Local stations in the West to be axed?

[whole diary]

[Louis94]

However this requires a) a business case b) sufficient trains and c) sufficient capacity including for overtaking. For c) you'd have the opportunity at Taunton, Tivvy Junction, Exeter, Dawlish Warren, NA, Totnes and Hemerdon (I think one side's still there anyway) but it'd all take a lot of effort.

Looping trains at Totnes, and Hemerdon (on the up, no loop on the down) isn't really practical given the signal sections between Newton Abbot and Plymouth, looping a train at Hemerdon could require a train to wait in the loop for up to 15 minutes, and the up to 10 minutes at Totnes - it would be much more effective to run the train straight through as it could easily make it to Newton Abbot or Plymouth if there is enough headway between trains, looping the train would only further increase the journey time of the train overtaking because of how far away the previous signal is and having to wait for the train it will overtake to enter the loop fully and overlaps to clear.

[paul7575]

Reading - I believe two reasons virtually everything stops at Reading are a) it's a rather popular station and b) having a fast train head through for Paddington will simply mean it gets stuck behind the previous service as there are so many trains using the fast lines every hour, so any time saving is negligible.

That's correct with the current Reading layout, but the new layout with 5 platforms on the mains is designed specifically to allow for through trains to overtake in the normal timetable without stopping.

There was a proposal somewhere (in one of the many reports, strategies or consultations [1] over the last few years) that the additional Bristol to Paddington fast IEPs^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) run non-stop between Parkway and Paddington.  There may now be more through trains planned.  So Reading passengers may actually have to get used to reading the timetable properly...

Paul

[1] Found it again eventually - in Network Rail's CP5^▸ (Control Period 5 - the five year period between 2014 and 2019) enhancement proposals of Sept 2011.