Envoy
Established Member
- Joined
- 29 Aug 2014
- Messages
- 2,835
Mention has been made of the fact that these trains are only likely to attract short haul passengers - due to the many stops. Regarding those that enter south Wales, much depends on how timings allow changes at Bristol between the Cross Country trains and those going in/out of south Wales. Someone who is going from Cardiff to Plymouth, for example, might well decide to stay on the GWR stopping train all the way - even if it added 25 minutes to the journey compared to switching to Cross Country for the south-west leg of the trip. Throw in the fact that the Cross Country train might be an overcrowded Voyager and GWR might offer a lower fare on their service, and it can be easy to see that these trains could well indeed attract long distance passengers. The route at present is operated by old Sprinters. When the public realise (hopefully by GWR promoting the fact) that HST’s are now operating these trains with plenty of seats, and we could well see growth in passenger numbers on this route. If the fares are low enough, it could well attract day trippers from Cardiff & Newport to Teignmouth & Dawlish. So, some form of catering would be a good idea. I hope that sufficient coaches are stored because if demand rises, they may want to lengthen these trains to 5 coaches. So, an ideal opportunity to grow the business prior to assessing what type of new train would replace these mini HST’s.