Ideas for services in Reading in 2019

[swt_passenger]

I think people are still possibly reading too much into that track diagram in post #1. At one of the public discussions I mentioned I'd seen it to one of the Network Rail planners, and he said it should be treated with some caution.

The colour coding, eg purple for P3 and P7, is intended only to show the 'main user' of each route, and that is all it is for. So when in the post above I said that platform 7 (old 4) was the preferred route for trains towards the B&H (shown in the key as Newburys), all that meant is that is the intended normal use, but it isn't exclusive at all. It's not even the only route to the B&H, as the B&H can be reached from P7 and P8, and not exclusive to that route, as clearly a train in P7 can also head towards Didcot as mentioned by robsignals above. XC services can definitely reverse in P7, but AFAICS XC will also be able to reverse in any number of places, eg Platforms 3,7,8,or any of 10-15, depending on whether they are running on mains or reliefs on arrival or departure. Again, the light blue line does not mean 'only for XC' it just means 'primarily for XC'.

Getting back to a hypothetical service connecting SWT round towards Basingstoke therefore, there is no significant problem with using P7 in the down direction. What I posted above was simply to add that another independent track would have been a better facility. The fact that the eastern underpass is single track isn't news to me, but appears to be of little relevance, because it is only up trains from Basingstoke towards the Waterloo line that would need to use it.

PS, it has to be taken as read that any of these hypothetical cross-Reading services would include the necessary dual-voltage electrifcation...

 

[jimm]

depending on how many tph through the Central section Crossrail has, the obvious option would be to include all branches (Windsor, Greenford etc) off the GWML as well as reading onto Crossrail, and remove almost al stops east of Reading (perhaps Maidenhead & Slough apart) from intercity trains.

Then run...

1tph Hereford (Reading, Oxford, Evesham, Worcester SH, Worcester FS, Great Malvern, Ledbury, Hereford)

1tph Worcester (Reading, Didcot, Oxford, Hanborough, Charlbury, Kingham, Moreton in Marsh, Evesham, Pershore, Worcester Shrub Hill)

...

Exactly how much demand do you think there is west of Oxford?

Worcester and Hereford are two of the smallest cities in England and well out of london commuting range, even if you allow for electrification/IEP speeding up journeys to some degree or getting times back where the fastest trains were a decade ago (though making rather fewer stops back then).

You clearly haven't bothered to look at current station usage figures, otherwise you would know that little Charlbury produces more journeys each year than Evesham, with Moreton-in-Marsh also closing in fast on Evesham.

The eastern section of the line, between Oxford and Moreton-in-Marsh, is where the bulk of the custom and revenue is but there is only so much custom that what is a rural area can produce (even allowing for park-and-ride passengers from Witney and Carterton at Hanborough and Charlbury), so realistically the best service the line can sustain is hourly off-peak, increasing to every half-hour in the peaks, in the direction of the main flows, ie towards Oxford and London in the mornings, back in the evenings.

You would be extremely lonely on an hourly London train to or from Hereford west of Worcester - it's already very lonely on the two off-peak FGW HSTs that do the run now (it's also quicker to change at Newport). There is an hourly LM service between Hereford, Worcester and Birmingham (the destination for more Hereford passengers than London), plus assorted other services turning back at Great Malvern, pretty much the best service Worcester-Hereford has ever seen, and again about all the services that the line can realistically sustain.

 

[bluenoxid]

I don't know if it has been mentioned but I would like to see the Crosscountry Reading terminator run through to Hayes and Harlington (for Heathrow).

 

[route:oxford]

I don't know if it has been mentioned but I would like to see the Crosscountry Reading terminator run through to Hayes and Harlington (for Heathrow).

Better still, an electrified Cross-Country route that runs all the way through to Heathrow.

Ideally an all-new 10 car 125mph EMU blending commuting and leisure traveller seating that serves 3 of the country's principal airports (LHR, BHX, MAN) as well as the current stations on the Manchester-Reading route, with final services of the day timed to head North & South 30 minutes after the last arrival at Heathrow. and Manchester.

Now clearly, this post is likely to raise howls of protest that "nobody will transfer between the airports by rail". But that isn't the point.

It just so happens that one diagram could serve the hundreds of thousands of people who live between Manchester & Reading and both link them between the cities and airports.

 

[transmanche]

Now clearly, this post is likely to raise howls of protest that "nobody will transfer between the airports by rail". But that isn't the point.

One advantage is that it can have units with extra luggage space - and concentrate these onto one route.

 

[tbtc]

Better still, an electrified Cross-Country route that runs all the way through to Heathrow.

Ideally an all-new 10 car 125mph EMU blending commuting and leisure traveller seating that serves 3 of the country's principal airports (LHR, BHX, MAN) as well as the current stations on the Manchester-Reading route

...although if you are serving Manchester Airport you'd presumably not be serving Stoke, Macclesfield or Stockport?

 

[Morgsie]

...although if you are serving Manchester Airport you'd presumably not be serving Stoke, Macclesfield or Stockport?

You could if the train reverses at Manchester Piccadilly

 

[tbtc]

You could if the train reverses at Manchester Piccadilly

True, but then you'd be having a long layover at the Airport (where there's not much room spare for a ten coach train to sit for long) and have an uncompetitive time for Birmingham - MAnchester Airport journeys.

 

[bluenoxid]

Better still, an electrified Cross-Country route that runs all the way through to Heathrow.

That is the hope. A lower density carriage could develop passenger numbers to the north and avoid London.

 

[jimm]

I don't know if it has been mentioned but I would like to see the Crosscountry Reading terminator run through to Hayes and Harlington (for Heathrow).

Which Reading terminator would that be? Most services that used to turn round there now go through to Southampton, apart from in the evenings.

It just so happens that one diagram could serve the hundreds of thousands of people who live between Manchester & Reading and both link them between the cities and airports.

It just so happens that unless someone's journey fits in with that one diagram, then the service's existence is irrelevant, especially when there is already a train every hour covering most of the route anyway. Same as people demanding the odd grandstanding FGW peak express that storms through Reading flat out, which would be utterly irrelevant to most passengers, whose journey will not fit in with such things and who put a higher value on there being frequent, reliable, punctual services than one-off oddities they will never use.

 

[Eagle]

Which Reading terminator would that be? Most services that used to turn round there now go through to Southampton, apart from in the evenings.

The 09.11, 11.07, 13.07, 15.07, 17.07, 19.07, 20.10, 21.07 and 23.52 all terminate at Reading on a weekday.

 

[Buttsy]

The 09.11, 11.07, 13.07, 15.07, 17.07, 19.07, 20.10, 21.07 and 23.52 all terminate at Reading on a weekday.

XC could only get paths from Basingstoke every 2 hours otherwise all of them would be going to Southampton (apart possibly from the last few of the day). Also the 00:07 terminates at Reading.

 

[The Ham]

XC could only get paths from Basingstoke every 2 hours otherwise all of them would be going to Southampton (apart possibly from the last few of the day). Also the 00:07 terminates at Reading.

It is only the Newcastle XC trains which run every 2 hours, the Manchester XC trains run every hour (starting/ending in Bournemouth but with stops at Southampton).

 

[Buttsy]

It is only the Newcastle XC trains which run every 2 hours, the Manchester XC trains run every hour (starting/ending in Bournemouth but with stops at Southampton).

Didn't make myself clear in the previous post in that I was only referring to the Newcastles & not the Manchesters. The Newcastles had previously all terminated at Reading (2010).

 

[Barclay]

How about a fast(er) SWT service to Waterloo? That would be great for people living in South West London and hoping to avoid Paddington.

 

[The Ham]

How about a fast(er) SWT service to Waterloo? That would be great for people living in South West London and hoping to avoid Paddington.

Unlikely to happen because of NR not wanting to run more trains through level crossings (which is kind of fair enough given what happens to the A30 when the gates close at Sunningdale)