Henley Branch needs more carriages

[ess]

Henley-on-Thames trains are often overcrowded when students are commuting to college.

The standard line from GWR is there are no spare carriages available anywhere to strengthen the 2 car 165s.

Given the amount of new trains which have been added to the network over the past decade, are there really no options to find a spare 3 or 4 car train anywhere in GB?

 

[JonathanH]

The standard line from GWR is there are no spare carriages available anywhere to strengthen the 2 car 165s.

Given the amount of new trains which have been added to the network over the past decade, are there really no options to find a spare 3 or 4 car train anywhere in GB?

GWR obviously deemed that the Thames Valley 3-car 165s (which seem to currently be 165105-114/16/17) are better utilised on the North Downs Line and the Reading to Basingstoke route, where admittedly the journeys are generally longer than 12 minutes.

If GWR had been able to get the 769s into service, the Henley branch would have seen longer trains.

I note that the Henley branch has twice seen 3-car 165s in the last 10 weekdays, so presumably there is some element of 'what is available' in terms of what gets used on the branch.

Is the level of overcrowding that people are left behind, or just that many have to stand?

 

[david l]

Henley-on-Thames trains are often overcrowded when students are commuting to college.

The standard line from GWR is there are no spare carriages available anywhere to strengthen the 2 car 165s.

Given the amount of new trains which have been added to the network over the past decade, are there really no options to find a spare 3 or 4 car train anywhere in GB?

Oh dear, Porterbrook have some very shiny other 769's, of the ex-TfW variety recently foisted onto Norhern, which worked (very) occasionally in the North West....

 

[JonathanH]

Oh dear, Porterbrook have some very shiny other 769's, of the ex-TfW variety recently foisted onto Norhern, which worked (very) occasionally in the North West....

There are some 769s in GWR green as well, but they aren't going to appear on the Henley branch, as they were successfully seen off by budget cuts.

 

[paultucker1012]

This will be solved by 165s released from Bristol by 158's released from Devon and Cornwall, released by the 175s. And a Porcine Flypast.

 

[ess]

GWR obviously deemed that the Thames Valley 3-car 165s (which seem to currently be 165105-114/16/17) are better utilised on the North Downs Line and the Reading to Basingstoke route, where admittedly the journeys are generally longer than 12 minutes.

If GWR had been able to get the 769s into service, the Henley branch would have seen longer trains.

I note that the Henley branch has twice seen 3-car 165s in the last 10 weekdays, so presumably there is some element of 'what is available' in terms of what gets used on the branch.

Is the level of overcrowding that people are left behind, or just that many have to stand?

Students made to feel sick by overcrowded branch line trains

STUDENTS who travel to The Henley College by train have voiced concerns about overcrowding. They say the 8.25am Great Western Railway service from Twyford to Henley is too small to cater for the number of passengers. Some students have been forced to...

www.henleystandard.co.uk

 

[fgwrich]

Henley-on-Thames trains are often overcrowded when students are commuting to college.

The standard line from GWR is there are no spare carriages available anywhere to strengthen the 2 car 165s.

Given the amount of new trains which have been added to the network over the past decade, are there really no options to find a spare 3 or 4 car train anywhere in GB?

Simply, Yes.

Students made to feel sick by overcrowded branch line trains

STUDENTS who travel to The Henley College by train have voiced concerns about overcrowding. They say the 8.25am Great Western Railway service from Twyford to Henley is too small to cater for the number of passengers. Some students have been forced to...

www.henleystandard.co.uk

Yes, but newspaper articles don’t dictate rolling stock allocations, otherwise everywhere would be suffering.

Unfortunately for the people of Henley, GWR has identified that there is a greater need for its Turbo fleet on the Devon Metro, Cardiff Portsmouth, Bristol Metro / MetroWest and Reading Basingstoke / Gatwick Airport services than the Henley branch. With a finite number of units available to cover a large enough area, and with everything now having to go through the Department for Transport, Henley will have to wait its turn in the unit queue. Or hope GWR converts more 230s for such a line.

 

[swt_passenger]

Henley-on-Thames trains are often overcrowded when students are commuting to college.

The standard line from GWR is there are no spare carriages available anywhere to strengthen the 2 car 165s.

Given the amount of new trains which have been added to the network over the past decade, are there really no options to find a spare 3 or 4 car train anywhere in GB?

The main thing is though, they’re effectively not ‘added to the network’ because at least as many older units (and HST sets) have been retired.

 

[northernbelle]

Once enough 175s are in traffic to start triggering a cascade, more Turbos will become available for Reading depot and I imagine that gives the opportunity to increase Henley to a 3-car unit.

 

[Kite159]

It won't be the only train used by college kids, which suffers from overcrowding at times when they are heading to/from school/college.

What doesn't help is college kids have a habit of not wanting to sit next to someone else ("can't sit there, next to a girl, people might think we are going out") and crowd out the vestibule areas, causing sheep behaviour of others boarding, seeing there are people standing and automatically assuming there must not be any seats available.

 

[Forty29]

How times change. In the mid 1970's after the ten car commuter trains to and from London from Henley( twice in the morning and twice in the evening) had departed, we usually had one coach" bubble cars" on the branch line the rest of the day. And it only seemed to be me and friend who used it to travel to Henley college.

 

[Fokx]

Students made to feel sick by overcrowded branch line trains

STUDENTS who travel to The Henley College by train have voiced concerns about overcrowding. They say the 8.25am Great Western Railway service from Twyford to Henley is too small to cater for the number of passengers. Some students have been forced to...

www.henleystandard.co.uk

Can't be that overcrowded If a guard/revenue can manage to get down the train doing ticket checks

 

[778]

How times change. In the mid 1970's after the ten car commuter trains to and from London from Henley( twice in the morning and twice in the evening) had departed, we usually had one coach" bubble cars" on the branch line the rest of the day. And it only seemed to be me and friend who used it to travel to Henley college.

What locos were on the front of those ten car commuter trains or were they DMUs running in multiple?