The MKC to WFJ change saved them 4x 377/2 units I believe and allowed them to dump the 455s.
What I think is notable is that despite the new service at 12:05 being slower than the now-express 12:03, until Taunton the gap is quite tight. The 2 minute gap extends to 6 minutes after Reading, but considering Castle-Cary-Cogload Jct is 2 aspect with long signal blocks, I wonder if the 12:05 could still get a red just after CLC if it takes more than 6 minutes to get to Somerton Ground frame, the next signal. After Cogload/Taunton though the gap widens further and 3-4 aspect signalling improves the flow, subject to what is going on with Bristol-Exeter corridor trains.
Yes, looking at a random day in August the Manchester services are back, so the Leeds only services just be engineering related as you say.
Too be honest, being checked after Castle Cary is pretty much the norm on any "fast" that follows a xx36 "stopper". In my experience the stopper is ALWAYS caught up by the fast, either before or after Castle Cary, either way, the fast is almost always delayed. I'd personally like to see the xx36 stopper leave Paddington earlier, say 5 minutes or so, though I suspect there are pathing reasons why this doesn't happen, as the current situation does not work very well. The current 1203 off London does have a decent chance at an on time arrival at Plymouth due to there being no 1136 stopper in front of it.
I used to get the 10:03 from PAD-TAU en route to Bridgwater weekly for a number of weeks in 2022 and remember what you describe often happening. When the Taunton stop was removed the 09:36 was also sped up to run fast from Reading-Westbury, presumably to keep it ahead for long enough to make that non-stop run more worth it.
A new signal section installed between Castle Cary and Somerton would be a big help, but I fear not high on the priority list of upgrades, yet for fast services to the south west would be a potential game changer in terms of punctuality.
Assuming you could shift around the order the trains leave Paddington, since there is a bristol at xx:30 and a Cheltenham at xx:32 (or this one could leave at xx:28), I think it would run into pathing issues around Southcote Junction - the Bournemouth xc leaves reading at xx:52, and then the xc from Basingstoke passes Southcote Junction at xx:01, and often there is a freight or Basingstoke stopper etc within the gap between those services as well. Therefore, this train runs just after the northbound xc, and i doubt could run any earlier.
Where does it say that. The only thing I can find is west coastway changesAll the Southern trains to Hemel Hempstead have been eliminated
If you look on Realtimetrains the Hemel Hempstead trains dont show up
I don’t think they’re making a big deal about it. They rarely do when it’s cuts to services. Odd that.
Do you know the reason why they refused it?could Govia Thameslink Railway appeal if they wished?
When planners add a train to an existing timetable, they don't change more than is absolutely necessary because of all the other arrangements (stock and crew diagrams) that would need tweaking.
This was also predicted a few weeks back when the recent Southern track access application for June mentioned that the Hemel extensions would expire at the next change date and they had not asked for them to continue.
As above reply
It’s probably easiest to download the “form P“ as a pdf directly from the “West Coastway“ thread here:
Recently one of the Senior Conductors took well over £1k on the 17:30 down. Was mainly upgrades to First Class to obtain a seat and those with wrong train Advance Purchase tickets.
Unless I'm missing something they are currently fast Slough to Paddington?
This has been the case since December.. first stop Slough.
Oh, maybe this is a previous change. Never noticed it before. In that case, when did that happen and why?
