December 2019 timetable recast

[whole diary]

[stuving]

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) isn't the only area getting big timetable changes on December 15th. Something similar (though quite different) is happening on TER Hauts-de-France. An example has got into the news, where the commuter village of Templeuve-en-Pévèle is up in arms - and in a very French way,  First, for a passenger count of 675,000 pa,  they collected over 6000 names in a petition - more than the population, though they do have a bit of a bus interchange there. Then, not having got anything changed, the village's maire resigned in protest, calling it contempt for them by SNCF^▸ (Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais - French National Railways).

At first sight they have not too much to complain about; they will lose 17 trains from their daily service of 72. (Unlike the next-door villages of Nomain and Ennevelin, which will have one train a day each way to Lille, but now also have a train or two to/from Valenciennes.) But what SNCF are doing is more of a change of philosophy - more regular patterns, or as they put it "mobility simplified, rich, and diverse". No, I'm not sure that's what I'd want either!

There will be four branded types of service (which I assume will be rolled out nationally): CITI (Metro-style services), PROXI (rural stopping), KRONO (regional limited stop) and KRONO+GV (the same but à grande vitesse -whatever that means). So Templeuve's three tph in the peaks, a  mix of stopping patterns with a couple non-stop to Lille in 11 minutes, becomes two tph most of the day, with none non-stop. It's alternating CITI - which all stop - and KRONO - which never do (but with some gaps mid-day).

But the real issue is, I suspect, that so many people will have to rejig complicated daily schedules involving several schools, workplaces, and relatives. It doesn't matter if it's better or worse, just being different leads to a lot of aggravation (and pleased people don't riot, or even complain much).

[grahame]

Timetables now online on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website.

Having taken a look at my local (B5) ... presentation by GWR is excellent.  This will be a very useful document indeed as a pocket timetable - the right compromise between showing just the local line and adding services to and via Salisbury and Frome.   Mirror at http://www.mrug.org.uk/B5Web20191215.pdf

[REVUpminster]

The Paignton-Exmouth Devon Metro is appalling as most commuters and shoppers will want to go to Exeter Central. One train is held 17 minutes at Dawlish Warren others at Newton Abbot and Exeter St David's so they can get an even time down to Exmouth.

It results in the all stopper Paignton - Exeter being as quick as the non-stopper. This timetable is a joke.

[Richard Fairhurst]

I see the paper timetables have acquired a new symbol: SF, for SuperFast. “Train makes fewer stops than normal. Check before you board to ensure that it stops at your destination.” On the Cotswold Line timetable, it’s applied to the evening peak services which miss out Reading.

(Let’s hope the new timetable doesn’t turn out to be a work of Science Fiction...)

[PhilWakely]

.....On the Cotswold Line timetable, it’s applied to the evening peak services which miss out Reading.

If only GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) would apply that to Friday afternoon services to Plymouth and beyond. All such services are still marked 'Pick Up Only' at Reading, which is blatently ignored. Of course, the problem would then be connections from Gatwick Airport.

[didcotdean]

T10 (Paddington to Reading and Didcot stoppers) marks in a cyan 'highlighter' background "Anytime ticket required when boarding this train here". However, there are still cross-London journeys where the off-peak return is valid on any train after 9:30.

TS uses the same colour scheme but makes it clear the information is valid for journeys to/from London only.

Maybe there are only a few passengers for whom this information is incorrect, but I can see this being used as 'evidence' to attempt to decline valid tickets.

[stuving]

T10 (Paddington to Reading and Didcot stoppers) marks in a cyan 'highlighter' background "Anytime ticket required when boarding this train here". However, there are still cross-London journeys where the off-peak return is valid on any train after 9:30.

TS uses the same colour scheme but makes it clear the information is valid for journeys to/from London only.

Maybe there are only a few passengers for whom this information is incorrect, but I can see this being used as 'evidence' to attempt to decline valid tickets.

I wondered whether they had read my comments that it would be simpler to show validity in timetables than the current method - defining complicated lists of veto times and hiding them in restriction codes, in some cases as unpublished restriction lists not visible any where on the NRE^‡(resolve) site. But maybe, having recently found the need to summarise the evening off-peak validity on a loose sheet, they already knew a clearer guide was needed. As a first attempt, I'd say it is confusing to use the two added colours (plus code A) differently in two two timetables, and then only put the legend in once - and nowhere need the very few pages it's used on, where there's plenty of space to repeat it.

I find the reaction there - in effect that putting this in timetables will somehow lead to RPIs^▸ (Revenue Protection Inspector (or Retail Price Index, depending on the context)) knowing less (gateline staff training is already a problem area) - rather odd. The real issue is that off-peak tickets will now only work on slow trains (at least in the high peak), whereas now almost all fast trains that stop before Reading are also available. So that's all the semifasts, plus a couple of others, taken out. That is a major change in the meaning of "off-peak" from now, far bigger than the removal of rather more favourable local time limits at some outer stations. That may be popular with Maidehead's commuters, though.

[SandTEngineer]

Has anybody managed to download a copy of T7?  It seems to be blank when I open the file.

[Richard Fairhurst]

I see the paper timetables have acquired a new symbol: SF, for SuperFast. “Train makes fewer stops than normal. Check before you board to ensure that it stops at your destination.” On the Cotswold Line timetable, it’s applied to the evening peak services which miss out Reading.

Looking at the other timetables, SuperFast appears to indicate a train that doesn't stop between Paddington and Chippenham (more often, Bristol Parkway), or Paddington and Oxford. There are no SuperFast services on the Berks & Hants or on the Golden Valley line.

Edit to add: "SuperFast" is a bit of an unimaginative brand name. Historic GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) usage seems to favour "Express", but I guess that could get confusing given that all the trains are InterCity Express Trains. "Flyer" a la Cheltenham would have been nice!

[Zoe]

Has anybody managed to download a copy of T7?  It seems to be blank when I open the file.

Working fine here now.

[SandTEngineer]

Has anybody managed to download a copy of T7?  It seems to be blank when I open the file.

Working fine here now.

Yes, thanks.  Seems to be working now.

[SandTEngineer]

There doesn't seem to be a timetable booklet that summarises the service between T7 and K.  i.e. if you want to change into/out of the new stopping service between Reading and Taunton to/from the far Southwest on the non-stop services you need to cross reference in both books.

[Timmer]

New timetables in the racks at Paddington. One word, impressed.

[Zoe]

There doesn't seem to be a timetable booklet that summarises the service between T7 and K.  i.e. if you want to change into/out of the new stopping service between Reading and Taunton to/from the far Southwest you need to cross reference in both books.

Also the main timetable from Taunton to Plymouth/Paignton no longer shows the local service between Exeter and Newton Abbot/Torbay, this now being in a separate timetable D1 (although this is included in booklet D).

[SandTEngineer]

There doesn't seem to be a timetable booklet that summarises the service between T7 and K.  i.e. if you want to change into/out of the new stopping service between Reading and Taunton to/from the far Southwest you need to cross reference in both books.

Also the main timetable from Taunton to Plymouth/Paignton no longer shows the local service between Exeter and Newton Abbot/Torbay, this now being in a separate timetable D1 (although this is included in booklet D).

Just found the one I searched for.  Its D DL.