Higher speeds between reading and taunton?

[TheWalrus]

In the latest edition of rail magazine it states as part of the gwml improvements there will be "higher speeds between reading and taunton to provide a more uniform service." does this mean raising line speeds or simply cutting out stops?

 

[anthony263]

perhaps a bit of both, i think one problem with the route is the heavy stone trains

 

[richw]

the down night riviera last night completed reading- taunton 1 min quicker than the fastest hst!

 

[The Planner]

What it did was to do it in the time it is capable of, not what it would be timetabled to do with all the correct allowances. Id fully expect a HST to beat it's timetabled schedule on a normal day.

 

[Zoe]

The fastest I ever remember doing Paddington to Taunton on an HST was 1 hour 40 minutes including the stop at Reading.

 

[Woody]

What the "rail" magazine article actually says is that to quote,"Network rail is CONSIDERING a second round of enhancements to the GWML" in the 2014-2019 (CP5) funding period.It then goes on to say that other LONGER TERM improvements include higher speeds between Reading and Taunton to provide "a more uniform speed profile" so I would think the emphasis will be on raising speeds in the more speed restricted areas as close as possible to the current general 100/110mph speeds rather than raising overall line speeds to say 110/125mph.

 

[devon_metro]

Journey times should be better particularly towards London when Reading is sorted out. The 'up' trains have plenty of slack preceding Reading since they often sit outside awaiting a platform!

Resignalling Castle Cary - Cogload would be useful, particularly for in the peak periods. Such long signal sections!

 

[swt_passenger]

There's also the GWML RUS proposal to run an additional semifast IEP as far as Taunton or Exeter to allow the through trains to be speeded up. That basically means removing stops as mentioned earlier of course.

 

[TheWalrus]

There's also the GWML RUS proposal to run an additional semifast IEP as far as Taunton or Exeter to allow the through trains to be speeded up. That basically means removing stops as mentioned earlier of course.

Yes I'd imagine Pewsey, Westbury, Cary will disappear from fasts where Taunton and Tiverton will remain as calls on the fasts.

 

[cle]

I thikn Tiverton could go from semi-fast Exeters. Hopefully these semi-fasts won't also stop at Theale, Thatcham etc... which shouldn't be muddled up with this longer distance service. They'll have EMUs by then anyway, but maybe west of Newbury stops will be included? Hope not though. Reading - Newbury - Pewsey - Westbury would be better.

The Plymouth/Cornwall services should really be: London - Reading - Taunton - Exeter and onwards. Taunton is a big railhead, but could arguably be dropped too from some expresses.

 

[starrymarkb]

but maybe west of Newbury stops will be included? Hope not though. Reading - Newbury - Pewsey - Westbury would be better.

Last I heard was that they were. The wires are only going to Newbury

 

[TheWalrus]

Right so were presumably not serving Kintbury, Hungerford and Bedwyn? That may be so in the rus but im sure fgw intend calling the semi-fast at these stations.

On another note, if all the b&h between reading and taunton went up to 110 say, how much time would be saved? Or should i work this out myself lol…