Theresa May calls for fast Twyford & Maidenhead trains to London to be maintained

[whole diary]

[Lee]

From the Maidenhead Advertiser:

'Fast train services must be maintained,' says MP Theresa May

Fast services from Twyford and Maidenhead to London should be a priority of the new Great Western Rail franchise, says MP Theresa May.
 
The Twyford and Maidenhead MP has called for commuters to be placed a the heart of the new franchise agreement which will be awarded by the Department of Transport next year.
 
The franchise will determine who is responsible for services on the line for the next 15 years.
 
Responding to the official consultation Ms May highlighted the need for fast and semi-fast services from Twyford and Maidenhead, and said she hoped these would remain a priority, even with the development of Crossrail.
 
She said: ^It is vital that capacity continues to increase to cope with the heavy demand, particularly during morning and evening peak times.
 
"Fast and semi-fast services from Maidenhead and Twyford must be the priority and I want to ensure that the new franchise agreement has these services at the centre.^

[johoare]

Wow... That is the first I've heard her be bothered about our train service since she became Home Secretary..

[Btline]

I still can't see how the Maidenhead and Twyford services are going to work post Crossrail.
Will everything have to transfer to the fasts, leading to a possible new flat junction bottleneck?
It now looks doubtful that Crossrail will be extended, and even if it were, how would non stops and Maidenhead stoppers fit on the fasts?

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Theresa May MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) website:

Theresa calls for local commuters to be at the centre of new rail franchise

19 March 2012

Theresa May has called for the needs of local commuters to be placed at the heart of a new franchise agreement for the Great Western rail line, due to commence next year. The new franchise will be awarded by the Department for Transport and will determine who is responsible for services on the line for the next fifteen years. Theresa has responded to an official consultation and said that fast services from Maidenhead and Twyford to London Paddington should be a priority, and that greater capacity is needed to cope with the increasing number of people using the trains.

The current franchise is held by First Great Western and will end in 2013, at which point a new contract will commence between the Department for Transport (DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)) and the new franchisee. Ahead of the official ^invitation to tender^ being issued, DfT have consulted on what should be included in the new franchise. In her response, Theresa highlighted the importance of fast and semi-fast services from Maidenhead and Twyford and stated that these must remain the priority, even with the development of Crossrail.

Theresa also supported the prospect of middle-distance fast services beginning at Oxford or Newbury, which would mean less-busy trains serving Maidenhead and Twyford. In addition, she noted the significance of the branch lines serving Furze Platt, Cookham and Wargrave and said that maintaining direct services from these stations to Paddington would be important.

Commenting, Theresa said: ^The beginning of a new rail franchise next year is a chance to ensure that further improvements to services are a guaranteed part of the deal. It is vital that capacity continues to increase to cope with the heavy demand, particularly during morning and evening peak times. Fast and semi-fast services from Maidenhead and Twyford must be the priority and I want to ensure that the new franchise agreement has these services at the centre.^

[IndustryInsider]

It now looks doubtful that Crossrail will be extended...

What makes you say that?

[paul7575]

I still can't see how the Maidenhead and Twyford services are going to work post Crossrail.
Will everything have to transfer to the fasts, leading to a possible new flat junction bottleneck?
It now looks doubtful that Crossrail will be extended, and even if it were, how would non stops and Maidenhead stoppers fit on the fasts?

Even with Crossrail extended it would only be the 4 tph that would have terminated at Maidenhead.  They won't be the only users of the reliefs even if they are extended to Reading.  It is quite obvious that as far as Acton yard Crossrail will be sharing with freight as well.  This is presumably why all the London and SE RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy) proposals to increase the number of destinations on the western side of Crossrail include 6 more trains to Heathrow and 8 trains heading for the WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) - there's no room to do anything else.

The implication is that the reliefs east of Reading will still remain very much mixed use.  As described in the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) RUS, section 4.3.3. The only way to reduce congestion on the approaches into Paddington (ie east of the Heathrow spur) therefore seems to be to shift trains from the reliefs to the mains somewhere en route.  The current 6 track approach to Paddington becomes a 4 track + 2 Crossrail of course.

Paul   

[autotank]

I've thought for a while it would make sense to stop Bedwyn trains at Slough and one of the Oxford fasts per hour at Maidenhead instead of Slough. With electric traction in a few years the time penalty for throwing in an extra call between London and Reading will be much less thanks to better acceleration. Even though longer distance travelers might not like it a good fast service for Maidenhead in particular is very important and is a substantial revenue stream.

[Btline]

My proposal for HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) stops before Reading:

Cardiff, Bristol and Plymouth - no stops (5 tph)
Oxford - Slough (2tph)
Cheltenham (post redoubling) - Twyford (1tph)
B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury) semi fasts - Maidenhead (1tph)
Newbury (extended to London) - somewhere (1tph)
Baisingstoke (extended to London) - somewhere (tph)

That's 11 tph on the fast lines.

[IndustryInsider]

The clever way (in fact, the ONLY way) to path these stops on express trains on the main line at Twyford, Maidenhead and Slough would be to do it so that whilst one train is stopped at Twyford on the down line, the train behind it is the one that stops at Maidenhead and the one behind that is one of the ones that stops at Slough.  You'd want the Windsor, Marlow and Henley branches to connect in with these trains to maximise their usefulness.  Cue a major headache for the timetable planners!

My submission to the franchise consultation took a different route which still gave two fast Slough to Paddington trains per hour and one from both Maidenhead and Twyford.  It also had the benefit of allowing Slough stops to be removed from Cotswold Line/Oxford services.  I submitted:


Firstly, Crossrail should be extended to Reading.  A 15-minute interval stopping service could then operate, broadly as it does today, between Reading and London (then extending through the Crossrail tunnel to east London, rather than Paddington).  If two relief line paths are to be made available then, as contained in my answer to Question 6, a 4-car (8-car in the peaks) electric unit could provide the current Oxford to Paddington twice-hourly stopping service which after Reading would then become a semi-fast service calling at Twyford (1tph), Maidenhead (1tph) and Slough running on the relief lines as far as Stockley Bridge Junction.

From there you have a choice.  That service could continue on to call at Ealing Broadway (and, perhaps, Hayes & Harlington) on the Relief line ^ but pathing of that service will be extremely difficult between Crossrail trains and freight.  I think serious consideration should be given to upgrading the current 70mph crossover at Stockley Bridge so that as well as providing a route from Down Main to Down Relief it also offers a connection from Up Relief to Up Main - possibly upgrading it into a double junction rather than the current single one?  If that was to happen, those 2tph service could cross from Relief to Main lines and run fast to London with minimal impact on main line paths.

As well as the advantage of having a regular fast service from Twyford, Maidenhead and Slough to London, these trains would also be out of the mix on the Relief lines in terms of Crossrail trains on what will become the busiest section between Airport Junction and Westbourne Park.  In combination with the potential withdrawal of the Heathrow Express service (the justification of which will, in my mind be severely tested after Crossrail starts) might permit another two trains per hour to run on the Crossrail network to/from Heathrow Airport.  The four paths per hour released on the Main lines by the withdrawal of Heathrow Express could be used for the additional London- Bristol trains proposed as well as the twice-hourly Oxford-Paddington stopping service I^ve talked about above.

Whichever route they take though, expect there to be winners and losers!

[inspector_blakey]

Well, at least those fast trains to Maidenhead will give the delightful Ms May a little more time to spend on monitoring all our phone calls, texts, tweets and emails. It's going to be a big job 

[JayMac]

Doesn't that already happen with ECHELON?

[Chris from Nailsea]

"You MAY very well think that ... " 

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Maidenhead Advertiser:

'Crossrail will not reduce fast trains from Maidenhead and Twyford'

Network Rail have assured passengers that the arrival of Crossrail will not lead to a reduction in fast train services from Maidenhead and Twyford to London.

The response follows MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) Theresa May's concerns last week. The Home Secretary said she was also disappointed that there will be no fast services available via Crossrail.

She understands Network Rail is looking at how the mainline timetable between Maidenhead and Paddington might be changed when Crossrail services start at Maidenhead station in 2019.

While supportive of the project overall, Mrs May is concerned its arrival could be used as an excuse to strip passengers of fast services into the capital that they rely on.

Crossrail services are due to start from 2018 and an estimated 200 million people will use the service each year.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: ^The combination of Crossrail services and other enhancements, such as electrification of the Great Western main line and the remodelling of the railway at Reading, will dramatically increase rail capacity between Maidenhead and London. As described within the Route Utilisation Strategy, there are no plans to reduce the fast services from Maidenhead, however the final decision on long term planning will ultimately be taken by the Department for Transport in the specification of the future Great Western franchise.^

The Route Utilisation Strategy is a document produced by Network Rail for each of the major rail routes in the country, which sets a strategy for the coming decades. The document is produced in conjunction with the wider rail industry and follows mandatory consultation with local authorities, MPs, and passenger groups.

The planned service pattern for Crossrail is as follows:
10 trains per hour (tph) on Great Western Main Line
^  4tph to/from Heathrow Terminal 4
^ 2tph to/from West Drayton (in peak)
^  4tph to/from Maidenhead

[Network SouthEast]

The problem with the press is that they assume Crossrail will be an all stations stopping service - it won't. Only the section east of Paddington will be all stops, with the exception of Maryland. Services west of Paddington will be a mixture of calling patterns.

It has to be remembered that no timetable is set in concrete, but an indicative timetable shows that peak Crossrail trains starting at Maidenhead will not call at Southall*, Hanwell, West Ealing or Acton Mainline.

* Peak Shenfield trains will skip Southall, but peak Abbey Wood trains will stop there.

It should also be noted that it is proposed that 2TPH are also proposed to operate on the relief lines from Reading calling at Twyford, Maidenhead, Slough, Hayes & Harlington and Ealing Broadway.

Electrification will also allow more/speeded up services to be shoehorned in on the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line).

[IndustryInsider]

It has to be remembered that no timetable is set in concrete, but an indicative timetable shows that peak Crossrail trains starting at Maidenhead will not call at Southall*, Hanwell, West Ealing or Acton Mainline.

It should also be noted that it is proposed that 2TPH are also proposed to operate on the relief lines from Reading calling at Twyford, Maidenhead, Slough, Hayes & Harlington and Ealing Broadway.

True, but if that meant you were a commuter from Maidenhead to the City and all peak hours Crossrail trains from Maidenhead did stop at Taplow, Burnham, Slough, Langley, Iver, West Drayton, Hayes & Harlington and Ealing Broadway then that would mean slower journey times than a change at Paddington on one of the current 22 minute (or thereabouts) non-stop service to Paddington - so I foresee there still being a demand/need for them.