Gloucester to Brimingham Engineering Works

[ntanswell]

Hi,

There have been Engineering Works in every Saturday and Sunday between Gloucester and Birmingham, this has been going on since September and is still listed to January next year. The line has been closed completely with busses laid on throughout, severly disrupting the busy VXC route. Is anything major going on here, linespeed increases prehaps? There has been a 20 MPH TSR through Cheltenham station as long as I can remember, maybe they will get rid of it. Also, has a date been announced for finish?

Thanks

Nathan

 

[Ascot]

It's posted in CTs official timetable for the past 2-3 years with the busses.

 

[Mojo]

For at least the last month and a bit, Virgin have been running via Cradley Heath, Kidderminster & Worcester Shrub Hill with a near-40 Min wait at Gloucester. Central Trains were running buses between B'ham & Newport (Gwent) today. Today, I was on a train which only took 1h 40m (20m longer than normal) due to that stupid wait at Gloucester being removed.

As an example of how slow the trains are on that journey - when the buses were running - without fail, they arrived 30 Mins before the train was due to leave - would the train left as soon as the bus had arrived, the journey time would've been about the same! I miss the buses, at least you could guarantee yourself a seat (for some reason, transport mgmt seem to think less people want to travel on Sundays - In My Experience, and from the comments of a VT Train Mgr and someone else I know - Sundays are the most popular days for InterCity journeys, especially after 4pm 'til the last train (just after 9pm Most Sundays.)