Great Western Coffee Shop

Consultation Question 5

(a) Which routes do you believe could benefit from improvements to train frequencies? (b) What times of the day or week are these improvements needed?
(c) Why?
(d) If the only way of achieving earlier first trains or later last trains was to curtail services at other times of the week or year so Network Rail can carry out essential maintenance, what times would you suggest?

---

Explanatory text

Our initial discussions with interested parties in the Great Western franchise area have identified a wide range of aspirations for frequency enhancements and other timetable improvements. In line with our normal approach, we will work closely with Network Rail to identify which aspirations could be feasible within the capability of the existing railway infrastructure without compromising performance, and which would require some form of physical infrastructure change. Our assessment will also need to consider compatibility with existing and likely future demand for freight services across the network.

Where potential frequency and other timetable enhancements are likely to be feasible within the existing infrastructure, we will also assess whether they are likely to provide sufficient benefits to justify any additional subsidy from the taxpayer, and would be affordable within the overall public funds available. We will use this analysis to inform the specification of our minimum train service requirements for the period from 2020 onwards.

See http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=19037 for the background to this topic

That's a very interesting limit (within this question or over all?) in that it's looking at squeezing more out of the existing resources rather than adding resource.  I suppose that - as we're looking at a franchise of train operation - that might be a reasonable limit, or does it mean that any ideas that need even the smallest of infrastructure changes are ruled out?

---

I'm going to jump in - somewhat selfishly - with comment from my own home area; a suggestion to join up Solent - Salisbury, Salisbury - Westbury and Westbury - Swindon local services.  It leaves the "Romsey six" element virtually unaltered, but extends the train that sits in the bay at Salisbury for 45 minutes in the hour northwards via Warminster, Westbury and Chippenham to Swindon, passing the southbound train that went up 2 hours earlier near Warminster.   

Initially extending alternate trains, this will provide service all along the route and save the need for various diagrams for local trains Westbury to Warminster / Salisbury / Southampton.  Elsewhere the question is being asked about GWR trains to Brighton too.

I would love to see every train extended from Salisbury ... and save for the problem that the northbound service would need to pass the southbound one between Melksham and Chippenham, that would be possible.    As it is, the extra TransWilts trains could run 40 or 80 minutes offset from the through trains to the Southampton area, and carry on south at least to Warminster and in some cases to Salisbury.  See http://tcwrp.info/technical_2019 .

---

Other thoughts - neighbouring on my zone of knowledge.  Replacement of the short run stoppers between Westbury and Warminster that the ideas above would encourage would bring the ability to carry on trains arriving from Bristol at Westbury to Frome, where there are serious holes in the current service.