Some interesting changes from December 2008

[whole diary]

[devon_metro]

Only posting a few of the mad changes:

Cheltenham trains are retimed to xx18 from Paddington and 2 are extended to Worcester.
Additional early morning HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) from Bristol - Frome and Cheltenham
Bedminster, Worle and Weston Milton will get HST services
Relief service to follow 1506 limited stop HST which is now fast from Reading - Taunton
Seven Tunnel Jn will receive peak HST services
Golden Hind leaves Penzance 10 minutes earlier and calls additionally at a few Cornish stations
Ivybridge gets additional stops from HSTs
Late night HST from Paignton - Newton A is extended to Plymouth
Additional morning Oxford - Paddington
1708 WSM-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) calls KYN,OLF does not call DID^» (Didcot Parkway - next trains)
1833 Pad - OXford does not call maidenhead

Lots more!!

[Timmer]

Out of interest, is there somewhere we can view the rest of the changes from December Liam?

[Btline]

How much more slack is there on the Cotswold line?

[devon_metro]

I have purposefully been vague as the info is not really in the public domain yet and was obtained from NR^» (Network Rail - home page).

[John R]

Only posting a few of the mad changes:

Additional early morning HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) from Bristol - Frome and Cheltenham
Bedminster, Worle and Weston Milton will get HST services
Seven Tunnel Jn will receive peak HST services

Lots more!!

Worle and Milton currently get HSTs, but Bedminster is new. Which service(s) will they be?
 
I'm sure I suggested stopping a HST service at STJ^▸ (Severn Tunnel Junction railway station) in the peak a few months ago to provide a London service for the Forest of Dean/Chepstow catchment, but can't find any reference to it, so maybe I was dreaming.

I thought the HST fleet was pretty fully utilised in the peak, so I'm fairly surprised that an extra 3 workings are possible.

[johoare]

1833 Pad - OXford does not call maidenhead

Lots more!!

Nooo!!! Dearie me.. Will we all have to jump off as it speeds thru Maidenhead?

Just when FGW^▸ (First Great Western) seemed to be improving the timetable to nearly as good as it used to be, they start removing fast Maidenhead trains again..

[BBM]

If the Cheltenham trains are retimed to xx18 from Paddington what'll be going into the xx48 slots?

[devon_metro]

Bedwyn presumably

[willc]

Cheltenham trains are retimed to xx18 from Paddington and 2 are extended to Worcester.

Though it's not that long since there were a couple of services that used to run on to Worcester. Up until a couple of years ago?

Presumably this move helps with the provision of hourly-Gloucester-Worcester trains, but perhaps more interesting is whether, with SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) now available, they will stop at Ashchurch, giving it a direct London link.

[Btline]

With both ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) and LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) extending their trains to Cheltenham, aren't things going to get a little crowded?

I doubt the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) will call at Ashchurch - the priority flow is B'ham. However, they should - the extra journey time won't matter as Worcester - London via Oxford is much faster anyway. There is also the forgotten commuter market between Worcester and Ashchurch.

I hope the damage has not been too severe - the commuters who turned up at Ashchurch a few years back, only to see that their trains to work and school had been scrapped overnight* might still prefer the M5. Especially if the alternative is an overcrowded and dirty 170 queueing outside New Street in a tunnel for half an hour.

*they obviously did not keep up to date with the changes

[devon_metro]

HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) *will* call Ashchurch

[Btline]

HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) will call Ashchurch.

Good.

[dog box]

bedminster is interesting..hopefully the derelict bits of the platform will be made useable again

[John R]

bedminster is interesting..hopefully the derelict bits of the platform will be made useable again

They lengthened an extra 20m or so of the down platform about a year ago. Always wondered why they did it given the usable length previously was emough for 4 coach DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit).

[Chris from Nailsea]

I agree, John - I, too, had wondered why that extra section of the platform at Bedminster was given new tarmac, some time ago!

I've also noticed recently that new boards for 'HST^▸ (High Speed Train) 7 car' and 'HST 8 car' stopping points have been added at Bedminster - rather bizarrely, to the subway railings facing onto the track, rather than facing up the track, where the drivers of oncoming trains would be better able to see them??