CrossCountry: routes eroded/lost since privatisation

[djw1981]

On the other hand Brighton is dirty, messy and full of drunks and beggars, so it could be that no one from the North / Midlands / Thames Valley wanted to go to Brighton!?

 

[jamesontheroad]

Brighton and its conurbation is a major population centre in its own right the reason that the XC was withdrawn is that nobody in their right mind wants to go up north.

With an attitude like that it's no surprise northerners don't want to go there either

 

[tbtc]

I've been silently protesting for Liverpool's reintroduction to the XC timetable for a couple of years now. I mean seriously, Liverpool isn't some small seaside town. LM should come to some agreement with XC so that a new pattern appears:

BHM-LIV (LM) 1tph
BHM-MAN (LM) 1tph
BMH-BHM-LIV (XC) 1tp2h
BMH-BHM-MAN (XC) 1tp2h
BRI-BHM-LIV (XC) tp2h
BRI-BHM-MAN (XC) 1tp2h

So neither Liverpool nor Manchester lose their frequency between Birmingham, and Liverpudlians can finally travel direct to the South West and South Coast.

(I wish.)

Trouble is, this'd mean a 30-90 minute XC service and a 30-90 minute LM service (rather than an hourly service on each), disadvantages Manchester's links (and, to be fair, Manchester is a bigger destination for people further south), and the "lop sided" LM service would mess up the service to Liverpool South Parkway, Winsford, Hartford etc (unless you want Voyagers stopping there?).

 

[paul1609]

Thats strange because according to the official figures Brighton Station has 8.9 million entries and exits per year and is Britains 21st busiest station, ahead of many small provincial cities.

 

[General Zod]

They should definitely bring back "1S76" Brighton - Edinburgh via Kensington Olympia and the Thames Valley, even if it is only for the summer timetable. For those familiar with the famous North London principality Brighton was famously dubbed by London youth as "Camden by the Sea" and I know many a disillusioned character who has fled there. It does attract many folk from all over the country be it for leisure & entertainment or work and I was quite surprised when the route was unceremoniously guillotined.

 

[Aictos]

How long did that take then and what was the actual booked route?

 

[General Zod]

Dep. Brighton 0920 Arr. Edinburgh Waverley 1916. Oddly enough the service called at Bolton !

http://www.1s76.com/1S76 1996.htm

 

[Aictos]

Ta for that,

 

[djw1981]

Thats strange because according to the official figures Brighton Station has 8.9 million entries and exits per year and is Britains 21st busiest station, ahead of many small provincial cities.

Surely Brighton is also provincial - as the main business etc centre of Sussex.

 

[bengolding]

I was in the Highlands the other day and realised that only NXEC (single direct daily service) and Scotrail go to Inverness. Have Virgin or CrossCountry ever (or do they have plans to) gone as far as Inverness? Since they already cover Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh very well, it seems bizarre that Inverness and other stations in the Highlands is lost out. I'm sure there could be a good market for direct trains from England to stations upto Inverness.

 

[Bittern]

The furthest north Virgin West Coast have ever went is Glasgow.

 

[djw1981]

XC used to before privateisation.

Your main issue is track capacity for regular services given the freight and passenger serviuces.

 

[poshbakerloo]

I'm surprised that they did serve some of those stations...Manchester Airport has Northern and Transpennine...why would it have XC aswell?

 

[djw1981]

For people who live in an area not on the TP / Northern network?

 

[ukrob]

I'm surprised that they did serve some of those stations...Manchester Airport has Northern and Transpennine...why would it have XC aswell?

Surely the question should be "why not?" Are you against more travel possibilities and options by rail?

 

[OwlMan]

My perception is, year on year, that Virgin and now CrossCountry have been gradually eating away at the extremities of their route network, so as to create a core set of routes with greater frequency and reliability. I'm thinking specifically of cities like Brighton that have lost XC coverage and presumably places like Glasgow that now have fewer direct trains than they once did.

Could anyone expand on this? Is there any way to compare today's XC timetable with that immediately before privatisation? Where has lost the most trains per day, and which routes (Scotland to the south west, perhaps) have been eaten away at each end the most?

Thanks

It is not Cross Country that decide what routes they operate on. That is specified by the franchise from the DfT. Over a period of time various francises have been changed with routes being swapped between them. The TOC has to operate the services specified by DfT in the last francise; not what was operated 5 years ago

 

[thefab444]

That's not to say CrossCountry couldn't operate a train beyond their franchise specification; just there's no real incentive (or stock) for them to do so!

The earlier TOCs were much better at introducing "new" services, such as Rochdale - Euston and Basingstoke - Norwich.

 

[bengolding]

I vaguely recall the 14:17 Virgin service from Paddington to Glasgow. This was the return service of the 11:06 from New St. This train also called at Slough, which was very odd for a Virgin Train but it went in the path of a Thames Train so had that stopping pattern. On the good old days of XC loco-hauled trains...

When I lived in Holland Park, I regularly used to use either the 09:06 or 16:06 Brighton direct from New St to Kensington Olympia. Sadly, that's no longer possible direct but do-able via Watford.