South Western Railways - reductions west of Salisbury

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

I strongly suspect that the whole timetable for May has not yet been loaded. What is 5L97 (Axminster to Axminster) for instance? I guess that an Exeter TMD^▸ (Traction Maintenance Depot) to Axminster and Axminster to Barnstaple are yet to be loaded ??

Agreed. But there's no hint of Salisbury to Reading services instead of Salisbury to Waterloo. Nor Exeter to Reading services via the Yeovils.

[paul7575]

I strongly suspect that the whole timetable for May has not yet been loaded. What is 5L97 (Axminster to Axminster) for instance? I guess that an Exeter TMD^▸ (Traction Maintenance Depot) to Axminster and Axminster to Barnstaple are yet to be loaded ??

Agreed. But there's no hint of Salisbury to Reading services instead of Salisbury to Waterloo. Nor Exeter to Reading services via the Yeovils.

As I write there are now Salisbury to Reading services showing on Sundays, but morning and afternoon only, they’re showing in RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) on 15th May.  But they revert to Waterloo for the evening. 

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/gb-nr:SAL/to/gb-nr:RDG/2022-05-15/0200-0159?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt&toc=SW

I think pre-Covid this was explained as providing capacity towards London while the Waterloo approaches are undergoing weekly maintenance closures.  But there is only one passenger run towards Reading during Monday to Thursday evenings - it goes back empty.

Paul

[REVUpminster]

16 may 2022 2L by Robert, on Flickr

2L92 Barnstaple -Axminster is on real time from 16 may. This replaces the SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) 1746 to Axminster in the pre covid timetable.


The hourly Okehampton service is also on real time.

[JayMac]

I did say 'instead of'. A handful of services from Salisbury to Reading. Not a wholesale change to that destination instead of Waterloo.

[paul7575]

I did say 'instead of'. A handful of services from Salisbury to Reading. Not a wholesale change to that destination instead of Waterloo.

Apologies if that came across wrong, I was trying to highlight that they are the same Sunday services that were already in place a couple of years ago, for entirely non-Covid purposes.

So they’re still not a symptom of some sort of SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) or DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) service reduction conspiracy…

Paul

[grahame]

I have posted some general thoughts on most appropriate (most useful) discussion and campaigning at http://www.passenger.chat/25953sanityneeded which included a hefty chunk on "The Mule".  I am not crossposting the whole thing here, but to take a look, by all means quote here, and let's leave all the options on the table and discuss them .... now ....

[grahame]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Spotlight local news for the South West,on its lead story on Fridays tea time news an update about the Exeter to Salibury plans.

Persons interviewed

Bruce Duncan Salisbury to Exeter rail user group at Axminster station

Stewart Palmer director of rail future

Bryony Chetwode Travel watch south west

BBC local news availble for TWENTY FOURS ONLY on the i-player catch up thingy

Politics south west on Sunday morning should have an expanded version of the news item 

YES - available for 29 days ((here)) - from 9 minutes in to 18 minutes.

Starring ...

[PhilWakely]

It would appear that Journey Planners have the 'normal' timetable loaded from next Monday.

I had a very brief chat about the likely reintroduction of the 'normal' timetable with the TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context) on my train back from Exeter to Pinhoe yesterday. He was very frank and open with his comments. He said "I was told services would be back to normal by mid-February, but we all have our doubts".  He then went on to say that SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) are not particularly happy having to operate the route 'in such challenging conditions'. By that, he meant operating on long sections of single track, prone to landslips and flooding. He did like the 159s though.

[ChrisB]

‘Back to normail’…,

That’s not to full timetable, but the 85/92% timetable previously in use. The remaining services represent the 10% savings that the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) have demanded

[stuving]

It would appear that Journey Planners have the 'normal' timetable loaded from next Monday.

Remember that you could have said exactly the same last week, and the "17th January" timetable was not uploaded for this week until last Friday. The relevant page for SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) on the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) site says:

If you are travelling on days up to and including Sunday 6 February, you can check your journey using the National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner.

If you are travelling on days from Monday 7 February onwards, please check back closer towards your intended time of travel as the amended timetable has not yet been uploaded.

[IndustryInsider]

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) intent on keeping their emergency timetable until mid-Feb I believe.

[grahame]

From my mailbox with request "to share" ...

Subject: PMQ's today
 
A promise from the PM to restore hourly services to Waterloo from Sat 19 Feb.  I assume the PM means Monday 21 Feb as there’s already an hourly service at weekends.
Let’s also hope SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) confirm this!
 
Go to 12.29
BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) iPlayer - Watch BBC Parliament live - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcparliament?rewindTo=current

[bradshaw]

Also on YouTube, via Chris Loder’s Twitter account
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=uAlJDBbLzkM

[ChrisB]

"To Dec 2021 level" - now is that the initial Covid timetable or the published timetable for Dec21? Did that latter timetable ever get introduced properly in December? I can't remember

[paul7575]

I think the Dec 21 level of service is what you’d see with a query now, (2nd Feb), on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) for next week.

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/gb-nr:SAL/2022-02-07/0600-2000?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt&toc=SW

They cancel most of them and add the smaller number of running trains back in by STP action.