It seems that Worcestershire Parkway is a success...

[Unixman]

I have to say that I am pleased that it is being patronised to an extent that wasn't anticipated for a few years. Maybe its success might convince X-Country to stop its really long distance trains there.

This is from Worcestershire County Council who had a celebration at the station yesterday.

Worcestershire Parkway passenger numbers exceed all expectations | Worcestershire County Council

More than 540,000 journeys have been made from Worcestershire Parkway Railway Station in the space of 12 months – exceeding all expectations.

www.worcestershire.gov.uk

 

[Techniquest]

It is a rather useful station, and I've used it a number of times myself. I do wonder if that quoted figure includes times when XC terminate their trains from the north at Worcestershire Parkway, and people transfer to coaches there? Or indeed to GWR there vice the city centre stations? I've done the XC to GWR change under such circumstances a number of months ago, when I could travel back from the Midlands using an XC HST and transferring to GWR back to Hereford.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Mind you during the last couple of months I've been.on quite a few Plymouth/Bristol to Birmingham and onto Manchester, Newcastle services etc which have had to make additional stops at Worcestershire parkway because of cancellation of the Nottingham services. I've found trains still had enough padding to get to Birmingham or Cheltenham on time so there can't be too much of a time penalty.

Apparently that hasn't happened today, according to Twitter; whether or not XC think it's adequate to expect people to go to Shrub Hill/Foregate and get WMR from there towards Birmingham remains a mystery!

 

[InOban]

The fact that it is running way above the business case (and I expect way above predictions on this forum !) should be causing a rethink, surely.

It would be interesting to know how much is new business, and how much has transferred from another station.

 

[Unixman]

The fact that it is running way above the business case (and I expect way above predictions on this forum !) should be causing a rethink, surely.

It would be interesting to know how much is new business, and how much has transferred from another station.

I will be interested to see whether the closure of the Cotswold line earlier this year will significantly affect the 2023-24 figures.

 

[jayah]

I have to say that I am pleased that it is being patronised to an extent that wasn't anticipated for a few years. Maybe its success might convince X-Country to stop its really long distance trains there.

Worcestershire Parkway passenger numbers exceed all expectations | Worcestershire County Council

More than 540,000 journeys have been made from Worcestershire Parkway Railway Station in the space of 12 months – exceeding all expectations.

www.worcestershire.gov.uk

Sad but inevitable. Worcestershire Parkway is the antithesis of sustainability, environmentalism and integrated transport.

If people are accessing the railway from a dormitory suburb, driving down a dual carriageway and parking in a huge expanse of asphalt, you are doing everything concerning planning and transport wrong.

The projected (and inevitable) modal share to that place, IIRC, was of the order 98% private car and 1% taxi.

Before long 'success' will manifest itself as a link road upgrade and car park expansion, followed perhaps by another dormitory suburb being planted right around the site.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I'd be interested to know to what extent this success reflects new journeys versus journeys abstracted away from Shrub Hill/Foregate St.

 

[brad465]

The fact that it is running way above the business case (and I expect way above predictions on this forum !) should be causing a rethink, surely.

It would be interesting to know how much is new business, and how much has transferred from another station.

Do new/reopened stations exceeding their business case help towards proposed new stations yet to be built getting the go ahead?

 

[The Planner]

Is there a particular reason adding calls to the other XC routes was scrapped?

Was never there to be scrapped. XC had no interest in it. Im still of the opinion they would bin off other stops in their services if they could.

Think one issue was it would add to much time to the schedule on the longer distance crosscountry routes thats why they only really agreed to stop the Cardiff to Nottingham service there.

Mind you during the last couple of months I've been.on quite a few Plymouth/Bristol to Birmingham and onto Manchester, Newcastle services etc which have had to make additional stops at Worcestershire parkway because of cancellation of the Nottingham services. I've found trains still had enough padding to get to Birmingham or Cheltenham on time so there can't be too much of a time penalty.

I think a platform on the line coming off the mainline towards shrub Hill which gwr services use would be good even if they had to build a long walkway to the other parts of the station

Birmingham bound they will due to the Cross City and they will use up the engineering allowance if TSRs arent on.

 

[virgintrain1]

Do we think the fingers included the 1000s of WOP split tickets used to save a fortune on the XC 170s?

 

[Parallel]

I’ve only used Worcestershire Parkway once on a Saturday and was surprised how busy it was. There were a lot of people waiting for the XC class 170 towards Birmingham, which arrived as 2 carriages and was already full, so XC must be crowding Birmingham customers off. I’d imagine some passengers must’ve been abstracted from other stations, especially as the parking is non-existent for Worcester Foregate Street and still pretty poor at Shrub Hill.

The service is hourly in all directions. There were a lot of passengers waiting around for like 20 or so minutes and it’s hardly a turn up and go service, so a coffee counter or a van at the front of the station probably wouldn’t go amiss at somewhere like Worcestershire Parkway.

 

[GWVillager]

This is very reassuring - a potential new town built around rail, a new station exceeding expectations even with a pandemic, and local politicians acting to improve the service. Hopefully this is replicated elsewhere!

 

[The Planner]

Do we think the fingers included the 1000s of WOP split tickets used to save a fortune on the XC 170s?

I suspect so.

 

[geoffk]

I suspect so.

I was told that the removal of XC stops at Bromsgrove was done mainly to stop split-ticketing for journeys like Cheltenham - Birmingham, forcing you to pay the XC fare. XC also sets the fare from Ashchurch to Worcester although they don't run that way (sorry getting off the subject).

 

[deltic08]

I was told that the removal of XC stops at Bromsgrove was done mainly to stop split-ticketing for journeys like Cheltenham - Birmingham, forcing you to pay the XC fare. XC also sets the fare from Ashchurch to Worcester although they don't run that way (sorry getting off the subject).

Another case of XC greed. How is this allowed when XC do not serve Worcester?
I think a good idea would be to extend electrification 12 miles to Parkway from Bromsgrove and terminate cross city services there giving Parkway a 30 minute interval service to Birmingham for commuters and leisure. Cost would be about £24m for electrification and £3m for crossovers and siding at Parkway. Trains are already present. Just extended 10-12 minutes before turnround.
Is that within WCCs budget even if they contributed a proportion of it as XC would eventually be a user? Would that stop XCs shenanigans?

 

[The Planner]

Another case of XC greed. How is this allowed when XC do not serve Worcester?
I think a good idea would be to extend electrification 12 miles to Parkway from Bromsgrove and terminate cross city services there giving Parkway a 30 minute interval service to Birmingham for commuters and leisure. Cost would be about £24m for electrification and £3m for crossovers and siding at Parkway. Is that within WCCs budget even if they paid half of it? Would that stop XCs shenanigans?

Where did you come up with those numbers as they are way too low. WMT won't have the units for that as its a 30 minute round trip from Bromsgrove to Parkway. If anything it just gives XC a reason to not even stop with the Cardiff Nottinghams.

 

[Unixman]

Another case of XC greed. How is this allowed when XC do not serve Worcester?
I think a good idea would be to extend electrification 12 miles to Parkway from Bromsgrove and terminate cross city services there giving Parkway a 30 minute interval service to Birmingham for commuters and leisure. Cost would be about £24m for electrification and £3m for crossovers and siding at Parkway. Is that within WCCs budget even if they contributed a proportion of it as XC would eventually be a user? Would that stop XCs shenanigans?

Probably no need for sidings or crossovers at Parkway. A few hundred metres beyond is the Abbotswood loop and a crossover where the Worcester line joins.

Where did you come up with those numbers as they are way too low. WMT won't have the units for that as its a 30 minute round trip from Bromsgrove to Parkway. If anything it just gives XC a reason to not even stop with the Cardiff Nottinghams.

Depends whose figures you are using. GWEP then exorbitant but more recent figures look at somewhere between 1-2.5 million per single track kilometer. I doubt that there are too many technical challenges between Bromsgrove and W. Parkway and being 22k I would say that £25m is on the def lower side of the cost!

 

[deltic08]

Where did you come up with those numbers as they are way too low. WMT won't have the units for that as its a 30 minute round trip from Bromsgrove to Parkway. If anything it just gives XC a reason to not even stop with the Cardiff Nottinghams.

Yes, I should have converted single miles of electrification to kilometres. I was thinking it is roughly £1m/single mile when it is per kilometre. £40m doesn't seem such a good deal!
Living in England I still think in miles not this foreign system.

Probably no need for sidings or crossovers at Parkway. A few hundred metres beyond is the Abbotswood loop and a crossover where the Worcester line joins.

Good point.

 

[Envoy]

I wonder which is the busier line - GWR east - west or XC north - south?

I have heard of USA citizens going from Moreton-in-Marsh to north Wales via a change at Worcester Parkway - so, it is not just locals using the station but long distance passengers traversing the country.

Cross Country are charging high fares because they don’t have long enough trains and this has gone in for years. Who on earth thinks that a 2 or 3 coach 170 is adequate to link south Wales with Birmingham, Derby and Nottingham? South Wales and Gloucester could really do with a fast Inter City service going to Birmingham > York and Newcastle. The 170’s could be then left on their present route mopping up the smaller places.

I wonder if the TfW services from south Wales could be extended from Cheltenham to serve Ashchurch, Worcester Shrub Hill, Droitwich and terminate at Kidderminster - or, failing that Shrub Hill?

 

[The Planner]

Probably no need for sidings or crossovers at Parkway. A few hundred metres beyond is the Abbotswood loop and a crossover where the Worcester line joins.


Depends whose figures you are using. GWEP then exorbitant but more recent figures look at somewhere between 1-2.5 million per single track kilometer. I doubt that there are too many technical challenges between Bromsgrove and W. Parkway and being 22k I would say that £25m is on the def lower side of the cost!

Its 36k and no release of DMUs either.

 

[Unixman]

Its 36k and no release of DMUs either.

36k? Is that for both running tracks? The distance from Bromsgrove to Abbotswood is 13 miles 15 chains ( whatever that is - I just let google convert) which converts to just under 22k.

 

[The Planner]

36k? Is that for both running tracks? The distance from Bromsgrove to Abbotswood is 13 miles 15 chains ( whatever that is - I just let google convert) which converts to just under 22k.

Yes, you measure electrification in STK (single track kilometres) so its actually 44k, not 36. And we are at around a million quid or more a km.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Remember the need to upgrade the Barnt Green-Kings Norton section for any extension of wires to the south (the fast lines were not wired for the cross-city service).
Plus wires on the Camp Hill route for any rational network.
Electrification costs soon mount up.
If XC had a bi-mode fleet things would look differently, but they don't.
Is wiring to from Bromsgrove to W Parkway more or less valuable than wiring from Bromsgrove to Worcester stations/Great Malvern?

 

[penguin8967]

There are no services between Worcestershire Parkway and Bromsgrove, probably making it one of the few places on the network where 2 consecutive stations don't have any service between them.

XC also changed the off peak restriction for WOP-BHM starting this week, pushing back the time to 0930 (think it was 0859 before), meaning anyone for the 0914 WOP-BHM has to fork out an extra £2.20 for the anytime return. https://twitter.com/CrossCountryUK/status/1698697432639389728?s=20

 

[Western Sunset]

There are no services between Worcestershire Parkway and Bromsgrove, probably making it one of the few places on the network where 2 consecutive stations don't have any service between them.

No service between Bristol Parkway and Patchway either...

 

[edwin_m]

Any scheme to electrify the Cross-City line would be better going via Shrub Hill to terminate at the upper level in Parkway.

 

[Watershed]

There are no services between Worcestershire Parkway and Bromsgrove, probably making it one of the few places on the network where 2 consecutive stations don't have any service between them.

XC also changed the off peak restriction for WOP-BHM starting this week, pushing back the time to 0930 (think it was 0859 before), meaning anyone for the 0914 WOP-BHM has to fork out an extra £2.20 for the anytime return. https://twitter.com/CrossCountryUK/status/1698697432639389728?s=20

This desperate attempt at increasing revenue (let's be real - few are going to travel later or by car as a result) is trivial to circumvent. Not going to post details here as XC will just "fix" it, but it's easy enough to work out.

 

[anthony263]

I wonder which is the busier line - GWR east - west or XC north - south?

I have heard of USA citizens going from Moreton-in-Marsh to north Wales via a change at Worcester Parkway - so, it is not just locals using the station but long distance passengers traversing the country.

Cross Country are charging high fares because they don’t have long enough trains and this has gone in for years. Who on earth thinks that a 2 or 3 coach 170 is adequate to link south Wales with Birmingham, Derby and Nottingham? South Wales and Gloucester could really do with a fast Inter City service going to Birmingham > York and Newcastle. The 170’s could be then left on their present route mopping up the smaller places.

I wonder if the TfW services from south Wales could be extended from Cheltenham to serve Ashchurch, Worcester Shrub Hill, Droitwich and terminate at Kidderminster - or, failing that Shrub Hill?

Well the proposed 2nd train per hour from Cardiff to Birmingham which is suggested would go to Moor Street Is probably a extension of the tfw service.

Better get a few more class 231s

 

[deltic08]

Any scheme to electrify the Cross-City line would be better going via Shrub Hill to terminate at the upper level in Parkway.

Too obvious for the DfT. What is the daily flow to justify it? Roll on bimodes.

 

[Bartsimho]

XC should definitely stop trains there although they are overcrowded currently so I can see the justification. I'd preferably say that XC should serve at least every place with 100,000+ people it passes through and every official city as well.

I'd define Worcestershire Parkway as serving Worcester so it should get a stop on passing XC services.

Like the WCML South revenue leak it would be nice to have the XC breakdown but that would never happen.