Anger as Wellington left off new Shropshire to London train timetable

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Shropshire Star:

Anger as Wellington left off new Shropshire to London train timetable

Wellington train station may be a stop-off on the new direct rail link between Shrewsbury and London ^ but not according to printed versions of the new service timetable.


Wellington railway station

Wrekin MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) Mark Pritchard has written to Virgin Trains calling on bosses to rectify the omission on the next set of printed timetables.

Mr Pritchard said: ^As someone who worked tirelessly to get Wellington added into the actual train route I am surprised that Wellington train station is not actually printed in the published paper timetable.

"I^m sure this was an innocent oversight and I have written to Virgin Trains^ bosses asking them to amend the next printed timetable,^ he added.

A Virgin Trains spokesman admitted the new timetable is not ^fit for purpose^ but Wellington Town Councillor Pat Fairclough said: ^It^s absolutely ludicrous Wellington has been left off. Wellington has by far the best free car park of all the stations, making it ideal for any families hoping to travel to London at weekends for a day out. It^s also the perfect choice during school holidays because of the parking facilities.

^We desperately wanted this link for Shrewsbury, Telford and Wellington to London because it^s absolutely vital for families or even business people who want to visit the capital for the day. It^s good if they are addressing it but you^d have to say it also shows what Virgin thinks of its rural rail links.^

A spokesman for Virgin Trains said the pocket timetable only allowed for three stations to be printed on it and admitted it was ^not really fit for purpose^ for the new service. He said the timetable team took the ^very unfortunate^ decision to omit Wellington and vowed it was looking at ways to remedy it with immediate effect.

The spokesman said: ^We understand how the pocket timetable might have been misinterpreted. We would therefore like to reassure that Wellington is very much part of our plans for the new direct service. We will work closely with all concerned to ensure it is a success.^

Shropshire^s eagerly-awaited direct rail link with London made its weekday debut on December 15 after it took to the tracks with hundreds on board The Wrekin Giant.

The train earned its name from Shropshire Star reader Toni Williams.

The London link, which is the result of a hard-fought campaign backed by the Shropshire Star, stops at Telford and Wellington before arriving at London Euston.

[eightf48544]

Yet another example of collective failure to think.

[Rhydgaled]

We desperately wanted this link for Shrewsbury, Telford and Wellington to London because it^s absolutely vital for families or even business people who want to visit the capital for the day

My bold. They make it sound like it wasn't possible to go to London before. Surely without the through service it would just take a little bit longer with the change at Birmingham. With 2 trains an hour (1 ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))), 1 LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise)) between Shrewsbury and Birmingham (I think they both stop at Wellington) in existance before hand, the VT^▸ (Virgin Trains - former franchises) service is hardly a major component of the timetable. I suppose that's no excuse for failing to advertise a stop in the paper timetable though.

[phile]

Shouldn't this thread have been in "The Wider Picture" ?

[stuving]

Are the two sides talking about the same timetable?

The initial complaint is obviously about the main printed timetable, also available on line, which is one of four VT^▸ (Virgin Trains - former franchises) issue. It's "Route Timetable A B London - Birmingham - Wolverhampton - Shrewsbury", where Shrewsbury is only served by two trains a day each way extended from Wolverhampton. Only Shrewsbury has a line of times shown, for both through trains and connecting LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) services, and Wellington and Telford are indeed omitted.

What did the VT spokesman mean by "pocket timetable"? Do they do little ones as well? It's hard to be sure, as both the terminology used and the size of pockets vary widely. But the format of timetable A B means that adding an extra line would mean a higher page count. You could leave off Northampton, which is not really part of this service, but if you include Telford the problem remains. However, there are lots of blank spaces, and it would be easy enough to put in a small extra timetable just for these extended trains - two per day x two day types x two directions x 4-10 stations.

In practice the locals are more likely to use the LM or ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) services to Birmingham, and see the VT trains as an extension of that. The standard LM timetable (no. 4) for this route includes only the VT trains extended to Shrewsbury, but not their times further south - not even at Euston.

The standard ATW timetable (no. 1) is similar, but does include times for both VT and LM south of Birmingham. So it is the best - most complete - one on offer, though its claim to show "the complete service of trains on the routes from Aberystwyth and Pwllheli to Machynlleth, Shrewsbury and Birmingham International; and services between Swansea, Llandrindod and Shrewsbury via the Heart of Wales Line" is not quite true: from Wolverhampton to Birmingham it only shows trains coming further north or west.

So for for a full paper timetable including through VT trains, from an LM station to Euston, you need an ATW timetable.

[grahame]

Shouldn't this thread have been in "The Wider Picture" ?

Probably - when I first came to it, I thought "Wellington, Somerset".   I've not got a good enough connection today to do more than post a quick agreement - need a better connection to do the admin stuff!