December 2019 timetable recast

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

Having had a chance this evening to look through the RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) data I know personally a few people who are not going to be impressed at the large drop in Bristol Parkway/Cardiff services stopping at Didcot as shown.

Apart from a handful at the ends of the day and a couple in the evening peak these have gone altogether. Of course journeys are possible changing at Swindon, but there hasn't been a timetable anything like this since the early 2000s. This certainly was not the impression given by the indicative IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) full service diagrams put out previously; indeed an early one of these had the Cardiff service stopping at Didcot and then non-stop to Paddington!

This stop has in effect been transferred to the second Bristol TM^‡(resolve) service making this two an hour through most of the day.

I think this was due to issues with providing enough freight paths.  Certainly the original intention was to run one from Didcot to Cardiff per hour and one to Bristol, as now.  It's a big loss in terms of ease of getting to South Wales from both Oxford and Didcot and hopefully can be rectified - though to counter that, as you say, the service to Bristol TM improves to 2tph.  The PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)>CDF^» (Cardiff - next trains) services generally have a lot of pathing allowances west of Bristol Parkway so I am guessing it has proven difficult to shoehorn them in?

[JayMac]

The 2 minute headways on the main out of Paddington are going to be interesting in practice.

[Adrian]

Another downside of the new timetable is that the acceleration of the PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) - CDF^» (Cardiff - next trains)/SWA^» (Swansea - next trains) services means that many BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) - CDF services need to be re-timed to run after them rather than before them, worsening connections with the Hereford line at Newport.

According to RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website), early evening 'connections' at Newport will look like this:
arr from BRI: 1701, 1730, 1804, 1831, 1910
dep to HFD^» (Hereford - next trains): 1701, 1731, 1803, 1835, 1909

Until there is a re-cast of the Marches Line timetable, I guess there's not much scope to fix this.

[SandTEngineer]

The 2 minute headways on the main out of Paddington are going to be interesting in practice.

That will never work.  The current three minute headway usually gets snarled up somewhere en-route to Reading and then there's Heathrow Express.......

Most mainlines run to a five minute headway with a 10 minute recovery gap every hour to give some breathing room for slight delays.

A quick look at mid-week Far-Southwest services shows a slowing up of overall times to/from Paddington.  For example, back in the 'good old days' the Up Golden Hind Pullman was 0700 off Plymouth, Paddington arrive 0955.  Its new equivalent is 0652 off Plymouth, Paddington arrive 0959.  We seem to have also gone back 40 years to 10 minute stops on most through journeys at Plymouth to allow for set coupling/uncoupling (loco and coach dividing of course in the 'old days').

Be interesting how long it all lasts before it starts to get 'tweeked' again.......

Edit to add: In the peak hour 0800 to 0900 there are going to be 58 scheduled train movements into/out of Paddington.  That will take some doing and require spot on timekeeping and train dispatch proceedures, not something the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) rail industry is renowned for (I'll take my cynics hat off for a while now).

[stuving]

Edit to add: In the peak hour 0800 to 0900 there are going to be 58 scheduled train movements into/out of Paddington.  That will take some doing and require spot on timekeeping and train dispatch proceedures, not something the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) rail industry is renowned for (I'll take my cynics hat off for a while now).

That's the number I get, for everything that's not a bus (and including depot moves). And in the current timetable that number is ... 57!

[SandTEngineer]

Edit to add: In the peak hour 0800 to 0900 there are going to be 58 scheduled train movements into/out of Paddington.  That will take some doing and require spot on timekeeping and train dispatch proceedures, not something the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) rail industry is renowned for (I'll take my cynics hat off for a while now).

That's the number I get, for everything that's not a bus (and including depot moves). And in the current timetable theat number is ... 57!

Yes, but more of them need to cross paths to get to/from the Mains to the lower numbered platforms!

However, STUVING I must learn not to be too over critical of the MDTR, after all BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) failed at every step it took didn't it

[stuving]

If you look at the hour 1400 to 1500, the total number of movements will go up from the current 43 to 57. So a key point about these extra paths/trains is that they mainly run outside the peaks.

In that peak* hour there are about 30 arrivals of which about 10 are on the reliefs. But one other expected change is the loss of most of the semifasts, leaving room for some extra long-distance trains even in the peak. Twyford and Maidenhead now look to have* (I expect someone more concerned will check this) only one true semifast, the rest are demisemifasts.

* 0800 to 0900 - other peaks hours are available

[WSW Frome]

I have been looking at the (draft) Dec 19 timetables on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) with my particular interest in Heart of Wessex services. I was expecting little change as predicted and that is largely the case. I have not yet looked at WSB^» (Westbury - next trains) connections.

Those party animals in Trowbridge, Westbury and Frome will now get more drinking time. The late service now leaves BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) at 23.45, FRO^» (Frome - next trains) 00.45. Good in some respects, less so in others! SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) residents not too jealous please.

The more serious issue is the missing 20.21 WEY-BRI on Mo-Fr. I sincerely hope this is an error since otherwise we have a major service reduction. It does seem incredible that the last service will now apparently be at 17.23 which is slightly earlier than currently. Although not usually busy this service clearly provides a public good. Young people often travel Dorchester to Maiden Newton after a social night or study night. Travellers heading West will change at Castle Cary. I can and possibly will list more later.
 
I have congratulated GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) on running the current service at a reasonable time, allowing some evening activity in Weymouth, Dorchester or Yeovil. This is better than the BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) post-Beeching offer which was at 19.33 in a loco-hauled mail train timing.

The other strange issue is that the three inbound evening trains to WEY, all still run apparently delivering an "extra" set to WEY.

The only mitigating factor is the late SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) service from Castle Cary  to WSB/SAL but this does not address the main market.

[Timmer]

Is this the train you are looking for WSW Frome?
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Y96048/2019/12/16/advanced
Now the 2015 service all the way to Gloucester arriving at 2338! Now there’s a service for some late evening Turbo action, a journey from Weymouth all the way to Gloucester.

[Robin Summerhill]

One thing that I noticed, and I believe Graham picked up on it some time ago as well, is that the 2O00 1741 Cheltenham to Southampton via Melksham will be starting from Gloucester from December. This breaks a useful connection off a southbound NE/SW XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) train.

Whilst a connection is still made with with a Nottingham to Cardiff XC train at Gloucester, anyone coming from further north than Derby needs to Change twice (Brum or Cheltenham and Gloucester) rather than just the one change at Cheltenham at present.

[The Grecian]

Whilst I'm not aware the Heart of Wessex is scheduled for any notable improvements, I'd be very surprised if the service was reduced as I haven't seen anything to suggest it would. Cutting first or last trains definitely wouldn't go down well.

Compared to the improvement on many other rural lines (Barnstaple and Looe for instance), it's striking how little improvement there's been on that line over the years in any case. All year round Sunday services (albeit having travelled on a few I can see why they didn't run before) and using a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) on the summer Saturday special were admittedly improvements. However my 1991-92 timetable shows the same number of trains running then as now, and an all stations service then took 2 hours 11 minutes. It's usually at least 10 minutes longer now despite stopping at the exact same 18 stations as before. Not exactly progress.

It's fairly obvious why - resources are concentrated at the busier northern end of the line and it shares tracks with the Great Western, Devon & Cornwall direct and South Western mainlines, so local trains have to be flighted between intercity services and have to travel over a 30 mile single line, meaning long waits at any of Dorchester West, Maiden Newton, Yeovil Pen Mill, Castle Cary, Frome or Westbury on numerous trains. I can understand that and the fact the line is never going to be a priority but it's still annoying. The Turbos are hardly a step up either with 2+3 seating and air conditioning which makes the 158s look reliable - and the higher 90mph top speed isn't going to make any discernible difference if you stop 19 times in 87 miles, particularly given that only Bristol-Bath, Westbury-Castle Cary and Dorchester-Weymouth allow over 75mph running anyway.

Ah well nevermind. The improvements on other rural lines are still welcome.

[phile]

Is this the train you are looking for WSW Frome?
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Y96048/2019/12/16/advanced
Now the 2015 service all the way to Gloucester arriving at 2338! Now there’s a service for some late evening Turbo action, a journey from Weymouth all the way to Gloucester.

It's booked a 158 at the moment but mass changes in the pipeline involving that class

[WSW Frome]

So many thanks to Timmer for waving the magic wand and reinstating the later Mo-Fr evening service WEY-BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains)/GCR^» (Gloucester - next trains). I can assure everyone that this service was not in the RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) listing (along the route) last Sunday or early Monday evening. I looked several times.

The timing for this revised service at 20.15 is shown as a Class 150, not a 158 as current. So the journey is about 5 mins longer to WSB^» (Westbury - next trains). Mind you the 158 timings nearly always get delayed now - for no apparent reason of hold-ups or excess passengers. As the departure is now closer to the previous arrival at 20.06, let us hope there is no waiting around for a delayed incomer just to give the WSB crew a lift back home. The 20.21/20.15 train is normally formed from the previous incoming unit. 

 

[dhassell]

From December, Pilning services change from 08:34 (Taunton) to 08:32 to Penzance and from 15:34 (to Taunton) to become 14:32 to Taunton.
Notice the current 15:34 is now meant to pass Pilning at 15:30 from December but still arrives same time at Taunton.
One hour less to start with limits some of the possible day destinations straight away...

[phile]

So many thanks to Timmer for waving the magic wand and reinstating the later Mo-Fr evening service WEY-BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains)/GCR^» (Gloucester - next trains). I can assure everyone that this service was not in the RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) listing (along the route) last Sunday or early Monday evening. I looked several times.

The timing for this revised service at 20.15 is shown as a Class 150, not a 158 as current. So the journey is about 5 mins longer to WSB^» (Westbury - next trains). Mind you the 158 timings nearly always get delayed now - for no apparent reason of hold-ups or excess passengers. As the departure is now closer to the previous arrival at 20.06, let us hope there is no waiting around for a delayed incomer just to give the WSB crew a lift back home. The 20.21/20.15 train is normally formed from the previous incoming unit. 


It will probably be worked by a Turbo which use the 150/3/5/6 timings.  As the plan goes (subject to late running) there will be no 158s in the area.     How are we discussing this on 2 different threads on 2 different boards