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GWR Dec 19 timetable

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Mag_seven

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in this case there is a desire to run extra passenger trains and why should that effect existing freight flows.

In that case the extras should make way for the existing freights not the existing passenger services which is what is happening (indirectly) here.
 
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HamworthyGoods

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In that case the extras should make way for the existing freights not the existing passenger services which is what is happening (indirectly) here.

If only railway timetabling on a congested network was that simple....
 

HowardGWR

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You can't compare the railway of today with that of yesteryear. Overnight delivery of 'fast freight' was considered sufficient. Milk and postal trains did not have to 'fit around' pax trains (rather the contrary). As an aside, if new stations are to be opened between Didcot and Swindon, it begs the question whether continuous four tracking will be needed anyway in future.
I ask again; how many pax travel in the peak between Reading and Oxford and beyond who will be greatly inconvenienced?
 

Wychwood93

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If only railway timetabling on a congested network was that simple....
Indeed - on my travels today I had the 1D20 (0950 ex-PAD to Oxford) which I joined at Reading. We were checked around Moreton to allow the equally right time up 1A11 to pass, we crossed to the down relief for the equally right time 2L26 Didcot-PAD to be correctly be given the road before we got to Didcot East. Checked after Appleford whilst we followed the well worn use of 'equally right time' 2L26 Didcot to Oxford. We still managed to be 1 early into Oxford. The timetable worked as planned - it was a tad quirky, but that it how it has to be sometimes. Whilst 'on the job' I knew a couple of timetable guys quite well - thorough and methodical best describes their approach to work. Not an easy task - far more complicated than many insiders, let alone outsiders, appreciate. I learnt a lot from them and friends who equally understood the mysteries of signalling. What killed off much of the experienced staff was the move to Paddington and then Milton Keynes - for those who could be described as 'Southern Region' these became steps too far. Network Rail managed to encourage too many experienced staff to jack it in.
 

Wilts Wanderer

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Indeed - on my travels today I had the 1D20 (0950 ex-PAD to Oxford) which I joined at Reading. We were checked around Moreton to allow the equally right time up 1A11 to pass, we crossed to the down relief for the equally right time 2L26 Didcot-PAD to be correctly be given the road before we got to Didcot East. Checked after Appleford whilst we followed the well worn use of 'equally right time' 2L26 Didcot to Oxford. We still managed to be 1 early into Oxford. The timetable worked as planned - it was a tad quirky, but that it how it has to be sometimes. Whilst 'on the job' I knew a couple of timetable guys quite well - thorough and methodical best describes their approach to work. Not an easy task - far more complicated than many insiders, let alone outsiders, appreciate. I learnt a lot from them and friends who equally understood the mysteries of signalling. What killed off much of the experienced staff was the move to Paddington and then Milton Keynes - for those who could be described as 'Southern Region' these became steps too far. Network Rail managed to encourage too many experienced staff to jack it in.
+1000
 

jimm

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Teeny bit triggered eh? Really, a shame that someone with such an expert knowledge of the situation has to spend their days putting people right on an internet forum rather than chairing the meetings at NR to iron everything out.

We arent bandying, butchering or talking irrelevant nonsense, we are discussing a new train timetable, the benefits or otherwise of which reasonable people can disagree about. In my view your emotive tone detracts from the useful substance of your contribution.

Since when has posting something about non-existent new stations not been talking nonsense in this context? Or could you enlighten us as to where these are being planned between Reading and Oxford? I must have missed them.

I am still waiting for someone to actually come up with some coherent excuse as to why punching a big hole in what is a standard interval GWR fast service between Reading and Oxford for the rest of the day (and the week) is a really good idea at one of the busiest times for travel on weekdays.

And I'll get as hacked off as I like when told that using an XC Voyager and changing at Oxford is just the most brilliant alternative to a GWR IET that seats more than three times as many passengers (so you actually get a seat to sit in) and makes a direct journey to my destination. Nothing remotely innovative to see there.

And the number of Oxford passengers who used those stoppers would have been minimal due to most were looped at Didcot so it's a bit of a mute point.

I assume you mean a moot point, not mute.

And did I say lots of people used the semi-fasts to get between Reading and Oxford? No. But please tell me where else on the GWR network - or further afield - so many direct journey opportunities of all kinds across the day have disappeared, or are about to, in the past couple of years between two such large centres less than 30 miles apart? If the fast services, FGW/GWR or XC, were a mess for one reason or another, then the Turbo semi-fasts could usually be relied upon to get people where they wanted to go.

In the case of the semi-fasts not reaching Oxford at the moment, that can't be blamed on GWR, but when it comes to Reading-Oxford peak fast cuts next month, then the ball is in their court.

Despite claims made above, they are not duty-bound to automatically accept Network Rail's counter-proposals to their timetable bid, but things being thrown into the mix at a late stage in the negotiations make it much more difficult to say no.

Some of us can remember a series of reverse ferrets in January and May 2007 after certain aspects of the December 2006 timetable proved less than satisfactory out in the real world, particularly the morning peak fast services from Oxford to Reading and Paddington, despite copious assurances in advance from FGW that it would all be fine. I will not be at all surprised if similar things happen early next year as well.

iND

Indeed - on my travels today I had the 1D20 (0950 ex-PAD to Oxford) which I joined at Reading. We were checked around Moreton to allow the equally right time up 1A11 to pass, we crossed to the down relief for the equally right time 2L26 Didcot-PAD to be correctly be given the road before we got to Didcot East. Checked after Appleford whilst we followed the well worn use of 'equally right time' 2L26 Didcot to Oxford. We still managed to be 1 early into Oxford. The timetable worked as planned - it was a tad quirky, but that it how it has to be sometimes. Whilst 'on the job' I knew a couple of timetable guys quite well - thorough and methodical best describes their approach to work. Not an easy task - far more complicated than many insiders, let alone outsiders, appreciate. I learnt a lot from them and friends who equally understood the mysteries of signalling. What killed off much of the experienced staff was the move to Paddington and then Milton Keynes - for those who could be described as 'Southern Region' these became steps too far. Network Rail managed to encourage too many experienced staff to jack it in.

In fairness to Network Rail and GWR, the new timetable does aim to put a stop to this kind of carry-on between Reading and Oxford, with the Didcot-Oxford stoppers being shifted to run ahead of the XC services, instead of following them from Didcot North junction with a GWR fast bearing down on the Turbo from behind.
 
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jimm

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And the new GWR timetable T6 continues the farce of the axed afternoon and early evening Reading stops.

It does not show any of the connections between GWR and WMR services on the Hereford route at the Worcester stations or Great Malvern - unlike the current version of this timetable and its predecessors.

But someone found the time to insert the three XC trains from Reading that provide connections at Oxford for the Cotswold Line, to make sure there are no awkward gaps on the line showing the westbound late afternoon and early evening departures from Reading...

Meanwhile, it is a lot harder for someone looking at the new version of timetable T1 to pick up what is going on. This has been changed from a simple summary of fast services between London, Slough, Reading (Didcot, when served by trains on the Oxford route) and Oxford to incorporate extra lines showing connections at Slough for Windsor, at Oxford for Bicester Village and the direct XC services to and from Basingstoke, rather than them just appearing and disappearing at Reading.
 

Scottychoo

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So all the bickering and hoo ha re the non stops at Reading on the down Cotswolds was a bit of a non starter as only 3, yes 3 early evening services omit Reading, the 1658, 1758 1858 ex PADD.
Hardly the end of the world.
 

jimm

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So all the bickering and hoo ha re the non stops at Reading on the down Cotswolds was a bit of a non starter as only 3, yes 3 early evening services omit Reading, the 1658, 1758 1858 ex PADD.
Hardly the end of the world.

Glad to hear you have understood precisely nothing about the problems this will create for passengers who travel back from Reading to Oxford or beyond, or who make connections to and from the rest of the Thames Valley or places further afield on the GWR and SWR networks at Reading.

I said right from the off that it would be three Cotswold services, plus the new Paddington-Banbury IET, that will not call at Reading. How exactly did you manage to miss that along the way?

BUT this change creates a gap of 1hr 40 minutes between direct trains from Reading to the Cotswold Line, followed by one of 2hrs 19 minutes and takes a big bite of the Reading-Oxford fast service as well - meanwhile, the rest of the day and week in the new timetable, there is a train every hour from Reading to the Cotswold Line - and every single train the other way, all the time, stops at Reading.

I'm glad you think this is all just some minor detail and I'm sure all those whose through journeys will now involve a change of trains and being wedged into an overloaded Voyager for half their journey home will appreciate your concern.
 

cactustwirly

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So all the bickering and hoo ha re the non stops at Reading on the down Cotswolds was a bit of a non starter as only 3, yes 3 early evening services omit Reading, the 1658, 1758 1858 ex PADD.
Hardly the end of the world.

Yes but those three are slap bang in the evening peak! :rolleyes:
Meaning that there are NO GWR services from Reading to Oxford for over 90 minutes during the busiest part of the day.
 

Scottychoo

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Maybe one day that big dark cloud above your head will blow away Jimm, have you not heard the phrase 'you can please some of the people.......etc
There are far far more positives in the new timetable than negatives and after the deluge of complaints from RDG commuters to GWR Twitter you can pretty much put your house on those Reading calls being reinstated from May.
So move along, (and do your blood pressure a favour) nothing to see here.
 

FGW_DID

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Meaning that there are NO GWR services from Reading to Oxford for over 90 minutes during the busiest part of the day.

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/se...-2100?stp=WVS&show=pax-calls&order=wtt&toc=GW

Am i missing something, the biggest gap i can see between GWR services, looking at RTT for Reading between 1500-2100, is 58 minutes between 2M52 (1701) & 1W03 (1759) and 60 minutes between 2L56 (1822) & 2L62 (1922).

During both those gaps there are two XC services which call at Oxford.
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Y94224/2020-01-22/detailed
 

Scottychoo

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Mitchell Hurd

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I downloaded the new timetable this morning and if I'm honest, I know people may (or will) disagree with me but I feel GWR have worked tremendously hard to get here.

The only complaint I have is the new weekday ticket restrictions in that every train in the rush hour is no longer valid for Off-Peak ticket holders to and from Didcot, Reading and London - the only semi-fast busy Class 387 services that Off-Peak tickets can be used on are the 18:49 and 19:20 plus others after that. I'd opt for the 18:49 of that was me as it potentially avoids a delay on the 19:28 IET which is non-stop to Didcot.

However, I'm wondering if the I say long-awated increase in fast trains to and from London and Didcot on Saturdays is the reason for the weekday ticket restrictions. In my view (and for me) that compensates for it.

I can't see passengers with Off-Peak tickets being happy with the new restrictions though - I can see the 15:30ish or worse still the 19:28 IET services being crush loaded!

A few things of the December 2019 timetable I find interesting are on Saturdays, there's an 09:47 from Oxford to Reading (arrives 10:14) and London Paddington only (arrives 10:37). How GWR have slotted that one in I don't know - excellent idea though. I wouldn't be surprised if this is because of the fact that both the high-speed services from Oxford to Paddington around 09:30 and 10:30 were nearly packed - I remember 6 years back in like December my brother, Michael, and I going on the 10:30ish HST to Slough (changing for Windsor) and managing to get 2 forward facing seats together at the back of the Quiet Coach, Coach A (rear coach).

So an extra Oxford to Paddington service slotted in on Saturdays will be greatly appreciated I imagine!

For those that mention the North Cotswolds services on here, between 16:18 and 17:59 there's the CrossCountry services at 16:45, 17:15 and 17:43 but there is a fast service to Oxford at 16:48 (Oxford only) so that should take off some of the load. Alternatively go from Reading to Didcot Parkway in time for a new 17:03 from there to Moreton-in-Marsh (M-i-M). That's an all stations service between Didcot and M-i-M. Between the 17:59 and 20:18 services there's obviously the CrossCountry services but there's a 19:55 GWR fast service too. Plus there's the 18:22 and 19:22 stopping services to Oxford as well - they maybe Turbos and take longer but it's better than nothing in the cold weather.

As regards the rolling stock allocations, I'm very pleased that every service to and from London Paddington, Oxford and the North Cotswolds are IET's (5 and 9-car I guess as I believe 10 coaches can't run to and from Oxford and Hereford) - I know that on the North Cotswolds and Mainline services that the only regular Turbos to operate will be, on weekdays only...
  • 05:10 from Oxford to Worcester Foregate Street (arrives at 06:24).
  • 06:53 from Worcester Foregate Street to Didcot Parkway (arrives at 08:41).
  • 17:03 from Didcot Parkway to M-i-M (arrives at 18:07).
  • 19:10 from M-i-M to Oxford (arrives at 19:50).
I know that there will be too many trains to and from Didcot Parkway and Reading (combination of non-stop and stopping trains) - a handful of Turbo trains contributes to this which is good!

To save this post being too many miles long, the services at this station I'm impressed with all round.
 
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jimm

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Maybe one day that big dark cloud above your head will blow away Jimm, have you not heard the phrase 'you can please some of the people.......etc
There are far far more positives in the new timetable than negatives and after the deluge of complaints from RDG commuters to GWR Twitter you can pretty much put your house on those Reading calls being reinstated from May.
So move along, (and do your blood pressure a favour) nothing to see here.
I have a funny feeling that if someone made a mess of a timetable near you at a key time of day, you wouldn't be busy defending them.

There are indeed plenty of positives in much of the new GWR timetable, but that does not means that they should be let off the hook over the negatives, does it? Though apparently you seem to think that is the case.

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/se...-2100?stp=WVS&show=pax-calls&order=wtt&toc=GW

Am i missing something, the biggest gap i can see between GWR services, looking at RTT for Reading between 1500-2100, is 58 minutes between 2M52 (1701) & 1W03 (1759) and 60 minutes between 2L56 (1822) & 2L62 (1922).

During both those gaps there are two XC services which call at Oxford.

For those that mention the North Cotswolds services on here, between 16:18 and 17:59 there's the CrossCountry services at 16:45, 17:15 and 17:43 but there is a fast service to Oxford at 16:48 (Oxford only) so that should take off some of the load. Alternatively go from Reading to Didcot Parkway in time for a new 17:03 from there to Moreton-in-Marsh (M-i-M). That's an all stations service between Didcot and M-i-M. Between the 17:59 and 20:18 services there's obviously the CrossCountry services but there's a 19:55 GWR fast service too. Plus there's the 18:22 and 19:22 stopping services to Oxford as well - they maybe Turbos and take longer but it's better than nothing in the cold weather.

As regards the rolling stock allocations, I'm very pleased that every service to and from London Paddington, Oxford and the North Cotswolds are IET's (5 and 9-car I guess as I believe 10 coaches can't run to and from Oxford and Hereford) - I know that on the North Cotswolds and Mainline services that the only regular Turbos to operate will be, on weekdays only...
  • 05:10 from Oxford to Worcester Foregate Street (arrives at 06:24).
  • 06:53 from Worcester Foregate Street to Didcot Parkway (arrives at 08:41).
  • 17:03 from Didcot Parkway to M-i-M (arrives at 18:07)..

I do love the way that people keep clinging to the existence of the XC services as some kind of get out jail card for GWR on this - I must have missed all these nice empty Voyagers passing through Oxford and Reading, especially in the peaks. And what exactly do you think the impact of removing a series of calls by 640-seat GWR IETs is going to be on these XC services between Reading and Oxford at one of the busiest times of the day?

I am well aware what trains there are now and will be in future out of Reading in the peak period, thanks. That does not get us away from the clear and obvious loss of direct connectivity to the Cotswold Line in particular - and the GWR Reading-Oxford fast service ceases to run half-hourly in the afternoon weekday peak - but remains intact at all other times. If cutting journey time from London to Oxford is so vital, where are all the trains that do this in the other direction in the morning?

Mitchell, do you ever use Oxford station around 17.25? The idea that a two-car Turbo is going to be adequate provision on that service from Didcot beggars belief when set against the number of people there are waiting to board the current 16.22 from London to Great Malvern every afternoon.

Two-car Turbos used to leave Oxford full and standing 20 years ago at that time of the day, when the number of commuters from Hanborough in particular was far smaller than it is now. Even if no Worcestershire passengers are on board, it will not make much of a difference. Sure, anyone minded to join at Didcot will get a seat, but whether they will be able to get off at their destination through the scrum is another matter.

And even if GWR has omitted to show that the 16.20 from Paddington will connect with this Turbo at Oxford on the pdf and pocket timetable, people will still be trying to do that, as it is in the journey planners as a connection - and will be the last departure from Paddington that off-peak tickets are valid on ahead of the peak validity period kicking in.

This mess may make the operators' lives easier, but it does quite the opposite for passengers, who are supposed to be the reason the trains are running in the first place.

PS: 2x5 IETs can operate on the Cotswold Line if required, thanks to the platform extensions. but none are planned to use the route at present.
 
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Mitchell Hurd

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I have used Oxford around 17:25 rarely - only when getting off the train from London once or twice 5 years ago though. You're right that a 2-car Turbo at that time will not be sufficient - in fact I remember in the early part of last year this being reported full, on Twitter, when it was frequently a Turbo when drivers were being trained on the IET's - the 17:25 when it was the ex-16:22 from London Paddington.

I've a feeling the Henley branch lines will be a 3-car Turbo into next year for a short while til a 769 takes over. So hopefully that can be used on the 17:03 all stations service from Didcot to Noreton-in-Marsh should the 2-car Turbo be frequently full to bursting like the Tube trains!
 

bnm

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Network Rail and GWR have worked wonders with this new timetable. The improvements are a real step change for the vast majority. Yes there are some minor inconveniences but all for the greater good.
 
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cactustwirly

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I downloaded the new timetable this morning and if I'm honest, I know people may (or will) disagree with me but I feel GWR have worked tremendously hard to get here.

The only complaint I have is the new weekday ticket restrictions in that every train in the rush hour is no longer valid for Off-Peak ticket holders to and from Didcot, Reading and London - the only semi-fast busy Class 387 services that Off-Peak tickets can be used on are the 18:49 and 19:20 plus others after that. I'd opt for the 18:49 of that was me as it potentially avoids a delay on the 19:28 IET which is non-stop to Didcot.

However, I'm wondering if the I say long-awated increase in fast trains to and from London and Didcot on Saturdays is the reason for the weekday ticket restrictions. In my view (and for me) that compensates for it.

I can't see passengers with Off-Peak tickets being happy with the new restrictions though - I can see the 15:30ish or worse still the 19:28 IET services being crush loaded!

A few things of the December 2019 timetable I find interesting are on Saturdays, there's an 09:47 from Oxford to Reading (arrives 10:14) and London Paddington only (arrives 10:37). How GWR have slotted that one in I don't know - excellent idea though. I wouldn't be surprised if this is because of the fact that both the high-speed services from Oxford to Paddington around 09:30 and 10:30 were nearly packed - I remember 6 years back in like December my brother, Michael, and I going on the 10:30ish HST to Slough (changing for Windsor) and managing to get 2 forward facing seats together at the back of the Quiet Coach, Coach A (rear coach).

So an extra Oxford to Paddington service slotted in on Saturdays will be greatly appreciated I imagine!

For those that mention the North Cotswolds services on here, between 16:18 and 17:59 there's the CrossCountry services at 16:45, 17:15 and 17:43 but there is a fast service to Oxford at 16:48 (Oxford only) so that should take off some of the load. Alternatively go from Reading to Didcot Parkway in time for a new 17:03 from there to Moreton-in-Marsh (M-i-M). That's an all stations service between Didcot and M-i-M. Between the 17:59 and 20:18 services there's obviously the CrossCountry services but there's a 19:55 GWR fast service too. Plus there's the 18:22 and 19:22 stopping services to Oxford as well - they maybe Turbos and take longer but it's better than nothing in the cold weather.

As regards the rolling stock allocations, I'm very pleased that every service to and from London Paddington, Oxford and the North Cotswolds are IET's (5 and 9-car I guess as I believe 10 coaches can't run to and from Oxford and Hereford) - I know that on the North Cotswolds and Mainline services that the only regular Turbos to operate will be, on weekdays only...
  • 05:10 from Oxford to Worcester Foregate Street (arrives at 06:24).
  • 06:53 from Worcester Foregate Street to Didcot Parkway (arrives at 08:41).
  • 17:03 from Didcot Parkway to M-i-M (arrives at 18:07).
  • 19:10 from M-i-M to Oxford (arrives at 19:50).
I know that there will be too many trains to and from Didcot Parkway and Reading (combination of non-stop and stopping trains) - a handful of Turbo trains contributes to this which is good!

To save this post being too many miles long, the services at this station I'm impressed with all round.

Good for you.
The new ticket restrictions are not compensated for those of us further east, with a reduction in the number of semi fast services.
As a result I have contacted my local MP about this
 

devonexpress

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Personally looking at this new timetable there are some improvements, but also some issues which will need to be addressed, But GWR is one of those companies than quickly tries to sort out its screw ups. Although losing the 10:03 & 12:03 non stop Reading to Exeter services is a big mistake, and one I can imagine GWR getting a lot of grief about especially from Luke Pollard MP, possibly Ben Bradshaw as well as some Cornish MP's. We shall just have to see, if enough people raise it with GWR they may change their minds if there is room in the timetable to do it, it just seems silly that for over 100 years there has been a non stop London to the South West service, which is now being axed, yet on LNER they are reintroducing more of them!
 

irish_rail

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Personally looking at this new timetable there are some improvements, but also some issues which will need to be addressed, But GWR is one of those companies than quickly tries to sort out its screw ups. Although losing the 10:03 & 12:03 non stop Reading to Exeter services is a big mistake, and one I can imagine GWR getting a lot of grief about especially from Luke Pollard MP, possibly Ben Bradshaw as well as some Cornish MP's. We shall just have to see, if enough people raise it with GWR they may change their minds if there is room in the timetable to do it, it just seems silly that for over 100 years there has been a non stop London to the South West service, which is now being axed, yet on LNER they are reintroducing more of them!
Exactly. Most Anglo Scottish services have differing stopping patterns to suit different journey requirements and yet the London to south west services which are more than comparable are getting a clockface type timetable more relevant to shorter hop services to bristol .
 

devonexpress

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Exactly. Most Anglo Scottish services have differing stopping patterns to suit different journey requirements and yet the London to south west services which are more than comparable are getting a clockface type timetable more relevant to shorter hop services to bristol .

We shall just have to see what happens, but I do agree it doesn't make any sense that passengers woh lets say want to travel from Totnes to Newbury can currently travel on a direct service, but from next month will either have to change at Exeter and wait for a while, or go to Reading and then come back on themselves. And the two busiest services of the day being the 10:03 and 12:03 will take an extra 20 minutes, and try to get more passengers onboard already busy trains. It's as if GWR thinks by offering a more standardised timetable, people will spread between services, I might happen for a while, but then we will have the same issue VTXC had.
 

43074

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Exactly. Most Anglo Scottish services have differing stopping patterns to suit different journey requirements and yet the London to south west services which are more than comparable are getting a clockface type timetable more relevant to shorter hop services to bristol .

I don't think that's true really, there is a clear clockface pattern on both East and West Coast Mainlines for the main Anglo Scottish services. There is one fast and one slower service per hour for much of the day. As far as the South West is concerned this timetable introduces an hourly non stop service between Reading and Taunton, and 2 hourly semi-fasts to serve the intermediate stations on the Berks & Hants. Given the relatively sparse population between Reading and Taunton that's probably about right, and probably comparable to the service provision on the Anglo Scottish routes. Plus average journey times improve anyway, which benefits a far greater number of passengers than just one or two flagship trains.
 

43074

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We shall just have to see what happens, but I do agree it doesn't make any sense that passengers woh lets say want to travel from Totnes to Newbury can currently travel on a direct service, but from next month will either have to change at Exeter and wait for a while, or go to Reading and then come back on themselves. And the two busiest services of the day being the 10:03 and 12:03 will take an extra 20 minutes, and try to get more passengers onboard already busy trains. It's as if GWR thinks by offering a more standardised timetable, people will spread between services, I might happen for a while, but then we will have the same issue VTXC had.

How many people actually make journeys like Totnes to Newbury though? Two fairly small places a long way from each other; not many I would suggest is the answer. The timetable should be designed around the majority (i.e. In this case the long distance London journeys), not flows with penny numbers of passengers like that.
 

HamworthyGoods

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Exactly. Most Anglo Scottish services have differing stopping patterns to suit different journey requirements and yet the London to south west services which are more than comparable are getting a clockface type timetable more relevant to shorter hop services to bristol .

Not really with the East Coast Anglo Scots, they were standardised in 2011.

Prior to that some of the xx.00 ‘fast’ departures from King’s Cross used to omit Darlington and Berwick. A standard hour timetable was introduced in 2011 and Darlington and Berwick were bought in as standard pattern stops, Darlington being quite a hefty time penalty for calling.

Thus in the same way as is happening in Dec 19 with the WoE expresses a small number of trains got 10 or so minutes slower but the vast majority got quicker.

The semi-fast Anglo Scots have a standard calling pattern except for Northallerton and Alnmouth alternating.

Likewise the West Coast Anglo Scots in 2007 lost the express London to Preston legs on some super express trains with all now calling at Warrington and Wigan.

Please where is this different stopping patterns to meet different journey time requirements? With the exception of one super fast in one direction (a political statement) the Edinburgh fasts are standardised at around 4hr 20 with no variation.
 
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