freetoview33
Established Member
There is no way these trains won't be stopping at Kemble or Stroud. The two local MPs would have a fit. I could see the rationale behind them not stopping at Stonehouse but AFAIK the proposed GWR timetable for 2018 only includes local Swindon-Gloucester trains in the peaks so if they remove Stonehouse it's service would go from hourly to two hourly during the day.
Gloucester County Council wants 1 service to not call at Kemble or Stroud
BUT
Either a new service Gloucester - Swindon - Westbury
Or Swindon - Gloucester - Worcester service
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Yes, but that was hourly to Plymouth in the context of more Paignton trains splitting from a Penzance service, which would likely lead to overcrowding west of Exeter or Newton Abbot. And isn't going to happen.
There aren't that many GWR HST services doing that run now and that's not going to change when the new trains arrive. Though most passengers wedged into a Voyager would probably welcome an increase...
It's not about Exeter, this service is mainly about the intermediate stations, so that the Plymouth and Penzance services will be non-stop between Reading and Taunton and no longer have to make stops along the Berks & Hants.
What about it? It seems to be just the same outline as your earlier post.
As Noddy says, Kemble, Stroud and Stonehouse stops are not going to be dropped. They have been promised an hourly service to and from London already. The bulk of the Cotswold Line/Worcester service will be worked by Class 800s unless an order for more 802s is confirmed. You still don't seem to want to recognise that the London-Worcester service is not some neat and tidy shuttle. The extensions to/from Great Malvern and Hereford need to be factored in and aren't at neat regular intervals either, never mind the half-hourly service in the direction of the main peak flows. And that contra-peak services, such as the early morning trains out of London, will be fine with a five-car train, as they are now with 180s working them.
I can't find a pdf of the slides from the full GWR presentation from last year online but there is a cutdown version that was used at a Travelwatch Southwest event, which does give the broad outline of all future GWR long-distance service patterns from December 2018 and more detail on the West Country services generally.
http://travelwatchsouthwest.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Travelwatch-Presentation-October-2015.pdf
GCC also would like the London Services to Gloucester to extend to Hereford! So I don't think things are as clear cut as they seem!