Great Western Coffee Shop

Yet again last night, the 1736 Padd - Oxford was held on the DR at Reading West J to allow a northbound Freightliner to go in front.  Having left Reading on time at 1818, it was 10 late at Pangbourne.

Both passengers and Drivers (you can tell by the tone of some of their announcements) are getting fed up with delays to their journeys (not just on the 1736 Padd) caused by the precedence given to freight trains bewteen Reading and Didcot and vv.  I know they are long and may take time to accelerate etc.but if they are timetabled correctly there should be paths for them without messing up the passenger service.

This kind of issue will not necessarily go away when the remodelling is completed. It will only go away when NR put in a timetable that works.

I agree with you at least in part.  Trouble is there are so many of the damn things around these days that it's very difficult to slot everything in between Reading and Didcot, and then again between Oxford Road Junction and Southcote Junction/Basingstoke.  The timetable does work on paper, but not when freights run late (like they often do!).

I can only see this getting worse in the short term when the goods loops at Reading are temporarily removed from Easter, but the situation will improve when the flyunders/overs are completed as many more moves will be possible without causing a confliction.

The remodling should have a significant effect as any freightliner from the South will not have to cross the Up and Down mains to get to the Down Relief.

It would be interesting to see the Working timetable to see timings of the freightliner in relation to the 17:36 Padd Oxford. As the 17:36 stops all stations to Didcot I would expect the freightliner path to be before it as the freightliner should presumably run non stop to at least Aynho Jn.

The question then becomes what headway does it have in front of the 17:36 plus what flexibility does the signalman have to to delay the 17:36 if the freightliner is late.

There is also the question as to whether this is an intervention by the signalman or is it built into the ARS (Automatic Routing System).

Although I am surprised that they held you long enough to make you 10 mins late Pangbourne.

The only theing to be said in it's favour is that it will keep the delay attribution staff in a job. Who knows the freightliner may have been late because of late running FGW train the Southampton area. Oh what a tangled web we weave!    

The 4M99 Southampton to Trafford Park Freighliner is booked over Reading West Junction at 18/17 and is followed down the Relief Line to Didcot East Jn by 1D57 Paddington to Oxford.  This is booked over Reading West Junction at 18/21 so there is only a 4 minute margin.  The signaller made the right call to route the freight in front of the Turbo.

Well that's your opinion.  It isn't really acceptable if regular commuters on the 1736 Padd are going to late home every time 4M99 is more than say 2 late at Reading West J.  It comes back to my point about having a resilient timetable.  And the fact that, even after the flyovers and remodelling is done west of Reading, if 4M99 is still timetabled to run just 4 minutes ahead of the 1736 Padd, then the 1736 Padd will continue to be delayed on a regular basis.

Why can't FL's be given more recovery time etc so they can reliably run to time? 

Incidently, I caught a northbound XC at Reading on Tuesday which was about 10 late, due to (according to the TM) "following a freight train between Southampton and Basingstoke".