BBC - Top 10 most crowded trains named

[whole diary]

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

The usual annual overcrowded trains list was released the other day.
Here is the top 10 list.
Whilst here is the link to the usual PDF that explains how the list is already out of date.

7   London   London Paddington   17:18   Great Western Railway   17:18

7. 17:18 London Paddington to Oxford (Great Western Railway) At the time of this count this service was operated as a 5 car train, however, the service in now operated as an 8 car train and capacity has significantly increased.  Additional services will be introduced in January 2018. In the longer term the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) will provide additional capacity on this route, which should result in a shift in demand on parallel services.

Has DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) got a bit confused here?  1718 Padd – Oxford is not an 8 car train, but of course there is now additional capacity to Maidenhead around that time from the new Class 387 service.

[John R]

It does seem rather ridiculous that the survey covers services in the spring of 2016, as well as the autumn. Why not publish the survey twice a year, otherwise it is always going to appear outdated.

[IndustryInsider]

Yes they've made a mistake.  It's a 5-car Turbo now rather than a 5-Car 180 so a slight improvement in seat numbers but not seat comfort.

This silly survey has provided an easy story for the press of Oxford with one reporting that Oxford commuters were being forced to catch one of the busiest trains in the country when in reality they'd get the 17:22 out of Paddington (seats almost always available) or the 17:18 out of Marylebone rather than the semi-fast 17:18.

[Adelante_CCT]

17:18 stops at Twyford from September as well which could make it even busier

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Presumably calling at Twyford because the present 1711 Padd – Henley becomes an EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) to Maidenhead only.  I’m not sure that passengers for Maidenhead will be tempted to use the 1711 any more than they are now, as it leaves Padd earlier than the 1718 Padd – Oxford and arrives at Maidenhead later.

Which means that the hopelessly overcrowded 1718 Padd – Oxford will now gain all or many of the Twyford and Henley passengers who currently use the 1711 Padd  - Henley. 

Is it too much to hope that the current 5 cars may become 6 or even more, even if that means detaching the rear unit at Reading as 6 cars is max for stoppers to Didcot?
This of course assumes that Maidenhead and Twyford can do 8 cars, which I think they can but am not certain.

[Adelante_CCT]

Twyford pax still have the 17:06 though

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Yes indeed, with a 2 minute connection for the Henley service.  Good luck to them!

[Adelante_CCT]

Lots of people use this, 17:28 arrival, 17:31 departure to Henley. The 17:06 is usually full and standing and empties out considerably at Twyford, many heading straight for the shuttle

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Looking at Recent Train Times, this connection works about 4 working days out of 5.  Depending on your expectations, this may be good, acceptable, or bad. 

I wonder how much running up and down footbridge steps there is at Twyford, which we all know is very naughty (seriously, this is a significant H & S issue). I remember when the principle down commuter trains in the evening would run into Twyford on the UR, thus giving a cross-platform change to the Henley service.  I think in those days it was done to save the gentlemen from Henley having to negotiate the footbridge, but there are useful safety benefits in reducing footfall by rushing passengers over footbridges.

I accept that the UR is probably too busy nowadays to allow this to-day.  So you need to think about "unrushed" connections and footbridge design to minimise the risk of tripping etc accidents when passengers are using the footbridge to get to the Henley platform.