Can XC arrange Manchester-Birmingham services to stop at Sandwell & Dudley while increasing their capacity?

[Stephen Lee]

I have been struggling on whether it is possible for XC to arrange their Manchester-Birmingham-(Bristol/Bournemouth) services to stop at Sandwell & Dudley like Avanti did while increasing their capacity so as to provide a direct service from S&D to Manchester and increase S&D-Brum frequency.

Also Sorry for Off-topic I was also thinking of possibility for shortened HSTs to run in Notts-Brum-Cardiff and Brum-Stanstad Airport.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Having been 'left behind' at New Street by completely rammed XC trains to Manchester on numerous occasions (and sometimes thus delayed by two hours getting back to the Hope Valley after a long connection) the idea of glad-handing yet more passengers onto the services at Sandwell fills me with horror.

So far as the rest of the original post is concerned, this appears to be yet another 'keep the HSTs' thread in stealth livery.

Ergo; struggle no longer; give up; the answer is definitely "no".

 

[Stephen Lee]

Having been 'left behind' at New Street by completely rammed XC trains to Manchester on numerous occasions (and sometimes thus delayed by two hours getting back to the Hope Valley after a long connection) the idea of glad-handing yet more passengers onto the services at Sandwell fills me with horror.

So far as the rest of the original post is concerned, this appears to be yet another 'keep the HSTs' thread in stealth livery.

Ergo; struggle no longer; give up; the answer is definitely "no".

Understand the situation bro

 

[Ianno87]

Having been 'left behind' at New Street by completely rammed XC trains to Manchester on numerous occasions (and sometimes thus delayed by two hours getting back to the Hope Valley after a long connection) the idea of glad-handing yet more passengers onto the services at Sandwell fills me with horror.

So far as the rest of the original post is concerned, this appears to be yet another 'keep the HSTs' thread in stealth livery.

Ergo; struggle no longer; give up; the answer is definitely "no".

Possibly a "Yes" post HS2 and with more XC capacity (i.e. Double Voyagers or equivalent capacity as standard)

 

[London Trains]

Post HS2 I would not bother with XC Birmingham to Manchester since it would be much faster on HS2 and I'd replace it with an LNWR service, run with either Class 350s or new Aventras with more stops.

Birmingham Intl to Manchester Piccadilly 2tph (Birmingham New St, Sandwell and Dudley, Wolverhampton, Stafford, Stoke, Kidsgrove, Congleton, Macclesfield, Cheadle Hulme, Stockport)

It would between New St and Stafford at a 15m frequency with the Birmingham to Liverpool services. It would also replace Northern between Stoke and Macclesfield (the Northern services would terminate at Macclesfield).

 

[CBlue]

Understand the situation bro

Oh come off it. I couldn't think of anything less suitable for Birmingham - Stansted than HST's!

 

[The Planner]

I have been struggling on whether it is possible for XC to arrange their Manchester-Birmingham-(Bristol/Bournemouth) services to stop at Sandwell & Dudley like Avanti did while increasing their capacity so as to provide a direct service from S&D to Manchester and increase S&D-Brum frequency.

No, you would be adding the best part of 4 minutes to the journey and puts it into a conflict back with the Avanti services at Stone which Norton Bridge helped to solve. Going towards Birmingham it wouldn't give you enough time at New St and would involve retiming it from there on, which would be a nightmare.

 

[martinsh]

I couldn't think of anything less suitable for Birmingham - Stansted than HST's!

Pacers ? A single Class 153 ?

 

[peteb]

Having been 'left behind' at New Street by completely rammed XC trains to Manchester on numerous occasions (and sometimes thus delayed by two hours getting back to the Hope Valley after a long connection) the idea of glad-handing yet more passengers onto the services at Sandwell fills me with horror.

So far as the rest of the original post is concerned, this appears to be yet another 'keep the HSTs' thread in stealth livery.

Ergo; struggle no longer; give up; the answer is definitely "no".

Surely you would just go to Crewe on the Liverpool semi fast and change, or take the Edinburgh/Glasgow and do likewise. Yes, journey probably still delayed but gets you out of New Street and theres more train interest at Crewe, surely?

On the Sandwell issue I guess Smethwick Galton Bridge stops (a very handy interchange for Worcester line or indeed Leamington, Banbury etc) mean fewer stops at Sandwell and Dudley, to its disadvantage.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Perhaps I'm biased as someone brought up in Birmingham but why anyone would want to hang around at Crewe on a cold evening rather than waiting in a degree of comfort at New Street (or Piccadilly) is entirely lost on me.

 

[Hardcastle]

The trains where busy enough pre covid between Birmingham & Wolverhampton without calling additionally at Sandwell & Dudley which is not much more than a suburban station which happens to luckily have direct trains to & from London that's the only reason it has direct trains to Scotland.

 

[43096]

Pacers ? A single Class 153 ?

Anything electric isn’t going to get far on the route, either.