Harriett Baldwin MP says, "I won't stop the faster trains campaign"

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From Worcester News:

I won't stop the faster trains campaign, says county MP^▸ (Member of Parliament)

An MP in Worcestershire has repeated her calls for faster, more reliable trains to London - saying she will carry on pressing for improvements.

Harriett Baldwin says the recent three-and-a-half-year extension to the First Great Western franchise is a good sign, but wants more assurances over services.

The train firm runs the Cotswold Line, which goes between this county and the capital, and has secured the extension to the current deal which ends in March 2019.

Mrs Baldwin said: "The new deal offered to First Great Western will give them a level of stability and allow the company to invest in the future.

"I hope that as this news is absorbed, the company will now be able to commit to improved services to the capital with faster, more reliable and more frequent trains.

"I have made the case to protect services which stop at Pershore but hope that we will also see some quicker trains to London as part of this deal.

"With the new Worcester Parkway plans evolving I hope that we get further progress for county commuters very soon.

"I will continue to press Network Rail to complete the long-overdue complete dualling of the line as well."

It comes as Worcestershire County Council presses on with plans for the ^17 million parkway plans, which is expected to open in 2017 on land in Norton.

A series of public exhibitions are currently being staged around the county ahead of a planning application being submitted.

It will lead to hourly services towards London, and shave off around 25 minutes from journey times, according to the council.

[ChrisB]

Nimbyism at its worst.....wants faster services but by removing stops *outside* her constituency, while protecting services within....ugh

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

It would be interesting to know the statistics of the numbers of travellers boarding in Worcestershire each weekday and bound for London compared with the equivalent numbers at the Oxfordshire CL stations. At Hanborough there are nearly 200 such travellers each weekday and I think Charlbury would be similar if not even more. Even taking into account the higher average fare from Worcestershire stations compared with Oxon stations, I think the revenue earned by FGW^▸ (First Great Western) from the three Oxon stations would be many times that from Worcestershire. True, we think there is scope for reducing travel times for CL trains but if Harriet Baldwin wants to see Worcestershire originated trains not stopping at CL villages (presumably Kingham, Charlbury and Hanborough), those trains not calling at the village stations would be half empty at peak hours and probably only 25% full by the time they reached Oxford off-peak. I think the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) would expect to receive a much higher subsidy (or lower payable premium) to make the changes that Harriet wants. Conversely Oxford to London travellers would welcome such a change.

[CLPGMS]

Taking up on Andrew's point, the latest published figures (2012/3) show 89586 Passengers from/to Pershore and it is likely that a large proportion of these are heading in the Worcester direction.  If you try to shorten journey times by omitting stops, which stations will suffer?  All of the main calling points from Moreton-in-Marsh to Hanborough, inclusive, attract far more passengers than Pershore does - the lowest is Kingham at 169496.  Journeys from these stations tend to be predominantly in the Oxford/London direction.

It is difficult to see how passenger numbers at Pershore can be significantly increased, given the chaotic car parking situation there.  If/when Worcestershire Parkway comes into use, I can foresee custom being transferred away from Pershore, in favour of the large amount of car parking which will become available.  This will then raise the question as to what level of service Pershore will actually need to serve those who cannot drive to Parkway. 

I can understand how irritating it must be for passengers travelling long distances to London, say, from Hereford, to have to keep stopping at what are perceived as small stations, but it is these small stations which are generating much of the revenue to enable the long distance trains to operate.  Perhaps, a few extra passengers may be attracted by shorter journey times, but would this compensate for the loss of income elsewhere?

[ChrisB]

That's the question nimby Harriet needs to answer....

[Btline]

MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) sticks up for her long suffering commuter constituents and campaigns for a fast route to the capital? Hardly NIMBYism!

Plenty of other regions have faster trains to London. The Oxfordshire village stops can be picked up by Morteon terminator trains (as in the proposed timetable) so no-one loses out.

[ChrisB]

Oh, do read the previous post first?!!

Perhaps, a few extra passengers may be attracted by shorter journey times, but would this compensate for the loss of income elsewhere?

Was the question I called the MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) over nimbyism. Even if doing what she wants means making a loss elsewhere on the route, she doesn't care. Fair charge, sorry

[CLPGMS]

I wonder to what "proposed timetable" Btline is referring.  In the version I have seen, only one of the present three Moreton terminators will remain (0933 arrival and the 0950 return) from May 2015. 

[ChrisB]

You reckon he actually looks for info before posting?

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Oxford Mail:

Cotswold Line timetable gets shake-up with key peak train speeded up

Extra trains between Oxfordshire and Worcestershire be introduced on the Cotswold Line next May and a key morning peak train will be retimed to give an earlier arrival in London.

Train operator First Great Western announced the changes after being given the go-ahead by the Department for Transport.

The Cotswold Line Promotion Group (CLPG^» (Cotswold Line Promotion Group - about)), which represents passengers on the route between Oxford, Worcester and Hereford, welcomed the changes but said it still wanted to see remaining two-hour gaps in off-peak services eliminated.

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) said the changes were the first step towards further improvements when new electro-diesel express trains start operating on the line in 2017, after electrification of the Oxford to London line.

The key changes are:
- The 5.28am train from Hereford to London will be speeded up, so it leaves Charlbury at 7.12am and Hanborough at 7.21am (replacing the current 7.12am service starting from Charlbury), reaching Oxford at 7.30am and London Paddington at 8.30am. While this train loses its call at Kingham, it is replaced by a new service starting from Moreton-in-Marsh at 7.11am, calling at Kingham at 7.20am, Charlbury at 7.31am and Hanborough at 7.39am, arriving in Oxford at 7.49am and London at 8.52am
- The 11.53am train from Moreton-in-Marsh will start from Worcester Shrub Hill at 11.23am
- The 3.53pm from Moreton-in-Marsh will start from Worcester Shrub Hill at 3.20pm
- The 1.14pm service from Hereford to London will be replaced by a train departing at 12.11pm
- The 1.22pm train from London to Moreton-in-Marsh will be extended to Worcester, reaching Shrub Hill at 3.22pm and Foregate Street at 3.39pm.

FGW^s managing director, Mark Hopwood, said: ^These changes offer real improvements for the vast majority of our customers on the line.^

CLPG chairman John Ellis said: ^We welcome the improvements. The 8.30am arrival in Paddington is something that we have long campaigned for and is particularly welcome for people wanting to be in London for 9am appointments. However, the service still has gaps of up to two hours at times, and we will continue to press for a regular hourly off-peak service.^

[Mookiemoo]

I used to commute daily from Worcester

When I started the journey was sub 2 hours. When I finished it was 2 hours 20 minutes. An extra hour a day five days a week worked out an extra 12 days a year of my life sat on a train

 A large part of the problem was (and maybe still is) not the stops hut the bloody padding.

Out of five journeys home without the padding - three were on time, one was slightly late and one was very late.  Mornings tended to be on time

I and many of the other commuters at the time preferred that to a guaranteed two and a half hours.

As an aside - the 1829 as it was then - the cathedrals express - stopped at Oxford, charlbury, king ham , Morton, eves ham and Worcester. However it was the padding that caused most of the problem

[Unixman]

I agree with you. Buried away in a corner of the net is  Timetable World which has a collection of fascinating historical timetables. One of those is the Western Region from 1965 and the fastest train 50 years ago is 2 hours 30 mins. Today the fastest is 2hrs 15.  15 minutes improvement over 50 years ...


Baldwin has a point .....


http://www.timetableworld.com/

[Chris from Nailsea]

From Worcester News:

Two stops to be cut from Pershore Train Station timetable

The number of trains stopping at Pershore station is set to reduce by two when changes by First Great Western come into force next spring.

The move by the train operator comes after a series of consultations and is a reduction from the four stops originally at risk of getting the chop from the timetable.

Amendments to the plans, which hope to see faster journey times between Worcester and London, took a turn for the better for Pershore after Cotswold Line Promotion Group hit out at the plans and were backed by Pershore MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) Harriett Baldwin.

The MP said she blocked proposals to remove four stops from Pershore and was backed by Rail Minister Claire Perry. She has also written to Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne ahead of the publication of the spring timetable.

"The initial proposals suggested that some totally unacceptable changes were being proposed for Pershore and I was strongly resistant to this plan," said Mrs Baldwin. "I am surprised that an old version of the plans is now being circulated and I wanted to reassure people that I am in discussion with the department to clarify this issue. We all want faster, more reliable and more frequent trains, but this must not be at the expense of services in Pershore. I have been in touch with the minister and I hope to clarify this position and make sure that the correct information is published once it is agreed by all parties."

As part of the changes there will be peak journey time improvement by 21 minutes from Hereford and Worcester, two additional direct services from Worcester to Oxford and Paddington, a new morning HST^▸ (High Speed Train) from Moreton at 7.11am and a service extension through to Worcester in the afternoon.

A spokesman for First Great Western said: "This is an evolutionary step towards the longer term timetable solutions that we would like to see established when electrification is complete and new Intercity Express Trains are introduced. As part of the consultation process First Great Western changed its initial proposals for Pershore services, and the current proposals retain a call there in the 5.49pm Paddington to Worcester service, and add a stop into our new 12.11pm Hereford to London Paddington train. There will still be a reduction of two services a day during the week, which allows us to run some of the new, more frequent services. What we seek to do is to deliver the greatest overall benefit for the communities we serve. The proposed changes for May 2015 have been agreed by the Department for Transport and are now before Network Rail for their approval."

[John R]

So she's written to the CEO^▸ (Chief Executive Officer) of Network Rail to discuss FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s timetable.  Shows what a grasp she's got of the situation. 

[JayMac]

Network Rail play a very big part in TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) timetabling. They have the final say on what can be done. When services are speeded up all the conflicting moves at junctions need to be looked at carefully. Paths of other services may need amending.