FGW Local from Paddington

[DescendingSadly]

Do these services have conductors? Are they busy? Or do commuters prefer to travel on the faster HST services? What about the stations on the way to Reading, are they in the commuter belt? Any general info appreciated thanks.

 

[Lrd]

I got on a Reading - Paddington (All stations stopper, I was going to Ealing Broadway) about a year a go, it was in the off peak (about 1530, not to sure) and it was fairly busy with a few standee's. Can't remember if there was a guard or not. I know there is on the Reading - Gatwick services so I presume there is one on the mainline.

 

[Mojo]

The Turbo (165 and 166) services from Paddington are DOO. I'd say that the majority of customers are from the local stations and major towns en route (eg. Slough/Maidenhead) as bar a few exceptions (such as the HSTs calling at a few intermediate stations or the less-frequent HSTs stopping at Slough), these are the only services open to them. In the case of Oxford the fast services run by Turbos aren't as frequent so it's still better off to catch the first fast Turbo than wait for the following fast HST.

 

[DescendingSadly]

Thanks guys, what is the service pattern like from Paddington?

 

[mathmo]

Off-peak, there are 4tph of stoppers London-Reading, though they don't all stop at the same stations, leaving 2tph to most of the smaller stations, with all the stoppers calling at Ealing Broadway, Slough, Maidenhead, and Twyford (I think). 2tph generally continue to Oxford. In peak times there are a few more trains and most of them stop everywhere, plus there are a few fast trains to or from Slough, Maidenhead and Twyford (there are lots of commuters).

Heathrow Connect obviously provides another 2tph from Paddington to Hayes, and then there's 2tph to Greenford too.

You'd be an idiot to get one of these if a fast train is available - you're talking over a hour London-Reading compared to 25-30 minutes!

 

[imagination]

There's 4 tph - 2 of which stop ealing/southall/hayes/west drayton/slough/taplow/burnham/maidenhead/twyford/reading, the other 2 stopping ealing/hayes/west drayton/iver/langley/slough/maidenhead/twyford/reading and continuing to oxford (or sometimes Banbury).

Ealing, Southall (on the ones that stop there), Hayes, Slough, Maidenhead and Twyford all have fairly similar numbers of passengers.

In the peaks the stoppers are only really busy from Twyford to Reading and from Hayes inwards to London. Slough, Maidenhead and Twyford all have faster services in the peak, which are very well used.

While the poster above me is exaggerating (the journey times London-Reading are only about 55 mins, not over an hour), you wouldn't get a stopper from Reading to London.

All the stations are in the commuter belt and all (except Taplow) have large numbers of commuters using them. Outside the peaks, the 15:48 and 16:03 departures from Reading are often full of school children going to Twyford and Maidenhead.

Most off-peak services are 3 car class 165s. In the peak trains are often doubled up.

 

[Greenback]

When I lived in Reading, the slower local trains were quite busy, even outside the peaks. Mostly it is short distance travel, like Twyford to Slough, or Maidenhead to Ealing, as well as passengers from the smaller stations going to and from London.

I should imagine that, given the rise in rail travel over the past decade, the trains are even busier now!