Future of London-West of England services via Bristol?

[TheWalrus]

I am booked on the 1055 from Swindon to Exeter soon, and am interested what members think will be the future of these via Bristol services after IEP and electrification. It is a very useful link from Swindon, Chippenham and Bath to the West Country which I often use myself. It would be a shame if these services disappeared.

I suspect this will be the case, or will they be run with bi-modes? The draft timetable for IEP from the DfT suggests not.

What does everyone on here think? Will they stay or disappear after electrification, and should a limited number of through links be retained?

 

[HarleyDavidson]

I think you'll find that they'll still run, albeit truncated to either Taunton or Exeter, where they'll then return either the same way or go back via the B&H as a stopper, serving Castle Scary, Bruton, Frome etc.

I can't see them being allowed over Dainton or Hemerdon.

 

[TheWalrus]

As a stopper eg Nailsea, Yatton, Worle etc or fast eg Bristol, Taunton and Exeter?

 

[HarleyDavidson]

As a stopper eg Nailsea, Yatton, Worle etc or fast eg Bristol, Taunton and Exeter?

Probably as now, a mix of fast & semi.

For example: Exeter SD, Tivvy Parkway, Taunton, Bridgwater, Highbridge, Weston, Worle, Yatton, Nailsea, Temple Meads & then whatever to fit in with the IEP timetable.

Then going the other way: Exeter SD, Tivvy Parkway, Taunton (With a X-platform connection in from Paignton, Plymouth, Penzance), Castle Scary,Bruton, Frome, Westbury, Pewsey, Bedwyn, Hungerford, Kintbury, Newbury, Reading, Slough?, Padd.

 

[David Goddard]

Probably as now, a mix of fast & semi.

Then going the other way: Exeter SD, Tivvy Parkway, Taunton (With a X-platform connection in from Paignton, Plymouth, Penzance), Castle Scary,Bruton, Frome, Westbury, Pewsey, Bedwyn, Hungerford, Kintbury, Newbury, Reading, Slough?, Padd.

Wont using Taunton for Cross Platform connections cause issues with blocking parts of up and down lines at the same time? In each direction one train will have to cross to a platform on the opposite direction. Technically doable but could reduce capacity somewhat.
More likely to just have a connection with the WoE service at Exeter, where the slow can sit in 6 awaiting arrival of the Woe in 5, then follow the latter ten minutes later.

I can see a continuation of the services via Bristol using bi-modes, but doubt they will continue beyond Exeter (save maybe SO trains to Paignton).

 

[TheWalrus]

It would be nice to have a few to Exeter, I suppose there's not much need to go further west. I rarely go west of Exeter and there's already 2 tph which do if needs be.

But do you really think we will get semi-fasts via the B&H? How frequent? Hourly would be good but I won't get my hopes up.

 

[Green Janner]

It appears that London - Penzance via Bristol weekday services end with the current timetable. The 07.30 Paddington (only direct service) is diverted to Paignton from December and only serves Plymouth and Cornwall on Saturdays.

 

[CC 72100]

It appears that London - Penzance via Bristol weekday services end with the current timetable. The 07.30 Paddington (only direct service) is diverted to Paignton from December and only serves Plymouth and Cornwall on Saturdays.

I think that is because the 07:06 from Paddington will now go to Penzance instead. In effect, this means that the 09:30 from Exeter goes to Cornwall and the 10:13 (07:30 from Pad, via Bristol) to Paignton. I understand that the aim was to have an earlier train down into Cornwall, which there is more demand for. (in effect more people want to go to Cornwall at that time than Paignton!)

 

[Busaholic]

It appears that London - Penzance via Bristol weekday services end with the current timetable. The 07.30 Paddington (only direct service) is diverted to Paignton from December and only serves Plymouth and Cornwall on Saturdays.

This is supposedly being done to provide Plymouth with an earlier arriving service from Paddington (the existing Paignton train also gets diverted,to Penzance via Plymouth) but ulterior purposes may exist.

 

[Rapidash]

It would be nice to have a few to Exeter, I suppose there's not much need to go further west. I rarely go west of Exeter and there's already 2 tph which do if needs be.

And for those of us wanting to go North of Exeter......? :roll: XC services are already rammed full!

If there are significantly fewer IC services headed west of Exeter, will those paths be given over to local services to connect with whatever gets as far as Exeter? You'd think the place was as desolate as East Anglia with what these suggestions are saying!

 

[TheWalrus]

It would be nice to have a few to Exeter, I suppose there's not much need to go further west. I rarely go west of Exeter and there's already 2 tph which do if needs be.

And for those of us wanting to go North of Exeter......? :roll: XC services are already rammed full!

If there are significantly fewer IC services headed west of Exeter, will those paths be given over to local services to connect with whatever gets as far as Exeter? You'd think the place was as desolate as East Anglia with what these suggestions are saying!

Sorry I don't understand what you are saying I think you may have misread my post.

I suggested that London via Bristol and semi-fast B&H services wouldn't necessarily need to go west of Exeter in addition to the hourly XC and GW services. I would not suggest axing services west of Exeter, I think these services need to be improved not axed!

 

[Rapidash]

......I may have misread your post! Sorry. Someone remind to stay away from here after doing my night shifts!

 

[WelshBluebird]

It is worth remembering that tickets at least from Bath to the West Country are also valid via Wesbury. So if you want to avoid the XC voyagers you will still be able to go that way. It still means a change, but no Voyagers! .

 

[D6975]

The 10.00 Pad Paignton still goes via TM (11.47).
There's usually cheap ADV tickets in abundance on it too.

 

[455driver]

I reckon the Paddington-Paignton via Bristol trains will still run but the others via Bristol will terminate at Taunton.

 

[CC 72100]

I reckon the Paddington-Paignton via Bristol trains will still run but the others via Bristol will terminate at Taunton.

I wonder what will happen to the Penzance - Pad via Bristol trains? I'm thinking notably of the 07:41 PNZ - PAD and the 17:39 PNZ - PAD (last London train for most stations until Night Riviera)

 

[HarleyDavidson]

Probably still run so to get the stock up to London for the afternoon return working & next days 0706 working to PNZ.

 

[berneyarms]

This is supposedly being done to provide Plymouth with an earlier arriving service from Paddington (the existing Paignton train also gets diverted,to Penzance via Plymouth) but ulterior purposes may exist.

And what ulterior motives would these be?

People in Devon and Cornwall have been campaigning for an earlier direct train and they are now getting it, with the 07:06 Paddington-Penzance.

 

[Busaholic]

And what ulterior motives would these be?

People in Devon and Cornwall have been campaigning for an earlier direct train and they are now getting it, with the 07:06 Paddington-Penzance.

They will get a train arriving about 30 minutes earlier rather than the one or two hours earlier that business people in Plymouth have been campaigning about and a through service from places like Bath will have been cut, possibly never to return, so I would call that a political move with the motive of decreasing choice of route for future generations. Thirty minutes earlier is neither nor there.

 

[berneyarms]

They will get a train arriving about 30 minutes earlier rather than the one or two hours earlier that business people in Plymouth have been campaigning about and a through service from places like Bath will have been cut, possibly never to return, so I would call that a political move with the motive of decreasing choice of route for future generations. Thirty minutes earlier is neither nor there.

The first direct train from London will now arrive in Plymouth at 10:35 rather than 11:16 (Penzance by 12:37 rather than 13:17).That's 40 minutes earlier (not 30) and more importantly, it is significantly on the right side of 11am. That's a significant enough change to me.

Given the fleet constraints what else could they do? There aren't trains available to add an extra service at 06:06.

You are never going to please everyone with a timetable change, the best you can do is try to meet the needs of the majority of the customers. In this case, which is the bigger market? I suspect the London one.

 

[HarleyDavidson]

Not the HSTs available yet! Wait until the IEPs start coming on stream and then there might well be.

You will need:

Two per day for Carmarthen, should that service survive.
Eight or ten for the Cotswolds (Evesham), for bi-hourly service?
Eight for the Golden Valley for a bi-hourly service?

Sixteen or Eighteen for WoE services to give a regular hourly service with early starts to Torbay/Plymouth/Cornwall & the either Exeter/Taunton stoppers.

Could someone work it out for me as these are guestimates.