Tarka Line - Exeter to Barnstaple - services, passenger numbers, carriages, engineering works, incidents and events

[whole diary]

[TerminalJunkie]

In an editorial the North Devon Journal

That bunch of idiots? Sheesh...

... gave support to the idea of alternate slow and semi-fast trains. This provides a service every two hours to the halts - a frequency that is now regarded as acceptable for rural 'bus routes.

And at at a stroke killing the best feature of the current daytime service - the hourly clockface pattern. Bonkers. Utterly bonkers. 

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

Would An early peak train that doesn't stop apart from egglesford and crediton as an additional service possibly running threw to Waterloo and connecting with an early paddington service at Exeter help?

[Btline]

Having some trains not stopping everywhere seems perfectly sensible to me. I doubt all those village stations require an hourly service, but I'm sure the key stations would do well to have a much faster trip.

Are any of the stops close together? In such instances you could axe one and improve parking the other to improve journey times and bring costs down.

[noddingdonkey]

Great idea! Close stations and improve parking in others. Where does the land come from? Eggesford would be the most sensible station for a park and ride as all trains stop there but the land was all sold off and the big empty yard that could have done the job is private property.
Morchard Rd and Copplestone are close together but are two of the better used stations and there is no change of Morchard Road being closed because of the local rail user group having representation there (and quite rightly!)
Lapford has a shocking service for what is one of the biggest villages on the route. Yeoford needs its service as public transport struggles to get down there bus wise.
Portsmouth Arms and Chapelton really do get little use but what's the point of closing them? They aren't harming anybody!
Leave the stations alone I would say and although those from Barnstaple would tell you they are a massive majority of those who use the line the first train in from Barny in the morning and the 16.57 off Exeter St david's is only between sixty and seventy percent made up of citizens of the north Devon metropolis.
I think in general the service on the Barny line is pretty good nowadays and isn't going to get much better without considerable investment in infrastructure and rolling stock. Sure you can tinker a bit and take a stop out here and put one in there but until signalling at Eggesford and Crediton is changed and Salmon Pool crossing is removed timing is never going to be massively cut short.
I'd rather concentrate on getting rid of 143s on jointed track...

[TerminalJunkie]

Ha! http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/Outcry-Tarka-line-closures-idea/story-16282992-detail/story.html

[TerminalJunkie]

And an almost identical version: http://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/news/hundreds_support_tarka_line_stations_1_1398510

[bambam]

I think if you provide better service to these stations people will use it.

The problem is that they won't. I think you've been watching 'The Titfield Thunderbolt' too many times. The various incarnations of Turners 377 Chulmeigh - Exeter bus which has been running since 2000 has made steady inroads into the local traffic South of Eggesford. It has to be said that the buses have grown the overall Market for public transport to include those to whom the train wasn't really an option due to the distance / location of the stations relative to the villages.

The evidence is that rail passenger numbers south of Eggesford have seen pretty much year-on-year increases since 2000.

Going by the latest available figures, all the stations south of Eggesford have seen an increase in passenger numbers, including Crediton and Newton St Cyres which both face extremely tough competition in the form of regular double decker bus services.

Not true, Chapelton, King Nympton and Portsmouth Arms have all had declining growth.
And for Newton St Cryres surely the bus is better, nearer the village especially considering it accounts for 0.59% of passengers on the Tarka^▸ (Line from Barnstaple to Exeter) line.

Barnstaple, Umberleigh, Eggesford and Crediton account for an astonishing 91.93% of traffic. Though it is worth noting that these stations have a clockface hourly service.

I also fail to see how closing the stations will save journey time but missing them out should save some time, with the trains stopping only when demand will be high so for Portsmouth Arms, and Kings Nympton Saturdays on the 10 o'clockish from Exeter and a return leaving between 16:00 and 17:00.

[TerminalJunkie]

Going by the latest available figures, all the stations south of Eggesford have seen an increase in passenger numbers

Not true, Chapelton, King Nympton and Portsmouth Arms have all had declining growth.

Just so you know: North is generally at the top, and South at the bottom. 

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

If crediton was altered so that only a couple of services called and even then were request stops I have a suspicion that passenger numbers may decline 

[vacman]

Have you ever heard the term "If it aint broke, don't fix it?" well that is applicable on the Barny line, there is nothing wrong with the current service level, what needs addressing in general is the capacity issues as 143's are just not up to the job, by the 143's being sent to Devon FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have actually reduced capacity by quite a large margin but this seems to have gone un noticed as they still have "2 carriages", most of the trains in Devon that are rammed as a 143 would actually be alright if they were a 150 or 2x153 instead.

[bambam]

Going by the latest available figures, all the stations south of Eggesford have seen an increase in passenger numbers

Not true, Chapelton, King Nympton and Portsmouth Arms have all had declining growth.

Just so you know: North is generally at the top, and South at the bottom. 

sorry i meant Lapford, not Portsmouth Arms.

[gaf71]

Going by the latest available figures, all the stations south of Eggesford have seen an increase in passenger numbers

Not true, Chapelton, King Nympton and Portsmouth Arms have all had declining growth.

Just so you know: North is generally at the top, and South at the bottom. 

sorry i meant Lapford, not Portsmouth Arms.

Lapford is also south of Eggesford. All the stations you mention are north of Eggesford!

[bambam]

Lapford is south of Eggesford.
Lapford has also had a declining amount of passengers.

Thus rendering the statement 'all the stations south of Eggesford have seen an increase in passenger numbers' a lie.

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

Urghhhh a silly mistake not a lie, lay off him you have corrected him there was no need to publicly embarrass him

[TerminalJunkie]

Lapford is south of Eggesford.
Lapford has also had a declining amount of passengers.

Thus rendering the statement 'all the stations south of Eggesford have seen an increase in passenger numbers' a lie.

The latest available figures for Lapford (taken from http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/xls/station_usage_1011.xls) are 2,374 (Entries and Exits for 2010/11), compared with 1,878 (2009/2010), which is an increase of 26%. I would suggest you quit while you're behind.