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GWR Dec 19 timetable

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II

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In the case of the 09.54 from Malvern, there is now an 08.56 departure there as well, that will pick up the path of the current 09.50 from Moreton-in-Marsh. This change may well affect travel habits from the Malvern and Worcester area by removing the current yawning gap in departures to Oxford and London between the 08.25 from Foregate Street and the 09.54 - so should probably ease some of the pressure on the latter service.

Indeed there is, that 08:56 is also a 5-car as is (I think) the previous train, 08:13 from Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington. It's difficult to know for sure how loadings over all three trains will compare with current trains that run at different times (and an additional one in the case of stations west of Moreton) - they might all balance themselves out and spread the load a little, though I suspect as a best case scenario you'll do well to bag a seat if you join after Oxford on any of them. Standing the 15 minutes from Slough to Paddington isn't the end of the world of course, but if it becomes a case of routine standing from Oxford then that's not so great.
 
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Evening Brighton to Bristol temple meads services extend to filton and parkway
 

jimm

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Indeed there is, that 08:56 is also a 5-car as is (I think) the previous train, 08:13 from Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington. It's difficult to know for sure how loadings over all three trains will compare with current trains that run at different times (and an additional one in the case of stations west of Moreton) - they might all balance themselves out and spread the load a little, though I suspect as a best case scenario you'll do well to bag a seat if you join after Oxford on any of them. Standing the 15 minutes from Slough to Paddington isn't the end of the world of course, but if it becomes a case of routine standing from Oxford then that's not so great.

Certainly a lot of wait and see at this stage. There are some aspects of Cotswold Line/Oxford rolling stock allocation from next week where a 'keep everything crossed and hope it doesn't turn out too badly' approach seems to apply.

There are of course other things to factor in, such as the removal of the long-standing easement allowing use of off-peak tickets from stations west of Oxford on the 06.43 from Hereford to London, while off-peak day returns will be valid on the 08.13 from Worcester to Oxford, Reading and nearby stations as far east as Taplow (Slough and London off-peak day returns no longer exist from Cotswold Line stations) - and back on those lightly-loaded late afternoon XC trains out of Reading...

And we won't get an indication of the potential impact of Worcestershire Parkway for several more weeks now - such as whether it will attract any of those who have got into the habit of driving all the way to Warwick Parkway to catch a train to London.

The set off the 08.13 from Worcester appears to be what forms the 10.50 to Hereford, so seems fair to expect it will be a five-car.
 

FGW_DID

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The set off the 08.13 from Worcester appears to be what forms the 10.50 to Hereford, so seems fair to expect it will be a five-car.

Yep, both services on the same 800 5 car diagram.
 

83G/84D

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Rumours of a significantly reduced GWR timetable on Sunday due to a lack of staff! Not a good start for the new timetable if it is the case.
 

83G/84D

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GWR coffee shop site is suggesting that there is a GWR staff Christmas party on Saturday and that a large number of staff are unavailable to work on Sunday.
 

irish_rail

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Correct lots of parties on Saturday and Sunday this weekend so staff are choosing to make themselves unavailable as a result, it's our Christmas too!
 

83G/84D

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Correct lots of parties on Saturday and Sunday this weekend so staff are choosing to make themselves unavailable as a result, it's our Christmas too!

I’m not being judgmental just stating what is being put out on various sites. I shall be not available the following weekend due to attending a Christmas party.:)

I know what it’s like to work through the Christmas and new year period as I have done so for many years.
 
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si404

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A softer launch on Sunday might be a good idea for a fairly radical timetable change like this. Though the real test is always that first Monday.
 

Weekender

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Correct lots of parties on Saturday and Sunday this weekend so staff are choosing to make themselves unavailable as a result, it's our Christmas too!
In the real world Christmas doesn’t start for at least another week, even the schools haven’t broken up yet.
 

Jimini

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In the real world Christmas doesn’t start for at least another week, even the schools haven’t broken up yet.

In the real world, company Christmas shindigs can be any time from the start of December; indeed some (particularly in the service industry) take place in January!
 

kevin_roche

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In the real world Christmas doesn’t start for at least another week, even the schools haven’t broken up yet.

In the real world, company Christmas shindigs can be any time from the start of December; indeed some (particularly in the service industry) take place in January!

is_it_christmas.png
 

jimm

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Page about what will happen on Sunday is on the GWR website at https://www.gwr.com/sunday-15-december

An amended timetable is in place affecting some journeys between London and Penzance, and on some other GWR routes. Where trains are able to run they are expected to be very busy. This is expected to be compounded by strikes planned by the RMT on the SWR network.

Customers should check their journeys here before travelling.

Those with tickets for travel on Sunday 15 December will be allowed to travel on either Saturday 14 or Monday 16 December when GWR will be operating its full timetable.
 

Wilts Wanderer

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Funny how these Christmas parties happened to coincide with the first day of the timetable. It’s almost as if the unions were looking for a way to stick it to GWR management...
 

Melancholia

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Funny how these Christmas parties happened to coincide with the first day of the timetable. It’s almost as if the unions were looking for a way to stick it to GWR management...

How are Christmas parties in any way related to the unions? It could just be a group of co-workers in their depots that have deciedes a certain date to go for Christmas drinks and/or dinner, and decided to be unavailable on the sunday after?
 

cm39275

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Funny how these Christmas parties happened to coincide with the first day of the timetable. It’s almost as if the unions were looking for a way to stick it to GWR management...

Funny enough that this weekend actually co-insdes as being GWR Staff payday weekend so alot of Christmas staff get togethers have been planned because of this and not as a way for the unions to get back at the company. Surely even rail staff are able to let their hair down and enjoy some of this so called Christmas spirit after all majority of the railway works around the clock for the best part of 350 days a year.
 

irish_rail

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Funny how these Christmas parties happened to coincide with the first day of the timetable. It’s almost as if the unions were looking for a way to stick it to GWR management...
Haha we don't need to do anything, the new timetable will collapse in on itself, even senior management admit that privately.
 

Pete_uk

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I’m looking at the diagrams now. With the exception of the 05.35, 16.30, 17.28 and 18.30 departures from London, every train to Cheltenham is booked for five coaches.

What about Cheltenham to London? How many, if any will be 10 car?

Thanks in advance
 

jimm

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Nine-car or 2x5 should be on the 05.53, 06.48 and 07.58 from Cheltenham on weekdays.

The 05.35 from Paddington won't be a nine-car now, as that set is what forms the 08.13 from Worcester to Paddington via the Cotswold Line
 

father_jack

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Funny enough that this weekend actually co-insdes as being GWR Staff payday weekend so alot of Christmas staff get togethers have been planned because of this and not as a way for the unions to get back at the company. Surely even rail staff are able to let their hair down and enjoy some of this so called Christmas spirit after all majority of the railway works around the clock for the best part of 350 days a year.
Looks like 1010, 1315, 1615, 1815 and 2015 Plymouth to Paddington Sunday. Oh and the sleeper.

Bone idle railway staff not wanting to work on their day off, sack the lot of 'em :E:E:E
 

Mitchell Hurd

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I understand Worcestershire Parkway won't be open but yet GWR services are timed to stop there (according to the London - North Cotswolds timetable).

Will services still run to the timetable but not run through the station? Or will poor GWR have to rewrite the whole thing again?
 

30907

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I understand Worcestershire Parkway won't be open but yet GWR services are timed to stop there (according to the London - North Cotswolds timetable).

Will services still run to the timetable but not run through the station? Or will poor GWR have to rewrite the whole thing again?
It will be difficult for them not to run through the station :) but they won't stop there.
 

jimm

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I understand Worcestershire Parkway won't be open but yet GWR services are timed to stop there (according to the London - North Cotswolds timetable).

Will services still run to the timetable but not run through the station? Or will poor GWR have to rewrite the whole thing again?

There is no time to rewrite the timetable - and the delay will hopefully not be more than a few weeks anyway. Stops at the station are due to last all of 60 seconds for XC services and 90 seconds for GWR, so they can stop as planned anyway, or just absorb those seconds in the rest of the journey.

Every service, whether GWR or XC, that is timetabled to call at Worcestershire Parkway now has a note next to the station name on realtimetrains - Service stop unadvertised.

This might suggest that they will indeed be stopping, even if, as Edward Thomas put it in his poem Adlestrop, inspired by a journey on the Cotswold Line in the summer of 1914:

No one left and no one came
On the bare platform

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53744/adlestrop
 
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Mintona

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They won’t be stopping, there is a driver’s brief advising not to stop until further notice.
 

FGW_Lad

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The 0005 Paddington to Reading has completely missed its advertised stops at Burnham & Taplow leaving customers having to arrange taxis themselves to get home. Hopefully GWR identify what has happened but hardly a great start to the new timetable!
 

Mag_seven

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Page about what will happen on Sunday is on the GWR website at https://www.gwr.com/sunday-15-december

On the route between London Paddington and South Wales GWR will continue to operate an hourly service between London and Swansea;

Looks like they are struggling even to operate that as on top of the planned cancellations there are (according to Journeycheck) 10 additional cancellations on the Padd to South Wales route. In particular once the 17.43 Paddington to Swansea has departed there will not be another service to South wales until the 20.43 departure - a gap of three hours!
 

Mitchell Hurd

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I do feel sorry for GWR to be honest as it must be embarrassing for them having now 17 cancellations on their JourneyCheck page on the first day of the new timetable!

Hopefully from this week it doesn't get worse.
 
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