GWR is apparently improving...

[whole diary]

[TeaStew]

I did not even get the one word question! Maybe I answered the previous pages "wrong" so the survey did not think it worth asking? 

[Visoflex]

Down relief services from Twyford between 0745 and 0845 seem to be consistently late on a daily basis.  10,15 and 20 minutes late are not uncommon, but this doesn't appear on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s service status page.  The green banner "generally good service, but check individual routes" is a bit like saying that it is a beautiful sunny day where I am, but you should take your umbrella just in case.

A train arriving on time registers on the faces of Reading and Oxford commuters much like neanderthals discovering fire.

[simonw]

In my opinion, the only way to make GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) better is to create a open access franchise, from Bristol - London, to provide competition on price, frequency, reliability and staff.

It is interesting that outside of MerseyRail, the three best franchises are Grand Central, Hull and East Coast. Two open franchises in competition with the primary franchise East Coast

[ellendune]

In my opinion, the only way to make GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) better is to create a open access franchise, from Bristol - London, to provide competition on price, frequency, reliability and staff.

But there is no capacity at the London end for any additional services so new services would have to be at the expense of existing GWR ones.  Not sure if the open access rules allow this. Even if additional paths could be found the effects of the additional services would be to further increase knock-on delays when things go wrong. 

Also since many (most?) of the reliability issues are infrastructure related, open access operators would also be affected and there would be no improvement in reliability. 

[ChrisB]

In my opinion, the only way to make GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) better is to create a open access franchise, from Bristol - London, to provide competition on price, frequency, reliability and staff.

It is interesting that outside of MerseyRail, the three best franchises are Grand Central, Hull and East Coast. Two open franchises in competition with the primary franchise East Coast

Isn't Hull Trains run by First Group?

[JayMac]

It is. Well, 80% of it.

[Thatcham Crossing]

Isn't Hull Trains run by First Group?

Noticed one of their Class 180's at Old Oak as I was passing yesterday morning.

[simonw]

The main capacity issue on the Great Western was Reading Station, and this has been improved recently.

The limited capacity at the London end for extra trains is caused by most London main line stations being terminal. This adds a major capacity issue because it more than halves the throughput of a station. I've always thought it odd to have terminal stations without obvious reasons, for example Liverpool Lime St, go another mile and you hit water.

I am not sure what can be done to address this, but until every passenger can get a seat, prices relate to coach and car costs alternatives and every(!) train travels +/- a few minutes then I cannot accept that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) doing well enough. I know a lot of GWR faults actually outside of their control but there is no talk from the Government, Network Rail or GWR to address these issues.   

[eightf48544]

Unfortunately the NIBYs of the 19th century banished railways from central London hence all the terminals in a ring and no large through London station.

Although I'm not sure how Holborn Viaduct got so far from the river and made link with the Met. Now Holborn Viaduct is shut and the line is underground from Blackfriars.

[ellendune]

The main capacity issue on the Great Western was Reading Station, and this has been improved recently.

Yes but Cross rail is soaking up any spare capacity further East.  If you have a look at the RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy) you will see there are will be major capacity problems very soon. 

[grahame]

The main capacity issue on the Great Western was Reading Station, and this has been improved recently.

Yes but Cross rail is soaking up any spare capacity further East.  If you have a look at the RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy) you will see there are will be major capacity problems very soon. 

What would capacity be like to run some services from Swindon and beyond into Marylebone once the line from Bicester is re-opened to Oxford?

[ChrisB]

Marylebone is full in the peaks in general.....

Mind you, rumour has it that an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) will find its way from OXP during the blockade at Hinksey in the summer

[TonyK]

Unfortunately the NIMBYs of the 19th century banished railways from central London hence all the terminals in a ring and no large through London station.

Exactly right! More permanently, the new railways drove development to the point where there was no room for surface extensions or connections without compulsory purchases of a completely unrealistic order.

[John R]

but there is no talk from the Government, Network Rail or GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to address these issues.   

Nothing at all... apart from electrification, resignalling, brand new long distance and Thames Valley stock with more capacity, more cascaded stock for increased capacity on the rest of the network, Crossrail, several major infrastructure improvements...

Nope, nothing at all's going to improve on the network over the next few years.

[simonw]

The options to improve capacity at Paddington are

• Add more platforms, will require land purchases and be expensive
• Add an upper/lower deck to Paddington, fortuneatly it is at the edge of the underground system so possible. Would be very interesting to link a low deck at Paddington with a low deck at Victoria, Waterloo or Kings Cross to allow through trains
• Batch trains together at Didcot/Reading into 2/3/4 joined trains that arrive/depart Paddington as a single train. Will need Platform lengthening and synchronising train times