GWR Dec 19 timetable

[peterson]

More complaints from Reading:

He said: "I have raised my complaints with GWR who do not seem to appreciate the delays and overcrowding that this is causing to regular commuters who are forced to sit and watch trains which are two thirds empty fly nonstop to destinations beyond Reading while they are treated worse than cattle."

Mr Edwards said: "There seems to be an incredible number of trains at peak times from Paddington that travel to the West of England and South Wales that simply don’t stop at Reading despite passing through it.

"This seems a bizarre planning decision."

https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/r...ding-passengers-claim-theyre-treated-17739612

Personally, I can see the Bristol express is a big benefit for that region, but the non-stops to Oxford should add a Reading call, which would help address the concern above but also boost capacity between Reading and Oxford and connections between Reading and North Cotswolds.

 

[Clarence Yard]

Previously he had the following service out of Paddington - 00-07-14-22-30-33-45. Now it is 02-07-18-34-37-42-47 -same number of trains.

The compromise of taking out the Reading stop on the Oxfords/Cotswolds to get the overall timetable to work isn't ideal and was one of the two issues that shoehorning the superfast Bristols caused to the timetable structure (the other being disruption to some cross Bristol commuting flows) and needs to be managed out in future timetable iterations. The whole Reading-Oxford corridor needs a through look at again and if Cross Country are able to move, that will help greatly with the main issue.

I have to say I am not entirely sympathetic to the punter if he can't cope with an up to 12 minute change in his trains when the number of services has actually stayed the same. It's not exactly making him wait a huge length of time and if GWR could get the 1828 to stop at Reading, it would only be 6 minutes in front of the 1834.

 

[II]

I have to say I am not entirely sympathetic to the punter if he can't cope with an up to 12 minute change in his trains when the number of services has actually stayed the same. It's not exactly making him wait a huge length of time and if GWR could get the 1828 to stop at Reading, it would only be 6 minutes in front of the 1834.

Stopping the 18:28 Paddington-Banbury at Reading from May would be a big step forward. It currently loads to only about 25% capacity based on a few sightings on it at departure time at Paddington, which is almost a criminal waste at that time of evening.

 

[Optom1]

If members who get on trains at Bristol Parkway wonder why most South Wales trains are usually a few minutes late,the answer is that the 10 min scheduling from Cardiff to Newport is completely unachievable.The knock on effects closer to London of a few minutes lateness at Parkway can be considerable. The normal time for Cardiff-Newport is about 11.5 mins,as present speed limits prevent quicker times.Non peak hour trains can claw about a minute back at Newport with reduced dwell times.Why did GWR accept this from Milton Keynes in the first place?

 

[Clarence Yard]

Because there was no evidence at that time to challenge any 800E timing on that section and anyway it was and is effectively a non-material problem. The focus by both sides was getting the timetable in, not in achieving point to point timing purity.

There are Railsys theory vs reality variations in the point to point timings for these units all over the GWR network. You gain on some, you lose on some and only when both the infrastructure and timetable settles down will a proper look at them probably take place.

To show how they vary and the effect on the service, 33 trains left Cardiff for Paddington yesterday. 15 left Cardiff late, 29 arrived Newport late, 25 left Newport late, 15 arrived Bristol Parkway late but only 11 left Bristol Parkway late - 4 of which were under two minutes down.

 

[Optom1]

Point accepted.Inthe same way Port Talbot -Bridgend timings are a little generous.Let us hope the Swiss timing mentality that they are trying to encourage at Paddington (swiss trains are not always on time ,my last three were late) is reflected in the May timetable.With experience maybe increased dwell times on the rush hour Bedwyn semi fasts will be factored in.

 

[Bikeman78]

This morning I travelled up on the 08:18 from Cardiff. I got off at Bristol Parkway to have a non stop run on the 09:03 from there. We caught the Swansea at Swindon and then ran on diesel to Didcot. Then we overtook the Swansea whilst it stopped at Reading. Only four late into Paddington.

 

[Jurassicjewel]

Given the improved acceleration on electric, trains leaving Cardiff could in theory meet the timings as per timetable? , presumably going through the Severn tunnel on electric helps too, assuming of course that they will go through the tunnel on the juice. Could a driver , in theory, with a train running a few minutes late make up time by accelerating the train a bit faster from station stops?. Apologies if this sounds a bit naive.

 

[Bikeman78]

Given the improved acceleration on electric, trains leaving Cardiff could in theory meet the timings as per timetable? , presumably going through the Severn tunnel on electric helps too, assuming of course that they will go through the tunnel on the juice. Could a driver , in theory, with a train running a few minutes late make up time by accelerating the train a bit faster from station stops?. Apologies if this sounds a bit naive.

For as long as I can remember, trains from Cardiff to Newport have been given 12 minutes, assuming they are on the up main line with a clear run. That applies to every type of train from a Pacer to an HST. I can believe that an electric IET would shave some time off that but they are a lot longer. A Pacer will clear all the points and start accelerating a lot sooner that a 9 or 10 car IET.

As regards making up time, my limited exprerience of the new timetable shows that the IETs are well capable of making up a few minutes when running late.

 

[Horizon22]

As regards making up time, my limited exprerience of the new timetable shows that the IETs are well capable of making up a few minutes when running late.

To be cynical, watch as those "few minutes" are eaten up by successive timetable changes! Hopefully not as a bit of slack can be very helpful, but experience tells me that planners and performance teams will want to make journey time savings.

 

[Gagravarr]

Has anyone heard about any train-length tweaks for the May timetable, based on the actual usage seen from December? And/or easements to peak time restrictions?

(Selfishly, I'm interested in stuff from Oxford, eg 1P19 @ 09:02, used to be off-peak but now the last peak service, 9 coaches and pretty quiet, vs 1P20 @ 09:32, 5 coaches, sometimes people standing from Oxford, always people standing from Reading, sometimes people left behind at Slough! Other examples no doubt exist elsewhere....)

 

[Horizon22]

Has anyone heard about any train-length tweaks for the May timetable, based on the actual usage seen from December? And/or easements to peak time restrictions?

(Selfishly, I'm interested in stuff from Oxford, eg 1P19 @ 09:02, used to be off-peak but now the last peak service, 9 coaches and pretty quiet, vs 1P20 @ 09:32, 5 coaches, sometimes people standing from Oxford, always people standing from Reading, sometimes people left behind at Slough! Other examples no doubt exist elsewhere....)

Reading <-> Oxford has definitely been identified as an area for tweaks.

 

[II]

It would certainly be nice to even out the loads of the 09:02 and 09:32. Probably a better way to do it would be to put a 5-car on the 09:02 (which doesn't even stop at Slough, so has acres of room on board every day) and a 9-car on the 09:32, though that's easier said than done. Custom for the 09:32 from the Worcester end is likely to increase over time, especially with Worcestershire Parkway opening, so a 9-car really should be high on the agenda.

 

[jimm]

Has anyone heard about any train-length tweaks for the May timetable, based on the actual usage seen from December? And/or easements to peak time restrictions?

(Selfishly, I'm interested in stuff from Oxford, eg 1P19 @ 09:02, used to be off-peak but now the last peak service, 9 coaches and pretty quiet, vs 1P20 @ 09:32, 5 coaches, sometimes people standing from Oxford, always people standing from Reading, sometimes people left behind at Slough! Other examples no doubt exist elsewhere....)

It would certainly be nice to even out the loads of the 09:02 and 09:32. Probably a better way to do it would be to put a 5-car on the 09:02 (which doesn't even stop at Slough, so has acres of room on board every day) and a 9-car on the 09:32, though that's easier said than done. Custom for the 09:32 from the Worcester end is likely to increase over time, especially with Worcestershire Parkway opening, so a 9-car really should be high on the agenda.

It really needs a longer period of time to get a realistic overview of demand levels all round.

January and February custom is generally much lower anyway and this year the coronavirus is going to wipe out tourist trade, which is obviously an important consideration in numbers normally using the Oxford/Cotswold services from Easter until the autumn.

I use the 08.13 from Worcester (09.32 from Oxford) quite a lot and I haven't seen much if any sign of standing from Oxford. Reading is another matter and the number boarding there varies, depending on whether the preceding train was on time or not. But the Slough call on this service is just daft if it is worked by a five-car set.

I'd be very surprised if a nine-car is going to be put on this job any time soon, as it would involve sending a 640-seat train out of London first thing to reach Worcester via Stroud, carrying precious few passengers all that way in the midst of the morning peak - and even on the way back to London it is not going to get that busy until Reading or maybe even Slough.

 

[gallafent]

I use the 08.13 from Worcester (09.32 from Oxford) quite a lot and I haven't seen much if any sign of standing from Oxford. Reading is another matter and the number boarding there varies, depending on whether the preceding train was on time or not. But the Slough call on this service is just daft if it is worked by a five-car set.

I only have one experience of it, a few weeks ago, when it took a long time to board, and I saw it leave Oxford standing all the way down the aisles (I was on the platform waiting for the following XC to Southampton). So it seems, comparing that to your experience, that demand may fluctuate quite a lot … to improve matters without transporting too much fresh air, how about it runs as a 5 from Paddington to Worcester first thing, and then from Worcester to Oxford, and is then coupled to a second unit at Oxford for the busier section from there to Paddington as the 0932? Feels like exactly the sort of useful flexibility the 5-car fleet should be offering.

 

[jimm]

I only have one experience of it, a few weeks ago, when it took a long time to board, and I saw it leave Oxford standing all the way down the aisles (I was on the platform waiting for the following XC to Southampton). So it seems, comparing that to your experience, that demand may fluctuate quite a lot … to improve matters without transporting too much fresh air, how about it runs as a 5 from Paddington to Worcester first thing, and then from Worcester to Oxford, and is then coupled to a second unit at Oxford for the busier section from there to Paddington as the 0932? Feels like exactly the sort of useful flexibility the 5-car fleet should be offering.

I have been using it at least twice a week since it started running, on varying days, so I would venture to suggest I have a rather more comprehensive overview of the numbers typically using this service. Maybe the 09.02 was cancelled the day you saw the 08.13 from Worcester calling at Oxford?

The only time it had anyone standing out of Oxford was just before Christmas, when a lot of people were off to London for the day to go shopping. Demand has fluctuated, a bit, but even at the busiest times of the year a nine-car set would have an awful lot of empty seats most of the way to London, especially if GWR was to allow off-peak tickets to be used again on the 09.02 departure.

GWR is not going to start trying to couple sets in the platform at Oxford at 09.30 - the only time they do it all day is just before 06.30, when there are fewer trains in the area, just in case there is a problem and the platform is blocked for an extended period. With just two through platforms available that is a commonsense approach - there are enough problems at Oxford caused by late-running XC services without adding another risk factor.