May 2023 timetable

[whole diary]

[Richard Fairhurst]

The GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) timetable for May has appeared on RealTimeTrains. A few observations from this part of the network...

Good news: half-hourly Gloucester to Bristol; hourly Worcester to Bristol.

Also good news: Slough stops removed from Cotswold/fast Oxford services; Reading stops reinstated on most evening peak down services (the 16.58 from Paddington still runs non-stop to Oxford).

Bad news: reduced Hereford to Paddington services, with one train withdrawn throughout (the 04.49) and another starting at Malvern instead.

What else has anyone noticed?

[bobm]

This was mentioned at a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) meeting yesterday.

The message was any services shown should be treated with a pinch of salt.  While it is a guide there are still negotiations going on which could see services added or removed.   No timescale was given before what is on line is the finished product.

[ChrisB]

A draft timetable needed loading for t-12. Negotiations continue until such times at NR^» (Network Rail - home page) say no more. This can be later now without the pocket timetable deadline.

[didcotdean]

Looking at Didcot as it stands here (accept above caveats):
Reduction of service to Bristol Temple Meads to hourly from half-hourly. Probably has an effect for people traveling to/from the West connecting for Oxford (not to mention split ticketers!)
Clustering of fast services off-peak to Paddington into a 12 minute period. Ex Oxford XX14, Ex Cheltenham XX16 Ex Bristol XX26, then over three-quarters of an hour gap. (Somewhat better spacing in opposite direction)
Other strange gaps eg nearly an hour between 08:26 and 09:17.

[Zoe]

The early morning  fast Plymouth service is no more.  Instead, there will be 0600 via Bristol service, calling at Reading, Didcot  Parkway, Swindon, Chippenham, Bath Spa, Bristol Temple Meads, Bridgwater, Taunton, Tiverton Parkway,  Exeter St Davids, Newton  Abbot, Plymouth and as then as before  to  Penzance.  This does however still provide an arrival in Plymouth  before 1000 which I believe was one of the reasons the current 0637 was introduced.

A three hour public journey time to  Plymouth will still be possible though with the 1004 to run non-stop between Reading and Exeter (as it used to do when it was the 1006 Cornish Riviera before December  2019) with a public arrival time in Plymouth of 1304 (1305 WTT^▸ (Working Time-Table)).

[DaveHarries]

The GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) timetable for May has appeared on RealTimeTrains. A few observations from this part of the network...

Good news: half-hourly Gloucester to Bristol; hourly Worcester to Bristol.

Also good news: Slough stops removed from Cotswold/fast Oxford services; Reading stops reinstated on most evening peak down services (the 16.58 from Paddington still runs non-stop to Oxford).

Bad news: reduced Hereford to Paddington services, with one train withdrawn throughout (the 04.49) and another starting at Malvern instead.

What else has anyone noticed?

Not GWR related (sorry!) but the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) Manchester Piccadilly services are shown as hourly with some running to / from Paignton.

Dave

[ChrisB]

A three hour public journey time to  Plymouth will still be possible though with the 1004 to run non-stop between Reading and Exeter (as it used to do when it was the 1006 Cornish Riviera before December  2019) with a public arrival time in Plymouth of 0904 (0905 WTT^▸ (Working Time-Table)).

Do you want to try that again? 

Or has concorde been hired? 

[Zoe]

Do you want to try that again? 

Edited, I was thinking too much about that early arrival into Plymouth when I was typing that.

[Zoe]

Not GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) related (sorry!) but the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) Manchester Piccadilly services are shown as hourly with some running to / from Paignton.

Also seems Plymouth is finally back to hourly throughout the day after what will have been more  than  three years with some two hour gaps in service.  Not sure about the diagramming but could this mean more single  Voyager workings?

[DaveHarries]

Also seems Plymouth is finally back to hourly throughout the day after what will have been more  than  three years with some two hour gaps in service.

Indeed so but less trains down from Cardiff Central too as a result.

Another one I have just noticed.

1C36 (2202 London Paddington - Plymouth, via. Swindon & Bristol TM^‡(resolve), arr. 0217) is curtailed to Bristol Temple Meads arr. 2336. An additional service is shown which will be 1C66 (2348 Bristol Temple Meads - Exeter St. Davids, via. Weston-s-Mare, arr. 0116).

Dave

[Richard Fairhurst]

A three hour public journey time to  Plymouth will still be possible though with the 1004 to run non-stop between Reading and Exeter (as it used to do when it was the 1006 Cornish Riviera before December  2019) with a public arrival time in Plymouth of 0904 (0905 WTT^▸ (Working Time-Table)).

Do you want to try that again? 

Or has concorde been hired? 

You misunderstand, Chris. It's 0904 the next day. It's GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s last attempt to get some use out of the 769s and they've given them realistic timings for the journey to Plymouth. The typo was that Zoe intended to write "a twenty-three hour public journey time to Plymouth".

[bradshaw]

At first look the Heart of Wessex seems ti be going to a more regular two hourly service but with the loss of the first up from Weymouth
Plus an 0845 SO Swindon Weymouth and 1940 Weymouth Swindon return, the Wizard is back?

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/gb-nr:MDN/2023-05-24/0200-0159?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

[IndustryInsider]

Just on CrossCountry, it's good to see the Manchester<>Bournemouth going back to hourly, instead of half of them only going as far as Reading.  And a limited number on the Reading<>York/Newcastle being reinstated at last, though still nowhere near as many as there were and none extending to/from Southampton.  Perhaps some more will pop into RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) as time goes by?

The Bristol<>Manchester axis sees a long overdue return to a pretty much hourly service to supplement the Devon/Cornwall to Scotland hourly service, rather than the current handful going to either Birmingham or Manchester.

I expect this will mean the end to most double Voyager sets though, so almost back to where we were pre-Covid!

[Mark A]

Warminster's through train(s) from and to London Waterloo not (as yet) in the timetable, but that might be a Hook-related thing perhaps.

Mark

[Hafren]

Looks like GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s increased service to Carmarthen is happening. And Saturdays to Pembroke Dock.

Warminster's through train(s) from and to London Waterloo not (as yet) in the timetable, but that might be a Hook-related thing perhaps.

Mark

It looks like not all TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) have uploaded yet. Either that or TfW's crew shortages have come to a head and they've abandoned Cardiff!