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All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Your Feedback for the 2009 Summer Timetable
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on: August 12, 2008, 09:40:30
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I think it would be of benefit to run an additional service to Penzance very early morning from Paddington ... perhaps something like this: 0503 London Paddington
0522 Slough
0540 Reading
0555 Newbury
0616 Pewsey
0635 Westbury
0652 Castle Cary
0717 Taunton
0730 Tiverton Parkway
0746 Exeter St Davids
0800 Newton Abbot
0813 Totnes
0840 Plymouth or 0430 London Paddington
0449 Slough
0507 Reading
0522 Didcot Parkway
0541 Swindon
0555 Chippenham
0610 Bath Spa
0625 Bristol Temple Meads
0645 Weston-super-Mare
0705 Taunton
0718 Tiverton Parkway
0734 Exeter St Davids
0750 Newton Abbot
0803 Totnes
0830 Plymouth My idea of an early train running towards Plymouth would be this; London Paddington 05:57 Reading 06:24 Taunton 07:40 Tiverton Parkway 07:53 Exeter St. David's 08:11 Newton Abbot 08:32 Totnes 08:46 Plymouth (Arr) 09:14 Train Would Continue For Stations To Penzance |
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All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Another Fatality.......
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on: July 11, 2008, 00:48:45
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This time the location was Taplow's Reading Bound Fast Platform. The train involved was the 2020 Paddington - Great Malvern service. I was on the service that was following this train, the 2035 Paddington - Plymouth and according to the station manager at Slough, where we stayed for 20 minutes, the person in question dangled their legs over the edge of the platform and they were then dragged under the train.
Fortunately for me, our service as mentioned was able to go onto the slow lines straight after Slough, and we did so until just after Twyford. As we passed Taplow, there were eight members of the Ambulance team scouring the track from the platform, plus a further four on the track itself. The train involved was stopped further down the line, with no sign of the passengers being taken off. We got into Reading only 25 minutes late, which was reasonable, but then a combination of other problems, including a passenger being taken off the service at Taunton and subsequently arrested; we arrived into Exeter 50 minutes late.
With Regards,
Alex.B
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Journey by Journey / Shorter journeys in Devon - Central, North and South / Evaluation of new Avocet & Tarka Line Timetables
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on: April 12, 2008, 20:18:59
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Hello Everyone,
Having had a look at the new summer timetable for services around Exeter, there are certainly a number of positives which can be taken.
The one which caught my attention the most is that they have removed from the timetable the weekday 16:30 service between EXC & BNP▸ . When FGW▸ originally implemented this service into the December 2006 timetable, it invoked criticism from commuters and also students at Exeter College, who had to leave A-level classes early to get home at a sensible time.
The new timetable sees the 16:20 service from EXM run through to BNP, departing from EXC at 16:49. A negative that can be pointed out though is that this new service does not connect with a PGN train, with a stopping service running from EXD» at 16:53.
Other changes see the 10:29 BNP-EXC service, retimed to depart at 10:32 and running through as an all stations service to EXM. Also the current 09:04 EXC-BNP no longer operates. This is to be replaced with a through service from EXM, departing at 08:50, and calling at EXC at 09:17. This means that there will no longer be the direct service between EXM and PNZ.
However connections between Crosscountry services and Avocet▸ Line trains continue to be poor in the southbound direction. And in addition the 08:23, 11:23, 12:23, 14:23 & 17:23 services from EXD towards the North no longer have the excellent six minute connection that was previously provided off the all stations service from EXM. FGW have for some reason have added an additional four minutes to the journey time between EXC and EXD.
Another consequence of this is that the current 14:14 train from EXC to BNP will terminate at EXD in the new timetable at 14:23, with a train departing for Barnstaple just four minutes later. Officially that is a connection which cannot be made.
Connections between Exmouth services and Paddington trains generally remain the same, so poor connectivity when travelling from London/ Reading towards Exmouth in the evenings, with a 36min wait off the 18:03 service from PAD» , and a 29min wait off the 19:03 train.
If to sum up the new timetable in a few phrases, then I would say that a number of problems have been solved, with the introduction of new diagrams, but FGW has created itself more problems with its slack timings, particularly on the all stations services between EXM and EXD.
With Regards,
Alex.B
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