2018 Full line closure Newbury line

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

Won't stations west of Newbury as far as Bedwyn benefit from an hourly service with IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)'s replacing (mostly) Turbos, with better connections to the west - that's surely an improvement, even if you do think the seats are too hard (which I personally don't)?

And won't Pewsey benefit from a far more clockface pattern of services than the random service it currently receives?  For me, the Berks & Hants line is one of the ones that benefits the most from electrification and new trains, although it does seem like this year is going to be very disruptive.

[grahame]

Quite a bit of pain for the gain of electric services to Newbury.

Yes, all pain and no gain for people wanting to travel to/from stations west of Newbury, i.e. Kintbuty, Bedywn Hungerford and Pewsey.

Once the much-loved HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) are replaced by the new Hitachi trains, there is likely to be even more pain due to the hard "ironing board" seats that they have.

Won't stations west of Newbury as far as Bedwyn benefit from an hourly service with IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)'s replacing (mostly) Turbos, with better connections to the west - that's surely an improvement, even if you do think the seats are too hard (which I personally don't)?

And won't Pewsey benefit from a far more clockface pattern of services than the random service it currently receives?  For me, the Berks & Hants line is one of the ones that benefits the most from electrification and new trains, although it does seem like this year is going to be very disruptive.

From what I have seen, there is some woolliness in public information and plans have changed a bit along the way.

* From Reading to Newbury there will be two stopping trains an hour one calling at all stations and one only at major stations.  The all stations train will be electric, and run just between Reading and Newbury. The major-stations-only train will be an IET from London, calling at Reading, major stations to Newbury, Kintbury, Hungerford and Bedwyn where it will terminate.

* Every 2 hours, a "semifast" IET is planned from London to Reading, Pewsey, Westbury, Castle Cary and Taunton; then on to Exeter St David's is suggested but probably not beyond.  Any stops between Reading and Pewsey are unclear to me.

* Every hour, an express will run - Paddington, Reading, Taunton, Tiverton, Exeter, Newton Abbott, Plymouth.  Additional stops west of Exeter and continuation on into Cornwall - I'll let others comment.

So ...

Kintbury, Hungerford and Bedwyn gain the replacement of a turbo with a five car IET.
Pewsey and Westbury both gain trains that fill the current massive gaps during the day
Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary loose though trains beyond Exeter
Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth, Cornwall gain improvements to their London and Reading services
Kintbury, Hungrford and Bedwyn probably see no change in the virtually zero provision from them via Pewsey
Frome will see no change (?) - virtually no service to its county town of Taunton, and perhaps one peak train to London
All trains used on these services will be new.

[TaplowGreen]

Hourly service to Plymouth is pretty much the same as now I think?

[IndustryInsider]

Hourly service to Plymouth is pretty much the same as now I think?

Yes, though more trains will omit some of the smaller intermediate stops and will be quicker, in some cases by quite a large amount.  Though of course that works both ways and will remove the attractiveness of direct trains from places like Westbury that are currently available, albeit in a patchy way.

[grahame]

Hourly service to Plymouth is pretty much the same as now I think?

Yes, though more trains will omit some of the smaller intermediate stops and will be quicker, in some cases by quite a large amount.  Though of course that works both ways and will remove the attractiveness of direct trains from places like Westbury that are currently available, albeit in a patchy way.

Exactly - I worded the original carefully - perhaps too carefully.   And I should have include opposites too, but being on the Kennet Valley, I wrote it from that viewpoint.    However, let's have a further go:

Kintbury, Hungerford and Bedwyn gain the replacement of a turbo with a five car IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train).
London and Reading passengers will gain a better train to Kintbury, Hungerford and Bedwyn

Pewsey and Westbury both gain trains that fill the current massive gaps during the day
Passengers from London, Reading, Taunton and Exeter will have gaps in services to to Pewsey and Westbury filled

Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary loose though trains beyond Exeter
Passengers from Torbay, Plymouth and Cornwall will have to change to get to Westbury and Pewsey
Passengers from Torbay, Plymouth & Cornwall will have to change twice rather than once to get to Solent & Trowbridge.
Passengers from Solent & Trowbridge will have to change twice rather than once to get to Torbay, Plymouth & Cornwall.

Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth, Cornwall gain (speed) improvements to their London and Reading services
London and Reading passengers will be able to get to Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth, Cornwall consistently a bit faster

Kintbury, Hungrford and Bedwyn probably see no change in the virtually zero provision from them via Pewsey
Getting from the west to Kintbury, Hungrford and Bedwyn will remain a hassle

Frome will see no change (?) - virtually no service to its county town of Taunton, and perhaps one peak train to London
Still bl**dy difficult to get to Frome from London, or from Taunton or beyond, even though it's on the same line

Oh - and passengers from Castle Cary to London will find they have a more consistent but slower service and vv

[grahame]

This thread has gone a bit off topic (how unusual!  ) however we're now in the first week.

From yesterday afternoon:

Work is progressing as expected and there is currently no concern over a right time hand back on Friday morning. The line will therefore be open from around 0500 on Friday as planned.
 
-Customer numbers generally have been quite low so far.
-Car park at Theale filling up by 0800 (85 less spaces due to bus operation), so we’re tweeting out a “Theale car park is filling up” and “Theale car park is full” each morning to help manage expectations.
-Replacement bus loading figures expected tomorrow
-The 0755 Hungerford to Newbury bus service has proved popular, so we are running a second vehicle on that service.

From Bedwyn trains

During the discussions with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) they arranged for:
 
1) Ticket acceptance for Bedwyn season ticket  holders from Salisbury, Grateley, Andover, Whitchurch, Overton or Basingstoke with no extra charges.
2) Secured parking at Didcot Town Football Club and season tickets can be used from there. Didcot station car park is currently significantly reduced due to the construction of a multi storey car park. The Football Club is within walking distance of the station, and we will signpost the walking route, and also run a complimentary shuttle bus every 15 minutes between the Football Club and the station
3) Also agreed car park and ticket easement at Mereoak Park & Ride on the outskirts of Reading in addition to travel on JetBlack1 and route 102 service buses.

Significant concern at some higher fares being charged on journeys / trains that have been modified due to the engineering; that applied to at least three journey groups I'm aware of - though none of them relates to journeys that start or end at stations between Theale and Pewsey.   

[grahame]

Alterations to services between Westbury and Pewsey
Due to engineering works not being finished on time between Westbury and Pewsey all lines are blocked.
Train services running through these stations may be delayed or diverted. Pewsey will not be served. Disruption is expected until 13:00 16/03.
Customer Advice
Owing to the engineering work, which has been ongoing since Monday, not being completed on time we are unable to operate train services on the route to / from Westbury via Pewsey.

Train services between London Paddington and the West Country, and return, will be diverted via alternative routes. As a result Westbury and Castle Cary will have a reduced frequency of train service to / from the West Country and Newbury and Pewsey will have no direct train service to / from the West Country. Newbury will still be served by local train services to / from Reading where customers may change for diverted train services. Limited road transport will serve Pewsey and operate to / from Swindon to connect with train services there.
Further Information
An update will follow within the next 2 hours.
Last Updated:16/03/2018 07:38

To note - also effected, TransWilts services - all but the first morning service each way cancelled.

My information on the reason isn't quite what they say - engineering works did finish on time, but the engineers / engineering train managed to damage some infrastructure which they're now having to fix.

[Thatcham Crossing]

Going back to the info around what services will look like at the end of the year....

* From Reading to Newbury there will be two stopping trains an hour one calling at all stations and one only at major stations.  The all stations train will be electric, and run just between Reading and Newbury.

The all-stations trains will presumably be a 387. If I look at the current timetable, it's scheduled at between 29 to 31 mins each way.

With the better performance of the 387 vs. 165/166 (accel, decel, speed between stops on a track that is mostly 100mph linespeed), could this be operated with a single (4 or 8 coach) unit?

[IndustryInsider]

In theory, probably just about.  In practice you need at least three minutes turnaround at either end meaning a 27-minute journey time (ideally 25 or 26 minutes) which might just be asking a little too much to do all day with enough of a resilience margin.

[hoover50]

To note - also effected, TransWilts services - all but the first morning service each way cancelled.

My information on the reason isn't quite what they say - engineering works did finish on time, but the engineers / engineering train managed to damage some infrastructure which they're now having to fix.

It's been mentioned elsewhere that points were damaged at Heywood Road Junction 

[Timmer]

Disruption to services now expected to last until 2pm.

[bobm]

No wonder the train is delayed....

[ellendune]

Should we start a search?


If it went along the old M&SWJR, it probably wouldn't have got past Rushy Platt Jn as the rails were taken up in about 1965, so it should be easy to find. 
Alternatively it might have taken the wrong turn at Westbury in which case who knows?

[hoover50]

Disruption to services now expected to last until 4pm.

[FarWestJohn]

The Cornish Riviera was so late it ran non stop from Plymouth to Truro and they provided a bus connection from Truro for Newquay branch passengers.