Service changes Dec 2011

[Ivo]

I've just seen the new NXEA Southend/Mainline table. (Sigh.....)

I hope I am misreading it, as it appears for the best part of the year, there are either no through trains (Southend) or buses (between Shenfield and Witham) on various alternating periods on Mondays/Tuesday/Wednesdays evenings after 10pm.

I hope this replaces the weekend and bank holiday works. #livesinhope

It appears that this is due to OHLE works in the Ilford area, at least initially anyway, blocking one of the two pairs of tracks. It means I get to change at Shenfield late next month with a suitcase

However, it would appear that we have a 15 frequency to look forward to during said works!

 

[Bald Rick]

I've just seen the new NXEA Southend/Mainline table. (Sigh.....)

I hope I am misreading it, as it appears for the best part of the year, there are either no through trains (Southend) or buses (between Shenfield and Witham) on various alternating periods on Mondays/Tuesday/Wednesdays evenings after 10pm.

I hope this replaces the weekend and bank holiday works. #livesinhope

For OLE works Shenfield - Chelmsford and Romford - Forest Gate.

It means most of the steelwork goes in during the week, leaving the weekend free to do the wires. It won't replace weekend works, but it does reduce the number of weekends required.

It's rather better than the service offered during the original electrification though.

 

[merlodlliw]

ATWs timetables that include the open access WAG expresses have not been signed off yet,due to WG delay in include/exclude them from funding.National Rail/ORR have agreed special dispensation over this.
Any times shown in the Nat Rail booking is from consultation only still in discussion.


Bob

 

[anthony263]

I wonder if the ATW timetables will show Fishguard & Goodwick station since that looks like it will be opening in late January.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Possessions this weekend to slew track this weekend at F&G

 

[anthony263]

Possessions this weekend to slew track this weekend at F&G

Track has already been slewn back into place, although I suspect there is still a lot of work to be done:

see:

www.fishguardtrains.info

Nice to see everything is going to plan so far.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

All they need are passengers - very light one gathers.

 

[anthony263]

All they need are passengers - very light one gathers.

Some of the trains are busy particulary the 08:04 Manchester departure and the 09:56 to Carmarthen the latter more than the 08:04.

I think there are 1 or 2 problems with the present timetable of trains on the Fishguard route:

1.) Expensive car parking at Fishguard Harbour which isnt helping passenger numbers so a new station at Fishguard & Goodwick with free car parking should really help push up passenger numbers.

2.) Claberston road - I think some people are put off changing at Claberston road and there is no information etc to check if the connecting trains are late.

3.) The 17:39 from Cardiff to Milford Haven which connects at Claberston road with the fishguard service is also packed leaving Cardiff and this doesn't help encourage people to use the service.

Hopefully in a few years a better services with more through trains to Carmarthen/Swansea or Cardiff

 

[Greeby]

London Midland have put their timetables up. Only looked at the Euston lines one as I wouldn't be able to tell the difference with the others.

Other than late night Olympic trains leaving EUS until 02:00. The main change is Sundays on the Trent Valley. Starting April 1st, the service is hourly instead of two-hourly. The first southbound is 09:30 CRE-EUS. First northbound starts from NMP at 09:40, with the first full EUS-CRE at 09:56

 

[Smethwickian]

I wonder if the ATW timetables will show Fishguard & Goodwick station since that looks like it will be opening in late January.

Short answer: No.

Slightly longer answer: The new version of the West Wales booklet currently uploaded at http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/Timetables/ doesn't make any mention of Fishguard & Goodwick, nor even the possibility it might open during the currency of the December-May timetable. I'd keep one eye on the Fishguard Trains campaign website for further local announcements.

 

[TheJRB]

Southeastern have their timetable changes on their site.

Notably there's a third train per hour being introduced on the Bromley North line; the 04:56 Tonbridge to Charing Cross and 00:10 Charing Cross to Tonbridge which will now start at 00:15 are both diverted via New Beckenham and the 19:22 Sevenoaks to Swanley is withdrawn due to low usage and the potential delays it causes to mainline services. Apart from that Cannon Street to Slade Green services will be extended through to Barnehurst and Cannon Street to Barnehurst services will be extended through to Slade Green.

There's also quite a few other alterations listed.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Some of the trains are busy particulary the 08:04 Manchester departure and the 09:56 to Carmarthen the latter more than the 08:04.

I think there are 1 or 2 problems with the present timetable of trains on the Fishguard route:

1.) Expensive car parking at Fishguard Harbour which isnt helping passenger numbers so a new station at Fishguard & Goodwick with free car parking should really help push up passenger numbers.

2.) Claberston road - I think some people are put off changing at Claberston road and there is no information etc to check if the connecting trains are late.

3.) The 17:39 from Cardiff to Milford Haven which connects at Claberston road with the fishguard service is also packed leaving Cardiff and this doesn't help encourage people to use the service.

Hopefully in a few years a better services with more through trains to Carmarthen/Swansea or Cardiff

I very much hope that a decent patronage builds up ......it is a fairly brave initative on the aprt of WG and ATW.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

London Midland have put their timetables up. Only looked at the Euston lines one as I wouldn't be able to tell the difference with the others.

Other than late night Olympic trains leaving EUS until 02:00. The main change is Sundays on the Trent Valley. Starting April 1st, the service is hourly instead of two-hourly. The first southbound is 09:30 CRE-EUS. First northbound starts from NMP at 09:40, with the first full EUS-CRE at 09:56

This initative was delayed due to Moderation of Competition rules to protect the old PUG2 / VWC franchise - LM are not seeking any subsidy for it - and I am sure it will do very well.

 

[TheBigD]

Does anyone know when the complete timetable will be on the Network Rail website?
It's normally on 4 weeks before.

 

[bnm]

Network Rail replied to a tweet this morning asking when this Winter's eNRT will be available online, saying it will go live on 2nd December.

https://twitter.com/networkrail/status/137472138671161344

 

[VideozVideoz]

I think there are 1 or 2 problems with the present timetable of trains on the Fishguard route:

1.) Expensive car parking at Fishguard Harbour which isnt helping passenger numbers so a new station at Fishguard & Goodwick with free car parking should really help push up passenger numbers.

Hi. Two questions:

1) What sort of passenger numbers are we seeing on the new Fishguard services?

2) How much is this extortionate car parking? Is parking not free in Goodwick in the council car park next to the pier?

 

[anthony263]

Hi. Two questions:

1) What sort of passenger numbers are we seeing on the new Fishguard services?

2) How much is this extortionate car parking? Is parking not free in Goodwick in the council car park next to the pier?

To Answer some of your questions:

1.) When I travelled on the 09:56 from Fishguard hbr - Carmarthen it ws worked by a single class 153 which had 12 people board the service at Fishguard Harbour with at least 3 more joining at Claberston Road. The majority of these passengers were traveling onwards from Carmarthen on the 11:04 Manchester service.

2. - I am not sure about this all I was told was that it is very expensive

 

[tbtc]

Some of the trains are busy particulary the 08:04 Manchester departure and the 09:56 to Carmarthen the latter more than the 08:04

When I travelled on the 09:56 from Fishguard hbr - Carmarthen it ws worked by a single class 153 which had 12 people board the service at Fishguard Harbour with at least 3 more joining at Claberston Road. The majority of these passengers were traveling onwards from Carmarthen on the 11:04 Manchester service

The busiest service of the day has fifteen passengers?

 

[ValleyLines142]

3.) The 17:39 from Cardiff to Milford Haven which connects at Claberston road with the fishguard service is also packed leaving Cardiff and this doesn't help encourage people to use the service.

Do you know, now that you've mentioned this, I totally agree! It's actually really bad :P

The 1739 departure is only booked for a 2-car 175, which is ridiculous as its peak hour (the same problem everywhere to be honest) and I cannot emphasise how full the train is. It needs to be at least a 3-car 175 or even two 2-car 175's attached together. The 1721 to Maesteg is booked for a 3-car 175 and that's rammed full as well so people hope for the 1739.

Because the train is so packed, there are still people left over, so they have to rely on the 1748 FGW to Swansea, which is always running several minutes late, but then one must take into consideration the fact that certain tickets may not be allowed on this service (I'm not sure to be honest). As a result of this, people will then try and rely on the 1804 to Swansea, which is booked for a 2-car 150, is still packed and calls at every station along the route. Effectively, people who try to get on the 1721 may have to miss out on another three services and aim for the 1812 to Maesteg.

I can see Arriva's point on bringing what was the 1804 twenty-five minutes earlier to 1739, as there is now a roughly fifteen minute interval between trains, and a new service (the 1804 to Swansea), but overcrowding is still a key issue, the 1739 HAS to be a 3-car 175 soon otherwise hell will break loose, and really speaking the 1804 to Swansea should have another 150 or even a 153 attached, just to keep capacity. Yes I know double-forming can be expensive, but there are still issues which clearly need to be resolved.

With the public sector going on strike on 30th November, which means no buses, trains are going to be packed even worse. Arriva are going to have to conquer it somehow without putting the network into total chaos!!

 

[anthony263]

The busiest service of the day has fifteen passengers?

Thats how many I counted on the train, although I could have made a mistake when counting them as I got a bit distracted by my mobile phone ringing

 

[ValleyLines142]

I presume the 0804 to Manchester is a 175??

 

[PR1Berske]

I don't really think the Ormskirk-Preston timetable revisions can be made out to be an improvement!

4 trains have been revised and run 20-30mins earlier than previous, but these are off-peak.

There is still an important gap between 16:36 and 17:52 ex Ormskirk.
16:36 too early for people to get to the station from work, 17:52 is far too late, making it very unattractive for a commuter from Preston-Ormskirk!

As for frequency, (I don't really think Northern can say "broadly every 90mins" really:

06:58-07:29 (Wait until next train)
08:06-08:36 (1h08m)  
09:17-09:47 (1h11m)  
10:36-11:08 (1h19m)   
12:17-12:47 (1h41m)   
13:36-14:08 (1h19m)
15:17-15:47 (1h41m)
16:36-17:08 (1h19m)
17:52-18:23 (1h16m)
19:06-19:38 (1h16m)
20:47-21:17 (1h41m)
22:47-23:17 (2h00m)

They should really extend some of these to beyond Preston.

As Matt E asks, where would you extend it too?

You can't take them to Kirkham without blocking a line, never mind further along the Fylde. There's no station inbetween Preston and Lancaster (even though there really should be), and no lines free even if one existed.