SWT to Weymouth...or not

[thefab444]

Unfortunately SWT's wonderfully incompetent & inept train planners have cut things to the bone & this leaves virtually no leeway for technical problems & the like, so you get delayed.

They've done this, of course, by padding the timetables with slack, and offering the slowest journey times in years?

 

[SWT Driver]

Absolutely.

I can remember travelling on a proper 91 headcode service & doing Waterloo-Southampton (aka Central) in 59', not bad for a single call at Southampton Airport (Eastleigh) as it was then.

NO Woking, NO Winchester, NON STOP to Southampton Airport, Southampton, Bournemouth (NO Brockenhurst), where the 33/1 was attached to the TC unit & off it went to Weymouth.

You'll never get anything like it now there's too many fiddlers (MPs & Council officials) with their gubby little fingers in the pie that'll see to that.

 

[thefab444]

It's all about getting the balance right. I don't think a calling pattern like that would be feasible nowadays, but we could certainly do with a decent fast train to Southampton every hour. Calling only at Winchester, Southampton Airport and Southampton Central; timing around 69 minutes - realistic and a good 5 minutes quicker than the best off-peak time at the moment. The other service can pick up the required Woking calls.

 

[SWT Driver]

Of course it's feasible.

You can quite easily use the Waterloo-Portsmouth Harbour(EH) service to cover the loss of the Winchester stop, a AXC service runs a few minutes in front of the XX:35 Waterloo service, if it were swapped around you could run it fast Waterloo-Southampton Ctl, the AXC service covering the SWT service to BMH & the WAT-PMH (EH) conveying Winchester passengers.

 

[thefab444]

If this was done, the two Weymouth trains would arrive roughly 1-2 minutes apart. Also the xx35 Weymouth service would arrive at Southampton at about xx45, which is exactly when the XC leaves, so that would have to be shunted back 5 minutes from Southampton, and probably 10 minutes from Basingstoke, unless looped at Eastleigh! (Good luck to getting XC to agree with that)

I also don't think cutting the WIN stop and certainly not the SOA stop saves enough time and causes too much inconvenience for it to be worthwhile, but the WOK stop should definately go.

 

[SWT Driver]

Just need some rescheduling at the London end.

Besides the twice hourly service to Weymouth isn't a franchise commitment as far as I know, so it could be pulled at anytime.

 

[dan_atki]

Besides the twice hourly service to Weymouth isn't a franchise commitment as far as I know, so it could be pulled at anytime.

The revisions to the train service pattern comprise:

-extension of the Waterloo-Southampton service to/from Poole, and the Waterloo-Poole service to/from Weymouth;
-removal of the current Wareham-Brockenhurst stopping service that would be incorporated into the new Poole service;
-acceleration of the existing Waterloo-Weymouth service by nearly 10 minutes;

So it would appear the 2tph is a franchise commitment.

 

[SWT Driver]

Oh well, I stand corrected.

It'll still fall flat on its face, it regularly does, much to my warped SOH.