Hypothetical: Post-HS2 WCML Timetable

[adrock1976]

By my counting, that is 14 trains between International to New St, including 4 all station stoppers, good luck with that one....

Being as I was mainly focusing on Coventry - Birmingham (Warwickshire County Council I believe are opposed to any reduction in frequency from the existing numbers of tph) I forgot about the International - New Street bit maths wise. Time for another rethink.

EDIT: Having thought about it some more, both the Wales and Crewe via Stoke could be trimmed back to New Street, as that would still give (Transport for West Midlands/whichever organisation suggested it back in 2013) 12 mph New Street - International. Obviously, Wales would have to be amenable to curtail at New Street (maybe using Platform 4c for the long layover) like how it was a while ago.

 

[krus_aragon]

Having thought about it some more, both the Wales and Crewe via Stoke could be trimmed back to New Street, as that would still give (Transport for West Midlands/whichever organisation suggested it back in 2013) 12 mph New Street - International. Obviously, Wales would have to be amenable to curtail at New Street (maybe using Platform 4c for the long layover) like how it was a while ago.

The originale of extending Welsh services to International was to avoid the tight turnaround time at New St that meant eastbound services were often turned around at Wolverhampton to get them back to the single-line Cambrian on time, much to the annoyance of passengers stood on the platforms at Brimingham.

Back then, there wasn't anywhere for the stock to lay over at New St for an hour to avoid the risk of turnarounds. But if your new plan would make the space at New St, then that'd probably be acceptable.

As further background info, I don't think the post-ERTMS linespeed upgrades have been integrated into the Cambrian timetable, so there may be some further wiggle room when TfW recast their timetables. Plus the 197s are likely to be a bit sprightlier than the old 158s.

Current diagramming has the ERTMS-fitted units interworking with Birmingham-Chester-Holyhead services. It's popular wisdom (here at least) that TfW would prefer to keep their ERTMS-fitted 197s nearer mid-Wales, so there probably is an aspiration to mix things up a bit and separate the diagrams. (There was an abortive proposal to extend through to Coventry, which would have resulted in inbound Cambrian services forming an outbound Cambrian service again.)

 

[NoRoute]

My suggestion for Table 68 services (Rugby - Stafford via Birmingham) is as follows:

1 x InterCity West Coast London Euston - Shrewsbury, calling Watford Junction, Milton Keynes Central, Rugby, Coventry, Birmingham Int, Birmingham New Street, Sandwell & Dudley, Wolverhampton, Telford Central, Wellington Telford West, Shrewsbury
1 x InterCity West Coast London Euston - Liverpool Lime Street calling Watford Junction, Milton Keynes Central, Rugby, Coventry, Birmingham Int, Birmingham New Street, Sandwell & Dudley, Wolverhampton, Stafford, Crewe, Hartford, Runcorn, Liverpool LS

Given the number of stops, why wouldn't you route it via Northampton? It's over twice the population of Rugby and has limited services to the North West.

 

[Glenn1969]

Because it also incurs quite a big time penalty compared to bypassing it on the main WCML ?

 

[HST43257]

Given the number of stops, why wouldn't you route it via Northampton? It's over twice the population of Rugby and has limited services to the North West.

Much longer journey time, which is not preferable given that Coventry still needs 2 fast services to London

 

[A0]

My suggestion for Table 68 services (Rugby - Stafford via Birmingham) is as follows:

1 x InterCity West Coast London Euston - Shrewsbury, calling Watford Junction, Milton Keynes Central, Rugby, Coventry, Birmingham Int, Birmingham New Street, Sandwell & Dudley, Wolverhampton, Telford Central, Wellington Telford West, Shrewsbury
1 x InterCity West Coast London Euston - Liverpool Lime Street calling Watford Junction, Milton Keynes Central, Rugby, Coventry, Birmingham Int, Birmingham New Street, Sandwell & Dudley, Wolverhampton, Stafford, Crewe, Hartford, Runcorn, Liverpool LS
1 x InterCity Cross Country Southampton Central/Reading - Manchester Piccadilly calling Oxford General, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Coventry, Birmingham Int, Birmingham New Street, Sandwell & Dudley, Wolverhampton, Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield, Stockport, Manchester Pic
1 x InterCity Cross Country Bournemouth - Glasgow Central/Edinburgh Waverley calling Brockenhurst, Southampton Central, Southampton Airport Parkway, Winchester, Basingstoke, Reading, Oxford General, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Coventry, Birmingham Int, Birmingham New Street, Sandwell & Dudley, Wolverhampton, Stafford, Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme, Penrith, Carlisle, Lockerbie, then either Motherwell, Glasgow Central or Haymarket, Edinburgh Waverley

2 x Regional Express London Euston - Birmingham New Street via Northampton calling Watford Junction, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Leighton Buzzard, Bletchley, Milton Keynes Central, Wolverton, Northampton, Long Buckby, Hillmorton (Rugby Parkway), Rugby, Coventry, (maybe Tile Hill for connection with trams), Birmingham International, Birmingham New Street

2 x Local Coventry - Wolverhampton calling all stations (maybe omitting Adderley Park) via New Street
2 x Local Birmingham International - Wolverhampton calling all stations (maybe omitting Smethwick Rolfe Street) via New Street

1 x Regional Express Birmingham New Street* - Chester (or Aberystwyth) calling Smethwick Galton Bridge, Wolverhampton, Telford Central, Wellington Telford West, Shrewsbury, and onwards to Chester (or Aberystwyth)
1 x Regional Express Birmingham New Street - Crewe via Stoke-on-Trent calling Smethwick Galton Bridge, Wolverhampton, Penkridge, Stafford, Stone, Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent, Kidsgrove, Alsager, Crewe

Not shown but uses part of the route:

2 x Birmingham International - Rugeley Trent Valley calling New Street, Soho Road, Tame Bridge Parkway, Besot Stadium, Walsall, and all stations to Rugeley TV

* Subject to the Senedd being amenable to curtailing at New Street.

That gives Northampton 2tph, down from 3tph and with that stopping pattern all would be over 1h 15 in journey time as well, where the current fastest is 59 mins.

 

[adrock1976]

That gives Northampton 2tph, down from 3tph and with that stopping pattern all would be over 1h 15 in journey time as well, where the current fastest is 59 mins.

From Northampton to where?

For the Birmingham - Northampton section, although trimmed by 1tph (same as the InterCity West Coast), this can be compensated by running the trains as 8 coach or even 12 coach rather than 4 coaches.

Although I have not made much mention of Northampton, this is because that is Table 66, while I was mainly concentrating on the Table 68 service provision.

 

[A0]

From Northampton to where?

For the Birmingham - Northampton section, although trimmed by 1tph (same as the InterCity West Coast), this can be compensated by running the trains as 8 coach or even 12 coach rather than 4 coaches.

Although I have not made much mention of Northampton, this is because that is Table 66, while I was mainly concentrating on the Table 68 service provision.

NMP to both Euston and Birmingham should be 3tph.

The BHM service was uplifted to 3tph after the WCML modernisation programme ended.

And NMP did get 4tph heading north until the TV stoppers were diverted as part of project 110.