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Cross Country through Milford (Surrey) today
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Must've been the 1M42 1045 Bournemouth-Manchester Piccadilly service, partially cancelled at Macclesfield.
www.realtimetrains.co.uk
I've seen a similar XC service being diverted via Guildford some months ago, I reckon there must've been some disruption along the SWML at times so diverting it would've been a better option for the train, at the cost of accumulating additional lateness!
Realtime Trains | 1M42 1045 Bournemouth to Macclesfield | 01/05/2024
Real-time train running information for 1M42 1045 departure from Bournemouth to Macclesfield on 01/05/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.
www.realtimetrains.co.uk
I've seen a similar XC service being diverted via Guildford some months ago, I reckon there must've been some disruption along the SWML at times so diverting it would've been a better option for the train, at the cost of accumulating additional lateness!
CommuterPigeon
Member
My geography is a bit ropey down there, but there was a points failure at Southcote Jn near Reading, most XC services terminated at Reading whilst this was ongoing but 1M42 (10:45 Bournemouth - Manchester) diverted via Guildford so I presume it was that you saw.
swt_passenger
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It used to be a regular route for a very early ECS from Eastleigh via Botley, Fareham, Havant to Guildford to form the daily Newcastle service with a corresponding return in the evening. I think these still ran daily as ECS all the way to Reading up until last December. But I believe they haven’t run in public service since then, this week theres an ECS towards Reading MWF only, but no down service..
On various occasions over the last few years an all day service has run between Reading and Bournemouth when engineering work has closed the normal route in the Basingstoke area.
I noticed just recently the latest XC train service specification no longer includes any requirement for the Guildford service at all, and it is implied there’ll be no regular use of the route via Guildford and Havant.
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DelW
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I've seen XC weekend diversions over the Portsmouth Direct at a weekend within the last few months, though I can't put dates to that.
If so, that presumably means XC will just terminate everything at Reading whenever the route between there and Southampton is closed. Post privatisation XC have dropped Brighton, Guildford, and Poole off their route map, now they seem to be losing interest in everywhere south of Reading.
Although there is a regular ECS path on Mondays (excepting public holidays) which runs from Eastleigh to Reading via Fareham and Guildford, presumably to maintain driver knowledge for diversionary use, as has been the case in engineering works and just today?
Realtime Trains | 5E79 0446 Eastleigh Trsmd to Reading | 29/04/2024
Real-time train running information for 5E79 0446 departure from Eastleigh Trsmd to Reading on 29/04/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.
www.realtimetrains.co.uk
swt_passenger
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Yes that is the one I saw that currently runs one way northbound MWF. It was cancelled today. There‘s no southbound equivalent however. But at the end of the latest train service specification, (dated Oct 2023 onwards), there’s a short section describing a few diversionary route learners that are required to run once or twice a week, they’re at various places all over the country except for the area South of Reading. There‘s also apparent route learners running via Laverstock annd Andover in one direction northbound only Tuesday & Thursday from June, but they’re not listed in the service spec either. Running one way isn’t that unusual though, there have been timetables in recent years where they’ve only run southbound via Laverstock.Although there is a regular ECS path on Mondays (excepting public holidays) which runs from Eastleigh to Reading via Fareham and Guildford, presumably to maintain driver knowledge for diversionary use, as has been the case in engineering works and just today?
Realtime Trains | 5E79 0446 Eastleigh Trsmd to Reading | 29/04/2024
Real-time train running information for 5E79 0446 departure from Eastleigh Trsmd to Reading on 29/04/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.
The train service spec was linked here, if you want to look at it:
Ideas for improving the CrossCountry timetable
A true half-hourly express service Bristol - Taunton - Exeter would of course be wildly popular, just impossible to resource (even once all of the new Voyager trains are productive). Bristol - Exeter half hourly is probably of more interest to them than any other extension given the...
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Kite159
Veteran Member
There is also the 5O06 0735 Eastleigh Trsmd to Reading service which runs via Laverstock on Sunday mornings when the Laverstock area is open.
As for XC another route they have lost in recent years is the WCML between Stafford & Nuneaton for when Stafford - Wolverhampton is closed. Take last weekend and it was buses from Wolverhampton to Stoke
Falcon1200
Established Member
They still had that route knowledge last year because on Monday 9th October 1M18 0515 Southampton-Manchester was diverted that way due to a train failure at Penkridge!