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How busy have your trains been?
- Thread starter yorkie
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ChiefPlanner
Established Member
Which must be encouraging - nothing worse than getting out of a warm bed at stupid o clock to carry basically fresh air. Must feel a lot better after all the work involved in getting a train service to run for limited returns. I will put my daughter on he 0710 for the City in the morning and see the loadings - about 30% this week.
Karen on Facebook would not approve of course. !!!
Where is this? (I still struggle with the concept of a 2 car train in the peak!)
East Midlands. Nottingham - Worksop, Nottingham/Derby - Matlock and Nottingham - Newark - Lincoln in particular all pretty busy and predominantly 2 car trains bar 3 car 170s on the Worksops, when they work/are available.
Liverpool is also carrying similar numbers but the trains are 4 cars so it is less noticeable.
I dare say it will be 3 figures shortly.
NorthWestRover
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First trains of the year for me today. 09.48 Wigan to St Helens with a 4 car 319, 11.53 St Helens to Wigan with a 6 car 331. Handful of passengers on each.
I counted 59 people sat down in standard class on my XC train from York heading south this morning, though this was 5 mins prior to departure, so I expect more would have boarded.
Some were rail staff, e.g. an LNER crew, who were discussing train loadings.
It looked like at least 80 were waiting to board at Leeds, though it's difficult to tell, and I've no idea how many got off at Leeds.
Some were rail staff, e.g. an LNER crew, who were discussing train loadings.
It looked like at least 80 were waiting to board at Leeds, though it's difficult to tell, and I've no idea how many got off at Leeds.
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trainophile
Established Member
At Hereford station there are big notices saying “Essential travel only to Wales“. I was on the adjacent platform this morning when the 3-coach 1033 pulled in, and counted 10 people in total, plus about five boarding.
Legally speaking, the ban on travelling to Wales from England, and vice versa, doesn't actually apply any more - the Welsh government messed up their legislation!
And in any case, if you're going from Hereford to Bristol, who is Mr Drakeford to say you must go via Worcester and not via Newport?
The idea that rail travel can be restricted by such artificial boundaries is simply a joke. What are they going to do - demand proof of residence when you leave Newport station?
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trainophile
Established Member
Good point, I had forgotten about Newport being a main interchange for the West Country. They can’t stop you changing trains there presumably, so long as you wouldn’t dream of leaving the station. The rail equivalent of “airside”.
Today - 9.29 Workington to Carlisle, very small number in a 2 car dmu. 10.49 Carlisle to Crewe, Train manager informed us there were 35 in standard class, a handful in first. 14.50 Crewe to Carlisle - 40- 50 in standard - a handful in first. 17.07 Carlisle to Workington, quite busy, mainly with students.
Killingworth
Established Member
Currently on 6 coach 185 from Cleethorpes to Sheffield. Only 4 or 5 of us in front section. Toilet locked out of use. WiFi not working. Stuck 15 minutes so far after Althorpe, Keadby canal bridge jammed! Welcome back to the railway.
Jamesrob637
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That route is back to Hourly. Kudos to TPE for plugging the gaps now and not when (some of) the damage has already been done. Hope they can all be booked 6-car as per last summer/autumn barring one or two early morning and late evening services.
Killingworth
Established Member
All supposed to be 6 now but users have been frightened off. Stations all but deserted, trains almost empty.
Glorious sunny day in Cleethorpes, car parks full, long queues for fish and chips and with tide about a mile out lots of room on the beach.
Class360/1
Member
Just finished a bashing of class 321’s. They are much busier than last December. I would say 10-30% of pre COVID passengers
Peregrine 4903
Established Member
London Euston has noticeably got a bit busier since Monday. Still a long way to go, but small but encouraging signs.
Killingworth
Established Member
It's clearly a very patchy recovery. We travelled on all but empty TPE trains from Sheffield to Cleethorpes, seeing all but deserted stations all along the way.
However there was a surprise in store. Our incoming Hope Valley stopping service , 15.48 out of Piccadilly, was delayed, apparently tresspassers on the line in Manchester. When it arrived all 4 coaches were very well filled. 18 months ago a Pacer would have had difficulty taking them all. A student aged group may have accounted for it, but it was more than usually seen on any normal day pre-Covid.
However there was a surprise in store. Our incoming Hope Valley stopping service , 15.48 out of Piccadilly, was delayed, apparently tresspassers on the line in Manchester. When it arrived all 4 coaches were very well filled. 18 months ago a Pacer would have had difficulty taking them all. A student aged group may have accounted for it, but it was more than usually seen on any normal day pre-Covid.
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From my observations, the 0900, 1000 and 1100 were very busy today heading from York towards Scarborough. I can only assume that the 1634, 1734 and 1834 off Scarborough had a similar situation. 5/6 coaches are welcome! Saw some suitcases but I won’t speculate as to what was going on there...
Harrogate Line trains throughout the day today were as good as full (in a distanced sense). Looking down inti Knaresborough, the riverside areas were ram packed, and I can only assume a fair few came by train. Harrogate had a similar situation - people enjoying the warmest day of the year I suppose!
Same old story in my experience, local trains are getting busy and intercity ones (basically just LNER) are fairly empty.
Harrogate Line trains throughout the day today were as good as full (in a distanced sense). Looking down inti Knaresborough, the riverside areas were ram packed, and I can only assume a fair few came by train. Harrogate had a similar situation - people enjoying the warmest day of the year I suppose!
Same old story in my experience, local trains are getting busy and intercity ones (basically just LNER) are fairly empty.
Yesterday. 0957 East Kilbride to Glasgow Central, quiet. Usually in last year services after peak are busier than in the peaks. Seems to have switched back last few weeks, probably due to school kids back.
1036 Pollokshaws West to Kilmarnock. Very quiet.
Day before I walked through Glasgow Central, half busy. Wouldn't think there is a lockdown on.
1036 Pollokshaws West to Kilmarnock. Very quiet.
Day before I walked through Glasgow Central, half busy. Wouldn't think there is a lockdown on.
Class360/1
Member
Today when I cycled past Hythe (Colchester) 20 people got on a 4 car train, very busy at the moment.
alansheppard77
Member
Just been on the 1118 from Hull to Scarborough,it was very busy i estimate about 120 passengers mostly teenagers hardly any wearing masks,this route is still only running 2 hourly
Jamesrob637
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Unfortunately I don't think Northern are bumping things up much before May.
Happy to stand corrected though.
overnight stays are not illegal at the current time
good to see some trains are starting to get busy
Sadly my evening train on Monday was very quiet; hardly anyone on the HST from Derby to York which departed Brum at 1703. Normally that train would be very busy. Hardly anyone seemed to get off at Derby either.
I'm doing another journey on Thursday/Friday so will see what happens then, but I expect my trains to be quiet.
Seemed to be about 15 others in Coach B on the 0655 Newcastle to King's Cross this morning and there appeared to be a relatively healthy amount getting off at King's Cross.
Even the Eurostar terminal had half a dozen people in the queue!
Even the Eurostar terminal had half a dozen people in the queue!
The regional/local peak time trains from Bath are certainly filling up now. There wasn't room to distance on the 17:03 Bath to Weymouth train when I used it last week. It was formed of a 3-car Turbo. There were a lot of (I assume) college students waiting to board on the platform. It was also clear that others are starting to return to work now too.
bramling
Veteran Member
Still not much pick-up on the Thameslink GN side. Car park at my local station remains stubbornly empty. I suspect the Brighton trains may be doing some level of trade to Brighton this week though. On my local walks I’m seeing some pretty empty trains coming past though.
By contrast quite an increase in road traffic this week, very noticeable. There’s still loads of people not at work, judging by my town centre being absolutely heaving today.
School hols, lots of people on leave this week.
Jamesrob637
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The 12th of April onwards will see a couple of million go back off furlough, hopefully to never be on it again.
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