GWR on diversion Euston (EUS) to Ealing Broadway (EAL)

[Red Dragon]

I now live in London and have a Freedom Pass (Concessionary Travel) so I have free use of buses, tubes and trains within the TfL area, with the usual time restrictions.
I have checked Real Time Trains and there appears to be no restriction on trains such as "stops to pick up passengers" between EUS/EAL/EUS.
If I travel from EUS to EAL return after 09.30am on diversion days 27th - 29th December can I use my Freedom Pass. Secondly, I know I can access Ealing Broadway station by tapping in at the gates with my Freedom Pass, but from Euston can I tap in as I go down the ramp, for example?
Any info would be greatly appreciated, as I'd like to avoid an altercation with an RPI !

 

[transportphoto]

Remember that Real Time Trains is not an industry official source of journey planning information.

Have you tried to plan your journey through National Rail Enquiries, or perhaps a ticketing app?

I very much doubt these will be advertised passenger calls.

 

[Kite159]

Where the train might call at Ealing Broadway to change over to electric (or diesel) or to drop off a route conductor for the driver(?) I would imagine the passenger doors won't be released. Similar at Reading for those services which are "stops for staffing"

 

[hexagon789]

On the previous diverts, all accounts by forumers stated that doors were not released at either Ealing Broadway or Reading on any occasion.

I wouldn't rely on being able to board or alight at Ealing Broadway using the GWR diverts in/out of Euston.

 

[Red Dragon]

Where the train might call at Ealing Broadway to change over to electric (or diesel) or to drop off a route conductor for the driver(?) I would imagine the passenger doors won't be released. Similar at Reading for those services which are "stops for staffing"

Thanks Kite, my understanding was, because the trains should terminate at Paddington they were stopping to drop off and pick up passengers at Ealing Broadway so the passengers could connect with Paddington using the Elizabeth line.
Your advice is sound, and when I tried the TfL planner it didn't route me direct from EUS to EAL.

On the previous diverts, all accounts by forumers stated that doors were not released at either Ealing Broadway or Reading on any occasion.

I wouldn't rely on being able to board or alight at Ealing Broadway using the GWR diverts in/out of Euston.

Oh right, I'm very grateful for your info.
I'd have ended up in maybe Swindon with a very expensive ticket!

Remember that Real Time Trains is not an industry official source of journey planning information.

Have you tried to plan your journey through National Rail Enquiries, or perhaps a ticketing app?

I very much doubt these will be advertised passenger calls.

I've taken your advice and tried the planner, without success.

Final Decision....don't do it.
Thank you for your info and the benefit of your knowledge.

 

[Kite159]

Thanks Kite, my understanding was, because the trains should terminate at Paddington they were stopping to drop off and pick up passengers at Ealing Broadway so the passengers could connect with Paddington using the Elizabeth line.

I'm pretty sure there is no Elizabeth line services between Paddington & Ealing Broadway, with any passengers wanting London needing to use LUL services

 

[Red Dragon]

Remember that Real Time Trains is not an industry official source of journey planning information.

Have you tried to plan your journey through National Rail Enquiries, or perhaps a ticketing app?

I very much doubt these will be advertised passenger calls.

I'm pretty sure there is no Elizabeth line services between Paddington & Ealing Broadway, with any passengers wanting London needing to use LUL services

I think you're right.

 

[Horizon22]

The train doors definitely do not open at Ealing Broadway. It is purely an operational stop.

 

[Joe Paxton]

[...]
I'd have ended up in maybe Swindon with a very expensive ticket!
[...]

Not quite as far but I remember being on one of the old Brighton-Manchester Crosscountry trains, a few Spaniards got on at Kensington Olympia and were a bit discombobulated when they realised the next stop was Reading, when they just to go to wanted Willesden Junction. The guard didn't charge them extra, unsurprisingly she said it was not that infrequent an occurrence!

 

[norbitonflyer]

Thanks Kite, my understanding was, because the trains should terminate at Paddington they were stopping to drop off and pick up passengers at Ealing Broadway so the passengers could connect with Paddington using the Elizabeth line.

There are no NR services through the Old Oak Common site - no Elizabeth Line, no GWR, no Heathrow Express. Apart from the diverted services to Euston the only trains running east from Ealing Broadway will be the Underground.

from Euston can I tap in as I go down the ramp, for example?

I don't know if all the gates have readers, but you can certainly tap in at platforms 8-11, (the ones usually used by Overground and LNWR), provided you are not going beyond Watford Junction.

 

[alastair]

Can anyone explain the reason why the diverted Euston/Plymouth/Penzance trains cannot be boarded at Reading (where they all seem to call "for staffing purposes")? Planning a journey from (say) Guildford to Plymouth, journey planners either suggest going via Waterloo and Euston, or going via Reading and Bristol either of which greatly increases the journey time. The normal alternative of going via Salisbury and the SWR line is unviable due to the engineering block at Farnborough.

 

[Kite159]

Because if the call at Reading was open the trains would simply be extremely overcrowded. Although in an ideal world they could be pick up only heading away from London and set down only inbound with boarding controls at Reading (ie blocking access to the platform from the over bridge which is very impractical).

 

[norbitonflyer]

Hoping to do this tomorrow. Can one just rock up at Euston and buy a super off peak return to Swindon from the machines? The ticketing sites all say "reservation only" but when I bought a walk-on ticket at Euston last week (on Avanti) it gave me a reservation anyway, but only in the outward direction.

Actually, ticketing sites are all over the place on this one - National Rail says for some of the Euston services (everything after 1000) you need multiple tickets (a bit odd for a direct, non-stop, service!), Trainline says they are sold out (not possible for an open ticket, I thought), and the Forum's own website doesn't show them at all - only giving routes from Paddington or Waterloo

 

[Kite159]

Trainline says they are sold out (not possible for an open ticket, I thought)

As the trains have been marked as "Reservations compulsory" it could simply be a case of GWR saying there are no reservations left, even though they have an unreserved coach. Best bet to buy a ticket might be using the LNR branded TVMs as those are more 'dumb' in not using journey planning software.

See similar to EMR & other operators which use the "reservations compulsory" flag when they want to stop tickets being sold.

 

[Bread & cheese]

1Z70, the 0630 Exeter St David's to Euston, called additionally at Reading on 27th December.
Screenshot of Reading departures board, from the SWR app:

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Given there has been a screw up with the isolation and no electric trains can run to Ealing Broadway perhaps they should stop additionally after all!!

 

[DailyCommuter]

That's probably because the timetabled Swindon/Didcot to Ealing Broadway GWR trains are all terminating at Reading due to a 'planning error'.

"Due to a planning error for the possession/isolation at Acton West, we cannot run our stopping services past Reading."

Great Western Railway JourneyCheck - Train times and live real time delay/cancellation/disruption information.

Great Western Railway JourneyCheck provides real time, up-to-date train times and train disruption information keeping you informed about any delays or cancellations on the network and helping you know what to do when your journey is affected. Train Cancellations, Delays, Alterations and...

www.journeycheck.com

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

That's probably because the timetabled Swindon/Didcot to Ealing Broadway GWR trains are all terminating at Reading due to a 'planning error'.

"Due to a planning error for the possession/isolation at Acton West, we cannot run our stopping services past Reading."

Great Western Railway JourneyCheck - Train times and live real time delay/cancellation/disruption information.

Great Western Railway JourneyCheck provides real time, up-to-date train times and train disruption information keeping you informed about any delays or cancellations on the network and helping you know what to do when your journey is affected. Train Cancellations, Delays, Alterations and...

www.journeycheck.com

Indeed but that was to provide a service from Reading to London as the GWR IC's Euston bound are shown as set down only so now passengers are being dumped at Southwell.

Not another good look for the industry which incidentally spends a fortune on bank holidays works getting outsiders in to validate the plans to make sure these sort of errors dont cause another PR issue that we had with the Rugby closure years ago.

 

[zero]

I'm on 1Z16 which was full on departure from Swindon, we have just made an additional call at Reading where it looked like a few hundred passengers were waiting and have now boarded.

 

[island]

Indeed but that was to provide a service from Reading to London as the GWR IC's Euston bound are shown as set down only so now passengers are being dumped at Southwell.

Southwell is near Newark/Sheffield, did you mean Southall?

 

[fandroid]

Observations at Ealing Broadway show that up trains are running on diesel but down trains have the pantograph up.

 

[norbitonflyer]

As the trains have been marked as "Reservations compulsory" it could simply be a case of GWR saying there are no reservations left, even though they have an unreserved coach. Best bet to buy a ticket might be using the LNR branded TVMs as those are more 'dumb' in not using journey planning software.

See similar to EMR & other operators which use the "reservations compulsory" flag when they want to stop tickets being sold.

The TVMs didn't recognise Swindon as a valid destination - I tried both Avanti's and LNR's. Queued up and thought I was going to miss it as I only had ten minutes to spare to catch the 1026 (due to being a cheapskate and not setting off from my home station until after 0930, when my Freedom Pass starts working) but a nice GWR lady was working the queue and sold me a ticket so I just made it.

 

[spark001uk]

Because if the call at Reading was open the trains would simply be extremely overcrowded. Although in an ideal world they could be pick up only heading away from London and set down only inbound with boarding controls at Reading (ie blocking access to the platform from the over bridge which is very impractical).

No more overcrowded than if they were still running into Paddington, surely?

 

[Falcon1200]

No more overcrowded than if they were still running into Paddington, surely?

Yes, because they are the only GWR trains running through to a London terminal, which would not be the case if Paddington was open.

 

[Kite159]

No more overcrowded than if they were still running into Paddington, surely?

Reduce frequency of Reading - London from ~6 fasts an hour to 2 an hour, and it will be chaos at Reading

Especially with passengers from Basingstoke direction circulating via Reading to avoid the replacement buses towards Woking

 

[spark001uk]

Ah ok. I suppose as someone said, pickup only at rdg on down and set down on the up could reduce the load between there and London, but that's a difficult thing to police on a busy station I guess