New direct hourly trains - Cannock and Walsall to London

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the Express and Star

A new train service will take passengers direct from Walsall to London as part of a raft of timetable changes in the West Midlands.

Starting at Rugeley Trent Valley, the train will depart hourly and mean people travelling to the capital from Walsall, Cannock or Hednesford will no longer have to change in Birmingham.

And a reduced waiting time on the West Coast Mainline at Northampton will mean anybody travelling from the West Midlands to London will see their journey times reduced.

Are there places in the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area from where a regular direct London service would make sense, or do we already all of those that are realistic?

How do occasional London service stations fare under the new SLC^▸ (Service Level Commitment) / timetables?   Ashchurch? Newquay? Tenby?

[jamestheredengine]

From the Express and Star

A new train service will take passengers direct from Walsall to London as part of a raft of timetable changes in the West Midlands.

Starting at Rugeley Trent Valley, the train will depart hourly and mean people travelling to the capital from Walsall, Cannock or Hednesford will no longer have to change in Birmingham.

And a reduced waiting time on the West Coast Mainline at Northampton will mean anybody travelling from the West Midlands to London will see their journey times reduced.

So what this really is is daisy-chaining a semi-fast Rugeley-Birmingham service, a semi-fast Birmingham-Northampton, and a semi-fast Northampton-London.

Are there places in the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area from where a regular direct London service would make sense, or do we already all of those that are realistic?

I don't see the same scope for daisy-chaining-style through services, mainly because the non-InterCity services between the edge of Network SouthEast and Bristol were so comprehensively killed off.

But I'd offer Severn Tunnel Junction and Pontyclun as two ORCATS^▸ (Operational Research Computerised Allocation of Tickets to Services) raids waiting to happen, if GWR were ever so inclined.

[grahame]

So what this really is is daisy-chaining a semi-fast Rugeley-Birmingham service, a semi-fast Birmingham-Northampton, and a semi-fast Northampton-London.

Are there places in the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area ...

I don't see the same scope for daisy-chaining-style through services, ....

Not pure daisy chains ... but some interesting 10 cars off London becoming 5 on the way. Perhaps 2030s stuff.
London - Bedwyn; Bedwyn - Westbury; Westbury - Weymouth.
London - (semifast) Exeter; Exeter - Paignton (stopper).
London - Cheltenham Spa; Cheltenham Spa - Great Malvern.