How it USUALLY works, and how it SHOULD work.

[whole diary]

[grahame]

A lunch appointment and afternoon in Oxford yesterday, a city that's always a horror to park in, so what better way to go by public transport?  When did I need to leave Melksham to get there by 12:30.   It seems that connections conspire to miss at every point, and that other trains fail to stop to make connections.

The 09:34 bus from Melksham gets me to Chippenham for 09:53; that's Melksham bus station, so there's a walk over to the railway from there or the town bridge, or a ride on another bus around the town.  But, heck, there's plenty of time for the 10:55 train.  The 10:55 (running about 10  minutes late) got me to Didcot at 11:40 and we left at 11:48 to get to Oxford at 12:00. 

So that's a Melksham departure 176 minutes before I needed to be at Oxford Station; from home to walk to the 234 bus stop 20 minutes earlier - grand total journey time 196 minutes.  I could have driven in less than half of that!

Return leg?   I got to Oxford Station at 18:25 and was home - yes HOME - by 19:45.  Just 80 minutes.  It CAN be done.  Problem is - it wasn't supposed to happen that way and this is one of those fortunate occurrences when a system that's not running to timetable provided a better service than the timetable does!

18:28 train to Didcot (OK, it was a service that was running late AND wasn't supposed to have a connection at Didcot ... however)
QUICK change at Didcot into a Taunton train (also something that was running late - and later than that 18:21 so a connection that wasn't supposed to exist actually made it!)
19:25 arrival in Chippenham just AFTER the 19:24 had left, but some kindly sole heard me enquiring whether the 20:41 Castle Cary train called at Melksham (it didn't!) and offered me a lift.  So no need to wait for the 20:44 bus!

I'm minded of Lee's excellent work on future timetable options that would turn experiences such as my return trip into the norm and comment him for this work;  it has my support as a vision for how things should go, but I don't think we'll get far with it if we demand it from this December!

I was addressing a conference of some 250 in Oxford yesterday ... and had a chance to socialise with them. Quite amazing to find out just hom many of them use (or used to use) trains via Didcot.  They describe the change to go West as "the direction that doesn't work " .... some of them now work from home much more (FGW^▸ (First Great Western) - you have lost money, customersd and goodwill there) and others use the Oxford to Swindon bus (more of a loss to First).

[[ Crossposted on the "Save the Train" forum due to the TransWilts element ]]

[Lee]

I'm minded of Lee's excellent work on future timetable options that would turn experiences such as my return trip into the norm and comment him for this work;  it has my support as a vision for how things should go, but I don't think we'll get far with it if we demand it from this December!

I would agree with that , but I think that as an ABSOLUTE MINIMUM , we MUST get the service described below to start the ball rolling towards our ultimate objectives. It is perfectly possible that , if we dont make progress regarding extra December 2007 services , then we could start to lose potential train paths to freight.

[Part of my complete update ... reposted here for comment]

3. At the AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) of the Melksham Rail Development Group (yesterday evening), Andrew Griffiths of First Great Western told that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have no extra resources to make available from this December, BUT they have worked up a draft timetable that would take out 3 duplicated trains south of Salisbury (the Southampton stoppers that would, if they remained, double up on the new SWT^▸ (South West Trains) local service) and use those trains instead to run from Salisbury up to Swindon and back.    I've not seen details, but I understand it looks excellent for the morning, and unravels a bit later in the day.    Andrew confirmed crew shortages - that even if they hired another train, they would not have the drivers, who it takes a year to train.  Andrew also confirmed that extra freight is using the line via Melksham, and that this could start to limit available paths for passenger trains

[[Aside - I applaud First in pushing this timetable forward, the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) in their new and serious look, and the County for their actions and help too. All acknowledge this as being a step in the right direction rather than a final solution - perhaps that will come at December 2008?]]

I was addressing a conference of some 250 in Oxford yesterday ... and had a chance to socialise with them. Quite amazing to find out just hom many of them use (or used to use) trains via Didcot.  They describe the change to go West as "the direction that doesn't work " .... some of them now work from home much more (FGW - you have lost money, customersd and goodwill there) and others use the Oxford to Swindon bus (more of a loss to First).

At "our end" we had endless debates (as did Jacobs) about whether a potential Bristol / Trans Wilts - Oxford & beyond service should call at Didcot. I have always believed that it should , mainly due to the connection opportunities that this would provide.

[simonw]

Hi

I've had to visit Oxford twice and Milton Keynes once this year, and both journey's are not practical via rail, due to time tables and routes.

Instead of the government wasting billions on the Cross Rail project, how about adding a Swindon to Oxford line and re-opening Oxford to Cambridge via Milton Keynes. A fraction of the cost!

A regular train from  BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI))-Bath-Chippenham-Swindon-Oxford ... would help so many people!

[Lee]

Hi

I've had to visit Oxford twice and Milton Keynes once this year, and both journey's are not practical via rail, due to time tables and routes.

Instead of the government wasting billions on the Cross Rail project, how about adding a Swindon to Oxford line and re-opening Oxford to Cambridge via Milton Keynes. A fraction of the cost!

A regular train from  BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI))-Bath-Chippenham-Swindon-Oxford ... would help so many people!

Its funny you should mention that , simonw , as thats exactly whats proposed in the link below!
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=357.msg1034#msg1034

[simonw]

Almost,

Is it possible for a train to route directly to Oxford via Didcot, from the West, without reversing at Didcot?

The key to making this viable is opening the line from Cambridge, via Milton Keynes, to Oxford. Then a train from Cambridge to Bristol could certainly be viable. Travelling on to Cambridge/MK^▸ (Milton Keynes) opens up a lot more of the rail network and makes many more journeys viable.

[Lee]

Is it possible for a train to route directly to Oxford via Didcot, from the West, without reversing at Didcot

If you are talking about missing out Didcot completely , then yes , there is a curve that would allow that. However , see quote below.

At "our end" we had endless debates (as did Jacobs) about whether a potential Bristol / Trans Wilts - Oxford & beyond service should call at Didcot. I have always believed that it should , mainly due to the connection opportunities that this would provide.

The key to making this viable is opening the line from Cambridge, via Milton Keynes, to Oxford. Then a train from Cambridge to Bristol could certainly be viable. Travelling on to Cambridge/MK^▸ (Milton Keynes) opens up a lot more of the rail network and makes many more journeys viable.

I totally agree , and this is what our proposals envisage taking place , certainly as far as Bletchley / Milton Keynes , and hopefully beyond. It has been noticeable that the chances of this happening , as well as the level of political support , have risen recently. See link below.
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2007/03/rail_link_is_a_goer.html#more

[Jim]

Hi

I've had to visit Oxford twice and Milton Keynes once this year, and both journey's are not practical via rail, due to time tables and routes.

Instead of the government wasting billions on the Cross Rail project, how about adding a Swindon to Oxford line and re-opening Oxford to Cambridge via Milton Keynes. A fraction of the cost!

A regular train from  BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI))-Bath-Chippenham-Swindon-Oxford ... would help so many people!

I went to MK^▸ (Milton Keynes) twice last Summer, both took from 0630 till just gone 10 IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly)

0636 Trowbridge - Bath Spa 0701
0712 Bath Spa - Didcot Parkway 0814
0819 Didcot Parkway - Oxford 0835
0845 Oxford - MK 10??