Briefing on forthcoming changes - from GWR on 14.3.2024

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Briefing from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) yesterday afternoon on their "Central Area" train services which includes Swindon and Wiltshire

* There are a couple of extra trains at peak times from London Paddington to Bristol Parkway, formed of 8 carriages of electric multiple units and calling at the intermediate stations the current trains serve.  The current trains will then call at fewer places

* The 10:04 (?) Paddington to Penzance will now leave at 10:02 and be superfast too, with a 10:04 train following and serving places like Reading, Taunton and Newton Abbott.  UPDATE - I added (?) for a reason - it's the train two hours later ... 12:03 super fast and 12:05 relief.

* There is a swap of a couple of the early morning Plymouth to London services between 9 and 5 car sets to match the loading more closely

* From mid September to mid December, a Saturday service will run from Bristol to Oxford (2 round trips), not calling at Didcot.

* Cross Country are not running to Newquay this summer, and GWR will run an extra round trip on the branch from Par on Saturdays to fill the gap.

* Sunday Looe branch services will resume in April

* For the next six Christmases, Paddington will be closed with stoppages between 2 and 18 days. GWR will be running some services (during the longer closures?) into an alternative terminal.  Not confirming which one yet

* Westbury will be shut for 30 days from the end of traffic on Christmas Eve this year (2024). I will start a separate thread on that.

* There is a 2 week plus stoppage of the Severn Tunnel for track works in July. Passengers are to be encouraged to reroute via Gloucester, and London to South Wales services will be routed that way.  For those who prefer, rail replacement buses will be provided but the emphasis will not be on having people use them; this should help alleviate supply problems as have been previously experienced (cynically, also cheaper to put people on the local train to Gloucester aand change there)

Early draft timetables for the next couple of changes have been provided to inform those of us at the meeting, but they are neither final 100% nor for general public release at the moment.  Significnatly, they cover only what GWR designate as main lines for their operational purposes and do not include Portsouth to Cardiff.

As ever - big THANK YOU to GWR for providing this briefing. Much appreciated.  That said, over the years the sessions have morphed from being interactive discussions into presentations followed by Q&A sessions, and there is now a need IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) to provide an interactive local level in the space vacated.

Footnote - I missed the engineering presentation at the start of the session as I was transferring from a train to a hotel and then fighting Microsoft Teams which had me trying to prove I was human - a difficult thing to do after a long train journey.   Some other members were at the meeting - please add pertinent points

[The Tall Controller]

It's the 1203 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-PNZ service which is having a relief service provided for it 

It'll run non-stop from Paddington to Exeter St Davids (to pick up only) then non-stop to Plymouth before all the usual stops in Cornwall.

It's relief service departs at 1205 stopping at Reading (to pick up only), Taunton, Exeter St Davids, Newton Abbot, Totnes and Plymouth.

[grahame]

It's the 1203 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-PNZ service which is having a relief service provided for it 

Thanks - I have updated my post to correct it.

[TonyK]

Kind of related, I found this Rail Express interview with Mark Hopwood on the future of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway). It covers all sorts of things from electrification to battery power to the Night Riviera, so it may already be posted somewhere, so I shan't quote. It's a very good read, although I suggest selecting the bits with a dark background with the mouse to better read them.

[PhilWakely]

It's the 1203 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-PNZ service which is having a relief service provided for it 

It'll run non-stop from Paddington to Exeter St Davids (to pick up only) then non-stop to Plymouth before all the usual stops in Cornwall.

It's relief service departs at 1205 stopping at Reading (to pick up only), Taunton, Exeter St Davids, Newton Abbot, Totnes and Plymouth.

A welcome addition, but I fail to see how the 'pick up only' requirement will be policed. Yes, I know that the stops will not be announced on the screens at Paddington, but this currently happens for all Friday afternoon services to the far west and yet there are always plenty of folk alighting at Reading.

[TaplowGreen]

It's the 1203 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-PNZ service which is having a relief service provided for it 

It'll run non-stop from Paddington to Exeter St Davids (to pick up only) then non-stop to Plymouth before all the usual stops in Cornwall.

It's relief service departs at 1205 stopping at Reading (to pick up only), Taunton, Exeter St Davids, Newton Abbot, Totnes and Plymouth.

A welcome addition, but I fail to see how the 'pick up only' requirement will be policed. Yes, I know that the stops will not be announced on the screens at Paddington, but this currently happens for all Friday afternoon services to the far west and yet there are always plenty of folk alighting at Reading.

It's never policed or enforced.

Probably less of an issue at lunchtime though.

[IndustryInsider]

It is an effective policy in that it lessens the number of people for Reading quite significantly on what there would be otherwise.

The 2h 51m journey time to Plymouth is nice to see for those calling for faster trains.

[grahame]

It is an effective policy in that it lessens the number of people for Reading quite significantly on what there would be otherwise.

The 2h 51m journey time to Plymouth is nice to see for those calling for faster trains.

Indeed.  And there are plenty of other trains from London to Reading, and there's the relief a couple of minutes behind to Exeter.  The only flows lost / changed by more than a few minutes are Reading, Taunton, Exeter, Newton Abbott and Totnes to stations beyond Plymouth.  Plenty of other direct journeys for these - just not that particular hour.

[TaplowGreen]

It is an effective policy in that it lessens the number of people for Reading quite significantly on what there would be otherwise.

The 2h 51m journey time to Plymouth is nice to see for those calling for faster trains.

That assertion will bring a wry smile to the face of anyone who's travelled on the 1904 Plymouth service on a Friday! 

As I said, less of an issue at midday without the commuters.

The faster journey time to Plymouth is welcome however likely to be temporary until work starts in earnest at Old Oak Common on the Acton-Solihull express.

[a-driver]

Considering the difficult they are currently experiencing, and have done so for a while, in providing enough sets to cover the diagrams, one wonders how often the 1203 will be cancelled with passengers put onto the 1205?

[IndustryInsider]

That assertion will bring a wry smile to the face of anyone who's travelled on the 1904 Plymouth service on a Friday! 

In your experience has that been a problem in the last four years since COVID?  I only ask as I specifically took a look at it on a couple of Friday evenings last year and there was a decent amount of room on board for a train that time of day, and only a handful of people alighting at Reading - though happy to be corrected if that's not usually the case?

The faster journey time to Plymouth is welcome however likely to be temporary until work starts in earnest at Old Oak Common on the Acton-Solihull express.

You've lost me there.  Can you elaborate?

[GBM]

The faster journey time to Plymouth is welcome however likely to be temporary until work starts in earnest at Old Oak Common on the Acton-Solihull express.

You've lost me there.  Can you elaborate?

Our local media have been highlighting the probable delays with the Old Oak HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) Interchange building.
Also talk from said media that West Country trains could be sent into Euston to avoid the delays and possible bus replacement or shuttle replacement into Paddington.

[stuving]

The faster journey time to Plymouth is welcome however likely to be temporary until work starts in earnest at Old Oak Common on the Acton-Solihull express.

You've lost me there.  Can you elaborate?

Our local media have been highlighting the probable delays with the Old Oak HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) Interchange building.
Also talk from said media that West Country trains could be sent into Euston to avoid the delays and possible bus replacement or shuttle replacement into Paddington.

For example Plymouth Live yesterday, with a local MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) playing the "we in the SW are always victims" card again:

Rail passengers in the South West could face a "decade of disruption" because of the Government's 'hidden' plans to build a new High Speed 2 rail station alongside the Great Western mainline in west London, a Plymouth MP has claimed.

In a letter to the Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper MP, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport MP Luke Pollard has claimed the government’s plan to build the station at Old Oak Common for High Speed 2 services would result in disruption and longer journeys for passengers travelling from the South West to the capital on the Great Western line.

Mr Pollard also warned that the construction of Old Oak Common would inevitably involve a large number of weekend closures of the line between Reading and London Paddington which would "significantly damage the rail service" to the South West and Wales - and asked if the Government had not made the potential damage known publicly ahead of a General Election.

[Hafren]

* There are a couple of extra trains at peak times from London Paddington to Bristol Parkway, formed of 8 carriages of electric multiple units and calling at the intermediate stations the current trains serve.  The current trains will then call at fewer places

The benefits of this go well beyond a quicker journey. I've just checked RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) and the 16:18 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-SWA^» (Swansea - next trains) being 'superfast' gives it a much better path:

• It leaves CDF^» (Cardiff - next trains) before the stoppers that is current follows, giving it much better timings west of CDF, along with avoiding the performance risk associated with delays to those stoppers. (OTOH^▸ (On The Other Hand) if it is 10 mins late it could still be stuck behind them)
• It will go through to CMN, replacing the 1548 through journey. In fact the SWA-CMN part of the journey is in the same path, as the 1548 had a half-hour wait at SWA, so a much quicker through journey. The 1548 also runs close to a Milford Haven service, so it is in a way pointless except for those who really wanted the through train, as the quickest option for CMN is to transfer to the Milford.
• It's currently booked a 5 car, and I assume that won't be changing as the CMN leg doesn't show a split on RTT (assuming it's correct). It's usually fine west of CDF that side of 6pm but removing the RDG^‡(resolve) & SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) stops would probably help with loading on the busier part of the journey.

[TaplowGreen]

The faster journey time to Plymouth is welcome however likely to be temporary until work starts in earnest at Old Oak Common on the Acton-Solihull express.

You've lost me there.  Can you elaborate?

Our local media have been highlighting the probable delays with the Old Oak HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) Interchange building.
Also talk from said media that West Country trains could be sent into Euston to avoid the delays and possible bus replacement or shuttle replacement into Paddington.

For example Plymouth Live yesterday, with a local MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) playing the "we in the SW are always victims" card again:

Rail passengers in the South West could face a "decade of disruption" because of the Government's 'hidden' plans to build a new High Speed 2 rail station alongside the Great Western mainline in west London, a Plymouth MP has claimed.

In a letter to the Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper MP, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport MP Luke Pollard has claimed the government’s plan to build the station at Old Oak Common for High Speed 2 services would result in disruption and longer journeys for passengers travelling from the South West to the capital on the Great Western line.

Mr Pollard also warned that the construction of Old Oak Common would inevitably involve a large number of weekend closures of the line between Reading and London Paddington which would "significantly damage the rail service" to the South West and Wales - and asked if the Government had not made the potential damage known publicly ahead of a General Election.

I believe it's known as "representing his constituents"......MPs used to do it quite a lot.