Exeter Taunton "Metro"

Reports in Somerset County Gazette that an Exeter Taunton "metro" service is being "seriously considered". Little detail except stations at Wellington and Cullompton proposed, and a "metro" service between the Exeter and Taunton, to connect with fast London trains in Taunton.
Does anyone know any details of what this comprises of, it realistic chances of happening, any timescale, and how would it operate in terms of stock and service levels? For example would it be an extension of the Cardiff Taunton trains, is there any involvement/interlinking of the West Somerset railway idea of running service trains to Minehead or B Lydeard, or any ideas to stop the Plymouth Paddington or X Country trains at Wellington or Cullompton?

There was a report in the local Taunton rag about a proposed service starting linking Taunton with Nuneaton running via Frome,Swindon,Oxford and Coventry using 769's under open access. Make of that what you will, at least it will be a cheaper way to get north of Brum, proper ching going on Cross Country

31160 said:

There was a report in the local Taunton rag about a proposed service starting linking Taunton with Nuneaton running via Frome,Swindon,Oxford and Coventry using 769's under open access. Make of that what you will, at least it will be a cheaper way to get north of Brum, proper ching going on Cross Country

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But still nothing whatsoever to do with the proposal to link Exeter and Taunton with a Metro style service.

The “GO-OP” open access proposal is highly unlikely to ever start IMHO, they’ve had about 10 years of ‘coming soon’, and about a dozen different route options in that time. It’s amazing the way the local media continually regurgitate their ‘new ideas’...

I think the Taunton-Exeter Metro is a good idea on paper, and sure Wellington and Cullompton would like their own stations, as residents have to Drive into Taunton or Tiverton Parkway, which is about 20-30 mins Wellington-Taunton, 20 mins Wellington-Tiverton Parkway, and Cullompton-Tiverton Parkway 15 mins. The problems are pathing stopping services between Exeter-Taunton which is a 100mph two track railway, with one loop at Tiverton Junction, so fitting in stopping services will be a challenge, though not sure what what the signalling headway and capacity like? Then there is Tiverton Parkway which covers the local area and more, pretty well, which before it was built, pretty much all trains were Taunton-Exeter non stop, as very few called at the old Tiverton Junction station, which is where the loop is, it has grown in usage a lot over the years, with over flow car parks now, which get full on weekdays.

I don’t know what the projected usage would be of new stations at Wellington and cullompton, but I doubt it would get to the cost/benefit ratio required to spend 10’s of millions on the new stations, and with Tiverton Parkway near by, I don’t think there will be the political willpower and interest to build the new stations, or a big enough campaign to get those in power interested in a couple of new small stations at Wellington and cullompton.

Yes, I think you are right about the cost/benefit ratio, so unlikely to happen. But I'm interested to know why there would be difficulty pathing slower trains on this route, for the most part there are only two fast trains per hour between Exeter and Taunton, soon maybe to be three with X Country increased frequency, but surely that gives enough headway to run a slow service in between? There isn't much freight either.

Halsebee said:

Yes, I think you are right about the cost/benefit ratio, so unlikely to happen. But I'm interested to know why there would be difficulty pathing slower trains on this route, for the most part there are only two fast trains per hour between Exeter and Taunton, soon maybe to be three with X Country increased frequency, but surely that gives enough headway to run a slow service in between? There isn't much freight either.

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There are a lot of irregular timings as well. I'll believe it when i see it.

And to be of any use it would need to be clock face and connect with other services at Taunton and Exeter. Then there is the lack of capacity at Taunton and Exeter during the peaks for a unit to be sitting around in a platform for however long.

I can't see how 2tph couldn't be pathed in, and there is certainly platform capacity at Taunton, Bristol and through Exeter. New stations could well be build off the mainline, as passing loops too.

The turbos are continuing to be released to the region, and can do 90mph comfortably - I think if flighted after fasts, this would be doable and a great improvement to quite a sparse area, and overall a region often overlooked in non-London investments.

cle said:

I can't see how 2tph couldn't be pathed in, and there is certainly platform capacity at Taunton, Bristol and through Exeter. New stations could well be build off the mainline, as passing loops too.

The turbos are continuing to be released to the region, and can do 90mph comfortably - I think if flighted after fasts, this would be doable and a great improvement to quite a sparse area, and overall a region often overlooked in non-London investments.

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Where is the platform and capacity between Taunton and Bristol coming from please?

There is next to no chance of a deviation.

I said 'at' those stations. Taunton has surplus platforms, and Bristol is not that intensively used. Capacity comes from 4-5tph being quite a pitiful use of a fast mainline, and as I mentioned, the new stations could be on loops to allow overtaking, if even needed.

cle said:

I said 'at' those stations. Taunton has surplus platforms, and Bristol is not that intensively used. Capacity comes from 4-5tph being quite a pitiful use of a fast mainline, and as I mentioned, the new stations could be on loops to allow overtaking, if even needed.

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Although there are plenty of platforms at Taunton, the layout is awkward, with reversals from the west impossible in both up platforms, #4 & #5. Such a service might be accommodated on #3 (down main) at certain times, although possibly not at 30 minute interval frequency and it would depend on the the turnback layover time scheduled. If termination at Taunton was the plan then the ideal option for a short train would be to use the downside bay, handily already numbered #1 although not currently available for routine passenger use due to no track circuiting, hand points in the route, and the lack of trapping against adjacent sidings. Appropriate signalling into #1 could be provided however by track circuiting and converting current shunt routes to main class, although without additional controlled point ends the sidings adjacent to the bay would probably have to go. The lobotomised layout, a victim of stark Thatcher era capital spending cutbacks, would force running into #1 all the way from Norton Fitzwarren over the bi-di relief line, which IS already passenger capable. That might be considered a benefit though if an additional station was also considered at Norton Fitzwarren, as only a single platform would thus be required, but it could make working in and out of the busy engineering yard at Fairwater rather difficult. The limited layout at Taunton also prevents direct running into the London end bay, #6, so if trains are to start from there, they have to unload in #2 or #3 then shunt over to the up side. Hence the bay is rarely used today (RTT weekdays shows only 2 departures per day currently) and most terminators arrive at and depart from #3, although they typically have long layovers blocking the down main for around 30 minutes (probably a remnant from when everything had to shunt over to the bay before #3 was reopened), which incidentally also makes accommodating the Exeter Metro rather a struggle I would suggest! Either an additional crossover at the London end to provide direct access to #6 from Bristol would be required or full #1 reinstatement would be required, or the two stopping services might be combined to run through from Exeter to Bristol. That could get better use out of the units on the Bristol stoppers by eliminating the wasteful long turnback. At Exeter, the trains could terminate in the London end bay #2, or could run up the bank to Central. Another Devon aspiration is for a second hourly stopping service on the LSWR route out to Honiton or Axminster, so it might be possible to combine these with the Taunton service which could create a number of new through journey opportunities and allow both services to serve both major stations in Exeter while minimising the number of paths used and avoiding any turnback layovers at either.