MPs to battle rail cutback plans

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the Wiltshire Times under the headline "MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) to battle rail cutback plans"

MPS in Wiltshire fear changes to rail services between Reading and Taunton mean some trains will no longer stop at Westbury.

South West Wiltshire MP Andrew Murrison and Chippenham MP Michelle Donelan have written to Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin in a bid to stop the train station from being left out, in a bid to speed up services. "The letter went off this week and the proposed changes came out relatively recently," said Dr Murrison. "The Peninsula Rail Task Force have outlined these new fast services to the south where they are shaving time by not stopping at intermediate stations, which may be fine for smaller stations, but Westbury is a major train intersection to the north-south and east-west and serves a large population.

"Commuters from Frome, Chippenham, Melksham and Bradford on Avon use it as well as the towns I represent.

"Unless we big up Westbury now there^s a real risk that it will be sidelined.

"The aim of The Peninsula Rail Task Force is to speed up services, which I fully support, but it must not be at the expense of Westbury.

"It^s worth pointing out that many people moved to Westbury for a very good reason as they can travel around with relative ease.^

"t^s essential at this stage to make it clear that we can^t tolerate Westbury being left out as it certainly would impact massively."

Chippenham MP Michelle Donelan and Somerton and Frome MP David Warburton have also written to Mr McLoughlin.

Roger Newman, chairman of the West Wiltshire Rail Users Group, which aims to enhance rail services, is also worried.

"Whenever National Rail are asked about this they don^t answer and neither do Great Western,^ he said.

"Westbury Station is a major interchange which goes to the west of England and it would cause an extremely large knock-on effect. We are most concerned and have written to the Department of Transport."

Westbury Station, which has three platforms and was opened in 1848, is a major link to locations in the south of England.

As well as the Reading to Taunton line, the station offers services to London Paddington, Plymouth and Penzance.

Despite the importance of the station, the line is not due to be electrified as part of the ^5billion modernisation of Great Western main lines.

[PhilWakely]

Forgive me for playing Devils Advocate and please correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that the proposals for the Paddington to the South West services were for an hourly semi-fast to Exeter, which would serve Westbury and an hourly (presumably on the intervening 30mins) fast service to Exeter and beyond ?

I appreciate the idea of the transport hub, but for us residents in the middle to far South West, the rail layout around Westbury station is a major reason for slowing the service down.

[Adelante_CCT]

Yes, completely agree with you Phil. I'm guessing from this part....

"The Peninsula Rail Task Force have outlined these new fast services to the south where they are shaving time by not stopping at intermediate stations, which may be fine for smaller stations, but Westbury is a major train intersection to the north-south and east-west and serves a large population.

"Unless we big up Westbury now there^s a real risk that it will be sidelined.

"The aim of The Peninsula Rail Task Force is to speed up services, which I fully support, but it must not be at the expense of Westbury.

...That they feel they shouldn't be regarded as small as Newbury, Pewsey, Castle Cary etc and that the fast ones should be Paddington, Reading, Westbury, Taunton etc and they don't wish to stop at the smaller stations on their way to the capital.

A clock-face hourly semi-fast service I believe would be better than what Westbury currently has.

[PhilWakely]

A clock-face hourly semi-fast service I believe would be better than what Westbury currently has.

Absolutely!

I've just looked at the working timetables for the down Cornish Riviera and the immediately following service as well as the Up Golden Hind and its immediately following service.

In each case, the Westbury stopper takes 18 minutes between Lavington and Clink Road Junction whilst the fast trains take just 7 minutes

[grahame]

Please excuse me for post the original without comment.

A clock-face hourly semi-fast service I believe would be better than what Westbury currently has.

It's would also be better than proposed:
"Building a Greater Western" - page 40 - http://transwilts.org/tw/images/FGW_and_DFT/nfgwf.pdf

The situation is a complex one.  Firstly, I'm not sure that I fully understand why people will be driven off trains if they take 185 minutes, and will flock to trains if they make the journey in 175 minutes.   Secondly, I'm note sure of just how much the economics of a service with a stop at Westbury removed effect its viability, bearing in mind that many of these trains pick up / drop off over 100 people with a significant number going beyond Exeter.  Thirdly, assuming that the 175 v 185 does make a huge difference, isn't all the extra time taken by the now much-slowed Westbury to London service all calling all the way to Newbury going to put people off that?

There is a significant flow via Westbury (from places like Portsmouth) to Plymouth. If people were happy with 2 changes, they might already be voting with their feet at changing at Salisbury and Exeter.  But then some inputs I have seen suggested for the SW franchise are encouraging the Waterloo to Exeter services to be re-extended to Paignton, Plymouth, Penzance or Barnstaple and if the Plymouth or Penzance extension were to happen (unlikely, I suspect) then it would probably mean people doing Solent to Plymouth with a Salisbury change.

[The Tall Controller]

If I'm working in London I always try to get the 1406 back to the Westcountry than the 1506. One stop influences my decision and that stop is Westbury. It feels so slow when you compare it to doing 80-90mph on the avoiding line.

[Timmer]

If I'm working in London I always try to get the 1406 back to the Westcountry than the 1506. One stop influences my decision and that stop is Westbury. It feels so slow when you compare it to doing 80-90mph on the avoiding line.

Bit like the time HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s operated SW-NE Cross-Country services that used to stop at Gloucester adding around 15 minutes to the journey compared to those that used the Gloucester avoiding line.

The fustration felt when the train was running late and you had a tight connection at Bristol that you'd make if the train didn't make its scheduled stop at Gloucester.

[JayMac]

If I'm working in London I always try to get the 1406 back to the Westcountry than the 1506. One stop influences my decision and that stop is Westbury. It feels so slow when you compare it to doing 80-90mph on the avoiding line.

The fact that the 1406 is Super Off Peak and the 1506 is Off Peak isn't an influence too is it? What if the Westbury call was on the earlier of those two trains? Would you travel later for the shorter journey time still?

[Adelante_CCT]

The situation is a complex one.  Firstly, I'm not sure that I fully understand why people will be driven off trains if they take 185 minutes, and will flock to trains if they make the journey in 175 minutes.   Secondly, I'm note sure of just how much the economics of a service with a stop at Westbury removed effect its viability, bearing in mind that many of these trains pick up / drop off over 100 people with a significant number going beyond Exeter.  Thirdly, assuming that the 175 v 185 does make a huge difference, isn't all the extra time taken by the now much-slowed Westbury to London service all calling all the way to Newbury going to put people off that?

There is a significant flow via Westbury (from places like Portsmouth) to Plymouth. If people were happy with 2 changes, they might already be voting with their feet at changing at Salisbury and Exeter.  But then some inputs I have seen suggested for the SW franchise are encouraging the Waterloo to Exeter services to be re-extended to Paignton, Plymouth, Penzance or Barnstaple and if the Plymouth or Penzance extension were to happen (unlikely, I suspect) then it would probably mean people doing Solent to Plymouth with a Salisbury change.

Agree with you Graham, it is difficult, balancing the number of stops with the speed of services and the number of direct through services vs the number of changes required on your journey. Everyone has different needs/requirements. Also everyone would like in a perfect world, direct quick services from their own A to B, an example would be Twyford/Maidenhead customers don't want to be stopping at Taplow/Burnham/West Drayton etc. Reading/Didcot passengers don't want to be stopping at Twyford/Maidenhead. Bristol passengers would rather not stop anywhere etc and the list goes on. Exeter passengers don't want to stop at Westbury, Westbury passengers don't want to stop at Pewsey/Newbury...

Looking at Westbury services though... 08:26 to Penzance, 12:17 to Plymouth, 13:00 to Exeter, 16:23 to Penzance followed by hourlies during the evening. 3 - 4 hour gaps in this service (Up services have a slightly better spread) and of those only the 12:17 is a 'fast' from London, the others are 'semi-fasts' anyway. If I lived in or was a regular Westbury user I would much rather forgo the 08:26/16:23 direct to Penzance and have a regular hourly semi-fast throughout the day to/from London, changing at Exeter if I required heading further west than what they have now. But again this is my preference and is bound to differ from others.

[The Tall Controller]

If I'm working in London I always try to get the 1406 back to the Westcountry than the 1506. One stop influences my decision and that stop is Westbury. It feels so slow when you compare it to doing 80-90mph on the avoiding line.

The fact that the 1406 is Super Off Peak and the 1506 is Off Peak isn't an influence too is it? What if the Westbury call was on the earlier of those two trains? Would you travel later for the shorter journey time still?

Fortunately I don't need to worry about timing my trains around off-peak/super off-peak so for me the cost is irrelevant. If the Westbury call was on the earlier train then it would probably influence my decision to stay longer at work more often.