Chiltern Evergreen 3 project - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

An aquaintance of mine reported that he attended the Wem bly Oxford U. match a week or so back. He occasionally uses GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) C.L. servicves but he was travelling with a nephew who wanted to try out Chiltern from Parkway. He says that they arrived on the Sunday morning at aropund 10.30 to find a long queue of 50 or more cars entering the car park but that Chiltern had staff all around the car park directing drivers where to park so it took only a few minutes as it was so well organised. There was plenty of friendly and helpful staff all around the station and two trains at the platform coping well with the large numbers of travellers. At Wembly, there was also staff directing people to the stadium. He says he was impressed with the quality of the train appearance, for both comfort and cleanliness and would not hesitate to use Chiltern again in future. Obviously Chiltern made a special effort on that day but it would appear to have paid off in creating a good impression. Another aquaintance also attended but had travelled on a coach direct from Hanborough and whilst the journey there went smoothly, their coach was stuck for two hours at Wembly queuing to leave the stadium after the game and they did not get home until 20.30 whilst another rail traveller he knew had got home hours earlier so he reckons if Oxford U. get to the promotion playoffs at Wembly in a few weeks time he will also try the Chiltern train.

[IndustryInsider]

A few friends of mine also used the Oxford Parkway to Wembley Stadium service and a few others used chartered buses and all reported exactly the same thing.  Chiltern very well organised and super quick, the coaches were fine there but big hold-ups on the way back.

Good work from Chiltern, though their operation should be slick as they get plenty of practice with the regular events held at the stadium.  I've only had the chance to use them once from High Wycombe for a gig a few years back and was mightily impressed then - certainly a far, far better way of reaching many destinations than the walk slow shuffle down Wembley Way to Wembley Park.

[didcotdean]

Think Chiltern have a capacity for around 10,000 people in the first hour leaving Wembley, which is about a quarter of those those that go to Wembley Park. As you might expect, everything is a lot more packed after an event than before.

The queues for the various north bound destinations are segregated, although there is somewhat of a problem for Haddenham and Thame Parkway where the Birmingham trains will sometimes stop but the designated queue is for nearer terminating services. They do though sometimes call for Haddenham passengers to switch.

I also see that the Oxford Parkway trains after an event have a number of near London stops (Northolt Park, South & West Ruislip etc)

[ChrisB]

They carried in excess of 12,000 that day from Oxford Parkway alone....

[IndustryInsider]

Would be interesting to know what percentage of their total revenue Wembley Stadium events contribute to Chiltern.  It must certainly have been missed during the rebuild between 2000 and 2007.

[ChrisB]

The vast majority are simply MYB^▸ (London (Marylebone))-Wembley shuttles, so not very much in total. It's only if a Birmingham team (or now Oxford) reach Wembley, that'll be when it takes off.

[didcotdean]

It is noticeable that if it is an evening match only a few shuttles are put on before the match. Some of the longer distance trains have stops added at WCX that are not advertised at MYB^▸ (London (Marylebone)) and which in the time table are pick up only, but the people with Club Wembley complimentary rail tickets are directed to use them.

There is also a dedicated train for the use of only for Club Wembley members to and from both London and Birmingham when it is a 'core event'.

[ChrisB]

Not so - the longer distance in the peaks don't stop at all & theose in the counter-peak direction do and are advertised as such.

[didcotdean]

Which doesn't contradict what I posted above which related to trains from MYB^▸ (London (Marylebone)) before an evening match and those not to MYB. Although I do suppose we may differ on what is considered to be longer distance with Chiltern Railways as I was thinking of any that weren't WCX shuttles in this context

Incidentally a DID^▸ (Didcot Parkway)-WCX ticket is valid via London or Banbury at present. Just slightly different routes ...

[ChrisB]

Long(er)-distance onj Chiltern are those that run beyond Princes Risborough towards Bicester....

[IndustryInsider]

Some photos of the Oxford Parkway to Oxford progress at Wolvercote.  Not a massive amount of visible work done, since my last set were taken, but further progress on the sound barriers and the embankments either side of the formation have now been constructed.

The first two are viewed from the recently re-opened First Turn bridge looking towards Oxford - the view looking towards Oxford Parkway was blocked off by hoardings sadly:





These last two were taken from the northern portal of Wolvercote Tunnel:





I'll return later in the year when the track has been laid.  The bridge which overlooks Oxford North Junction is also out of action until the summer whilst the approach to it gets modified, so as soon as that opens I'll pop along and take some more of the junction, which is really starting to take shape.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Many thanks for, firstly, getting out there and taking those pictures and, secondly, posting them here for our information, IndustryInsider. 

[IndustryInsider]

Track laying complete:

http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/oxford-to-marylebone-track-now-complete

Not quite the case as a couple of small sections still need to be done near Oxford North Junction, but it would now be possible to avoid those and run a train all the way with a bit of jiggery-pokery! 

I've noticed one of their Turbos being sent down daily over the last few days to do some route learning, with many shunts south of the station also being covered.  Looks like the longer peak trains are booked into and out of platforms 3 and 4 come December (and will need to shunt), so I'm guessing by then Platforms 1 and 2 will only be partly finished and open for use by trains of up to three (or perhaps four) carriages?  That will put extra pressure on the two busy through platforms at Oxford.

[paul7575]

The planning (permitted development rights) approval I was looking at a while back showed the rebuilt bays as 5 and 6 car; but then I've also heard they will both be about 160m.  Presumably though if they are to continue running the LHCS^▸ (Locomotive Hauled Coaching Stock) services as they do now they at least would definitely have to use a through platform.    I'd have thought other than LHCS though most trains will be 6 car (say 140m) or less?

I thought I saw some pictures somewhere suggesting the new bay platform structures were almost completed?

Paul

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, they'll be 6-car length (perhaps even 7?) when complete, but although the far end is progressing nicely, at the near end the old traincrew block is still being occupied (until next month), let alone demolished and work has barely started on the section that was the old short stay car park.  They'd be going some to get that all finished in the less than three months that remain.  At the far end, platform 2 (the old bay platform), is open to three car length currently, with platform 1 being built.

Reattimetrains has the 06:43, 07:20, 07:44, 19:20 and 20:00 departures for Marylebone off of either 3 or 4 (with a similar number of arrivals using 3).  The rest use either 1 or 2 in similar amounts interspersed with the odd GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) service to Banbury.