Crossrail - Through Running confirmed for November

[Horizon22]

If RTT is to be believed, there are no late night services west of Paddington from the eastern branches. They operate between Paddington XR and Shenfield/Abbey Wood.

Late night services to the west start from Paddington NR.

Define "late night"; I can see trains arriving past midnight that originated at Abbey Wood. Shenfield services are not booked to operate past Paddington all day anyway.

But yes otherwise Paddington and Liverpool St high level have the very last departures, so a change is required.

Realtime Trains | 9N00 2306 Abbey Wood to Maidenhead | 07/11/2022

Real-time train running information for 9N00 2306 departure from Abbey Wood to Maidenhead on 07/11/2022. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[swt_passenger]

If RTT is to be believed, there are no late night services west of Paddington from the eastern branches. They operate between Paddington XR and Shenfield/Abbey Wood.

Late night services to the west start from Paddington NR.

I think it‘s possibly more to do with late night services to the west, from about 2300 onwards, remaining the responsibility of GWR. I don't know why that was the agreed long term position, I guess it doesn’t apply to the route to Shenfield as there’s no other suitable operator.

 

[bicbasher]

The last through service to Heathrow from Whitechapel is at 2301 and Maidenhead at 2321. The last through service to Reading is at 2221.

 

[London Trains]

I would simply have 6tph Heathrow to Abbey Wood, 6tph Reading to Abbey Wood and 12tph Paddington to Shenfield (western destinations alternating Heathrow - Paddington - Reading - Paddington).

If this is not possible due to freight then I would terminate 2tph of the Readings at Paddington and have 20 and 10 min intervals for Reading services.

 

[JonathanH]

I think it‘s possibly more to do with late night services to the west, from about 2300 onwards, remaining the responsibility of GWR. I don't know why that was the agreed long term position, I guess it doesn’t apply to the route to Shenfield as there’s no other suitable operator.

For a start there are only six sidings at Maidenhead and probably a reluctance to have lots of empty running back to London once two-track railway kicks in. There is a practical limit on getting 345s back to Old Oak Common if they ran later to Reading.

12 TPH to Reading

6tph Reading to Abbey Wood

Why is there a fascination with loads of trains to Reading? There is a central turnback siding at Maidenhead and the demand falls off quite a bit before the London boundary is reached. GWR's proposal is to still run services calling at Slough, Maidenhead and Twyford.

 

[Horizon22]

The last through service to Heathrow from Whitechapel is at 2301 and Maidenhead at 2321. The last through service to Reading is at 2221.

Which is give or take a few minutes, exactly the same as now (timed at Paddington). The Elizabeth Line wasn't going to magically create different hours of services it just that naturally, if you extend a service further back, it has to leave earlier. West Drayton - Maidenhead is getting an increased off-peak service.

 

[lawried123]

The last through service to Heathrow from Whitechapel is at 2301 and Maidenhead at 2321. The last through service to Reading is at 2221.

Looking at it from a rather selfish point of view, I have a TFL staff pass and travel from Twyford. Its just a shame that after 2230 from Tottenham Court Road, I have to try and and get a ticket for the GWR part of the journey to get to Twyford. But at least at Paddington there is that little ticket place near platform 3 when the main ticket office is closed.
Can't really complain, its a free journey for most of the day.

Lawrie

 

[cambsy]

I think it will be impressive to go to core station, like Tottenham Court Road, after November 6th, and watch it handling 42-46 trains per hour, for most of the day, and I also worked out, using Real Time trains, that core stations will handle approx 724 trains a day, so does this make them, the busiest 2 platform stations in the UK? And where in the league of busiest stations in the UK will the core stations stand?.

 

[BayPaul]

I think it will be impressive to go to core station, like Tottenham Court Road, after November 6th, and watch it handling 42-46 trains per hour, for most of the day, and I also worked out, using Real Time trains, that core stations will handle approx 724 trains a day, so does this make them, the busiest 2 platform stations in the UK? And where in the league of busiest stations in the UK will the core stations stand?.

Depends on your definitions... I would assume Pimlico is the highest in the country if you are counting London Underground - up to 72tph on two platforms.

 

[Horizon22]

I think it will be impressive to go to core station, like Tottenham Court Road, after November 6th, and watch it handling 42-46 trains per hour, for most of the day, and I also worked out, using Real Time trains, that core stations will handle approx 724 trains a day, so does this make them, the busiest 2 platform stations in the UK? And where in the league of busiest stations in the UK will the core stations stand?.

Probably comparable only to the Thameslink core in terms of tph and “busiest” stations if you’re discounting terminals and Clapham Junction.

 

[Agent_Squash]

I think it will be impressive to go to core station, like Tottenham Court Road, after November 6th, and watch it handling 42-46 trains per hour, for most of the day, and I also worked out, using Real Time trains, that core stations will handle approx 724 trains a day, so does this make them, the busiest 2 platform stations in the UK? And where in the league of busiest stations in the UK will the core stations stand?.

It’s even more impressive to go to Farringdon and have up to 22tph (depending on Thameslink!) north, south, east and west.

Farringdon will be (or already is?) the busiest station in the country by tph with Thameslink, Lizzy line and the Tube iirc.

 

[DC1989]

What will be the train split from Shenfield in May 2023? 8tph Paddington, 3 tph Heathrow, 1tph Reading?

 

[hwl]

What will be the train split from Shenfield in May 2023? 8tph Paddington, 3 tph Heathrow, 1tph Reading?

For most of the day 100% Paddington with a few shoulder peak services per day going West of Paddington that help with unit rotation though Old Oak Common and stepping up to /down from 24tph peak service levels

 

[lawried123]

I notice that there will two occasions, one around 1640 and one right in the heart of the PM peak at about 17:45 where three consecutive westbound trains all terminate at Paddington. As I can imagine the platform getting fairly full with people waiting to go west of Paddington, I feel sorry for the platform staff trying to empty out the trains, especially the third one. It seems a shame not to have spaced them out a bit better. And, of course, it gives rise to odd 12 minute gaps in a generally 6 min service to west of Paddington right in the middle of the peak.

Lawrie

 

[hwl]

I notice that there will two occasions, one around 1640 and one right in the heart of the PM peak at about 17:45 where three consecutive westbound trains all terminate at Paddington. As I can imagine the platform getting fairly full with people waiting to go west of Paddington, I feel sorry for the platform staff trying to empty out the trains, especially the third one. It seems a shame not to have spaced them out a bit better. And, of course, it gives rise to odd 12 minute gaps in a generally 6 min service to west of Paddington right in the middle of the peak.

Lawrie

4 in the am peak at one point and couple of 3s

 

[YSTrains]

After Southall, West Drayton is omitted from the GWR service to Didcot.

 

[Acton1991]

I notice that there will two occasions, one around 1640 and one right in the heart of the PM peak at about 17:45 where three consecutive westbound trains all terminate at Paddington. As I can imagine the platform getting fairly full with people waiting to go west of Paddington, I feel sorry for the platform staff trying to empty out the trains, especially the third one. It seems a shame not to have spaced them out a bit better. And, of course, it gives rise to odd 12 minute gaps in a generally 6 min service to west of Paddington right in the middle of the peak.

Lawrie

I may be missing them, but are there benches/places to sit at the platform level in Paddington? Conscious that a lot of people will be hanging around waiting for trains out-west due to the lower frequency.

 

[Wynd]

Great to hear that Crossrail will finally be opening.

Are the Sunday services running yet?

 

[Horizon22]

Great to hear that Crossrail will finally be opening.

Are the Sunday services running yet?

It’s already open and has been since May. Just in 3 stages. Sunday won’t happen until November (as per the opening of this thread).

 

[InOban]

The latest update from Crossrail. Bond Street now into commissioning, opening before Nov 6, but no date. Ilford complete before end of summer (which doesn't leave long - autumn officially starts next Thursday !). Various weekend closures for software updates. No mention of the interference issue near Liverpool Street or was it Stratford? . Has that been sorted ?

 

[345 050]

The crazy padding is just till the new timetable in May 2023.

TfL said they could make through running "work" without a TT change with reduced service levels. They didn't say work well!

Won't timetables change in December 2022? Why would it take until May 2023 to fix.

I'm wondering if they have the padding in there essentially as slack time, so they present to the COS on time, just to cover lateness on the GWML? Although is there going to be similar padding in the schedule at Stratford for GEML? Hmmm...

 

[kevin_roche]

Won't timetables change in December 2022? Why would it take until May 2023 to fix.

There are more software updates to be done in order to run the full service. They can't be done in time for the December Timetable changes.

 

[345 050]

I may be missing them, but are there benches/places to sit at the platform level in Paddington? Conscious that a lot of people will be hanging around waiting for trains out-west due to the lower frequency.

There are a couple of benches in the middle of the platform, adjacent to the link to the Bakerloo. Not a huge number though.

There are more software updates to be done in order to run the full service. They can't be done in time for the December Timetable changes.

There are 2 different issues though. I don't think the 5 minute wait time at Westbourne Park sidings is related to the software issues, it's related to the timetable, based on what I've read in this forum? So if the timetable is problematic for through running, why isn't it being fixed in December?

 

[Watershed]

Won't timetables change in December 2022? Why would it take until May 2023 to fix.

I'm wondering if they have the padding in there essentially as slack time, so they present to the COS on time, just to cover lateness on the GWML? Although is there going to be similar padding in the schedule at Stratford for GEML? Hmmm...

Well one major factor is that, in exchange for agreeing to the "off pattern" timetable change in November, they've promised ASLEF there won't be any more changes to drivers' diagrams until May... as well as a load of other sweeteners such as uncovered work defaulting to Rest Day Work rather than spares.

 

[345 050]

Well one major factor is that, in exchange for agreeing to the "off pattern" timetable change in November, they've promised ASLEF there won't be any more changes to drivers' diagrams until May... as well as a load of other sweeteners such as uncovered work defaulting to Rest Day Work rather than spares.

Ah see ok. Now that makes sense. Thank you for explaining.

 

[trek]

I'm Looking forward to taking a train to Paddington that goes through to Reading, but instead running upstairs to catch a GWR and then beating it passing Westbourne Park

Looking at it from a rather selfish point of view, I have a TFL staff pass and travel from Twyford. Its just a shame that after 2230 from Tottenham Court Road, I have to try and and get a ticket for the GWR part of the journey to get to Twyford. But at least at Paddington there is that little ticket place near platform 3 when the main ticket office is closed.
Can't really complain, its a free journey for most of the day.

Lawrie

The second last Maidenhead, 9N94 (Abbey Wood 2236, Tottenham Court Road 2300, Maidenhead 0005) has immediately behind at 0008 a GWR for the extra one stop to Twyford. E-ticket will probably be the best way to get the extra stop.

Otherwise the last Maidenhead 9N00 (Abbey Wood 2306, Tottenham Court Road 2330, Maidenhead 0024) has a GWR about 9 mins behind at 0033, enough time to go and get a ticket or go and touch in with contactless for that final little bit.

 

[345 050]

Do GWR still operate a skeleton service to Reading overnight? It used to be something like every 2 hours if I recall?

 

[trek]

Do GWR still operate a skeleton service to Reading overnight? It used to be something like every 2 hours if I recall?

Yes, there's a 0034, 0134 then a 2 hour gap before the 0334 out of Paddington. Then the first XR Heathrow train is at 0442 and Reading train at 0513. So basically a 2 hour service between 1 and 6am.

The other way there's an arrival at 0113, 0201, 0312, 0449 then 0528 before the first XR arrival (from Maidenhead) at 0602, so a bit more consistent but with one gap of just under 2 hours.

This excludes Saturday night/Sunday morning, the last train out of Paddington is at 0033. Things don't get going out to Reading until 0634 with the first arrival into Paddington from Reading at 0711. The Heathrow trains start a bit earlier.

 

[Jimini]

Yes, there's a 0034, 0134 then a 2 hour gap before the 0334 out of Paddington. Then the first XR Heathrow train is at 0442 and Reading train at 0513. So basically a 2 hour service between 1 and 6am.

Ah I've used those rattlers from Paddington to / from Reading many a time in my younger years. Nice to know the option's still there for the whippersnappers!

 

[London Trains]

Part of me wonders why they don't just run a proper night service - the fact a skeleton service runs means the line is open anyway.

Something like a TfL operated 2tph all stops Paddington (main shed) to Reading running all night would probably work quite well and have half decent usage.

Could even run GWR services from Paddington to Oxford every hour through the night aswell (Oxford Tube (the coach that runs along the M40) runs all night so some journeys are clearly being made).