Worcestershire Parkway Station project - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[rogerw]

XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) journeys are already too slow.  In most cases it is much quicker (and cheaper) to travel via London than to use XC direct services

[IndustryInsider]

Well, the station fit-out continues.  Might be a bit of a mad rush getting it ready for a December opening, but when it does open a quick look at how the station will be served* compared with current options from Worcester:

Low level platforms: 31 trains, 16 northbound, 15 southbound.

First University/Birmingham train of the day is 07:36.  Quite late.
First Cheltenham/Gloucester/Cardiff train is 07:58.  Also quite late.

Commute to Birmingham is possible on 07:36 or 08:14 departures with 39 minute or 31 minute journey times - quickest option currently from Shrub Hill or Foregate Street takes 41 minutes, but 45-50 minutes is more typical.  Generally a few more (and earlier) options available from Shrub Hill/Foregate Street though.  Return commute on 17:30 or 18:30 takes just 28 minutes, with (again) more options to Shrub Hill or Foregate street but a fastest time of 41 minutes.  My conclusion is that depending on where you live in Worcester, then commuting from Parkway station will be a better option for some as you won't have to battle through the streets of Worcester to get to and from the station and the trains are a little quicker.

Commute to Cheltenham/Gloucester possible on 07:58, taking 16 minutes to Cheltenham and 27 minutes to Gloucester.  Equivalent today from Shrub Hill is 07:08 taking 21/32 minutes, but that gets you in too early for a typical 9-5 commute where the Parkway option is much more suitable.  Coming home it is 17:48/17:59 taking 25/14 minutes compared with a similar time now of 17:37 Gloucester or 17:48 Cheltenham taking 39/28 minutes - so again depending on where you live it might open up more commuting options.

Leisure journey opportunities roughly every hour to Cheltenham, Gloucester, Chepstow, Newport and Cardiff one direction.  Birmingham, Tamworth, Burton-On-Trent, Derby and Nottingham the other way - many of which can't be done by direct train at the moment.  1h 20m to Derby, under two hours to Nottingham, 1h 30m to Cardiff - all quite a lot quicker than you can currently do those journeys with changes.  Off-peak to/from Cheltenham/Gloucester is regular and hourly rather than one every two hours which you can currently get from Shrub Hill/Foregate.

High level platform: 36 trains, 17 eastbound, 18 westbound, 1 late evening terminating train from London

Less of a pattern than the low level services, but generally a train every hour to Oxford/London, a train every hour to Worcester with six of those continuing to Great Malvern and a further four going through to Hereford.  Several sub 2-hour journeys to London, with the quickest being 1h 49m with off-peak services generally taking around the 2-hour mark.  That's generally around 15-20 minutes quicker than currently from Shrub Hill, although these are the same trains so the journey times from the other Worcester stations also become quicker and to a more standardised pattern.  What effect that will have on passenger numbers remains to be seen, but certainly new London passengers might be attracted to use the station who would otherwise had driven to another station such as Warwick Parkway, or not used the train at all.

Connections between High and Low Level platforms:

Commuting from places like Moreton, Evesham or Pershore to Cheltenham or Gloucester isn't really an option at the moment with journey times of well over an hour and nothing that fits in with standard commuting hours.  Leisure journeys aren't much better - every couple of hours and again at least an hour.  It's the same story commuting from those stations to Birmingham with arrivals at 07:10 or 09:09 being too early or too late for most.

By changing at Worcestershire Parkway more options become available, though sadly still nothing realistic for the typical commuter to Cheltenham or Gloucester.  The 07:58 departure from Low Level departs four minutes before the arrival from London via Evesham at 08:02.  It's better for Birmingham though as the current 09:09 arrival becomes 08:45 departing at the same time (07:51).  There is a similar improvement on the return journey.

It's a shame the large gap in trains from Evesham west between 05:53 and 07:51 can't be plugged with something as that would really make commuting a feasible option from those Cotswold Line stations!

Leisure opportunities from Moreton/Honeybourne/Evesham and Pershore to Cheltenham/Gloucester/Cardiff/Birmingham do improve considerably though.  For example, many 35/45 minute journeys are available between Evesham and Cheltenham/Gloucester with a good connection at Worcestershire Parkway.  Evesham to and from Birmingham in around an hour becomes possible several times a day.

So, I've no doubt new journey opportunities will open up by changing trains at Worcestershire Parkway, but it is a shame that the commuting options don't improve as much as they could.

* Based on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) data which may be inaccurate or incomplete

[grahame]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Worcester's new railway station's set to open in December.

Drone footage has captured the final touches being put to a new £22m railway station, just weeks before it welcomes its first passengers.

Originally expected to open in autumn 2017, Worcestershire Parkway Station is nearly complete.

The station, off the M5, will be Worcester's third and joins the lines between Hereford and London and from Cardiff to Nottingham.

Once work is finished, equipment and infrastructure will be tested before it opens to the public in December, Worcestershire County Council says.

[Red Squirrel]

I can see why the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) might, at a push, describe the east-west line through Worcestershire Parkway as the 'Hereford and London' (though don't call it that in front of anyone from, say Worcester); but describing the Birmingham and Gloucester as the 'Cardiff to Nottingham' seems very eccentric...

[ChrisB]

Why? That is exactly the ends pf the route serving those platforms

[Bmblbzzz]

Red Squirrel see below:

I was confused for a second by the "Cardiff to Nottingham line". I always think of it as the "Bristol to Birmingham (etc)" line. I guess it could be lots of other things too.

It's my understanding that the new station will be served by the trains which run from Cardiff to Nottingham and, sadly, trains from Bristol an beyond headed via Birmingham to Manchester, to Sheffield, Leeds, York and the North East and Scotland will not.

From a personal viewpoint, a direct train service from Worcestershire Parkway to Manchester and Motherwell is attractive. A service which requires me to change in Birmingham between two services that may require a significant wait, or where there is a danger of a connection failing, is not so attractive.

[Red Squirrel]

Why? That is exactly the ends pf the route serving those platforms

Ah, OK; when you put it that way it seems less eccentric.

I suppose I should probably re-educate myself to think of Filton Abbey Wood as being on the Warminster to Great Malvern line, while I'm about it!

[TonyK]

I can see why the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) might, at a push, describe the east-west line through Worcestershire Parkway as the 'Hereford and London' (though don't call it that in front of anyone from, say Worcester); but describing the Birmingham and Gloucester as the 'Cardiff to Nottingham' seems very eccentric...

During my periodic travels to Blackpool from Bristol to see my fading mother, my game to do it as cheaply as possible often involved a change at Cheltenham to the Cardiff to Nottingham service, as far as Birmingham New Street. I wouldn't recommend it on grounds other than cost.

[grahame]

I suppose I should probably re-educate myself to think of Filton Abbey Wood as being on the Warminster to Great Malvern line, while I'm about it!

? - I thought it was on Bristol Parkway to Penzance

[JontyMort]

I notice tonight on a trip out of Worcester to Pershore that signage to the station is up in the eastern edge of Worcester, and at the M5 - all the way, in fact, to the station roundabout, where access is blocked.

I presume the station will in fact be opening at the December TT change. For something that has seemed essentially finished since the spring, actually finishing it off does seem to have taken an age.

[IndustryInsider]

Always lots of finishing off jobs to do after something looks finished, and then of course the red tape to cut through, and the scissors always seem a little blunt, such as at Kenilworth.  I’m hearing a 95% chance of a December opening currently, so I’ll put my money on sometime next February. 

[JayMac]

The times are in industry systems and tickets are being sold.

[IndustryInsider]

The times are in industry systems and tickets are being sold.

Yeah, it’s looking good for December- despite my winky post.

Marketing and promotional stuff to start in earnest in the new year to allow a short bedding in period.

[JontyMort]

The times are in industry systems and tickets are being sold.

Yeah, it’s looking good for December- despite my winky post.

Marketing and promotional stuff to start in earnest in the new year to allow a short bedding in period.

The idea of a bedding-in period seems to have been taken to extremes in the new timetable - which incidentally is now online at https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/the-timetable/electronic-national-rail-timetable/ - by the cunning expedient of not including the station in Table 126, though the low level platforms do appear in Table 57.

Bizarrely, the station is not wholly absent from Table 126, because the last down train of the day terminates at WOP, and therefore merits a note to that effect.

[rogerw]

The GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) timetable shows it and I suspect most people will use that.  It is interesting to note that not all GWR trains stop there