Yate trains to get extra carriages

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Bristol Evening Post (Thornbury People):

Extra carriages on trains serving Yate station have been welcomed ^ but the pressure will remain to get even more at one of the busiest times of the day.

Six trains stopping at the station on weekdays will have an extra carriage ^ two of them heading to Filton Abbey Wood and Bristol during the morning rush hour.

For one commuter train, it means there will be four carriages from December ^ twice as many as the service used to provide two years ago.

A campaign by users and local MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) Steve Webb to tackle overcrowding saw an increase to three carriages in December 2009. Now the service that departs at about 8.10am will have even more room.

But the Friends of Yate Station have questioned why the afternoon trains arriving between 3pm and 5pm will have more rolling stock when later services bringing commuters home will not.

Trains with standing room only have been a problem for years, with one of the services most complained about being the train that leaves Temple Meads at about 5.40pm.

The Friends said some trains were so full that some people could not get on at all and they have been lobbying rail operator First Great Western (FGW^▸ (First Great Western)) to provide more carriages for years.

But the Department for Transport decides how much rolling stock to allocate and FGW had to make a bid for more capacity. The extra carriages for Yate services were announced as part of an increase for the whole Bristol area.

Mr Webb, the MP for Thornbury and Yate, said despite problems with the evening trains, he received most complaints about morning services.

He said: "The main commuter time in the morning is compressed so it's good news that there will be more space on those early peak-time trains.

"Overall, come December, it will make a huge difference. We can make the case for more capacity in the evening rush hour later.

"This is something we've been gnawing away at for some time and we had success with the extra carriage on the 8.10am service. Having four carriages on that train will be an improvement."

The Friends group said it was worried that an assessment of passenger use from Yate was not accurate, making a difference when it came to deciding which trains needed to be bigger.

Passengers can only buy tickets from a staff member at the station at certain times and with no ticket machine available, they have to pay on the train.

But on short, busy trips, the conductor often does not get to everyone and if there is also no one to pay at the destination station, passengers travel for free.

Meanwhile, efforts by the Friends have led to the installation of CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) cameras at the station.

Chairwoman Sue Walker said: "We welcome them but now want to make sure the cameras cover all the areas of concern."

[asdfg]

The busiest train is probably the one that leaves Temple Meads at 1641. There has been a noticeable increase  in people using this train by joining at Filton Abbeywood and Bristol Parkway. On a Friday it has got to the point where it is difficult to squeeze any more passengers on.

Last Tuesday, 25th October, this  service was operated by a single Class 153. No-one was picked up at Abbeywood, there was probably about 40 people waiting and a number of passengers were left behind at Bristol Parkway after a few people got off. 

Some of the youngsters were panicking at Yate as they thought that they wouldn't get off due to the number of people standing. One teenager was actually not feeling very well due to the sheer number of people on the train. Three coaches on this train? I would love there to be a guarantee that there would always be a minimum of two.

But at least the train ran on this day of stock shortages and failures and 150+ people got home more or less on time.

[BPWuser]

A good step forward for the morning, but as stated above if the 16.41 and 17.41 can't cope with any extra passengers, then there's not much chance of attracting new customers to take the train.

One thing has crossed my mind, in that could the 17:41 (to Gloucester) and 17:46 to Parkway be combined at Temple Meads, and then split again at Parkway. Two obvious issues;
1. Could passengers for all stations to Parkway be persuaded to fill up the rear two carriages, and leave the front two carriages for Yate, C & D etc passengers only?
2. The 18:00 (from Temple Meads) Cross-Country train to Manchester. Could this train go in front of the Gloucester train at Parkway? Would make the journey longer to Yate though.

Don't be too critical, it's only a thought!

[fatcontroller]

Because of the tight turn-arounds at Gloucester that exist all day (12mins is the most) Any extended journey times (in order to follow XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise))) means a late start on the return journey from Gloucester.

It's mad how tight the turn-arounds are considering the journey length from Weymouth to get 10-mins before returning back the way it came!

[ReWind]

Perhaps instead of attaching another carriage to the 17.41 when/if possible, maybe a 17.11 service to GCR^» (Gloucester - next trains) could be arranged!

I always thought a half hourly peak service on this line should be the case, I believe it roughly is in the mornings!