What if Reading was treated as Watford and Stevenage

[34D]

The recent interior refit on the FGW HSTs has basically been done to create more seats for Reading commuters.

What would happen if Reading calls were treated as per Watford Junction (down trains pick up only) or Stevenage (most trains non stop)?

 

[causton]

Might work if it was only on some services (e.g. just services to the West of England) but there is no LM/FCC fast equivalent from Reading (i.e. 1/2 stops to London services, it's either non-stop or all stations, bar a few Slough-only trains), so some services will have to call there. And that would surely just make those services even worse!

 

[higthomas]

Considering over 15,000,000 passengers a year use Reading, and most of them will be going to London, I think that this would be a very unsuccessful move...

 

[Starmill]

Everybody wanted Crossrail to go to Reading. Now it is. So the Reading passengers can all get on that and the long-distance passengers can have a bit more space to breathe

 

[JamesRowden]

The recent interior refit on the FGW HSTs has basically been done to create more seats for Reading commuters.

What would happen if Reading calls were treated as per Watford Junction (down trains pick up only) or Stevenage (most trains non stop)?

Bristol and Wales cut to 1tph to London each and the paths being taken by Basingstoke, Newbury, Swindon and Oxford stoppers running through to London with stops at Maidenhead and Slough?

 

[TEW]

I'd like to see everybody suggesting this get on a peak time stopper from Reading to Paddington and then come back and say fast services shouldn't call at Reading. The stoppers are more overcrowded than the fast services.

 

[Greenback]

The Reading commuters would just ignore it, there would be increased friction between passengers and any staff that attempted to enforce it, and the Reading MP's would raise the matter in parliament. It wouldn't work. FGW make a lot of money out of Reading station, and they won't want to jeopardise that.

Reading is far more important in terms of custom and revenue than Watford Junction and Stevenage combined. It connects in and out of many others service, has a coach and a train service to two major airports, is an employment hotspot and possesses a large university.

While the number of London commuters probably exceeds the number of passengers who don't commute to the capital, the importance of Reading as a destination in itself means that the level of services will be maintained without restrictions.

 

[Flamingo]

As a rule of thumb, between a quarter and a third of all passengers on board leaving London will get off at Reading, and the same of the remainder at Didcot (if stopping there).

Going in to London this doesn't apply, for some strange reason...

 

[Hadders]

The only way it would work is to have a proper outer suburban service from Reading that runs non-stop to Paddington. As there isn't the capacity for this it won't happen.

Also, what about people who need to change at Reading? If the fast FGW don't stop what would happen.

 

[Greenback]

The fact that the HST's are so full means that there would be a problem accommodating the passengers on other services, which are already very busy serving the intermediate stations.

 

[Hadders]

Agreed! My suggestion of an outer suburban service would need to be similar to what happens at Stevenage where FCC run non-stop to Kings Cross (ok they do stop at Finsbury Park but this is really just for Underground interchange).

Stevenage gets 2 such non-stop services an hour for most of the day. I suspect Reading would need 6. The additional paths don't exist.

 

[Greenback]

I'm sure that a dedicated non stop service form Reading to London and back would be very popular with residents of Reading, if only because they will be able to board an empty train at Reading as opposed to the ones from Bristol and elsewhere that are already full!

 

[Class 170101]

I thought some of the services were already pick up / set down only at Reading because I have heard of stories where FGW remove the stop completely and then excess people to the next stop.

 

[LBSCR Times]

I'm sure that a dedicated non stop service form Reading to London and back would be very popular with residents of Reading, if only because they will be able to board an empty train at Reading as opposed to the ones from Bristol and elsewhere that are already full!

Yes, a 3 car 165 would be ideal.
Short train so the driver changing ends would be kept to a minimum time, to enable quick turn-rounds......

 

[Western Lord]

Much as I enjoyed sailing through Reading (General) non stop at 100mph in the seventies, it is a thing of the past. Reading has a population of over 150,000 with twice that in the urban area. Watford is about 90,000 and Stevenage 85,000. Stops by expresses at Watford and Stevenage were never intended for travel to and from those places, but as pick up and set down points for outer London passengers driving to those stations. Reading, at 36 miles out, has never fulfilled such a purpose. The growth of the town as a commercial centre means that it is too important to miss (it will be interesting to see what happens when IEP services start).

 

[PHILIPE]

There is another thread reporting an incident at Reading this week involving passengers who shouldn't have been on the train:-

www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=101966

Topic is 19 15 ex Paddington etc., on Timetables board.

 

[route:oxford]

Don't almost as many people commute into Reading as commute out of the town?

 

[Skimble19]

Rumour at work is East Coast want to half the number of services stopping at Stevenage..

 

[JamesRowden]

Don't almost as many people commute into Reading as commute out of the town?

More people commute into Reading than out. But more people might commute out of Reading by rail than commute into Reading by rail.