June 2024 Timetable Change

[ThameslinkUser]

The East Coastway was majorly redesigned a couple of years ago. This West Coastway one is a response to replicate the successes of the East. I can't see *another* East Coastway overhaul for a long while. If anything is to be touched again, I'd imagine it to be the BML now that the Gatwick Upgrade is complete.

 

[30907]

Do you reckon in future, Southern will do what they did in the West-coastway area but in the East-Coastway area For example

2tph London Victoria to Eastbourne

2tph Brighton to Ore

2tph Brighton to Seaford

1tph Eastbourne to Ashford International.

I can't see Southern abandoning through Victoria-Bexhill-Hastings services.

I would like to see a better Brighton-Ashford connection at Hampden Pk.

 

[SteelWeelApeal]

The East Coastway was majorly redesigned a couple of years ago. This West Coastway one is a response to replicate the successes of the East. I can't see *another* East Coastway overhaul for a long while. If anything is to be touched again, I'd imagine it to be the BML now that the Gatwick Upgrade is complete.

It was majorly redesigned, and was a really great timetable. Clockface every ten minutes between Lewes, Falmer and Brighton, six trains an hour, from early until late. It was real competition with the bus for students, who would use it as a turn up and go service. However, covid cut it in half. It’s now back to an uneven four an hour, but places like Moulsecoomb still have half hour gaps.

 

[swt_passenger]

once the other 387s from great northern transfer over. Will all 387s take over the entire BTN to SOU line? Or even with that there will be 377 running along with it?
And will there be ex-GN 387s on the east coastway too once they arrive that is.

The route diagram in the track access application that was posted in the west coastway thread only had 387s on the 2 tph Southampton service, the other west coastway services are all shown as 377s.

 

[Envy123]

Maybe I am barking up the wrong tree here but there does appear to still be an 18:02 to Wrexham which calls at Stafford?

Realtime Trains | 1802 London Euston to Wrexham General | 05/06/2024

Real-time train running information for 1802 departure from London Euston to Wrexham General on 05/06/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

It seems to be running again. Maybe it had an issue for a short while.

 

[Adrian1980uk]

Last night I come up on the 18:30 Liverpool Street to Norwich and of course now it stops at Stratford but we get that stop for no time loss in the end to end journey. I thought it was less busy too, wondering having moved the 17:50 to 18:00 if that got ridiculously busy as many would have just missed it before but now can catch it

 

[DelW]

One minor thing for June 2024 - GWR will be reinstating "Named trains" in its online public timetables. So these are the traditional names like "The Cornish Riviera", "The Golden Hind" etc., rather than the IET namings, which are named after significant figures from the West of England and South Wales.
Some of them are quite meaningless - for example, "The Cheltenham Spa Express" is no faster or limited stop than any other train on the route.
All six Pullman services will be "named" in this way.

I travelled from Taunton to Reading on Friday early in the evening, and my train, which had originated at Newquay, was announced repeatedly at Taunton as the "Atlantic Coast Express". While that's a geographically appropriate name for a service from Newquay, I was amused that the modern GWR has overcome its nominal predecessor's hatred of all things Southern and has re-used the name of its old rival's flagship express service.

It wasn't actually very "express", making about half a dozen calls between Taunton and Reading, which many trains cover non-stop. Though the original ACE wasn't very fast either, having to collect through coaches from various branches at junctions en route.

 

[nw1]

I travelled from Taunton to Reading on Friday early in the evening, and my train, which had originated at Newquay, was announced repeatedly at Taunton as the "Atlantic Coast Express". While that's a geographically appropriate name for a service from Newquay, I was amused that the modern GWR has overcome its nominal predecessor's hatred of all things Southern and has re-used the name of its old rival's flagship express service.

It wasn't actually very "express", making about half a dozen calls between Taunton and Reading, which many trains cover non-stop. Though the original ACE wasn't very fast either, having to collect through coaches from various branches at junctions en route.

It was fast from Salisbury to London though, which has always been very unusual.

The original ACE was before my time but I can't help thinking this is an inappropriate name, as the route is completely different.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

It was fast from Salisbury to London though, which has always been very unusual.

The original ACE was before my time but I can't help thinking this is an inappropriate name, as the route is completely different.

Its not inappropriate at all, it’s a train that serves the Atlantic Coast specifically and connects it to a major population centre for seasonal leisure travel. (The moniker ‘Express’ is always subjective but in comparison to other trains to Newquay, it fulfils the brief.) As a community we seem obsessed with what things used to be, whereas this is a very reasonable thing for it to be now.

Also GWR didn’t apply this name to the route, it was Intercity in the 1990s.
(Presumably you also objected to Intercity/Virgin using the name Pines Express during the 1990s/2000s for a train via Oxford as the original Pines was routed via Cheltenham and Bath to reach Bournemouth for the majority of its life?)

 

[DelW]

Also GWR didn’t apply this name to the route, it was Intercity in the 1990s.

I don't remember coming across that version, so my trip on Friday was the first time I can remember encountering a train with the name since seeing a Bulleid Pacific hauling three mk1s towards Padstow in summer 1964. Quite a contrast from an IET!

(... original Pines was routed via Cheltenham and Bath to reach Bournemouth for the majority of its life?)

The early demise of its traditional route over the S&D being (allegedly) a result of the original GWR's hostility to a Southern (and LMS) route across its home turf, surviving into Western Region times.

 

[infobleep]

GWR have significantly enhanced the Sunday service on the North Downs Line by extending the xx:51 (now xx:50) Reading - Redhills through to Gatwick Airport, giving a 2tph frequency from the major stops to the airport and 1tph or 1tp2h direct links from the minor stations. Good news.

This seems to have passed me by and I only spotted it today.

It's great news and hopefully will make things easier for the planners during engineering works.

Prior to the timetable change if a bus were running between Reading and Guildford, some Sundays you would only have the stopping services to Redhill and other Sundays they'll stopping services would be extended to Gatwick Airport. In both cases it would have technically been possible for the trains to go to Gatwick Airport as their wasn't engineering works there stopping them. So it was inconsistent and I just put it down to the staff nit having time one week to extend the services to Gatwick Airport.

Now they always extend, they will surely have less work when only the stopper runs from Guildford. Well that's my hope because running only to Redhill doesn't fit in with Great Western Railways big claim of two trains an hour to Gatwick Airport.

Today they have staff shortages so not all trains are running but I find that to be unusual. So things are looking good.