Services through Melksham compared with Beaconsfield

[whole diary]

[Deltic]

Firstly thanks to IndustryInsider for picking up the baton of the "Wiltshire Electric Horseshoe"!

Some further thoughts:

1. If combined with the planned additional Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads via Bristol Parkway, one of the existing Bristol via Bath services and the Paddington to Swansea services could be accelerated, running fast from Reading to Bath / Newport.  Chippenham would be served by the other Bristol train and by the anti-clockwise journey on the Melksham loop

2. A possible schedule of off-peak departure times from Paddington could look like this:

xx:00 Reading, Didcot, Swindon, Bristol Parkway, Newport, Cardiff Central
xx:05 Reading, various stations to Plymouth / Penzance
xx:10 Reading, Bath Spa, Bristol Temple Meads
xx:15 Maidenhead, Reading, Didcot, Grove & Wantage, Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury and back to Paddington via Newbury
xx:18 Slough, Reading, Theale, Thatcham, Newbury, Kintbury, Hungerford, Bedwyn, Pewsey, Westbury, Trowbridge and back to Paddington via Swindon
xx:25 Reading, Oxford, stations to Worcester, Malvern or Hereford
xx:30 Reading, Didcot, Swindon, Bristol Parkway, Bristol Temple Meads
xx:40 Reading, Swindon, all stations to Cheltenham Spa (every other hour?)
xx:45 Reading, Newport, Cardiff Central, Bridgend, Port Talbot, Neath, Swansea
xx:50 Reading, Didcot, Swindon, Chippenham, Bath, Bristol Temple Meads
xx:55 Reading, Oxford

3. We would need to consider what to do about the Exeter semi-fasts.  These could be replaced for Newbury and Pewsey by the Horseshoe service (slower than current services but a much improved service) and by additional calls by Plymouth trains at Westbury and Castle Cary.  Alternatively there could be the existing occasional service leaving Paddington at xx:35.

4. A cheaper alternative might be to run the horseshoe every two hours, perhaps alternating with the Cheltenham trains to serve e.g. Grove & Wantage.  The Bedwyn terminating service would continue in the alternate hours or these would run instead to Taunton / Exeter.

[JayMac]

Could usefully add a stop at Wootton Bassett. Also note that there is no need to reverse at Westbury - just keep on going!

I don't think you'd want to bypass Westbury, there are interchange options and staff facilities to enable crew changes if needed.

[IndustryInsider]

Firstly thanks to IndustryInsider for picking up the baton of the "Wiltshire Electric Horseshoe"!

I think it deserves to be given the go-ahead. Mostly because of that excellent name... 

[James]

All these ideas are great, but to be honest the proposed xx40,xx55,xx10 and xx25 are all used by the heathrow express so despite the reasonable proposed options that industy insider has made wouldn't work. Hate being negative but this is the honest truth. The only way in which the proposal could work is by tracking the railway between London Paddington and Reading to 6 tracks. Then you can have each doubled track operating highspeed services, mainline fast and semi fast and metro line services, so that not all fast expresses use the mainline at the same time which currently poses serious risks to services if 1 high speed service breaks down or a major signal failure happens. I know I seem to be heavy going but something needs to be done now to improve the railway for the future.

[IndustryInsider]

All these ideas are great, but to be honest the proposed xx40,xx55,xx10 and xx25 are all used by the heathrow express so despite the reasonable proposed options that industy insider has made wouldn't work. Hate being negative but this is the honest truth. The only way in which the proposal could work is by tracking the railway between London Paddington and Reading to 6 tracks.

Or you change the departure times of the HEX services - nothing is set in stone, they could just as easily be xx02, xx22, xx37 and xx52, (which would roughly fit in with Deltic's suggested departure patterns), or really anything in-between. 

My examples were only intended as a rough guide to an idea that is only aspirational to say the least.  However, the coming of Crossrail and GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) electrification (hopefully) with IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project. This will offer more capacity on routes, save money, give a consistent and safe service and meet customer requirements. Intended to replace HSTs.)'s will mean that what we've got used to in terms of departures will, I am quite certain, quite radically change over the coming years.  That's a weighty task for the timetable planners to scratch their heads with!

I also have my doubts as to whether there will be enough of a demand for HEX trains after Crossrail starts - I would have thought it better to have more trains through from the east of London direct to Heathrow than have them starting at Paddington.  Certainly not every 15 minutes anyway.

[James]

Ye sorry about my abrupt approach, just feel so angry to the way the whole railway system is run. I realize that the proposals are a rough guide and I do appreciate them. To be honest this country needs a serious rerival and a severe shakeup or frakly the whole railway will fall to pieces and then wot? Everyone travel on the creaking poor road network?. This country is heading for a serious crises if a another rail legend like Brunel is not found.

[Zoe]

I also have my doubts as to whether there will be enough of a demand for HEX trains after Crossrail starts - I would have thought it better to have more trains through from the east of London direct to Heathrow than have them starting at Paddington.  Certainly not every 15 minutes anyway.

Premium fares will apply on Crossrail to Heathrow and as far as I know all the trains from the Shenfield branch are planned to terminate at Paddington with trains from Abbey Wood running through to Heathrow/Maidenhead.

[Electric train]

Not quite how crossrail has been hyped with through train to Southend

Back to the OP^▸ (Original Poster / topic starter) problem with Melksham is the lack of MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post - a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London, depending on context), senior civil servants that travel from Beaconsfield

[eightf48544]

Not quite how crossrail has been hyped with through train to Southend

Crossrail to Southend??? Always thoiught it was a metro of 12 tph all stations to Shenfield and 12 tph all stations to Abbey Wood.

It's the westbound 24 tph emerging from the tunnel at Royal Oak that cause the probelm as at least 14 tph have to terminate.  Leaving 10 tph to monopolise the Relief Lines. So you have stone trains on the Main or lots of lorries on the M4!

[Deltic]

the proposed xx40,xx55,xx10 and xx25 are all used by the heathrow express /quote]

I had forgotten about the Heathrow Express to be honest but as has been pointed out these times are not set in stone and nor are mine.  They were just to illustrate what the service might look like.  They will have to find space for something like this service out of Paddington to fulfil the plans for 3 tph to Bristol and an extra to Swindon in any case.  I've just joined up the end of this with the Bedwyn trains to fill the Melksham gap.  It's much easier to do in my imagination than in reality! 

The next one to work on is how to get a better service to the two "big" centres in Gloucestershire; Gloucester has a poor service to Birmingham and the South West, Cheltenham's trains to London are very slow.  It could be another thread coming soon!

[James]

Lol only point im trying to make is that this government dwells on what improvements it whats to do and how much it costs, and then when it wants to implement them it seems its wiped of they memory completely. To be honest how this government is operating is truely amazing and quite frankly you guys as well as myself are fed up with how things are dealt with. 
Maybe its time for the Germans to operate the whole British rail network, then everything will run like clockwork. (Not sure the British people will like this =D). However what you guys are doing in terms of aspirations is amazing and i take me hat off to you, i hope jolly well they come to pass  .

[JayMac]

Maybe its time for the Germans to operate the whole British rail network, then everything will run like clockwork. (Not sure the British people will like this =D).

We often see comments about how things are so much better in other countries. The reality is often very different.

http://mondediplo.com/2010/01/13sbahn