I think it's great. When changing to another London terminal (Euston, Kings Cross/St Pancras or Liverpool Street), I will no longer have to take a chance at which station to pick.

Surely the last three out of those four points apply regardless of where you are sat on the train?

You shouldn't play music out loud wherever you are sat, nor should you shout.

Unfortunately it's not that low, it's more like ^450,000 per year. We can hope that the more frequent service is included in the Service Level Commitment for the new franchisee.

Just a few comments:

Route 28 -
services from Filton are now much improved with up to 5tph to Temple Meads and a basic service of 4tph during the day, although they are quite poorly spaced; 3tph leave Temple Meads within 13 minutes and then there is a gap of 27 minutes. Filton to Parkway also has 2tph but rather uselessly they are both within 10 mins of each other, in both directions! Annoyingly though the trains start rather late - the first departure to Temple Meads is the 07.02, I don't know what it was 10 years ago, but even back in 2006 it was still possible to arrive at Temple Meads before 7am. There is also an hourly direct service between Parkway/Filton and Stapleton Rd/Lawrence Hill.

Route 29 -
services from Stapleton Rd/Lawrence Hill are much improved with up to 4tph to/from Temple Meads, helping to relieve crowding on trains coming off the branch in the mornings.

I have noticed a few things - West of England services are shown as pick up only at Reading out of London whereas they're not online or on TT4. Also a mistake on the Rail User Groups page.

Still not spotted what's up on the map tho!

Edit: is it the fact that they have shown the Portsmouth & Weymouth via Westbury services as NOT going via Bath? 

The fact it's missing Brighton?

But then again there are loads of lines missing - Severn Beach, Melksham and all the other branches.

Following on from this thread: http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=4534.45

There was planned to be a ^2.50 charge for the full timetable with all times, but Passenger Focus apparently kicked up a fuss and it is supposed to be available free of charge if you write to FGW^▸ (First Great Western), who will post it to you.

I haven't seen it available anywhere on their website, so below please see the PDF files for the full book - complete with the ^2.50 price tag :p

http://www.railforums.co.uk/personal/GW09M_A5_Compiled_r.pdf - full TT (6MB)
http://www.railforums.co.uk/personal/GW09M_Tome%20COVER_r.pdf - cover & info

Severnside Community Rail Partnership are looking for some helpers to conduct the annual passenger count on the Severn Beach Line on Thursday June 25th.

A small payment for lunch will be made based on the number of trips you make.

If you are interested, please PM me your email address and the times you are available and I will forward your details to SCRP chairman Keith Walton (alternatively if you have his email address please contact him direct).

The poster should have been removed yesterday - heard that it is incorrect.

Just been updated this afternoon that the plan to charge has been dropped - apparently Passenger Focus complained. The TT books will be "rare" though, what I've heard.

It'll be annoying for places like Filton Abbey Wood, from what I can see they won't appear on one TT.

A further update - work will commence on Mon 15 December, weather permitting.

Any users of the station will be aware of the appalling condition of the station footbridge which has lead to a number of accidents both this winter and last.

I've been informed by Linda Swainger (Bristol Parkway - Acting Station Manager) that this is due to be resurfaced shortly by FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and she is awaiting a firm date from FGW's property department.

Well you are correct, I spent many months attending meetings on the matter, but there is no reason the West of England could not be asking for similar schemes that the West Midlands are asking for!

Originally from The Times -
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article4944652.ece

-- Quote --
Among the passengers crushed into the corridors of commuter trains,
the Department for Transport's latest solution for rail overcrowding
is unlikely to provoke spontaneous applause.

Officials have found a way of reducing the number of trains deemed to
be overcrowded without requiring any passengers to get off and without
adding a single seat.

They have achieved this by changing the definition of the "acceptable
loading of passengers on trains".

Under the old standard, used in the West Midlands and some other parts
of the country, it was considered acceptable to have ten people
standing for every hundred seats. The new national standard, which
will apply to all routes, has tripled the acceptable number of
standing passengers to 30 per 100 seats.

The department said that its loading standard assumed that each
standing passenger would have 0.45 sq m of floor space: any less and
the train would be officially overcrowded.

Centro, the public transport authority in the West Midlands, has
complained to the National Audit Office (NAO) that the new definition
would result in even worse conditions on trains in the region and
encourage people to travel by car.

Despite being easier to meet, the revised standard is being breached
on hundreds of trains each day. According to the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), the most
overcrowded service is First Capital Connect's 7.15am service from
Cambridge to King's Cross, which has 76 people standing for every 100
seats.

In a report published today, the NAO said that overcrowding would
continue to get worse until the Government fulfilled its pledge, made
18 months ago, to introduce 1,300 extra carriages. To date, only 423
of the carriages have been ordered from manufacturers and none has
been delivered.

The department said that it was unable to give details of when the
carriages would arrive except to say that they should all be in place
by 2014. It was also unable to say to which lines the carriages would
be allocated.

Demand for rail travel has been outstripping the supply of extra
capacity for the past decade. Passenger numbers have grown by 50 per
cent and the amount of freight carried by trains has grown by 60 per
cent. But the number of trains has risen by only about 20 per cent.
The Government announced last year that it would in- crease capacity
by 22.5 per cent in the seven years to 2014. Network Rail has said
that this would be inadequate if passenger numbers continued to grow
at the present rate of 7 per cent a year.

The NAO, which investigated the value for money of eight train
franchises signed by the Government since 2005, said that they all
faced "severe capacity pressures on a number of routes, with
increasing levels of crowding on peak commuter services, notably to
London". It said that the train companies, encouraged by the
Department for Transport, were increasingly opting for "airline-style
pricing techniques" to deter passengers from travelling on the most
crowded trains.

Virgin charges ^215 for an open single in standard class from London
to Warrington, but as little as ^13 for passengers able to book
several weeks in advance.

The NAO said that the Government's approach of encouraging train
companies to maximise income from passengers meant that fares would
continue to rise above inflation. It concluded: "Most passengers can
expect to pay higher regulated and unregulated fares in the future."

Edward Leigh, chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said:
"The news that fares are likely to rise above inflation in these
difficult times will infuriate many passengers who have no alternative
but to travel day after day on packed trains."

Theresa Villiers, the Shadow Transport Secretary, said: "Excessive
government micromanagement of our railways is delaying the delivery of
vitally needed capacity enhancements, which means passengers suffer."

Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat transport spokesman, said: "People
are being forced off the trains and into their cars by unacceptable
ticket prices."

-- End quote --

Nice to see that the Transport Authority in the area I'm now living in
is taking things seriously and putting a bit of pressure on them.
Couldn't imagine it happenning in Bristol (and there's little talk of
crackpot bus schemes here also!)

To whoever mentioned repainting at Redland station, this is being carried out by Community Service Offenders. Many other stations have also been "done up" (not just painted) with assistance from the Probation Service.

This is all however being arranged through Severnside Community Rail Partnership, as is local station artwork. The Partnership Officer, Sarah Collins won 3rd place at the Community Rail Awards in Plymouth last month for some of the schemes she has helped to deliver with the help of the Probation Service & community groups!

Good plan, but wouldn't that stop them from working like it does when it's raining?