Ivo
Established Member
As with many other stations on the Marches route, Abergavenny has three trains every two hours, usually in a format that runs with one hourly train and one two-hourly train. This stays true until 1600, at which point the hourly service effectively becomes two two-hourly services, which run only 40 minutes apart. In theory, running 40 minutes apart is ideal, because then the two-hourly service would slot in the 80 minute gap and roughly equal intervals, but no - it instead slots into the 40-minute gap, leaving intervals of almost 80 minutes! It doesn't only apply to AGV either - the entire route south of SHR falls foul of this.
How can this be explained, and how can it be improved? Surely there is a path available to run in the 80-minute interval, even if it meant a short service that runs south of Shrewsbury only? I ask this because I got to AGV two minutes after the 1656 departure yesterday afternoon - and had no idea that after 1600 this change came into effect, resulting in me having to wait a ridiculous 78 minutes for the next train to Newport (83 allowing for a slight delay).
N.B.: This relates to southbound journeys only. Northbound the two-hourly service fits into the sensible 80-minute interval.
How can this be explained, and how can it be improved? Surely there is a path available to run in the 80-minute interval, even if it meant a short service that runs south of Shrewsbury only? I ask this because I got to AGV two minutes after the 1656 departure yesterday afternoon - and had no idea that after 1600 this change came into effect, resulting in me having to wait a ridiculous 78 minutes for the next train to Newport (83 allowing for a slight delay).
N.B.: This relates to southbound journeys only. Northbound the two-hourly service fits into the sensible 80-minute interval.