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If you could create any direct services which currently don’t run which would you choose?

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Berneylegs

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If you could create any direct services which currently don’t run which would you choose?

Mine would include:

London King’s Cross - Peterborough - Doncaster - York - Middlesbrough - Whitby

London King’s Cross - Peterborough - Retford - Worksop - Sheffield - Barnsley - Penistone - Huddersfield - Hebden Bridge - Burnley MR - Accrington - Blackburn - Preston - Blackpool South

London Paddington - Reading - Exeter SD - Plymouth - Looe

London King’s Cross - Peterborough - Doncaster - Leeds - York - Newcastle - Edinburgh - Oban ( Sleeper)

Skegness - Boston - Sleaford - Lincoln - Retford - Worksop - Sheffield - Manchester Piccadilly - Liverpool Lime Street

London Marylebone - Banbury - Leamington Spa - Kenilworth - Coventry - Tame Bridge PW - Wolverhampton - Shrewsbury - Aberystwyth/Bidston
 
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Busaholic

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If you could create any direct services which currently don’t run which would you choose?

Mine would include:

London King’s Cross - Peterborough - Doncaster - York - Middlesbrough - Whitby

London King’s Cross - Peterborough - Retford - Worksop - Sheffield - Barnsley - Penistone - Huddersfield - Hebden Bridge - Burnley MR - Accrington - Blackburn - Preston - Blackpool South

London Paddington - Reading - Exeter SD - Plymouth - Looe

London King’s Cross - Peterborough - Doncaster - Leeds - York - Newcastle - Edinburgh - Oban ( Sleeper)

Skegness - Boston - Sleaford - Lincoln - Retford - Worksop - Sheffield - Manchester Piccadilly - Liverpool Lime Street

London Marylebone - Banbury - Leamington Spa - Kenilworth - Coventry - Tame Bridge PW - Wolverhampton - Shrewsbury - Aberystwyth/Bidston
That working to Looe would be an interesting one: how many carriages are you proposing?
 

SteveyBee131

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If you could create any direct services which currently don’t run which would you choose?...

Some good ones there :D

Mine's another from King's Cross to the East Coast:

London King's Cross - Grantham - Retford - Doncaster (divide)
1 portion - Scunthorpe - Barnetby - Grimsby Town - Cleethorpes
1 portion - York - Malton - Seamer - Scarborough
 

Bantamzen

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From a purely selfish point of view:

Ilkley - Guiseley - Baildon - Shipley - Leeds
or
Bradford FS - Shipley - Baildon - Guiseley - Leeds

Both are possible only with reversals, the latter probably being easier to schedule, but neither are particularly likely in reality. But it would be nice to have a direct service from Baildon to Leeds that doesn't include a 15-20 wait for a connecting service when then total transit time is very similar. (We did actually have this service for a week a few months ago when there was the blockage between Guiseley & Apperley Junction, which was nice).

Either that or a Bradford Crossrail......

(Steps slowly away from the conversation ;) )
 

yorksrob

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Waterloo to Barnstaple via Yeovil (and ideally with a portion to Plymouth via Okehampton).
 

Iskra

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Actually I would create a Chapeltown-Leeds service that doesn’t deviate to serve Castleford, thus unnecessarily slowing down the journey time and preventing the train being crush-loaded with commuters between Leeds and Castleford.

It would run as now but the final stop into Leeds and first out would be Wakefield Kirkgate.
 

Triumph

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London St Pancras, Nottingham, Leeds, Settle, Carlisle, Dumfries, Kilmarnock, Ayr

Upper Holloway, West Hampstead, Willesden Junction, Olympia, Clapham Junction, Richmond, Woking, Southampton, Poole, Swanage :D
 

telstarbox

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This won't work at the moment for various reasons, but a Clapham Junction - Denmark Hill - Lewisham - Hither Green service to facilitate easy connections between the South West and Southeastern networks avoiding Zone 1.
 

yorksrob

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Actually I would create a Chapeltown-Leeds service that doesn’t deviate to serve Castleford, thus unnecessarily slowing down the journey time and preventing the train being crush-loaded with commuters between Leeds and Castleford.

It would run as now but the final stop into Leeds and first out would be Wakefield Kirkgate.

The final stop should be Normanton, which would cut out the Castleford reversal but provide Normanton with the half hourly service it has needed for several years.
 

yorksrob

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I've often thought it would be handy if one of the Kent Coast stoppers called at New Cross for East London connections, however a lack of platforms on the fast lines precludes this.
 

DarloRich

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Shall I save some time. The following will come up:

Carlisle > Nottingham
St Pancras > Glasgow via the S&C and perhaps Kilmarnock
Brighton back on XC
Insert random northern town name to Kings Cross via other random northern town names.

If you could create any direct services which currently don’t run which would you choose?

Mine would include:

London King’s Cross - Peterborough - Doncaster - York - Middlesbrough - Whitby

London King’s Cross - Peterborough - Retford - Worksop - Sheffield - Barnsley - Penistone - Huddersfield - Hebden Bridge - Burnley MR - Accrington - Blackburn - Preston - Blackpool South

Can I ask why? I love Whitby but running a direct train from London is utterly pointless and a massive waste of resource. What would be of more use are a few more local services on the Esk Valley branch and some track work to support them.

Also why on earth would you use that route from London to Blackpool when you could walk to Euston and be in Blackpool in a fraction of the time.

Half hourly St Albans Abbey to London Euston.

Not sure about half hourly but that is about the most sensible suggestion on here! Can we also run a similar service along the Marston Vale ;)
 

Iskra

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The final stop should be Normanton, which would cut out the Castleford reversal but provide Normanton with the half hourly service it has needed for several years.

I’ll take that, still a massive improvement.
 

underbank

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I'd like to see Lancaster <> York as a direct service using the grossly under-used Bentham line. At present it's a torturous route on slow stopping trains with changes, whether you go via Bentham or via the trans pennine route, meaning what is a relatively short "inter city" journey between two large regional cities, takes far longer by train than by car. It would also be a good relief route avoiding the busy/congested trans pennine route between Man & Leeds.
 

RichJF

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Anything London - Redhill - Brighton on the same train. Criminal there's only about 2 trains a day to the coast from here anymore.

Gatwick - Tonbridge - Ashford International
 

Iskra

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I'd like to see Lancaster <> York as a direct service using the grossly under-used Bentham line. At present it's a torturous route on slow stopping trains with changes, whether you go via Bentham or via the trans pennine route, meaning what is a relatively short "inter city" journey between two large regional cities, takes far longer by train than by car. It would also be a good relief route avoiding the busy/congested trans pennine route between Man & Leeds.

As a former resident, I’m not sure you can class Lancaster as a large regional city. Even including Morecambe there are towns with bigger populations. York isn’t huge either and it’s surrounded by sparsely populated countryside not a city region. York already has a Blackpool service and Lancaster has a Leeds service so I’m not sure there’s any call for anything other than improving the existing Bentham line service which is supposed to be happening anyway.

If such a service was to exist, I’d do Barrow-Hull via Lancaster and Leeds calling at Bentham and Hellifield only between Carnforth and Skipton. That’s if paths exist in the Aire Valley for it.
 

nw1

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Not sure it would work due to track constraints, but maybe occasional through services from Reading to Leicester and Nottingham via Coventry and avoiding Birmingham. If running at busy times these could also provide relief to the main XC services. Multiple 158s, 170s or similar.

Oxford-Bristol (which did actually run for a time in the 90s). Probably a three-car 158.

Through services from Brighton - Southampton - Exeter three or four times a day, running in the path of the London-Exeter via Yeovil beyond Salisbury in those hours. For obvious reasons these would correspond to off-peak departures from Waterloo towards Exeter. Again this did actually run at one time. SWR 159s.

Southampton-Westbury-Swindon (reverse) - Cheltenham - Worcester - Birmingham. Little end-to-end interest but does provide a few links, South Coast to Swindon, South Coast to the Cotswold area and Swindon-Birmingham. Probably no demand for hourly but a few times a day, every 3 or 4 hours or so. Maybe two 158s.

Far fetched, but... Waterloo to Swanage direct via Bournemouth. One morning outward service and evening return. Weekends April-Oct and all days June-Aug. SWR 159s again, perhaps running in the regular xx39 path out of Waterloo in that hour, semi-fast to SOU but limited stop from there; the EMU stopper starting from SOU in that hour.
 
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318266

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A sleeper service from Heysham Port to Glasgow Central

Heysham Port -> Morecambe -> Bare Lane -> Oxenholme Lake District (for Windermere) -> Carlisle (for London) -> Glasgow Central.
1tpd, which connects with the night ferry from/to Douglas.
 

318266

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Helensburgh Central to Edinburgh avoiding Glasgow. Calling at: Craigendoran, Cardross, Dalreoch, Dumbarton Central, Dumbarton East, Dalmuir, Singer, Drumry, Westerton, Maryhill, Possilpark & Parkhouse, Bishopbriggs, Lenzie, Croy, Falkirk High, Polmont, Linlithgow, Edinburgh park, Haymarket and Edinburgh. 2tph.
 

318266

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Glasgow Central to Stranraer avoiding Kilmarnock. Calling at: Paisley Gilmour Street, Kilwinning, Ayr, Maybole, Girvan, Barrhill, and Stranraer.

This used to run, with the calling pattern above. This does not require a reversal.
 

xotGD

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Leeds - Stansted Airport
Birmingham - Norwich
Huddersfield - London
Colne - Manchester
Newcastle - Hull
Any provincial city you care to name - Paris/Brussels
 

318266

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Glasgow to London via Edinburgh, Newcastle, Carlisle, Lancaster, Leeds, York, and London St pancras, Sutton loop, and London st pancras.
 

Killingworth

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If you could create any direct services which currently don’t run which would you choose?

Mine would include:

Skegness - Boston - Sleaford - Lincoln - Retford - Worksop - Sheffield - Manchester Piccadilly - Liverpool Lime Street

This, or part of this, may happen. When the Hope Valley Capacity Sceme is eventually completed, maybe 2020 but probably 2021, a new additional hourly fast train between Sheffield and Manchester should be introduced, start and finish points X and Y.

X may be Lincoln, and Y could be Liverpool, but other places are possible.

Infrastructure prevents many other possible services.

Looking at just part of the route above, there is a very poor service for the 4 miles between Dore & Totley and Sheffield. It's much better the 40 miles the other way towards Manchester. There's only one platform at Dore & Totley until the work above is completed, however adding a 3rd bay platform (there's probably space) might allow direct stopping services to run from there across Sheffield to a range of possible destinations via Meadowhall, like Doncaster for the ECML, Huddersfield, Lincoln, Leeds or Hull. There were 4 platforms generations ago but rebuilding them won't ever happen,
 

53703

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London King's Cross - Stevenage - Peterborough - Grantham - Nottingham
Lincoln - Saxilby - Gainsborough - Doncaster - Selby - York - Malton - Seamer - Scarborough
 

ashworth

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Lincoln - Nottingham - Derby - Stoke - Crewe.
Just like it used to be back in the 1970’s when I was at college.

Also provides connections at Nottingham, Derby and Crewe without all these changes of train necessary to make East to West journeys these days.
 

The_Engineer

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To bring back some OLD services...…

Liverpool - Birmingham - Poole
Liverpool - Birmingham - Plymouth

To do this remove one of the two per hour Birmingham to Liverpool trains, make them Birmingham - Manchester semi-fasts and remove one of the two per hour XC Manchester - Birmingham services and divert to Liverpool instead. Might have to tweak the XC destinations but something on this ilk.

Liverpool has been without direct south coast and west of England services for too long.
 
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