New timetables (in many places) from tomorrow

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Commuters braced as railway timetables change

The new National Rail summer timetable has come into effect, with 1,000 new train services being introduced across Great Britain.

The operators and infrastructure firm Network Rail say they have learned the lessons of last summer's disruption.
Then, a more extensive shake-up led to weeks of chaos on the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Northern networks.

Train operators say they will monitor the latest changes carefully and respond quickly to any problems.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) changes are rather limited this time - Cornish main line improvements and an extra through London to Cheltenham Spa service replacing a Stroud Valley shuttle, but elsewhere they're rather larger

Transport for Wales were telling us yesterday that they now have 132 trains - 5 more than for the previous timetable - which will give some improvement ... others are standing by to report on problems ...

From ITN via a Facebook post

ITN need your help:

For ITV News next week, we will be reporting on the rail timetable changes which are due to come into effect on Sunday (19th). As you know, the major changes to the timetable last year caused a lot of issues for a long time! This week's changes won't be as major, and we're being assured that measures are in place to stop problems like the ones we saw last year from happening again. However, obviously we're aware that it is possible that there could be problems, and we are very likely to be reporting on them if there are.

Of course, it's extremely important that we hear from passengers in any reports! If you are travelling by train on Monday and see any issues (delays; overcrowding; cancellations etc) on Monday morning, it would be brilliant if you could film part of your journey on your phone and send it to us please. We'd love to include some passenger videos if we can! ...

[jamestheredengine]

Transport for Wales were telling us yesterday that they now have 132 trains - 5 more than for the previous timetable - which will give some improvement ... others are standing by to report on problems ...

Their timetable changes certainly don't look like adding in extra trains. It looks more like:

• messing around with which of the Rhymney Valley services are the anomalies that don't run through to Penarth (no doubt these will be the Tractor-hauled trains)
• trying to extend some Treherberts to Penarth to fill in some of the half-hour gaps they just created
• eliminating the anomaly that is the 0716 Cardiff Central to Aberdare (which currently runs non-stop to Radyr via the City Line, not serving Queen Street, Cathays, and Llandaff) by having it start at 0711 and thereby plugging a 10-minute gap in the service between Central and Queen Street
• retiming the odd train here and there by one or two minutes
• a late night Marches Line train switches from coming from Manchester to coming from Chester (probably operationally nicer not crossing the West Coast Main Line at grade, although strange that that's only an issue late at night)

I can't see any extra journeys on the South Wales Main Line, the Valleys Lines, or the Marches Line. They can't be using all five of their extra trains on running between Liverpool and Chester, can they?

[grahame]

Transport for Wales were telling us yesterday that they now have 132 trains - 5 more than for the previous timetable - which will give some improvement ... others are standing by to report on problems ...

The term "trains" is a rather grand one ... the extras are class 153 and the improvements are likely to be extra carriages on some trains for the most part.   I would suggest the reason for one of the trains on The Marches line starting at Chester rather than Manchester may also be to do with the Liverpool - Chester - Wrexham service.

This early in the franchise, lots of planning and too early for their mega changes in Wales.  The diagrams that Colin Lea flashed by on the screen yesterday (I was watching ;-) ) suggests it'll take time for all their new trains to be built, and a source that usually includes as least some fire with the smoke suggested short HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) from Swansea to Cheltenham in the interim / not too distant future.

These Wales changes are NOT the major ones the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) are highlighting and that the ITN have their teams ready to pounce on if the slightest thing goes wrong tomorrow!

[Red Squirrel]

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) changes are rather limited this time...

I was tempted to go down to Temple Meads to see if the 18.53 to Severn Beach really did roll out at the the new time of 18.51, but I was worried that I might get over-excited...

[paul7575]

1000 new services per week across the country. Of which we’ve previously been reminded is 300 on SWR^» (South Western Railway - about).   

So that’s 700 new services over all the other TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company).  Over 7 days, let’s not forget.

Is there a risk that the typical railway spin we suffer nowadays, and therefore the media reporting of it, makes this sound a much bigger deal than it really is?

Paul

[IndustryInsider]

Less can always be more though as there is the odd reduction in the total number of services on some routes.  

For example NUCKLE is finally realised with the combination of the existing Nuneaton to Coventry and Coventry to Leamington Spa services into one through train, which is 250 or so services a week ‘less’.  To be operated by a 2-car Class 170 in place of the old single carriage Class 153.

[grahame]

1000 new services per week across the country. Of which we’ve previously been reminded is 300 on SWR^» (South Western Railway - about).   

So that’s 700 new services over all the other TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company).  Over 7 days, let’s not forget.

Is there a risk that the typical railway spin we suffer nowadays, and therefore the media reporting of it, makes this sound a much bigger deal than it really is?

Paul

Less can always be more though as there is the odd reduction in the total number of services on some routes.  

For example NUCKLE is finally realised with the combination of the existing Nuneaton to Coventry and Coventry to Leamington Spa services into one through train, which is 250 or so services a week ‘less’.  To be operated by a 2-car Class 170 in place of the old single carriage Class 153.

If that's hourly ... is it 250 less overall, or 250 less but then 120 or so more?  A marketing type can count NuCKLe as 120 new services (which they are) and not count the losses.

It's gonna be patchy. ... a couple other "+120"s
New hourly service Liverpool Lime Street to Chester via Runcorn and vice versa (2 new TfW diagrams?)
New hourly service Sheffield to Gainsborough Central and vice versa
and I think Cornish main line is about +70.

If you play the misleading and impressive stats game ... 300 new SWR services, plus 3 lots of 120 and 70, you've already got three quarters of your thousand in round terms.

[paul7575]

Again on SWR^» (South Western Railway - about), someone in another forum reckoned that splitting the half-hourly  Guildford - Ascot into two, (it now runs as separate Guildford - Farnham and Aldershot to Ascot legs), produces about 70 additional services per day on its own. Do you count each way separately, I think they usually do?

So SWR obviously weren’t including that change in their headline figure, as the rest of their “real” additions were already up to the 50 or 60 required each weekday...

Paul

[old original]

Noticed a handful of cancellations and delays due to lack of crew, today.

[grahame]

A further 120 on so on Shrewsbury to Birmingham ... we're getting near the 1000 with specific interventions

From the Shropshire Star

Extra train service between Shropshire and Birmingham

Train passengers travelling between Shrewsbury and Birmingham will now have an additional hourly service.

An additional hourly service calling at Wellington, Telford, Shifnal, Cosford and Wolverhampton will now operate during off-peak hours on Mondays to Saturdays.

A new hourly Sunday service between Birmingham and Shrewsbury has been introduced calling at all stations between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury. The two-hourly Transport for Wales service between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury has been withdrawn.