Cross Country services from Guildford, are they likely to return?

[Ianno87]

More worryingly all of the 'service stop unadvertised' calls have been removed. I really hope they are not hoping to make this halved service permanent, the Newcastle-South Coast services were quite useful. I don't see what excuse they have for continuing with this, off-peak and weekend demand must be back to 2019 levels.

I do question some calls. Audley End for example - is it really worth stopping XC services every hour for (predominantly) local demand to Stansted/Cambridge, for which other, higher-capacity services exist? And you can still change quite easily at Cambridge onto XC services anyway for longer journeys.

(Yes, yes, I know passengers prefer direct trains...)

 

[greaterwest]

There are no passenger calls Guildford to Southampton when on diversions.

Usually during both engineering work and disruption there are passenger calls at Guildford, and I can confirm this has happened recently for disruption and will be happening in October for engineering diversions, see below:

Realtime Trains | Departures from Guildford all day on 10/10/2021

Train information at Guildford all day on 10/10/2021. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[181]

Any news of the Newcastle - Reading / Southampton services returning?

Not in Dec they won't, they might in May 22.

More worryingly all of the 'service stop unadvertised' calls have been removed. I really hope they are not hoping to make this halved service permanent, the Newcastle-South Coast services were quite useful. I don't see what excuse they have for continuing with this, off-peak and weekend demand must be back to 2019 levels.

If they don't restore those trains, I hope the timetable can be altered to provide some decent connections instead. I've just investigated a journey from Sheffield to Oxford and most options appears to involve an hour's wait at Birmingham.

The two-hourly service south of Reading seems inadequate for the longer term too.

 

[XC victim]

If they don't restore those trains, I hope the timetable can be altered to provide some decent connections instead. I've just investigated a journey from Sheffield to Oxford and most options appears to involve an hour's wait at Birmingham.

The two-hourly service south of Reading seems inadequate for the longer term too.

I found the Newcastle - Reading / Southampton services very useful too (mainly because they were a lot quieter than other XC services) so I was really worried at the start of the pandemic that these services could be cut permanently.

Seems strange that a hourly service south of Reading had not been fully restored considering that Reading to Southampton was 3tp2h before.

 

[swt_passenger]

Usually during both engineering work and disruption there are passenger calls at Guildford, and I can confirm this has happened recently for disruption and will be happening in October for engineering diversions, see below:

Realtime Trains | Departures from Guildford all day on 10/10/2021

Train information at Guildford all day on 10/10/2021. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

I meant no calls “between” Guildford and Southampton, sorry for any confusion. The post I was replying to was asking specifically about whether or not there were calls at Havant when on diversion.

 

[greaterwest]

I meant no calls “between” Guildford and Southampton, sorry for any confusion. The post I was replying to was asking specifically about whether or not there were calls at Havant when on diversion.

My mistake, I read it slightly wrong! Apologies.

I understand what you mean now - and you are of course correct. I can't remember the last time XC called at Havant or Fareham, or any other stations in between. They might've done Havant more recently during disruption but not sure.

 

[Watershed]

Seems strange that a hourly service south of Reading had not been fully restored considering that Reading to Southampton was 3tp2h before.

Yes, XC are still only running a third of pre-Covid services south of Reading. Reading-Basingstoke etc. has to be one of the worst affected flows in terms of Covid timetable reductions.

 

[infobleep]

Yes, XC are still only running a third of pre-Covid services south of Reading. Reading-Basingstoke etc. has to be one of the worst affected flows in terms of Covid timetable reductions.

I hasn't realised quite how many trains weren't running on XC.

South Weatern Railway are running lots of services to Weymouth so they obviously feel there is demand.

 

[nw1]

Didn't realise XC south of Reading was still less-than-hourly: I saw at around 1400 on Saturday a northbound and southbound XC pass through Beaulieu Road in quick succession - which made me think it was an hourly service. Normally, the XC has around a 30 min turnaround time at Bournemouth so a southbound train passing Beaulieu Road would return around an hour later. Instead it looks like two-hourly with a longer turnaround at Bournemouth.

One flaw with the usual timetable of 3 trains per 2 hours from Southampton is that it consumes paths, when (IMO) there is a need for more frequent, half-hourly, 'metro style' services at places like St Denys and Swaythling. But agree that an hourly XC needs to be brought back as soon as possible - and half-hourly from Reading northwards. And if there is any way double Voyagers can be made permanent on Bournemouth services that would obviously be great.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

I do question some calls. Audley End for example - is it really worth stopping XC services every hour for (predominantly) local demand to Stansted/Cambridge, for which other, higher-capacity services exist? And you can still change quite easily at Cambridge onto XC services anyway for longer journeys.

In days gone by, it might have been a useful chunk of ORCATS income - given that the train would just sit around at Stansted Airport for a few more minutes if the stop was removed.

But the current (reduced) timetable makes more sense in a GBR world where all the money goes into the same pot: effectively just the early morning/late evening service when the Greater Anglia Norwich-Stansted isn't running.

 

[Watershed]

In days gone by, it might have been a useful chunk of ORCATS income - given that the train would just sit around at Stansted Airport for a few more minutes if the stop was removed.

But the current (reduced) timetable makes more sense in a GBR world where all the money goes into the same pot: effectively just the early morning/late evening service when the Greater Anglia Norwich-Stansted isn't running.

Making it a non-advertised call simply means that the services wait time outside Stansted Tunnel. It's utterly pointless and counterproductive, but then the same could be said about a lot of XC's non-advertised calls.