Timetable and other upcoming changes - overview (from GWR) last Monday

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

...what we might call "HS0" ...

We might, indeed.

With apologies to insiders who know about these things, I very much like the fact whereas for example the Engineer's Line Reference for the East Coast Main Line is ECM, and the West Coast LEC (London Euston to Crewe) and CGJ (Crewe to Carlisle) before settling on the more obvious WCM from Carlisle to Glasgow, the Great Western Main Line is, with appropriate humility, MLN - Main Line. I bristle with pride.

[TonyK]

So - more logical to slice the top off the market - send two of the trains via the four track railway up to Bristol Parkway, continuing along on what we might call "HS0" where in a typical hours there's a succession of 80x trains from Westerleigh to Royal Wootton Bassett,  and nothing much else, allowing trains through at fairly close to the signalling headway if need be.   

Exactly! Suddenly, we have a 4 tph service to Paddington from both Temple Meads and Parkway, taking full advantage of the four tracked Filton Bank - except for electrification of course. The stretch between Parkway and Westerleigh is going to see a fair bit more action, though, especially if the local stoppers from Weston to Parkway are extended to Yate or Gloucester.

...replaced all the short term parking spaces with a piattza

Did he mean 'pizza'?

I have eaten pizza in a piazza in both Rome and Venice, if that helps.

[Red Squirrel]

I've eaten pisa in the shadow of the Tower of Pizza...

[grahame]

Putting a Melksham hat on, at present its usually better to change at Swindon for onward travel to Reading or Paddington, rather than Chippenham, as this offers additional trains from South Wales as well as from Bristol. As I understand the proposals, a significant number of trains won't stop at Swindon, whether from Bristol via Bath, from Bristol via Parkway or from Wales. Hence there may be occasions when a change at Chippenham gets you there quicker, more complication for the less rail savvy, and less contingency for those more attuned to the timetable details. Gets even more problematic on the return.

Looking at what's planned, it will always remain better (or just as good) to change at Swindon on the way IN to Paddington - typically you'll change there into the train coming from Cheltenham Spa which may in the early days have rather better capacity that most of the others inbound from Swindon. This table is Melksham times with time connecting train arrives in London and where to change

Code:

Northbound
Current	2020	to PAD»  (Paddington (London) - next trains) 2020
	05:34	06:58 EIT	+ Useful, though not really top of the "yes, please" list
07:20	07:20	08:54 SWI»  (Swindon - next trains)
07:49	07:52	09:28 EIT
10:02	10:22	11:58 SWI	- 150 minute gap "shoulder peak" then 120 minutes during the day - perverse. Looses late commuter traffic.
12:03	12:22	13:58 SWI
12:36				- loss of a train - strange way to treat one of your best performing and hightest potential lines!
14:40	14:22	15:58 SWI
16:37	16:22	17:58 SWI	- not good for people coming in to Melksham to work
18:48	18:55	20:35 EIT	- evening peak gap extended from 130 to 155 minutes!
19:47	20:22	21:58 SWI	  Good in principle but kills day trip to Weymouth with 1 hour wait on way home at Westbury.

on the way back, most services are "change at either".   One is "change at Swindon" ... I would not trust the four minutes, but it's still "change at Swindon".  Exceptionally, the connection into the 19:12 arrival at Melksham is "change at CHIPPENHAM" as the 17:58 from Paddington is none stop to Chippenham.    The normal rule travelling from Reading to Melksham is to catch the train about 24 minutes later; exceptionally, for a 19:12 arrival in Melksham you'll need to catch the 18:07 from Reading and change at Swindon.

Code:

Southbound
Current	2020	ex PAD 2020

06:36	06:36	None
09:18	09:07	07:48 SWI (4 min connection, else 07:33 SWI)
			+ Good to have this a earlier as it may help commuter flexi-hours to Trowbridge. Also makes WEY connection
11:12	11:32	10:00 EIT
13:14	13:32	12:00 EIT
13:55				- loss of a train - strange way to treat one of your best performing and hightest potential lines!
15:45	15:32	14:00 EIT	- 15:30 FROM CHIPPENHAM is a key time with this; breaks educational return traffic
18:02	17:52	16:30 EIT	- 9 minutes earlier from Swindon an issue for some people
19:15	19:12	17:58 CPM»  (Chippenham - next trains)	(from RDG‡(resolve) at 18:07, SWI)
20:33	20:37	19:01 EIT

Good to see move towards 'clockface'
Some really poor stuff ("-" signs) - 5 ways to loose customers; a couple of improvements ("+")

Summary - continue to recommend SWINDON change on way into London.  On return, suggest customers stay on train to CHIPPENHAM if it's announced to call there, otherwise change at Swindon.    Logic - into London, better to be waiting at Swindon if the trains are disrupted and it's on the same platform; coming back, Chippenham is a same-platform interchange and if the Melksham train is seriously disrupted, that's where GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will offer you alternative road transport from.

[t0m]

Let’s hope this is the 16:42 that was planned for May 2016!

I spy at the end of May there seems to be a new 16:37 service which takes significantly longer than any other day time train making the journey..1hr45 from Paddington to Stroud vs 1hr27 for the 17:42. Hmm. It gets you in 2 minutes earlier than the current situation changing at Swindon, and the National Rail journeyplanner still recommends 16:45 to Swansea and changing at Swindon. Not quite the exciting new service I was hoping for!

[grahame]

Let’s hope this is the 16:42 that was planned for May 2016!

I spy at the end of May there seems to be a new 16:37 service which takes significantly longer than any other day time train making the journey..1hr45 from Paddington to Stroud vs 1hr27 for the 17:42. Hmm. It gets you in 2 minutes earlier than the current situation changing at Swindon, and the National Rail journeyplanner still recommends 16:45 to Swansea and changing at Swindon. Not quite the exciting new service I was hoping for!

Changes in May this year (2019) are hampered by the requirement for them to fit in with the current timetable structure.

The major revision in December is a new structure, and (in layman's term) starts with the philosophy that there are these new trains which make faster journey times possible, and their journeys to and from the capital will be scheduled first - including new journeys; the headlines will be frequency and "faster" even though we know they won't have a higher top speed - just better acceleration and less station dwell time.  As your Stroud train is an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) from London, you can be pretty sure that it, and each other hourly service, are planned to reach Stroud in under an hour and a half next year. 

The flip side is that remaining train services across the middle region where expresses are slicing back and forth across in new paths are being fitted in as "best" they can be; some of the changes are useful from a passenger viewpoint, but others seriously compromise current flows and development potential once the London services, the needs of the SLC^▸ (Service Level Commitment), the need for operational and business robustness on an ever-busier railway, the needs of freight, and the lack to timetabling resource right across the industry to take the time to look closely at issues beyond those listed are taken into account.

[grahame]

As your Stroud train is an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) from London, you can be pretty sure that it, and each other hourly service, are planned to reach Stroud in under an hour and a half next year. 

Here is the spec for Monday to Friday London via Stroud services ( http://gwr.passenger.chat/gwr_slc3b.pdf )

1.1 Services shall be provided between:
(a) London Paddington and Cheltenham Spa calling at Swindon, Kemble, Stroud, Stonehouse and Gloucester.

Route 1.1(a) (London Paddington and Cheltenham) - Mondays to Fridays

Between and including the Early and Late Services, eighteen services shall be provided from London Paddington at hourly intervals. The Late Service may be provided by a Connection at Swindon within ten minutes.

Maximum Journey Time: London Paddington - Cheltenham
1 hour 55 minutes with six exceptions of 2 hours

No specific timing given to Stroud, but I think the Stroud call will be about half an hour before the train gets to Cheltenham Spa via Gloucester, won't it?

[t0m]

Interesting and all very helpful - thanks! I look forward to December then.. I might get a few minutes of my life back each day!

[stuving]

One point to consider about the May 19 (for once that's right however you read it!) timetable changes is when the various public sources of data become (in theory) reliable. I found a page on the NRE^‡(resolve) site that covers this, but so far I have not found a link to it (except in an RDG^‡(resolve) press release). However, looking at the dates and content it seems it is being kept up to date. It's here: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/184755.aspx

The page contains week-per-week information for each TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) about validity; this is GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s section, from the change onwards (there's more useful stuff for earlier weeks):

Saturday 18 May to Friday 24 May
At present we cannot confirm whether these services are correct. We expect correct information to be available from Tuesday 9 April.

Saturday 25 May to Friday 31 May
At present we cannot confirm whether these services are correct. We expect correct information to be available from Tuesday 16 April.

Saturday 1 June to Friday 7 June
At present we cannot confirm whether these services are correct. We expect correct information to be available from Tuesday 23 April.

The current agreed timetabling timetable is for freeze at T-10, with TOCs allowed until T-6 to get their systems in line with that. We are currently between these two dates for May 19th (10th March and 7th April). I'm not sure when the WTT^▸ (Working Time-Table) as it appears in the data feeds, hence on sites such as RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website), is known to be in line with the agreed timetable - it must be in that interval, but may not be right at the start. So some caution is still required in taking trains' timings from there as gospel.

ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) did a review last year (report published 25/5/2018) of the "Informed Traveller" principle and how it was (or rather wasn't) being met. You may like to see what NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and the TOCs were meant to be doing, and comparing it with current performance.

[Adelante_CCT]

Let’s hope this is the 16:42 that was planned for May 2016!

I spy at the end of May there seems to be a new 16:37

Changes in May this year (2019) are hampered by the requirement for them to fit in with the current timetable structure

This new 16:3716:36 service, as Graham has stated, fits into the existing schedule, by removing the current 16:36 to Didcot

To counter balance it, I also spy a new 09:19 service from Cheltenham arriving Paddington at 11:32

[CMRail]

Let’s hope this is the 16:42 that was planned for May 2016!

I spy at the end of May there seems to be a new 16:37

Changes in May this year (2019) are hampered by the requirement for them to fit in with the current timetable structure

This new 16:3716:36 service, as Graham has stated, fits into the existing schedule, by removing the current 16:36 to Didcot

To counter balance it, I also spy a new 09:19 service from Cheltenham arriving Paddington at 11:32

(Late reply, sorry, haven’t been on here for a long time)

I have noticed this and since booked tickets next month to travel on it. Perfect for my weekend and leisure travels as I don’t want to be up too early but 10:51 always seems too late!

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) shows that, as from May, 1P17 0808 Didcot Parkway – Paddington (which calls Cholsey – Tilehurst) ceases to run.  This train lost the will to live at the last timetable change when it was booked to sit in Reading for 22 minutes (in the middle of the morning rush hour) thus making it useless as a through train for passengers west of Reading.

One hopes RTT is wrong or at least not yet complete, but as from May it’s currently showing a 46 minute gap for up trains for Cholsey – Tilehurst passengers in the morning peak (eg at Pangbourne nothing from 0804 to 0850).   

This is clearly unacceptable.

Later - this gap also appears to contravene the service level commitment of an interval of not more than 30 minutes.

[lordgoata]

What the hell ... if I read that right, my options from Goring to Maidenhead between 0600 and 0800 will go from:

0628
0644
0651
0703
0732
0745
0800

to:

0644
0715
0745

Is that really right ?! Most people into London usually get the 0651 which runs fast from Maidenhead to London .. are there now no (semi-) fast services direct from Chosley, Goring, Pangbourne & Tilehurst to Paddington?

I'm by no means a timetable expert or RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) expert, so hope I made some mistakes with my searches.

[IndustryInsider]

Don't trust RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) for trains at any distance more than a couple of days in the future, as there are often ommissions.  Another search for another day in late May gives different results.  A search on National Rail Enquiries gives much better accuracy, and all the options lordgoata lists that apply now are still there.  There does look to be a 45-minute gap that Gordon the Blue Engine describes though just after 8am.  Again, though that might suddenly be filled nearer the time.

[lordgoata]

Phew! Thanks II