Virgin Trains EC announce extra trains from December 12th

[gavin]

Virgin trains EC have announced a number of extra services across the route from December 12th

Virgin Trains is introducing 10 new services connecting Leeds to London over the weekend in the first step to launching a half-hourly service on Saturdays.

The additional services which come into place from the 12 December will add around 5,000 additional seats every weekend between Leeds and London. The extra services will also call at Retford, Doncaster and Wakefield amongst other stops. The addition of further trains which will result in a twice hourly service on Saturdays, will take place in May next year.

Extra services

Weekdays

22.57 London King’s Cross to York calling at Peterborough, Grantham, Newark North Gate and Doncaster

Fridays only

22.01 Edinburgh Waverley to Newcastle calling at Dunbar, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Alnmouth and Morpeth

Saturdays

05.30 Leeds to London King’s Cross calling at Wakefield Westgate, Doncaster, Newark North Gate, Grantham and Peterborough

08.33 London King’s Cross to Leeds calling at Grantham, Retford, Doncaster and Wakefield Westgate

11.40 Leeds to London King’s Cross calling at Wakefield Westgate and Doncaster

12.33 London King’s Cross to Leeds calling at Peterborough, Retford, Doncaster and Wakefield Westgate

15.33 London King’s Cross to Leeds calling at Stevenage, Peterborough, Newark North Gate and Wakefield Westgate

15.40 Leeds to London King’s Cross calling at Wakefield Westgate, Doncaster and Newark North Gate

19.40 Leeds to London King’s Cross calling at Wakefield Westgate, Doncaster, Newark North Gate and Peterborough

Sundays

08.43 Leeds to London King’s Cross calling at Wakefield Westgate, Doncaster and Peterborough

08:45 London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley calling at York, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle and Morpeth

11.20 Edinburgh Waverley to London King’s Cross calling at Morpeth, Newcastle, Durham, Darlington and York

12.33 London King’s Cross to Leeds calling at Stevenage, Grantham, Doncaster and Wakefield Westgate

14.47 Edinburgh Waverley to London King’s Cross calling at Berwick-upon-Tweed, Newcastle, Durham, Darlington, York, Newark North Gate and Peterborough

21.05 London King’s Cross to Leeds calling at Peterborough, Newark North Gate, Doncaster and Wakefield Westgate

22.04 London King’s Cross to Doncaster calling at Peterborough, Grantham and Newark North Gate

http://virgin-trains.mynewsdesk.com...weekend-timetable-for-leeds-to-london-1627859

 

[wensley]

Paths are now in RTT and make interesting reading!

1N36 2257 Kings X - York 0130 runs ECML while 1N35 2200 Kings X - Newcastle still goes via Askern and Ferrybridge, due to the new service being MkIV.

Set ex-1N36 stables in York until around 0330 them forms 3S02 to Doncaster for 1S02 to Edinburgh early doors. Meanwhile 5D26 ex-Skipton runs to Doncaster (IEP Depot) vice Neville Hill, coming off as 5A00 for 1A00 now starting Doncasted (0507) vice Newark.

 

[DarloRich]

Are these services running with the current HST/91 stock?

 

[Iskra]

Are these services running with the current HST/91 stock?

Yes, they sit idle otherwise.

While I'm glad the frequency has been increased, there isn't actually that much demand for this apart from special events. There should now be more cheap tickets on weekends though.

The only West Yorkshire-London trains that are genuinely busy are the early departures on a Saturday and Sunday evening services, which were augmented anyway for the price rather than time conscious traveller with the EMT extras, although they may not be around too much longer.

 

[DarloRich]

Yes, they sit idle otherwise.

While I'm glad the frequency has been increased, there isn't actually that much demand for this apart from special events. There should now be more cheap tickets on weekends though.

The only West Yorkshire-London trains that are genuinely busy are the early departures on a Saturday and Sunday evening services, which were augmented anyway for the price rather than time conscious traveller with the EMT extras, although they may not be around too much longer.

So are these templates for future IEP operation? I will be happy with cheaper fares more often

 

[Iskra]

So are these templates for future IEP operation? I will be happy with cheaper fares more often

I think they may be delivering their franchise commitment early, but it's a long time since I looked at the document. I'm not sure we can say that this the future IEP service template, as they should have better acceleration and reduced dwells (against HST's) which ought to alter the timings more significantly.

Cheaper fares is good for the enthusiast. With 2tph on weekends and going to 3tph on weekdays it should initially reduce fares as there will be a lot of underutilised capacity outside of the peaks but the reduced fares and better timetable may then create extra demand- 'the Voyager/TPE effect.' There is also the effect of natural passenger growth which will slowly eat into capacity too. Cheap fares- get 'em while you can.

 

[Class 170101]

Its a shame East Coast decided not to plug the gap to Leeds between 21:35 and 23:30. A 22:30 departure perhaps from Kings Cross?

 

[Suraggu]

Good for the people of South Yorkshire, arriving into London at 0658.

 

[robbeech]

Nice to see a later service back in the evening that calls at Retford....... oh no wait, yet again missed out as if it doesn't exist. Couple of extra Saturday services in the morning calling there, useful I guess but why not have the new weekday evening service stop there? I have witnessed many people over the years miss the 2135 as they assumed there would be a later one. I appreciate it's a small town but there are late trains that call at all the other little towns like Newark, Northallerton, Berwick. Perhaps passenger numbers at Retford are lower than I thought. That late weekday service could miss Peterborough. There's 826 trains per hour to Peterborough until well into the night.

 

[Class 170101]

Paths are now in RTT and make interesting reading!

1N36 2257 Kings X - York 0130 runs ECML while 1N35 2200 Kings X - Newcastle still goes via Askern and Ferrybridge, due to the new service being MkIV.

Set ex-1N36 stables in York until around 0330 them forms 3S02 to Doncaster for 1S02 to Edinburgh early doors. Meanwhile 5D26 ex-Skipton runs to Doncaster (IEP Depot) vice Neville Hill, coming off as 5A00 for 1A00 now starting Doncasted (0507) vice Newark.

I'm surprised 1D33 wasn't made Electric vice HST with the 22:57 becoming said HST vice Electric. 1D33 or another Electric set retusn ECS to Doncaster for 1S02 with 1N36 returning via one of the various routes around Yorkshire to Neville Hill for fuel.

 

[ashworth]

Nice to see a later service back in the evening that calls at Retford....... oh no wait, yet again missed out as if it doesn't exist. Couple of extra Saturday services in the morning calling there, useful I guess but why not have the new weekday evening service stop there? I have witnessed many people over the years miss the 2135 as they assumed there would be a later one. I appreciate it's a small town but there are late trains that call at all the other little towns like Newark, Northallerton, Berwick. Perhaps passenger numbers at Retford are lower than I thought.

The passenger numbers from Retford are possibly lower than they should be for a town of that size as a result of fewer trains calling there especially later in the evenings. I think many people from the surrounding area who would drive to the station in Retford just get on the A1 and drive to Newark or Doncaster instead where there is less chance of getting stranded somewhere without a train back on the return journey.

 

[AnonymousUser1]

The passenger numbers from Retford are possibly lower than they should be for a town of that size as a result of fewer trains calling there especially later in the evenings. I think many people from the surrounding area who would drive to the station in Retford just get on the A1 and drive to Newark or Doncaster instead where there is less chance of getting stranded somewhere without a train back on the return journey.

indeed , also for those to the east of retford and seekingto travel on the ECML it doesn't cost extra to go to NNG vice crossing at Dunham