Twyford to London - help please!

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

Interesting about parking - might well need to look into that as well, so what's the damage?! Could be a car or a moped

Twyford Main daily charge ^5.60 (^5.00 RingGo in advance). ^98.00 monthly season. ^988 yearly season.

Season parking tickets only available in conjunction with a season rail ticket.

Sorry can't find any information about moped parking....

[Ramage]

Thanks again for the quick responses - I'll certainly be back here if we do get the house and I start commuting daily. INteresting that there's not much in it between daily and monthly parking charges, so might even be tempted to cycle it to Twyford in the summer months...plenty to think about!

[JayMac]

Thanks again for the quick responses - I'll certainly be back here if we do get the house and I start commuting daily. INteresting that there's not much in it between daily and monthly parking charges, so might even be tempted to cycle it to Twyford in the summer months...plenty to think about!

Yet more information to consider! If you do plan to cycle (think of the benefits - health/financial) then you should seriously consider investing in a folding bicycle if you plan to cycle onwards at your destination. Normal bikes are banned from most Class 165/166 Turbos during the morning and evening peaks and require compulsory reservations on peak HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services.

[BBM]

Normal bikes are banned from most Class 165/166 Turbos during the morning and evening peaks and require compulsory reservations on peak HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services.

In theory they're banned from Turbos in the peaks but in practice this is never enforced! On numerous recent occasions I've had to climb over normal bikes to be able to get out of packed 165s or 166s. However I do sympathise with bike users, all trains should have the capacity to accommodate normal bikes at all times.

[Ramage]

Thanks again...I think the plan would be to use current (pretty batterd old) bike to get from house to Twyford and then leave it locked there in the day...woudl get another battered old bike and leave that at paddington end...not sure how secure Twyford station would be, but I heard there was some new bike parking goign in at Paddington?

[adc82140]

Hello!!

I've been commuting Twyford-Paddington for about 3 years. A good AM train to get is the 07:48 stopper, jump off at Maidenhead and get the 08:00 HST^▸ (High Speed Train) into Paddington. The 07:56 direct off the Henley line tends to be a bit cosy, particularly when they substitute a 2 car for the usual 3, which seems ot be happening quite a lot at the moment.

I'd agree the 17:06 is a great evening train if you can get to Paddington in time. The 17:18 is OK if you get on before 17:10, otherwise you'll be standing until Maidenhead. The 18:06 can get very crowded, particularly on a Friday.

Parking charges have gone up from ^4 when I first started travelling to ^5.60 now. I have a meeting with Theresa May MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) at the end of the month to discuss this. However there are alternatives- the council car park near the town centre is ^3 all day, and is about a 5-6 minute walk from the station. Don't be tempted to park in Brook Street- although there are no restrictions, it really (understandably) upsets the residents, and you may find a harsh warning note pinned to your windscreen.

I've recently started travelling from Wargrave station- I live in the Waltham St.Lawrence direction, so I can drive there without dealing with the Twyford crossroads. The 07:50 from there (07:56 Twyford) is not full by this point, and the parking is completely free!! The evening connections at Twyford tend to wait- Norman (the stationmaster) can only see one train off at a time, so as long as you've crossed the footbridge before he has, you're fine.

Hope all this helps.

[Mookiemoo]

Don't be tempted to park in Brook Street- although there are no restrictions, it really (understandably) upsets the residents, and you may find a harsh warning note pinned to your windscreen.

If there are no restrictions then if it were me, i'd park there.  If the residents don't like it, they need to get the council to impose restrictions and then enforce them.

I grew up in the shadows of goodison park before they introduced match day parking restrictions - no we did not like it but tough - if dad took the car out before midday on a saturday you could forget parking within a mile of the house until after 6pm!  Hence the restrictions came in.

[grahame]

Hello!!

I've been commuting Twyford-Paddington for about 3 years. ...

Hi, and welcome to the forum.   "3 years" means you started at about the time that there was a major timetable recast whcih brought severe settling-in issues in my "The West" area.  Have you see trains get more or less reliable (cancellations, late running, short formed) over the time you've been commuting?

[adc82140]

Thanks for the welcome!!

Over the last 3 years I have seen the trains get more reliable, and also the introduction of the peak hour HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) was a huge bonus. However in recent months, largely I've got to say not the fault of FGW^▸ (First Great Western), the reliability has fallen through the floor. This is mostly down to the Great Western Mainline becoming suicide alley.

I'm a bit dismayed about the rumoured loss of the HST on the 0654 though.

However the off peak service is far from perfect. Up to 50-odd minutes from Paddington is too long. Why not change the stopping pattern of some of the HSTs- perhaps one an hour calling at Maidenhead or Twyford to connect with branch line trains instead of a Slough stop? Or add an extra stop to the Bedwyn turbos, like on a Sunday?

And don't get me started on the vile state of the 165s/166s!!!!

[grahame]

However the off peak service is far from perfect. Up to 50-odd minutes from Paddington is too long. Why not change the stopping pattern of some of the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train)- perhaps one an hour calling at Maidenhead or Twyford to connect with branch line trains instead of a Slough stop? Or add an extra stop to the Bedwyn turbos, like on a Sunday?

I expect there are very good reasons  for the timetable / stopping pattern being how it is.  I have been concerned with a much more straightforward proposition of a line that's not near the Reading bottleneck and even here it seems that almost every suggestion put forward is "we couldn't do that because xxxx" and those "xxxx" reasons include freight paths, staff breaks, not robust enough - six minutes is not long enough to turn a train around if the return journey goes through Bristol, detrimental effect on other passengers, would put service outside the SLC^▸ (Service Level Commitment).

But I do not intend that to read half as negative as it possibly does.  After the initial stage of "you can't know ...." attitude (and how right that is in some ways - staff diagrams and freight path information is not easy to come by), and a natural reluctance for the professionals to take on the ideas of very interested amateurs who give the appearance of trying to do an element of the professional's job, we have had some very helpful feedback so that we can understand better.  For the town where I live, I have the advantage of knowing many of the local people, elected representatives, businessmen, which adds weight to our input - amateur it may be, but it brings local requirements to the table.

And did you note that my first paragraph said almost any suggestion?  We have, already, achieved one extra service per week with a previously empty stock movement now appearing in the timetable and stopping along the line, and there are some other ideas in the melting pot which have a received a rather more positive initial reaction than "we couldn't do that because xxxx".

First stage, adc ... see what others think and ask FGW^▸ (First Great Western) "why" if there's a group of you who agree.  And it would be worth your while travelling on couple of the trains from which you want to 'pull' the Slough stop and see how many people get on / off and look at their journey alternatives.

[Ramage]

Thanks for the further feedback - house still hopefully going through so may see you in the New Year at Twyford...I'd be coming from the South, so don't think the Wargrave trick would work , although interesting about other parking options...good tips

How easy is the change at Maidenhead onto the 8am service, and do you get a seat on that usually or is that just naive?!

[devon_metro]

I've arrived into Maidenhead on the 08:00 fast service to paddington and it was quite a scrum on the platform, however as it was an 8 carriage train I suspect everybody got a seat. (its fairly empty before arriving at Maidenhead as it doesn't call at Reading)

[adc82140]

I'd be coming from the South, so don't think the Wargrave trick would work

Depends which part of the south. I'm in Shurlock Row, I drive outr through Waltham St. Lawrence, up to Hare Hatch, along the A4 for a bit then right at the big roundabout to Wargrave. This seems to avoid the peak flow of traffic.

How easy is the change at Maidenhead onto the 8am service, and do you get a seat on that usually or is that just naive?!

It's a 5 minute interchange, theoretically remaining on platform 4. However they do like to spring a last minute alteration to platform 2, just I think to see how many people they can squeeze in the subway at once 

Unless you're one of the last on, you'll probably get a seat. With experience you'll know where the doors are and stand in the right place on the platform. As with all trains, there's more space at the back. When the service was 2x Class 180 (up till this time last year) you could get a whole bay of seats to yourself.

[adc82140]

I expect there are very good reasons for the timetable / stopping pattern being how it is.

Probably are- the dwell times for an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) are quite long. But I may try asking FGW^▸ (First Great Western) the logic behind the non-stop Bedwyn turbos- if they were slewed on to the slow lines at Maidenhead until Reading, stops could be added at Maidenhead and/or Twyford. This would then free up paths on the fast lines for more 125mph through trains, which would no longer run the risk of being constantly signal checked because they're following a 90mph train.

If travellers west of Reading were worried about losing the fast section to Paddington, they could always hop on an HST at Reading.

[IndustryInsider]

I expect there are very good reasons for the timetable / stopping pattern being how it is.

Probably are- the dwell times for an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) are quite long. But I may try asking FGW^▸ (First Great Western) the logic behind the non-stop Bedwyn turbos- if they were slewed on to the slow lines at Maidenhead until Reading, stops could be added at Maidenhead and/or Twyford. This would then free up paths on the fast lines for more 125mph through trains, which would no longer run the risk of being constantly signal checked because they're following a 90mph train.

The main trouble is that the crossovers at Maidenhead are only 40mph. When you take into account slowing for that crossover and the fact the Up Main line is then blocked for the couple of minutes whilst that route is set, then pathing becomes even tighter and when there are any delays it knocks the PPM^‡(resolve) figures. It is actually quicker for a HST to follow a Turbo at 90mph all the way, than have to slow to a crawl whilst the Turbo ahead crosses at Maidenhead. That's why outside of the peak hours there are no trains booked to use any of the crossovers between Paddington and Reading.

Before the current Bedwyn service ran fast from London to Reading it used to stop at Ealing, Southall, Hayes, Slough and Maidenhead (relief line all the way), which may well have been a better solution in terms of the speed vs. bums on seats ratio.

Maidenhead (and to a lesser extend Twyford) could do with a faster service off-peak service to and from London as I and others have advocated on here over the years. Though achieving that without 125mph stock on the Bedwyn's means compromising other services.