service and get passengers moving. In your case, it was likely that a train calling at HAP/INT was cancelled and there was a big enough delay to warrant extra stops. My most miserable example would be during an OHLE fault at Chelmsford, leading to my 9P19 (Non-stop from Ipswich to Stratford) additionally calling at Chelmsford and Ingatestone after running on the remaining bi-di line. As you can imagine, the amount of people pouring on after >50% of their peak-time trains were cancelled is going to make the train
very busy.
Today had extra stops for Norwich-bound trains due to trees on the line at Colchester. The few units that could make it through all additionally called at Stowmarket as the ones that stop there had to be cancelled. In situations with limited service, getting people moving with
any service is better than running fast to catch up time. The GEML has benefits such as bi-di lines and a generally more relaxed timetable compared to more critical parts of the network (such as the Thameslink core), so extra stops is generally more favourable.
A standard Avanti SSO when there's trouble on the west coast is to cancel 1 Manchester an hour but have the remaining one stop additionally at Nuneaton (as they alternate a Rugby and Nuneaton stop every half hour).
Pretty much exactly how Greater Anglia operate the intercity services with alternating Stowmarket/Stratford and Chelmsford stops.
