Hearing whispers about Avanti timetable possibly being cut back in December so, yes I think it's all very fluid at the moment.
Its more than whispers. Its real.Hearing whispers about Avanti timetable possibly being cut back in December so, yes I think it's all very fluid at the moment.
Its more than whispers. Its real.
It won't have been actioned yet I suspect, but it is going to be reduced. I have heard 6tph, so likely two track esque in structure.Is that a modification to what's in there now, then? RTT seems to show the same standard hour from Euston as before, i.e. 3 Manchester, 3 Birmingham (one of which to Scotland, odd Shrewsburys), 1 Liverpool, 1 Chester/N Wales, 1 Glasgow, odd Blackpools.
I checked this using 1000-1059 on 13/1/21, FWIW.
Now that’s a novel idea....!If that’s Chester or North Wales services, hopefully some effort at meaningful connections at Crewe might happen this time around?
Is that a modification to what's in there now, then? RTT seems to show the same standard hour from Euston as before, i.e. 3 Manchester, 3 Birmingham (one of which to Scotland, odd Shrewsburys), 1 Liverpool, 1 Chester/N Wales, 1 Glasgow, odd Blackpools.
I checked this using 1000-1059 on 13/1/21, FWIW.
It won't have been actioned yet I suspect, but it is going to be reduced. I have heard 6tph, so likely two track esque in structure.
There is hardly anywhere left that Avanti serves that's not in 'High' or 'Very High' Covid restrictions, so it's not enormously surprising that they'll need to scals back. 'tier' restrictions only ever go one way: up.
I don't think that's entirely true. While they aren't likely to go down any time soon, the second wave will eventually subside and things will be back like August for a while. Or a vaccine brings it down etc.
I suppose to be fair this is unlikely before May.
Presumably you mean 'like August in Milton Keynes' because I can assure you that August was not a point of particularly low restrictions everywhere. This isn't really the point of this thread but the foreseeable future has only one outlook, which is of the current or greater restrictions. It appears that you've agreed with that point in the second part of your post anyway.like August for a while. Or a vaccine brings it down etc.
When they put in base timetables, does it include crew diagramming and do they then have to undo it all when they feed into STP amendments?Until STP amendments start feeding in, you're not gonna get anything close to a real picture of what service patterns will actually run. The TOCs are, in the main, just pushing forward the existing base (WTT) with a few tweaks, so as to guarantee they don't lose paths.
Even before the second wave began impacting crew availability anew, many TOCs were running a significantly reduced timetable for secondary reasons. With the second wave intensifying, I would be surprised if STP doesn't revert the situation to late March on a lot of TOCs.
When they put in base timetables, does it include crew diagramming and do they then have to undo it all when they feed into STP amendments?
When they put in base timetables, does it include crew diagramming and do they then have to undo it all when they feed into STP amendments?
Thanks.Fascinating. I love get insights into how it works. Makes one better appreciate the work people do.In normal times the base long term plan will have rolling stock and crew diagrams created. Crew rosters are created from the base plan, which determine how many traincrew you need to run the base timetable. This is all calculated using an agreed formula, which may vary from company to company.
Then for whatever reason, bank holidays, engineering work, special events etc, a short term plan will be overlaid, with rolling stock and crew diagrams amended accordingly. Traincrew will be rostered to the revised diagrams again in line with agreed procedures.
With Covid there may be some companies amending their long term plan to reduce the amount of further alterations required, but usually all the data has to flow in the same direction, so the roster would reflect whatever base plan is in place. Mixing a long term plan with a short term roster would be fraught with difficulty.
However reducing the long term plan in this way makes it more difficult to revert to your base timetable in future should that be required. With Covid the picture is constantly changing, from passenger demand to staff availability, so there isn’t an easy solution, and requires a lot of planning activity.
In normal times the base long term plan will have rolling stock and crew diagrams created. Crew rosters are created from the base plan, which determine how many traincrew you need to run the base timetable. This is all calculated using an agreed formula, which may vary from company to company.
Then for whatever reason, bank holidays, engineering work, special events etc, a short term plan will be overlaid, with rolling stock and crew diagrams amended accordingly. Traincrew will be rostered to the revised diagrams again in line with agreed procedures.
With Covid there may be some companies amending their long term plan to reduce the amount of further alterations required, but usually all the data has to flow in the same direction, so the roster would reflect whatever base plan is in place. Mixing a long term plan with a short term roster would be fraught with difficulty.
However reducing the long term plan in this way makes it more difficult to revert to your base timetable in future should that be required. With Covid the picture is constantly changing, from passenger demand to staff availability, so there isn’t an easy solution, and requires a lot of planning activity.
Best to keep gradually increasing things as Northern and TPE among others seem to be doing. We don't want things reverting to (the new) normal next summer, people heading out and about, but only a COVID timetable (even if what does run can be longer carriages). People just like a Takt frequency.
There is no one size fits all, and Train Operating Companies cannot predict what the next government guideline will be and precisely how it will affect demand. Match that to the resources you have to run a service and every TOC will be in a slightly different position. In East London a full service has been operating between Liverpool St and Shenfield for months, in fact as mentioned in a Modern Railways a full service plus one extra, and in December the off peak frequency on this line increases from every 10 minutes to every 7-8 minutes.
Best to keep gradually increasing things as Northern and TPE among others seem to be doing. We don't want things reverting to (the new) normal next summer, people heading out and about, but only a COVID timetable (even if what does run can be longer carriages). People like a Takt frequency.
In normal times the base long term plan will have rolling stock and crew diagrams created. Crew rosters are created from the base plan, which determine how many traincrew you need to run the base timetable. This is all calculated using an agreed formula, which may vary from company to company.
Then for whatever reason, bank holidays, engineering work, special events etc, a short term plan will be overlaid, with rolling stock and crew diagrams amended accordingly. Traincrew will be rostered to the revised diagrams again in line with agreed procedures.
With Covid there may be some companies amending their long term plan to reduce the amount of further alterations required, but usually all the data has to flow in the same direction, so the roster would reflect whatever base plan is in place. Mixing a long term plan with a short term roster would be fraught with difficulty.
However reducing the long term plan in this way makes it more difficult to revert to your base timetable in future should that be required. With Covid the picture is constantly changing, from passenger demand to staff availability, so there isn’t an easy solution, and requires a lot of planning activity.
Any news on when the December 2020 East Midlands Railway timetable will be out? I take it the planned improvements to the Crewe to Derby Line won't take place in December now?
It’s been published for weeks. Of course there’s possibility of changes for Covid reasons, but the current plan is what you see.