Great Western Coffee Shop

This morning I'm off to Birmingham and due to engineering works between Bristol Parkway and Gloucester, the train I plan to catch (0930 CrossCountry Bristol TM - Birmingham NS) is diverted after Bristol PW to Newport then via Chepstow to Gloucester. This adds over 50 minutes to the journey time BRI-BHM.

Neither CrossCountry nor NRE list these diversions in their respective 'Service Updates' sections. I would've been totally unaware of the extended journey and different route if I hadn't checked my journey online this morning. Using SWTs booking engine as it happens.

If engineering works are affecting trains then why not list ALL affected trains? Not just those cancelled or subject to bus replacement.

NRE showed the extended journey time when I checked?

The published timetable already includes this 'round the houses' service on Sunday mornings, so they aren't diversions, is the answer.

Because XC Sunday timetables change so often you have to read them very carefully, particularly as the same train can occur more than once, with dated column headings.  The 0930 trains shown (yes there are two of them) which run via Newport, are in the normal timetable - so are not actually affected by engineering works.

http://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/SiteImages/Assets/3/South_West_to_Manchester_the_North_East_and_Scotland.pdf

There are plenty of precedents for this, the odd trains that run (or previously ran) to/from Southampton via Laverstock could only be found by checking the published times.

PS, it would probably be more useful if Newport appeared between Parkway and Gloucester in sequence...

Paul

In the 'service updates' section?

My point is that all CrossCountry services were diverted via Newport today (well 'til 3pm). Admittedly I didn't look at the XC timetable - but that's understandable when there are three different possibilities for departure around 0930 on a Sunday. One at 0915, going 'normal' route. One at 0930 via Newport terminating Birmingham, and one at 0930 via Newport through to Edinburgh.

The reason there are three different departures is not because CrossCountry want to go round the houses or stop short on a Sunday, it's because there are planned engineering works. And my point is - if services are affected by planned engineering works then say so in the relevant section of the XC and NRE websites. I don't want to faff around with inputting all my journey details or loading up pdfs (a nightmare on my not-so-smartphone).

It was in the XC timetable, and in the normal train times of the NRE - with it showing the extended journmey time.

I'm with BNM on this one, having been caught out in the same way in the past.

I have a reasonable idea about what my train services look like in terms of frequency and journey time - and so I'm quite happy about turning up and expecting to find a train. Perhaps it's having been brought up within the old Southern Region.

Anyway, if there's engineering work that means my train turns into a bus halfway and takes an extra hour, I'd like to be able to find out about that quickly, without, as BNM says, having to go through the faff of looking up exact trains in a journey planner.

Meanwhile, I (and I suspect an awful lot of other people) have largely given up travelling by train at the weekend.

It's precisely because THEY are affected by planned engineering works that there are three (not two) different entries in the XC timetable for the first train BRI-BHM on a Sunday.

So, I stand by my point. Put the information on the 'service updates' pages of NRE and XC's website. If the info is there it's a quick reference point and negates the need to use a booking engine, journey planner or loading up .pdf timetables.

All that said, it was nice to have an XC HST on my return journey. A pleasant conversation was had with three young people (two lads and a lass) who were enjoying their last day of freedom prior to turning up at Plymouth to start their first night at HMS Raleigh with the Royal Navy. Good luck, Alex, Rich and Sam!

If you can find PDFs : FGW have stopped making their timetable posters available on their website.

the 2nd xc service has 5 possibilitys depending on what the different letter codes mean, so grant yourself lucky your service only had 3 options!

 Same again this weekend.

And again, in the timetable.

As an aside. According to the Virgin Trains website the planned closure this weekend on the West Coast Main Line in the Warrington area is NOT going ahead and trains will run through to Scotland.

JUst in case the volcanic cloud reappears...

Any mention of the Carlisle to Scotland section that was also up for closure?

As through trains are running it seems all the works on that area have been lifted.