Future of the 350/2s

[Zomboid]

On the Bournemouth to Manchester run there is a lot of passenger turnover at New Street. Anecdotally I'd say about 66-75% of the arriving passengers disembark, but that's not in any way scientific.

If (for example) the train continued through to Coventry (let's electrify one of the sidings adjacent to the Leamington line for turnbacks if necessary) then I suspect that in itself wouldn't inconvenience many people coming from the north - though I'd probably be one of them...

Though that wouldn't help passengers needing to go to Leamington or further south (could those run via Solihull to save a path on the Coventry line? But then that would disconnect Coventry and Birmingham International from direct trains to/from Leamington and the south...).

 

[The Planner]

On the Bournemouth to Manchester run there is a lot of passenger turnover at New Street. Anecdotally I'd say about 66-75% of the arriving passengers disembark, but that's not in any way scientific.

If (for example) the train continued through to Coventry (let's electrify one of the sidings adjacent to the Leamington line for turnbacks if necessary) then I suspect that in itself wouldn't inconvenience many people coming from the north - though I'd probably be one of them...

Though that wouldn't help passengers needing to go to Leamington or further south (could those run via Solihull to save a path on the Coventry line? But then that would disconnect Coventry and Birmingham International from direct trains to/from Leamington and the south...).

XC would in no way relinquish the Cov corridor for the Bournemouth service.

 

[Zomboid]

XC would in no way relinquish the Cov corridor for the Bournemouth service.

No, I don't think it's a good idea from my viewpoint as a semi-regular passenger, either. Though if there was a way to run a Cov - Manchester EMU service in addition to the XC that might help with the overcrowding.

Another problem that HS2 would have solved... And maybe (in conjunction with the proposed new Liverpool - Manchester line still could)

 

[stevieinselby]

In reference to the ex Manchester services, realistically, how many people are getting on at Manchester and travelling further than Birmingham? I'd be very surprised if it was a majority as I would expect a good chunk of people who got on at Manchester to have alighted by the time the train leaves Stoke! And equally, those boarding at Stoke, Stafford and even Wolves will get off at Birmingham. So will it be that many people inconvenienced by a change of trains at Birmingham?

It may not be a "majority" of passengers travelling across Birmingham, but it can still be significant numbers.

From the 2022/23 data, there were 188k passengers travelling between Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street, and over 220k travelling to stations beyond New Street on the XCountry network (or connections therefrom), including Coventry, Bristol (TM & P), Reading, Oxford, International, Leamington Spa, Cheltenham, Southampton C & AP, Bath, Bournemouth, Basingstoke, Exeter, Gloucester, Plymouth and any more below 2k I didn't count. While we don't know for sure that all of those passengers did travel through New Street on an XCountry train without changing, it's likely that most of them did.