First Great Western should operate this timetable

[whole diary]

[James]

Times are getting busier and busier and its now high time, that additional rail services are provided in the thames valley before the start of Crossrail services.
Now that Reading Station is being constructed, and i have to say its amazing, a different timetable with additional available rolling stock could be started.

During the morning peak most services are of good choice and standard, although for capacity may be another story.
Firstly starting with Maidenhead, the last fast peak train is at 0903 arriving at London Paddington at around 0927/0928.
From what i have witnessed in the past, people where looking for a fast train especially from the Marlow Branch to find that the only avaliable one's are slow stopping ones after the 0903 had departed.
So here are a few options;
0910/0940/1010 and 1040 Maidenhead to London Paddington, calling at; Slough Only.
All should be turbo trains.

Afternoon trains
1242/1312 and 1342 London Paddington to Maidenhead, calling at; Slough Only.
Again all should be turbo trains. The 0712 morning service currently operates from London Paddington to Maidenhead, so the 1242/1312 and 1342 should really have no problems operating, unless there's something i don't know, that may affect this

And the first late afternoon train should be at 1612 calling at; Slough, Maidenhead, Twyford and Reading.
Then as per normal peak time trains thereafter.

Now the draft timetable is my own idea i don't expect anyone to take it to heart. However what are your views on this.
Will be happy to know what you say

(edited to remove blank lines - bobm)

[grahame]

Hi, Dan ... let me put a business hat on.   Questions I will ask as the commercial director of the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company):

a) What will it cost to run (equipment hire, staff, fuel, access charges, penalties for delays to other services)
b) How much EXTRA revenue will I take by providing this service?
c) (for $64,000) is (b) a much higher figure than (a)?

If the answer to (c) is "yes", you have a business chance ... but I suspect people will by judged to grumble and use the slower trains if the fast trains are not provided, so the extra income won't be very much

If the answer to (c) is "no", you need a subsidised or political answer to have any chance. 

[James]

Hi Grahame,
No need for me to put a hat on, as i hate them
My answer would be yes, but after you asked me about those questions i had a deeper thought about it.
It is mainly the afternoon services which may have a lower passenger load, so in effective the business case would be weak. However even so some souls may want at least 1 outbound and 1 return fast service that may be useful for business travellers.
In this day and age unfortunately we have to live with the reality that things have to be cut so if people need to get the metro service then thats thhe only possible option.
I suppose, its a luxury rather than a need at the end of day for those lucrative fast services, according to first great western!

[bobm]

The business case for afternoon trains may be strenthened by the fact that if the rolling stock is already there (as it would be for your morning timetable) it might as well be used.  There are access charges and staff costs to be considered but no company wants to see its assets sitting in a siding.

However the big "if" is finding the stock for the morning services in the first place.

[ellendune]

The other big if is the line capacity.

[James]

Explain to me why then at the height of the peak period, why there is two 0712 services to Reading one faster and one slower?, so the arguement for no line capacity in that case isnt true. However the 0712 faster service may get in the way of the 0715, so time will tell if it gets withdrawn due to poor punctuality, which will make a lot of happy people even happier 

[Network SouthEast]

Explain to me why then at the height of the peak period, why there is two 0712 services to Reading one faster and one slower?, so the arguement for no line capacity in that case isnt true. However the 0712 faster service may get in the way of the 0715, so time will tell if it gets withdrawn due to poor punctuality, which will make a lot of happy people even happier 

The odd 07:12 and 08:09 services operate to Reading because the units that make up these trains need to go to Reading depot. They could just operate as ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock), but I guess FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have decided to run them in service.

The 07:12 departure can run on the fast lines because there is no West Of England departure at 07:06, and the next fast service is the 07:18 to Bedwyn, which is also a Turbo, so it won't catch up the service as quickly.

The 08:09 to Reading operates on the relief lines, but even so it can only operate because instead of a 08:10 Heathrow Connect service, it runs a little earlier at 08:03 giving it time to be out of the way by Hayes & Harlington.

[bobm]

The 07:12 departure can run on the fast lines because there is no West Of England departure at 07:06, and the next fast service is the 07:18 to Bedwyn, which is also a Turbo, so it won't catch up the service as quickly.

There is - the 07:06 to Paignton - the first westbound service to Pewsey and beyond of the day.

[Network SouthEast]

The 07:12 departure can run on the fast lines because there is no West Of England departure at 07:06, and the next fast service is the 07:18 to Bedwyn, which is also a Turbo, so it won't catch up the service as quickly.

There is - the 07:06 to Paignton - the first westbound service to Pewsey and beyond of the day.

Well.... that blows that out of the water then! To be fair though, I suppose a Turbo at 07:12 is unlikely to catch-up a HST^▸ (High Speed Train).

As a further correction to my original post, the is a train at 07:15 too, a HST to Cardiff (although it was cancelled this morning, hence me missing it).

I'm really not firing on all cylinders this morning!

[ChrisB]

Where is the stock coming from?

[JayMac]

As a further correction to my original post, the is a train at 07:15 too, a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) to Cardiff (although it was cancelled this morning, hence me missing it).

The 0715 to Cardiff was cancelled you say? An all too regular occurrence. As usual, when this regular cancellation occurs, the following 0730 to Penzance via Bristol TM^‡(resolve) picked up the slack and made the extra call at Didcot Parkway.

[bobm]

The 07:30 certainly had the room to take up the slack this morning.  Now that summer is here the service seems to be less busy heading into Bristol but then gets more crowded after that as it heads west.  The rest of the year it tends to be the other way round.

Not particularly surprising at first glance, but interesting in how it is largely a commuter service for the first part of its journey and a holiday maker's one for the second part.  I'm guessing the fare structure plays a large part as it is a peak train when leaving London but off peak by the time it reaches Swindon.

[grahame]

Where is the stock coming from?

Are the 08:12, 08:27, 08:38, 08:47, and 08:55 from Paddington made up of 2 units?   And do they need to be two units west of Maidenhead as they have become contraflow trains?  It might ... even ... be that the right stock is in the right place at the right time, and the paying access charges back into Paddington is an attractive alternative to paying access charges out to Reading. Now to sort out crew, paths, and complaints from the good people of Twyford that they've still only got slow trains, and from people on the faster trains that they're paying a lot more money per minute!

[JayMac]

I'm guessing the fare structure plays a large part as it is a peak train when leaving London but off peak by the time it reaches Swindon.

But only if you have a Rover or an Off Peak Single/Return (old style Saver Single/Return). If you are wanting to purchase an Off Peak Day Single/Return (Cheap day Single/Return) then you can't join the 0730 ex Paddington Merchant Venturer until Taunton at 0946.

[bobm]

Good point. 

Incidentally the 07:15 London Paddington to Cardiff Central has been cancelled again this morning.