Is GWR too complex?

[Falcon1200]

Part of the problem with Oxford / Cotswold services is the demand to Oxford outstripping the capacity of a 5-car 80x and the Cotswold bit of the journey not needing more than 5 cars. However, there isn't an easy answer to that with the lack of timetable capacity at Oxford to split trains.

A very valid point; Yesterday I travelled on an early evening Worcester-Paddington train (5-car IET), fairly quiet to Oxford where there were more folk waiting to board than at Tokyo Central in the rush hour !

 

[Horizon22]

Wasn’t actually thinking of that as a secondary route as can travel on IETs on all of it (except few hundred metres at Stoke Gifford)

I was thinking more Cardiff-Portsmouth and Weymouth-Worcester etc as secondary, route between multiple cities

One of the reasons for the removal of the through Bedwyn service has indeed been to move some of the IETs further West.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Jul 2022 ==

A very valid point; Yesterday I travelled on an early evening Worcester-Paddington train (5-car IET), fairly quiet to Oxford where there were more folk waiting to board than at Tokyo Central in the rush hour !

Yes often a sight to behold - or 90% of the train getting off a crush-loaded train from Paddington. As I said up-thread, probably the only sensible place portion working should be employed, infrastructure constraints notwithstanding.

 

[cactustwirly]

12 cars on the turnbacks, 5 on the Cotswolds, and use Advances to price people over, perhaps? Interworking can be sorted out.

But really the IETs should be able to portion work. It's not really any different than Northampton.

But Northampton is a lot quieter so it's easier to timetable splitting and joining.

At Oxford there isn't enough time in the timetable to split and join the 800s

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

But Northampton is a lot quieter so it's easier to timetable splitting and joining.

At Oxford there isn't enough time in the timetable to split and join the 800s

It might sound odd, but it almost wants to be done at Hanborough, out of the way of the rest of the traffic at Oxford. Would need heavy signalling improvements and a much longer platform though.

 

[Parallel]

The Cotswold line is probably a tricky one to get right due to the London - Oxford leg being very busy; the lack of platform space for long dwells to split and join trains as others have mentioned; the single line sections between Oxford and Worcester and the operational complexities at Worcester Foregate Street. More capacity is needed for sure but which route do you allocated 5 coaches to? A fair number of Cheltenham services already seem to be 5 coaches. The Bristol, Cornwall and South Wales routes are often busy and 5 cars can cause severe overcrowding. I’m not sure what the Exeter semi-fasts run as but maybe these could run as 5 coaches, but they only run at approx 1tp2h so won’t make a huge impact.

 

[Basil Jet]

Sadly the Honeybourne - Stratford reinstatement was canned a month ago, or Honeybourne might have been a great place to split a train from London (with a bit of rebuilding).

 

[Clarence Yard]

Certain trains also load more than 5 car to/from Oxford on the North Cotswold itself so it is very tricky to get right.

For any service group the trouble with splitting any 10 into 2 x 5 is getting the 5 back again when and where you need to go from 2 x 5 into 10, especially if the platform workings are too tight for you to do it. Even Paddington can get a bit tight at times to start juggling units.

So, having one operator in GW land does really help you balance these priorities and also helps when the service goes wrong and you need to redeploy resources in a hurry.

 

[Anonymous10]

The Cotswold line is probably a tricky one to get right due to the London - Oxford leg being very busy; the lack of platform space for long dwells to split and join trains as others have mentioned; the single line sections between Oxford and Worcester and the operational complexities at Worcester Foregate Street. More capacity is needed for sure but which route do you allocated 5 coaches to? A fair number of Cheltenham services already seem to be 5 coaches. The Bristol, Cornwall and South Wales routes are often busy and 5 cars can cause severe overcrowding. I’m not sure what the Exeter semi-fasts run as but maybe these could run as 5 coaches, but they only run at approx 1tp2h so won’t make a huge impact.

the service's to swansea are usually 2 5 car units at present

 

[irish_rail]

The Cotswold line is probably a tricky one to get right due to the London - Oxford leg being very busy; the lack of platform space for long dwells to split and join trains as others have mentioned; the single line sections between Oxford and Worcester and the operational complexities at Worcester Foregate Street. More capacity is needed for sure but which route do you allocated 5 coaches to? A fair number of Cheltenham services already seem to be 5 coaches. The Bristol, Cornwall and South Wales routes are often busy and 5 cars can cause severe overcrowding. I’m not sure what the Exeter semi-fasts run as but maybe these could run as 5 coaches, but they only run at approx 1tp2h so won’t make a huge impact.

The Exeter semi fasts tend to be pretty busy for much of the day for the eastern part of the route and a 5 just wouldn't cut it.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Certain trains also load more than 5 car to/from Oxford on the North Cotswold itself so it is very tricky to get right.

Indeed. I was on a peak-time IET a few weeks ago which was loaded (in the front carriages, at any rate) more heavily from Oxford to Charlbury than it was from Paddington to Oxford. It's simply not true that the trains are busy from Paddington to Oxford and quiet after that... the real picture is much more complex.

 

[Falcon1200]

It's simply not true that the trains are busy from Paddington to Oxford and quiet after that... the real picture is much more complex.

Well, it certainly was true on the train I travelled on last Friday, and from observation on many other services too; Which given the size of Oxford and its tourist attractiveness is not surprising ! But I agree there are no simple solutions, while it is great to have a more frequent service between Oxford and Worcester than at any time in the past, it does make matching capacity to demand throughout the route complex.