December 2019 timetable recast

[whole diary]

[Timmer]

Firstly, many thanks to Industry Insider for his excellent summary of forthcoming changes to IC^▸ (Inter City) and Thames Valley services and to Graham for his summary of the mainly local ex Wessex Trains services.

Sadly after reading what Graham has posted I feel somewhat underwhelmed that once again the local services part of the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) franchise isn’t seeing much in the way of improvements.

In fact, the main improvements that affect parts of the Cardiff-Portsmouth and Bristol-Weymouth lines come this May from another franchise that being SWR^» (South Western Railway - about). See https://www.southwesternrailway.com/~/media/files/other/news/2019/march/may-2019-timetables/west-of-england-may-2019-tt-changes.pdf?la=en

Disappointed that it looks like nothing has been done to lessen the three hour gap on the Weymouth line.

I applaud SWR for the very detailed listing of all the changes they are making in May and can but hope that GWR do likewise the nearer we get to the December TT change.

[Adrian]

Subject to NR^» (Network Rail - home page) validation, from Cardiff the Taunton (with some now going beyond) departures are at xx:00, and the Portsmouth's around xx:30.  The two London trains are generally at xx:19 and xx:47.  So quite a spread compared with now where the Portsmouth and Cardiff services leave only a few minutes behind a London departure.

Thanks for the information. 

Will the South Wales departures from Paddington remain at xx:15 and xx:45?  If so, they will be running pretty much in the current paths of Portsmouth / Taunton to Cardiff services west of Bristol.  Reason I'm interested in these details is that I'm reliant on connections with the Hereford line at Newport.  If timings stay the same at the London end, I reckon the Newport connections with trains from London may be generally better, perhaps worse with trains from BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains).

[bobm]

No, you have not been unlucky.  In the Up direction the Signalling System ARS^▸ (Automatic Route Setting)......

There’s a reason why signallers say there is an E in ARS. 

[IndustryInsider]

Will the South Wales departures from Paddington remain at xx:15 and xx:45?  If so, they will be running pretty much in the current paths of Portsmouth / Taunton to Cardiff services west of Bristol.  Reason I'm interested in these details is that I'm reliant on connections with the Hereford line at Newport.  If timings stay the same at the London end, I reckon the Newport connections with trains from London may be generally better, perhaps worse with trains from BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains).

They're likely to be xx:18 and xx:48 from Paddington, but because of the decreased journey times they leave Bristol Parkway generally at xx:03 and xx:39 so a few minutes ahead of now, and with a 19-23 minute journey time to Newport.

[broadgage]

No, you have not been unlucky.  In the Up direction the Signalling System ARS^▸ (Automatic Route Setting)......

There’s a reason why signallers say there is an E in ARS. 

EARS ?

[Adrian]

Is ARS^▸ (Automatic Route Setting) going to get any smarter over time?  It doesn't take a massive amount of compute power to think 10 minutes and several future train moves ahead, does it?

[SandTEngineer]

Is ARS^▸ (Automatic Route Setting) going to get any smarter over time?  It doesn't take a massive amount of compute power to think 10 minutes and several future train moves ahead, does it?

That will probably come with ETCS^▸ (European Train Control System)/ERTMS^▸ (European Rail Traffic Management System.) in 20xx.........  Oh, hang on a minute we won't be part of the EU^» (European Union - about) by then, so who knows.  They might not want to share the technology with us by then, except at a price of course.

I'll quietly depart the room with my cynics hat on

[ellendune]

Whether we are in or out (and I make no prediction on that), manufacturers will be producing the equipment for ETCS^▸ (European Train Control System)/ERTMS^▸ (European Rail Traffic Management System.) as their standard product. I suspect even the non-EU^» (European Union - about) manufacturers will do so as it represents a large market with a single standard.  A number of European Standards have been adopted as ISO standards for that reason.

If we want to specify something else then we will have to pay extra for it - probably a lot extra.  So I reckon we will adopt it either way. 

[stuving]

Is ARS^▸ (Automatic Route Setting) going to get any smarter over time?  It doesn't take a massive amount of compute power to think 10 minutes and several future train moves ahead, does it?

Well, Network Rail have been trying to acquire some of this stuff for a while, with not a lot to show for it yet. But Roger Ford's view, having talked to those involved, is that some progress is now visible

Route setting, even if automatic, is really just creating paths - flipping the switches across the panel so a train gets from A to B. Above that are a number of functions that should direct the ARS - doing conflict resolution, optiimisation, or more generally traffic management. It seems that industry has had a number of problem with this (including what to call it), and one of those is our old friend interfacing. Buying interlockings and several higher-level components from a variety of makers means fixing interface definitions in advance, and limits how closely the bits can cooperate. Fewer bits, with more in them from one maker, seems to work better. We'll see.

All of that applies with or without ERTMS^▸ (European Rail Traffic Management System.) - which really adds one main feature: being able to talk to a train and tell it when to be at X and at what speed.

[ellendune]

This is very much the reason we have standards. 

Go back to the time every nut and bolt was hand made to fit each other, later companies developed their own standards, but there was no interchangeability. This in 1841 Joseph Whitworth published a standard that revolutionised manufacturing industry in this country. Suddenly you cold buy a nut and bolt from different suppliers and they would fit. 

That appears to be where we are with railway signalling/control/management systems at the moment - making the first steps into interchangeability by specifying the interfaces.  Hugely more complicated it may be than a screw thread, but just as important.  Once you have interchangeability manufacturers will know that their kit interfaces with other manufacturers and innovators will be able to develop new kit that will interface with existing systems. 

That is why I predict that the standards behind ETCS^▸ (European Train Control System)/ERTMS^▸ (European Rail Traffic Management System.) will continue to be used in this country, but will eventually become ISO standards applicable across the world.

Maintaining old kit like the radio signalling on the North of Scotland line and the GW^▸ (Great Western) ATP^▸ (Automatic Train Protection) is expensive because they are non standard and the parts have to be bespoke made.  If, in 20 years time, a part goes wrong on the now new Mid Wales radio signalling, then I would expect it could be easily replaced with a modern off the shelf part from any of a number of manufacturers.

If NR^» (Network Rail - home page) decides it wants something different it would be like going back to hand made screw threads in 1841 - very expensive. 

 

[Timmer]

The new GW^▸ (Great Western) timetable is now appearing on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website). Usual caution that this is raw data and subject to change but gives you a chance to see what’s likely to be running from your local station from mid December.

[IndustryInsider]

Well spotted, Timmer.  Looks to be reasonably accurate, but yes, expect a few changes here and there.

[bobm]

Indeed - looks like a nearly normal service through Swindon on Christmas Day - (Swindon - next trains)/2019/12/25/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt" target="_blank">http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced/SWI/2019/12/25/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt 

Looking at the broader timetable it seems many of the "extra" services between Bristol and London, which we know may well not start in December, are in the timetable as "unadvertised expresses".

[martyjon]

Indeed - looks like a nearly normal service through Swindon on Christmas Day - (Swindon - next trains)/2019/12/25/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt" target="_blank">http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced/SWI/2019/12/25/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt 

Looking at the broader timetable it seems many of the "extra" services between Bristol and London, which we know may well not start in December, are in the timetable as "unadvertised expresses".

Ah! Perhaps it was a bulk loading to be tidied up in the future when Christmas and New Year travel arrangements are put on the system.

I note a number of Paddington - Bristol - Weston Super Mare services routed non-stop to Bristol Parkway.

[grahame]

The new GW^▸ (Great Western) timetable is now appearing on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website). Usual caution that this is raw data and subject to change but gives you a chance to see what’s likely to be running from your local station from mid December.

Many thanks ... I have taken a local look for Melksham (of course!) and posted {{here}}