More seats for East Midlands rail passengers

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Rail passengers in the East Midlands are to benefit from more seats on peak time services, it has been announced.
Extra carriages will double the length of most East Midlands Trains' morning services into Nottingham with seats for more than 400 additional passengers.
The increased capacity will be funded through a ^9.9m government grant which will provide an extra eight carriages in the region.
The additional seating will come into service in May 2011.
The commercial director for East Midlands Trains, David Horne, said: "This is fantastic news for our passengers. The additional funding secured... will go a long way to alleviating the current overcrowding on many services."
In total, ^17.8m is being made available until March 2015 to also provide more seating on Northern Rail services.

[grahame]

Thanks for posting that, Chris.

As I understand it, extra carriages for Portsmouth -> Cardiff have been cancelled, so scenes like this:



(Bradford-on-Avon to Temple Meads - "go to a forward door - don't open the rear ones or they'll fall out")

... and this ...



.... same train just after I and a handful of others had get off - they would NEVER all get on ....

are common place in the Nottingham area too?   Or is the Nottingham area even more overcrowded?

I was in the Nottingham area a year or two back and the trains (at that point / that I saw and used) were quite comfortable - in fact I found myself feeling quite jealous.   Have I missed something?  What colour are the sitting MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament)?

[John R]

I believe the services in question suffered a reduction from 3 to 2 coaches at the franchise change (sounds familiar?). So it may be EMT^» (East Midlands Trains - about)'s euqivalent of the reinstatement of the 3rd coach on Cardiff - Portsmouth services.

[Timmer]

It would seem Graham that Cardiff-Portsmouth can wait until the Thames Valley is electrified then we can have their Turbos...Hmmm can't wait! At present I would say that would be in five or so years time IF all goes according to the government's plan. In the meantime the above pictures could be used as an example of a typical weekend on the Cardiff-Portsmouth line.

As much as I am in favour of electrification of the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line), in the short to medium term 'West' services will continue to suffer from overcrowding due to not enough rolling stock to go round. Something which the government's previous plan of a new DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) fleet would have gone along way to sorting out.

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

sorry for my ignorance but which service carrys more... taunton-cardiff or portsmouth to cardiff

any guesses where im going with this? when i went on it the lhs was only busy from bristol-cardiff

[Phil]

any guesses where im going with this?

Cardiff.

Do I win a prize?

[Timmer]

PS After my previous post re Portsmouth-Cardiff, just wanted to say how pleased I am to see that EMT^» (East Midlands Trains - about) is able to strengthen services on the Liverpool-Norwich line from next May because it really is frequently overcrowded on this major cross country route when it is operated by just 2 car 158s.

More on this from the EMT website:
http://www.eastmidlandstrains.co.uk/EMTrains/AboutUs/News/_EastMidlandsTrainsconfirmsimprovementsforpassengersusingLiverpooltoNorwichroute_.htm

A package of funding has been secured by East Midlands Trains which will bring significant improvements to its busy Liverpool-Norwich route from May 2011.
The funding, which has been agreed with the Department for Transport, will enable East Midlands Trains to lease four additional Class 156 trains from May 2011.  These additional trains will be used on services between Nottingham and Skegness, and from Lincoln to Leicester.  This will then allow a number of refurbished Class 158 trains to be cascaded to strengthen services on the busiest section of East Midlands Trains^ Liverpool to Norwich route.
Therefore, from May 2011 an additional 10 services every weekday will be strengthened between Nottingham and Liverpool from 2-car to 4-car trains, providing an additional 1,500 seats a day.

[Timmer]

Cardiff.

Do I win a prize?

Yes, a trip to Cardiff aboard a rammed two car 158 because the usual three car 158 isn't available 'due to a train fault'. Just keep a look out for this on the current running page as one is bound to appear at some point in the coming days, then make your way down to your nearest station on the Cardiff-Portsmouth line and attempt to board. After buying a ticket of course. Fun for everyone except for those who can't get on and in some cases those who can't get off!

If you managed to get on board, sharing the toilet area with a number of other passengers and hoping no one sneezes, you can while away your journey standing next to someone's armpit thinking about what a huge success rail privatisation has been for those who run the railways and are making money out of it and for those for which it hasn't been much of a success...the long suffering passenger, customer of whatever the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) call their cattle these days. And ask yourself would it have been better if BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) was still running things???

The answer to this question will never be answered as we will never know.

[John R]

and with the Midlands Metro extension just approved and the Leeds Trolleybus system approved today,  maybe we should wish for an election every year.

[grahame]

and with the Midlands Metro extension just approved and the Leeds Trolleybus system approved today,  maybe we should wish for an election every year.

What proportion of schemes that are "approved" are seen through to fruition, and does that proportion vary significantly for schemes that are approved in the six month period prior to a general election?

[Brucey]

Yes, a trip to Cardiff aboard a rammed two car 158 because the usual three car 158 isn't available 'due to a train fault'. Just keep a look out for this on the current running page as one is bound to appear at some point in the coming days, then make your way down to your nearest station on the Cardiff-Portsmouth line and attempt to board. After buying a ticket of course. Fun for everyone except for those who can't get on and in some cases those who can't get off!

Only two weeks ago was a 2 coach Class 150 running from Southampton to Cardiff on a Sunday.  Fortunately, I arrived at Southampton very early so managed to get one of the table seats.  By Salisbury it was packed.  I honestly believed there were more passengers waiting to board at Bath and Bristol than space left on the train.  This was Sunday evening, so not even rush hour.  I hardly ever travel in rush hour, but have been fortunate enough to always get a 3 coach 158 during these busy periods.

I feel awful when we are crammed into cattle class like sardines, when you see all those lovely SWT^▸ (South West Trains) Class 158s and 159s at Salisbury, which are sitting there empty.  Surely if they don't need the stock, it should be broken up and given to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) to make their units four coaches?

This photo was taken in November 2008, on a Class 150 around Trowbridge.  I was travelling from Bristol to Portsmouth and ended up sitting on the floor for most of the journey (as I gave up my seat for a very elderly lady who couldn't have managed to stand for more than a few minutes) - not a great experience but better than standing all that way.  The guard was nowhere to be seen.  I made sure FGW knew of this and I received a full refund.


I haven't seen any improvements since this was taken.  Perhaps if the service ran to London there would be more investment in new rolling stock for this route?

[Super Guard]

sorry for my ignorance but which service carrys more... taunton-cardiff or portsmouth to cardiff

any guesses where im going with this? when i went on it the lhs was only busy from bristol-cardiff

The LHS^▸ (Locomotive Hauled Stock) is full between Exeter & Paignton... although the percentage of spotters is 99% 

[inspector_blakey]

This was Sunday evening, so not even rush hour.

Actually, and not surprisingly when you think about it, Friday and Sunday evenings are some of the busiest periods of the week on long-distance trains with people going on or returning from weekend trips (and because of that it's also the busiest time for luggage - commuters in rush hour travel pretty light seeing as they're not staying anywhere!).

However, for historical reasons train services in Britain are still for the most part less frequent on Sundays whcih compounds the situation. One of the things I have heard mentioned along with talk of longer franchises for TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) is the requirement for a Sunday service much more like a normal weekday, as is seem on the Continent.

You're right, it is irritating that SWT^▸ (South West Trains) have lots of units sitting idle at Salisbury. I'm sure FGW^▸ (First Great Western) would love to get their hands on them but I don't think the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) would be having any of it. It does surprise me slightly that those units haven't been sequestered and sent to Northern like more or less every other spare (or even not spare - think back to Dec 2006/7) 14x and 15x DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) in the country.

[John R]

and with the Midlands Metro extension just approved and the Leeds Trolleybus system approved today,  maybe we should wish for an election every year.

What proportion of schemes that are "approved" are seen through to fruition, and does that proportion vary significantly for schemes that are approved in the six month period prior to a general election?

A very good question, and I guess it probably depends on whether the same party remains in power. Though as the current government have shown, they can reverse their own decisions pretty quickly when it suits them (eg 4 car dmu procurement), even without an election. 

[devon_metro]

sorry for my ignorance but which service carrys more... taunton-cardiff or portsmouth to cardiff

any guesses where im going with this? when i went on it the lhs was only busy from bristol-cardiff

The LHS^▸ (Locomotive Hauled Stock) is full between Exeter & Paignton... although the percentage of spotters is 99% 

If you define the BSO^▸ (Brake Standard Open (carriage)) being busy as full (unless of course it really is packed, i've not yet travelled on the "down" working?

The 1753 Bristol - Taunton is always cosy!