FGW after Reading remodelling

[Going South]

I was wondering if anyone knew if DfT and/or FGW had any plans in the pipeline for new timetables after the Reading remodelling (say from December 2011)? Clearly in the meantime the reduction in conflicting movements will have a beneficial effect on reliability, but will this lead to a recast of the timetable at some point?
I'm particularly interested in the semi-fasts to/from Taunton/Exeter stopping at places like Castle Cary and whether there might be scope for a more regular service (and especially a later service going West on a Sunday evening!).

 

[The Planner]

No work has been started on Dec 2011 yet. Any plans will still be fag packet like at the mo.

 

[cle]

I know there will be additional fast paths. I seem to remember reading another train to Bristol, via Bristol Parkway, was proposed at some point. This is actually a quicker route, especially as you could have limited stops (maybe first stop Swindon, or even Bristol PWY?)

If Crossrail took Heathrow Express trains, maybe adding in Ealing and/or Hayes stops to make them a bit slower for pathing, think of the fast paths possible out from Paddington!

 

[LE Greys]

If Crossrail took Heathrow Express trains, maybe adding in Ealing and/or Hayes stops to make them a bit slower for pathing, think of the fast paths possible out from Paddington!

I'm afraid BAA just aren't going to let that happen. They are more than a bit protectionist about their tunnel, so it's highly unlikely that HEX will ever run through Crossrail. It would make a lot of sense, since it could run all the way through to Stansted, provided there was some way of crossing over at Stratford.

 

[cle]

It's dumb, because BA/Terminal 5 will lose competive advantage to T123/4, which will have direct one-seat journeys to the West End, City and Docklands - and probably for a cheaper fare than HEx to Paddington, let alone the taxi/tube onwards from there. Maybe M&S and Rio Tinto are enough!

They'd be missing a trick really - I think all the Heathrow trains should be recast with skip-stopping, all with one or two stops before T123 to even out pathing. They could even be random stops, like Acton Mainline and Hanwell only - with a few more rational ones covering local journeys. Or all stop at Ealing, that might cover it, and leave the rest for the 207!

Schipol manage without solely dedicated fast trains - and the RER to CDG is a stopper!

 

[swt_passenger]

No work has been started on Dec 2011 yet. Any plans will still be fag packet like at the mo.

I don't think anything significant is completed by Dec 2011, according to the Key Outputs in the NR enhancement plan.

June 2013 is the target date for overall completion of the station works, but in the meantime as soon as the new platforms come into use surely they'll be using them instead of the current platforms while the latter are rebuilt in sequence?

I'd be really surprised if there were any significant changes until the Dec 2012 timetable,

 

[The Planner]

I meant the Dec 2011 timetable as a whole. The platform numbers change over and you lose the two centre bays over Xmas 2011 so the XCs will move across into the Basingstoke bays.

 

[imagination]

It's dumb, because BA/Terminal 5 will lose competive advantage to T123/4, which will have direct one-seat journeys to the West End, City and Docklands - and probably for a cheaper fare than HEx to Paddington, let alone the taxi/tube onwards from there. Maybe M&S and Rio Tinto are enough!

They'd be missing a trick really - I think all the Heathrow trains should be recast with skip-stopping, all with one or two stops before T123 to even out pathing. They could even be random stops, like Acton Mainline and Hanwell only - with a few more rational ones covering local journeys. Or all stop at Ealing, that might cover it, and leave the rest for the 207!

Schipol manage without solely dedicated fast trains - and the RER to CDG is a stopper!

Thing is the point of heathrow connect services at the moment is mainly to get people who work at heathrow to and from the airport from their homes, rather than people wanting to get flights (although of course the service is used by them too occasionally).

 

[swt_passenger]

I meant the Dec 2011 timetable as a whole. The platform numbers change over and you lose the two centre bays over Xmas 2011 so the XCs will move across into the Basingstoke bays.

Yes, and without the centre bays you're describing a more constrained layout than now, which will clearly affect platforming significantly and may change the detailed timings of arrivals and departures, but I got the impression the original poster was assuming the timetable might be improved somewhat in Dec 2011. I was trying to suggest that was unlikely for the reasons you note; indeed many of the conflicts at the west end will still be there until much later.