Will you be travelling by train over the Christmas / New Year holiday?

[whole diary]

[rogerw]

Visiting the grandchildren on 27th. Driving as it is not feasible by train with all the presents, not to mention the fact that it would mean a 1 hour bus ride, two trains, a lift at the other end and less than 2 hours there

[grahame]

Bumping this poll at http://www.passenger.chat/24273 - coming into its final 24 hours. I urge members who have not yet voted to, please, do so.   We may be a small, self selecting and biased group here, but the data is useful.   And useful wider in helping GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - being a clue (along with others) as to how people might choose to travel late next month.  Unprecedented times - all clues gratefully received by them.  So if you vote, you are not just ticking a box that gets archived in a dusty poll.

[bobm]

Update from Network Rail - Kings Cross works re-timed while Bristol and Paddington works continue as planned

While the vast majority of the rail network will be unaffected by engineering works over the Christmas and New Year period, some upgrade projects are taking place, including:

Significant works on the East Coast Main Line as part of the East Coast Upgrade, which will improve reliability for passengers and boost connectivity between London, the North of England and Scotland. The work is now scheduled to start later than originally planned to ensure extra Christmas Eve services can run out of King?s Cross.

Upgrades on the West Coast Main Line that will now be completed earlier than planned ? on 27 December ? to enable a full Sunday service to operate from 10am rather than midday, making it easier for passengers to travel home from their Christmas bubbles.

Remodelling and roof repair work at Bristol Temple Meads which will see amended timetables in operation from London Paddington, with some trains at peak times not running at all between 28 December and 1 January. From 28 December until 11 January, timetables will be amended because platforms 3-6 at Bristol Temple Meads will be out of use.

Switches and crosses renewals at London Waterloo that will provide a more reliable railway for passengers in future. Platforms 12-20 at Waterloo will be closed between 27 December and 3 January, with a reduced timetable in place between Waterloo and Clapham Junction. There will also be a reduced service between Woking, Basingstoke, Guildford, Portsmouth, Southampton, Weymouth and Salisbury over the festive period.

Maintenance and track renewal works at Charing Cross/Cannon Street to London Bridge and New Cross to improve passenger safety and the journey experience. Southeastern services will operate from London Bridge, and there will be a bus replacement service between Lewisham and Hayes from 27-29 December. Between 1-3 January buses will replace trains between Lewisham and Hayes and between Lewisham and Charlton via New Cross.

Vital maintenance to the Great Eastern Main Line around Colchester will improve the reliability of services in the region. Engineering work will be taking place between 25 December and 3 January with rail replacement bus services running on several routes.

[grahame]

Catching up / concluding the vote

"Will you be travelling by train over the Christmas / New Year holiday?"
Yes - and I usually do   - 4 (10%)
Yes - though I don't normally   - 1 (2.5%)
No - though I usually do   - 8 (20%)
No - I only do so rarely and won't this year   - 8 (20%)
No - I never do   - 13 (32.5%)
I don't know yet   - 6 (15%)

40 members votes (a turnout rate of around 25% of members who were reading and logged in while the poll was open, though it will have been seen by some other members not logged in, and by many guests. I do know that although the sample size if small, and the voters probably don't represent a typical cross section of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) passengers, they have picked it up and indeed have written to thank us for running it and to pass on thanks to people for voting. It is pretty hard to know what people's travel will be like over Christmas and, to borrow working from Tesco, "every little helps" - in this case every little data snippet.

And, yes it IS ironic that on our rail forum the majority of our members avoid trains over Christmas, even in a normal year.

[IndustryInsider]

And, yes it IS ironic that on our rail forum the majority of our members avoid trains over Christmas, even in a normal year.

I'm not sure the word avoid is appropriate when asking about their habits during a normal year?  It might well be that the railways don't offer a product over Christmas that forum members might otherwise choose to use the rest of the year.  Somebody who commutes during a normal working week might have no need to travel over Christmas if their family lives down the road.  They are not avoiding using the railways, it is just that they have no need to.

[grahame]

And, yes it IS ironic that on our rail forum the majority of our members avoid trains over Christmas, even in a normal year.

I'm not sure the word avoid is appropriate when asking about their habits during a normal year?  It might well be that the railways don't offer a product over Christmas that forum members might otherwise choose to use the rest of the year.  Somebody who commutes during a normal working week might have no need to travel over Christmas if their family lives down the road.  They are not avoiding using the railways, it is just that they have no need to.

Compound question ... "do you usually travel by train over Christmas" and "will you be travelling by train this Christmas" and I would suggest that the word "avoid" is reasonable for the 20% who say "No - though I usually do" and perhaps for some of the 20% who say "No - I only do so rarely and won't this year".  Though whether the third who "no I never do" are avoiding the trains, don't need to travel, or have no services available because they want to travel on 26th (or 25th) we have no way of knowing from the data gathered ...

[grahame]

https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/planned-engineering/christmas

On Christmas Eve, late afternoon and evening services will be amended as we prepare for the two-day shutdown which applies across most of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) national rail network.

There will be no Great Western Railway train services on either Friday 25 or Saturday 26 December. However, there will be Heathrow Express trains running between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport on Boxing Day.

Trains on New Year?s Eve and on New Year?s Day will be significantly amended to cater for anticipated demand.

Rail improvement work will be taking place in the Bristol area as well as near Gatwick Airport and between Par and Newquay.

Please note there is also rail improvement work affecting South Western Railway services between London Waterloo and Clapham Junction as well as Basingstoke and Salisbury.