June 2024 Timetable Change

[dk1]

All trains updated to 720 timings as well which has certainly helped with the pathing of the faster Norwich trains.
It's great news for Harwich and Walton passengers who will now get consistent connections to Chelmsford (and therefore Ingatestone and Chelmsford) in both directions.

Class 720 SRTs have also been altered. Not had a detailed look yet, but more SRTs have gone up than gone down.
e.g. Bow Jn to Stratford down from 2 to 1½
Ilford to Gidea Park (pass-pass) up from 4 to 4½
Marks Tey (non-stop) to Colchester (stopping) up from 4 to 4½
Colchester to Manningtree (stop-stop) up from 6½ to 7

The new SRTs still sadly nowhere close to reflect the potential of the trains

Clacton to London trains finally gain a much needed stop at Hythe. Very welcome news. Overall, a job well done and very positive for Anglia!

The ‘East Anglian’ if it’s still going to be named has gained the Stratford call in both directions (08:00up/17:00dn) and completes the journey both ways in under 1h40 non-stop from/to Ipswich. General tidy up of services to depart Norwich at xx:00 & xx:30 with slight journey reductions & the Chelmsford call switched to the latter. I notice the 19:32 & 20:30 up services (SX) are withdrawn and the busy 21:00 down (last connection for Yarmouth & on Fridays Sheringham, terminates Ipswich.

 

[The Planner]

Is there any news on when they will open? It all seems to have gone very quiet over there. (and isn't there supposed to be a service to them from Walsall as well?)

Doubt it will be before Autumn next year, probably Dec 25 timetable.

 

[Iskra]

How are Avanti re-using the saved capacity by not doing Shrewsbury?

 

[Liverpool 507]

Northern really need to up their game for passengers between Huyton and Earlestown. One stopping train an hour is not at all good enough.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Northern really need to up their game for passengers between Huyton and Earlestown. One stopping train an hour is not at all good enough.

With Chat Moss now being the mainline for TPE it's hard to get it to Merseyrail levels of frequency, but 2tph really should be possible!

 

[JonathanH]

Northern really need to up their game for passengers between Huyton and Earlestown. One stopping train an hour is not at all good enough.

The problem is where to send it, with limited capacity at Manchester, and other trains on the line through Eccles. The second train used to go to Warrington, but is that fully warranted?

 

[dk1]

How are Avanti re-using the saved capacity by not doing Shrewsbury?

Isn’t it mainly in marginal time? Must be a headache to keep up with crew route knowledge.

 

[infobleep]

The Edinburgh to Inverness services almost take as long as the ones that stop at Polmont, Linlithgow etc, because it is stuck behind a Edinburgh to Glasgow via Falkirk High for a couple of the journeys between Edinburgh Waverly and Polmont Junction

This reminds me, and highlighting a minor neerdy aspect of this timetable change, I noticed the following

The Monday to Friday 14:54 Reading to Gatwick Airport service currently arrives and departs Reigate at 16:04 with a pathing allowance of 4 minutes to Redhill.

From June, it arrives at 16:03 and departs 16:08 with only a 1 minute pathing allowance to Redhill.

On Saturday's though, this train currently arrives at 16:07 and departs 16:08 with no pathing allowance. From June it will do the same but with a pathing allowance of 1½ minutes.

That is just one example. I'm sure there will be others.

 

[AJDesiro]

How are Avanti re-using the saved capacity by not doing Shrewsbury?

It's currently just an extension of the Euston-Birmingham semifast, so it'll either head to the depot from Birmingham, or it'll free up a voyager or two for helping increase Euston-Birmingham to the planned 3tph in more hours of the day, or it'll be used for extra capacity on the Chester/Holyhead services.

 

[dk1]

It's currently just an extension of the Euston-Birmingham semifast, so it'll either head to the depot at Birmingham, or it'll free up a voyager or two for helping increase Euston-Birmingham to the planned 3tph in more hours of the day, or it'll be used for extra capacity on the Chester/Holyhead services.

805s are taking over. They will be based at Oxley.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

805s are taking over. They will be based at Oxley.

The 805 fleet purchase size will have included the Shrewsbury service (which starts as a peak service).
So it does add a spare to the rest of the network.
Wrexham is another.
Arguably Avanti will have "too many trains".

 

[Shrewsviews]

Is there any news on when they will open? It all seems to have gone very quiet over there. (and isn't there supposed to be a service to them from Walsall as well?)

Hearing 2025 now. Now the train service is in place from June they can open them when they’re ready.

Got to feel a bit sorry for passengers for the local stations between Wolverhampton & Shrewsbury (other than Shifnal) as their journey times increase due to the train going via Tame Bridge.
Although better going towards Birmingham as any WMT passengers for Birmingham will board the new semifast which runs 5 minutes in front of the stopper at Shrewsbury for a faster journey so they will likely get a seat

It’s only a marginal increase. Overall the benefits outweigh the negatives if you ask me. One of the main issues on this route currently is the poor spacing of trains in the Shrewsbury to Birmingham direction. With the fast tfw at xx.30 and the slow wmr at xx.40 and then nothing for 50 minutes. It mean the tfw is often packed even with 4 carriages. Adding an additional fast at xx.59 and moving the slow to xx.05 plus leaving tfw fast at xx.30 provides a much more balanced timetable for passengers and spread the load more evenly.

 

[Bikeman78]

Southern has been uploaded!

The new West coastway service is all there. Only one of the Brighton to Chichester stoppers run via Littlehampton. The extension to Portsmouth runs non stop to Chichester with the extra stops being inserted into one of the Victoria to Portsmouth trains. I thought the whole point of extending the Brighton train was to serve the smaller stations?

 

[MikeWM]

The problem is where to send it, with limited capacity at Manchester, and other trains on the line through Eccles. The second train used to go to Warrington, but is that fully warranted?

Basically, no - the one time I did this (about 8 years ago?) from Warrington I think I was the only person on until Earlestown - but better than not running the service at all. In much the same way that the end stations of most tube lines don't warrant the service they get, the intermediate stations are the important part of the route.

WiganNW could be an alternative, which would also give Newton-Le-Willows another service? Though now that it doesn't have two bays, maybe there's no capacity there.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The problem is where to send it, with limited capacity at Manchester, and other trains on the line through Eccles. The second train used to go to Warrington, but is that fully warranted?

Warrington itself may not be warranted, but a second train per hour definitely is, the line is no different in terms of demographics than any other part of Merseyrail which gets four. Warrington BQ just happens to be a station that has a spare platform where it can lay over; there doesn't have to be any demand from there, indeed you could run it ECS from Earlestown to there if you wanted (though there would be little point).

 

[Bikeman78]

Basically, no - the one time I did this (about 8 years ago?) from Warrington I think I was the only person on until Earlestown - but better than not running the service at all. In much the same way that the end stations of most tube lines don't warrant the service they get, the intermediate stations are the important part of the route.

WiganNW could be an alternative, which would also give Newton-Le-Willows another service? Though now that it doesn't have two bays, maybe there's no capacity there.

How about turning back on the west curve at Earlestown? Though Warrington would be more useful if it didn't require an extra unit.

 

[Bletchleyite]

How about turning back on the west curve at Earlestown?

Good point - does anything at all go that way at the moment bar a couple of freights?

 

[norbitonflyer]

The Shropshire Star's saying that the Avanti Shrewsbury service is being scrapped. I wonder how much longer the Wrexham services have left, in that case.



(The rest is behind a pay wall and I'm not a subscriber.)

So does that make the 805s redundant before they've even been built?

 

[Bletchleyite]

So does that make the 805s redundant before they've even been built?

No, because they are primarily intended for Chester/North Wales services, not Shrewsbury.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Good point - does anything at all go that way at the moment bar a couple of freights?

Today (looking at RTT) there's not much, I think Avanti use it to reach Liverpool when Runcorn is shut.
There's a few freights booked through it, the biomass trains seem to be the only ones running today.

 

[The exile]

Good point - does anything at all go that way at the moment bar a couple of freights?

Much better to reverse at a platform - saves the walk-through time.

 

[dk1]

So does that make the 805s redundant before they've even been built?

Not at all

 

[Bletchleyite]

Much better to reverse at a platform - saves the walk-through time.

It is one. It's just disused at the moment.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Good point - does anything at all go that way at the moment bar a couple of freights?

All the loaded Drax biomass trains go that way, then via Hartford, Altrincham, Denton and Ashton Moss to reach the Calder Valley line at Miles Platting.
Empties come back on the main line normally.

 

[Adam Evans]

Could they not run the second Chat Moss through to Victoria or Stalybridge (when the ORR approves usage of the OHLE)?

It could run express from Newton-Le-Willows onwards if they're worried about the TPE expresses catching up?

 

[JW4]

Helping increase Euston-Birmingham to the planned 3tph in more hours of the day.

Internally this is what they’re saying they’re going with.
On weekdays:
2 extra BHM —> EUS
1 extra EUS —> BHM

 

[Bikeman78]

Good point - does anything at all go that way at the moment bar a couple of freights?

I've looked at this a bit more. Assuming the second train is 30 minutes apart from the existing stopper to Manchester Airport, the up train would arrive at Earlestown at xx01 and the down depart at xx50. So ample time to go to Warrington Bank Quay. It's 20 minutes to Manchester Victoria with a stop at Newton-le-Willows so it could just about do that if a path is available through Ordsall Lane Jn.

 

[Llandudno]

The 805 fleet purchase size will have included the Shrewsbury service (which starts as a peak service).
So it does add a spare to the rest of the network.
Wrexham is another.
Arguably Avanti will have "too many trains".

….but not enough drivers!

 

[Peter0124]

Internally this is what they’re saying they’re going with.
On weekdays:
2 extra BHM —> EUS
1 extra EUS —> BHM

Is this just for one particular service? Or extra number of trains per hour?

Also do you happen to know when AWC will upload their planned timetable to RTT? Thanks

 

[The exile]

It is one. It's just disused at the moment.

Of course - (mental note to re-engage brain)