SWT West of Exeter

[adrianboult]

Hi there.
Is the rumour true that SWT will cease to run a train service West of Exeter from the change of timetable in December of this year and if so why?
Many thanks for any information that youmay have on this.

 

[LondonLarry]

This is correct. The South Western Franchise has no requirement for the franchisee to run west of Exeter. SWT will, instead, operate an hourly Waterloo-Exeter service as one of their franchise commitments.

 

[323235]

Which is a much better idea as it will help to standardise timetables further than at present on the South West Main Line

 

[asylumxl]

Which is a much better idea as it will help to standardise timetables further than at present on the South West Main Line

When did you last use these services?

That's several stations on the South coast losing out, I think it's 10 less services a day, with no direct services to Plymouth.

 

[Stacey]

It's true that SWT are due to run the hourly service to Waterloo though it does depend on the doubling at Axminster... its coming on but it was behind by a good 12 weeks last I heard even though the timetables have been worked out...
Still, SWT don't do that many services to Plymouth but it's the non principal stations that miss out really, as the faster services with fGW and XC serve Newton Abbot, Totnes, Plymouth enough but Teignmouth, Dawlish, Dawlish Warren, Starcross... that's made it a bit more tricky.

 

[paul1609]

Ive fairly frequently travelled to Plymouth from the South Coast but Ive never yet used SWT west of Plymouth. In most cases over the years its been quicker to catch the following GW or XC service.
There was one year when the down Waterloo service waited in Dawlish Loop to be overtaken by no less than 3 services.
Using the stock for an hourly service to Exeter is a much better idea.

 

[Turbostar]

AFAIK, it just boils down to SWT not having enough stock to go round, because they were not required by the SW Franchise to run services west of Exeter, & seeing that they can probably make more money running an hourly service between Exeter St Davids & London Waterloo, it makes more economical sense to pull the few services west of Exeter they had, & concentrate on running more services between Exeter St Davids & London Waterloo. If, in the future, the Government is able to get them more stock, & I doubt they'll do that to be honest, maybe SWT might consider reinserting services west of Exeter, but I can't see that happening.

 

[tbtc]

There seems to be a lot more of TOCs sticking to their "core" area and cutting back from 'far flung' destinations (like XC...).

Wouldn't be surprised if some other "distant" extensions are curbed in the next year or two, like EMT to Scarborough (or SWT's Bristol trips)

If, in the future, the Government is able to get them more stock, & I doubt they'll do that to be honest, maybe SWT might consider reinserting services west of Exeter, but I can't see that happening.

Talking of new stock, if SWT were to get some of the cascaded ScotRail 158s (hypothetically speaking, of course), would they be okay to use (or simple to convert to 159)? Or is it not that simple?

 

[starrymarkb]

There seems to be a lot more of TOCs sticking to their "core" area and cutting back from 'far flung' destinations (like XC...).

Wouldn't be surprised if some other "distant" extensions are curbed in the next year or two, like EMT to Scarborough (or SWT's Bristol trips)



Talking of new stock, if SWT were to get some of the cascaded ScotRail 158s (hypothetically speaking, of course), would they be okay to use (or simple to convert to 159)? Or is it not that simple?

SWT could mod them easily to their spec. If refurbed right and given the Salisbury Treatment it would be hard to tell where they came from - One thing I will say is they wouldn't be 159'd - SWT number 2 cars as 158 and 3 car sets as 159

 

[tbtc]

SWT could mod them easily to their spec. If refurbed right and given the Salisbury Treatment it would be hard to tell where they came from - One thing I will say is they wouldn't be 159'd - SWT number 2 cars as 158 and 3 car sets as 159

Cheers for clearing that up

I'll admit I know little about the differences, but there may be some spare 158s in the next couple of years I guess (and no longer term plan for a replacement diesel service for the SWT Exeter line or further electrification)

 

[starrymarkb]

Cheers for clearing that up

I'll admit I know little about the differences, but there may be some spare 158s in the next couple of years I guess (and no longer term plan for a replacement diesel service for the SWT Exeter line or further electrification)

NR would like to Knit/Juice Rail to Salisbury - it's high on their Wishlist at least

When new the Class 159s were basicly NSE spec 158s...

 

[LondonLarry]

There seems to be a lot more of TOCs sticking to their "core" area and cutting back from 'far flung' destinations (like XC...).

Wouldn't be surprised if some other "distant" extensions are curbed in the next year or two, like EMT to Scarborough (or SWT's Bristol trips)

The DfT near enough mandates which services should run in a franchise and anything above that would be up to the TOC to run. I don't think SWT will ullout of Bristol...