LNR new WCML timetable, May 2019 (in open data feeds)

[gazzaa2]

It's horrific. I don't think i've ever got a train on time on the New Street-Lime Street service since May. It was broadly reliable beforehand but there is ALWAYS an issue between Euston and Birmingham to delay or cancel it from New Street onwards. If it runs at all it's a bonus.

Nearly always the same 4 coaches it was before as well but with more people, especially as previous trains have usually been cancelled or delayed it's rammed full.

Change it back for god sake.

 

[sufian123]

It's horrific. I don't think i've ever got a train on time on the New Street-Lime Street service since May. It was broadly reliable beforehand but there is ALWAYS an issue between Euston and Birmingham to delay or cancel it from New Street onwards. If it runs at all it's a bonus.

Nearly always the same 4 coaches it was before as well but with more people, especially as previous trains have usually been cancelled or delayed it's rammed full.

Change it back for god sake.

euston-Liverpool haven’t received complaints compared to Rugeley. No MPs been involved. So I don’t think this route will become standalone anytime soon. 8 cars on Saturdays though.

 

[RealTrains07]

euston-Liverpool haven’t received complaints compared to Rugeley. 8 cars on Saturdays though.

Seen 8 cars twice today in the time i had to wait for my eventually cancelled train.

8 cars work liverpool sundays too dont they?

iam guessing the 8 car saturday ones are diagrammed as 8 car from euston all the way to liverpool then?

 

[RealTrains07]

Thing is about rugeley is MPs wanted a rugeley to london train then all of a sudden they dont want it.

i can see this being the case for the stoke loop. Its bonkers if it carries on like this

 

[The Planner]

It's horrific. I don't think i've ever got a train on time on the New Street-Lime Street service since May. It was broadly reliable beforehand but there is ALWAYS an issue between Euston and Birmingham to delay or cancel it from New Street onwards. If it runs at all it's a bonus.

Nearly always the same 4 coaches it was before as well but with more people, especially as previous trains have usually been cancelled or delayed it's rammed full.

Change it back for god sake.

Is this the xx.04 departure off New St? There are certain sets of circumstances that destroy that one and what follows which arent that easy to recover from.

 

[sufian123]

Seen 8 cars twice today in the time i had to wait for my eventually cancelled train.

8 cars work liverpool sundays too dont they?

iam guessing the 8 car saturday ones are diagrammed as 8 car from euston all the way to liverpool then?

Yeh all way. No Sunday services from Euston to Liverpool

 

[gazzaa2]

euston-Liverpool haven’t received complaints compared to Rugeley. No MPs been involved. So I don’t think this route will become standalone anytime soon. 8 cars on Saturdays though.

Rarely on the trains I get. That's potluck.

Not many Tory Mps on the Lime Street-New Street line.

 

[sufian123]

Thing is about rugeley is MPs wanted a rugeley to london train then all of a sudden they dont want it.

i can see this being the case for the stoke loop. Its bonkers if it carries on like this

no Rgl wanted a electric via Walsall, services but not to Euston, they already had that. Walsall wanted a direct to Euston. In order to accompany that they made all trains extended to Rgl.

stoke loop is to keep local and mps happy. Passengers are not complaining about longer journey times, as they can always change at Stafford.

 

[RealTrains07]

Rarely on the trains I get. That's potluck.

Like the trent valley then

 

[sufian123]

Rarely on the trains I get. That's potluck.

if it’s xx04 departures all are 8 cars on Saturdays. Subject to availability.

 

[gazzaa2]

if it’s xx04 departures all are 8 cars on Saturdays. Subject to availability.

I get it from Liverpool to Birmingham return on Saturdays, from Liverpool outbound. Nearly always 4 car outbound and mostly return.

Today returning from Leicester (2 car cross country both ways to/from New Street so was jam packed, totally inadequate) and I changed at Nuneaton for the Crewe service (8 cars) as the Birmingham to Liverpool was half an hour late (standard) so I could catch the connection at Crewe. It turned up but was jam packed at Crewe (4 cars) as the previous two trains were cancelled and delayed.

 

[sufian123]

I get it from Liverpool to Birmingham return on Saturdays, from Liverpool outbound. Nearly always 4 car outbound and mostly return.

Today returning from Leicester (2 car cross country both ways to/from New Street so was jam packed, totally inadequate) and I changed at Nuneaton for the Crewe service (8 cars) as the Birmingham to Liverpool was half an hour late (standard) so I could catch the connection at Crewe. It turned up but was jam packed at Crewe (4 cars) as the previous two trains were cancelled and delayed.

they suffering it seems. If you check the Saturdays timetable nearly all xx04 showing 8 cars

 

[BucksBones]

My train home from Euston was horrible last night, as a result of being too short (please bring back 12-car Saturday night services LNR, the “8-car-but-with-one-or-two-extra-services” strategy isn’t working*) and previous cancellations which exacerbated the problem. Loads of people were left on platforms, I’m surprised there wasn’t a brawl given the condition of many of them.

Looking back through the day, the number of train crew related cancellations was appalling, worse than the early days of London Midland.

I’ve never known anything like the incompetence displayed by this tin-pot franchise (most of their problems could be foreseen and avoided by anyone with a brain, with the stupid timetable top of the list) but I’m sure it will just go on getting worse and worse until we all give up and start driving everywhere. It’s all very depressing and I’m heartily sick of it.



*They had better sort this out before the run up to Christmas otherwise goodness knows what it will be like.

 

[sufian123]

My train home from Euston was horrible last night, as a result of being too short (please bring back 12-car Saturday night services LNR, the “8-car-but-with-one-or-two-extra-services” strategy isn’t working*) and previous cancellations which exacerbated the problem. Loads of people were left on platforms, I’m surprised there wasn’t a brawl given the condition of many of them.

Looking back through the day, the number of train crew related cancellations was appalling, worse than the early days of London Midland.

I’ve never known anything like the incompetence displayed by this tin-pot franchise (most of their problems could be foreseen and avoided by anyone with a brain, with the stupid timetable top of the list) but I’m sure it will just go on getting worse and worse until we all give up and start driving everywhere. It’s all very depressing and I’m heartily sick of it.



*They had better sort this out before the run up to Christmas otherwise goodness knows what it will be like.

Yesttertoday Crew missing was the largest factor they had. Sad times.

 

[Silverlinky]

The south end of the franchise runs on overtime. To tempt crew to work over the summer holiday period they offer enhanced pay and bonuses if crew don't go sick.

The holiday period ends, hourly rates go back to normal and lo and behold sickness goes up and overtime goes down. Result: Traincrew vacancies at the weekend.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I’ve never known anything like the incompetence displayed by this tin-pot franchise (most of their problems could be foreseen and avoided by anyone with a brain, with the stupid timetable top of the list) but I’m sure it will just go on getting worse and worse until we all give up and start driving everywhere. It’s all very depressing and I’m heartily sick of it.

I absolutely agree. It is appalling. They have brought the level of quality on what was a relatively good operation (give or take the need to get the /2s out to play more often and reduce 4-car running, which they have done, to be fair) down to something akin to the execrable Arriva Northern. Most definitely the worst operation I have ever experienced on the south WCML in the whole time I have been using it - and that includes that LM themselves had somewhat of a "false start".

Other than the reduced 4-car running I cannot think of a single thing that is better about it than LM, and most things are markedly worse.

 

[I13]

Was booking a LNR service with GWR today and this warning came up: "From Monday 7 October, this train will no longer call at Long Buckby due to a timetable change - this change is being made to improve performance and reliability across the London Northwestern Railway network." Checked, and Long Buckby is losing a train an hour in the direction of Birmingham for much of the day (XX14 Northampton), but nothing seems to be changing in the other direction. I can't find any information on the LNR website.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I can't find any information on the LNR website.

If there's one thing they are worse at than running a train service, it's communication. A truly awful TOC. Not quite Northern, but not far off.

 

[sufian123]

Was booking a LNR service with GWR today and this warning came up: "From Monday 7 October, this train will no longer call at Long Buckby due to a timetable change - this change is being made to improve performance and reliability across the London Northwestern Railway network." Checked, and Long Buckby is losing a train an hour in the direction of Birmingham for much of the day (XX14 Northampton), but nothing seems to be changing in the other direction. I can't find any information on the LNR website.

anything to do with leaf fall timetable

 

[87015]

So four months into the new timetable and my reporter is still waiting for the 1716 ex Euston to arrive RT into Leighton (first stop, 110mph fast line timings)

 

[Bletchleyite]

anything to do with leaf fall timetable

Probably. I can't see how dropping one stop would make any difference to the main issue which is far greater than two minutes or so.

 

[bionic]

I've been having a look at Stone on RTT based on some of the comments on this thread. Last night for example RTT shows the last train in both directions was cancelled with most of the other northbound trains running late - in some cases significantly late. Southbound doesn't seem to be as bad (when the trains weren't cancelled) as the trains haven't travelled as far and presumably absorbed the northbound late running in the turnaround at Crewe.

If you look at any given day on RTT, Stone seems to suffer from cancellations and late running. What are people in Stone doing about it? Are they using alternative transport? Are they raising the issue anywhere? Is there a pressure group? MP involvement?

If I lived in Stone I don't think I would be able to rely on the current service to get me to work or place of education or any other kind of commitment. Theres one train an hour and if that's cancelled or late then you have real problems.

Are there any Stone people on here to give an insight? Is it as bad as RTT suggests? What are you and people you know doing?

 

[Silverlinky]

Suggests that 26 minutes is too tight then. The vast majority of services seem to arrive at LBZ two or three minutes late.

You can easily lose that time dependant on how you are routed out of Euston, Line D to E or Line X to E, C to D to E are all going to be slower than straight onto Line E

 

[6026KingJohn]

If there's one thing they are worse at than running a train service, it's communication. A truly awful TOC. Not quite Northern, but not far off.

I see from the LNR website (and the WMR one) that they have just received an award for the information campaign for the new (May) timetable!!

 

[DavidGrain]

Suggests that 26 minutes is too tight then. The vast majority of services seem to arrive at LBZ two or three minutes late.

You can easily lose that time dependant on how you are routed out of Euston, Line D to E or Line X to E, C to D to E are all going to be slower than straight onto Line E

How are platforms at Euston allocated? Should it not be Fast Line one side, Slow Line the other with the DC lines in the middle? I don't use Euston as much as I used to do as Chiltern trains are now more convenient to me since I moved house. It always seemed to me to be a lottery which side of Euston I was on as I used both Virgin and LM (I have so far not had need to use LNR to Euston since the start of their franchise but may be doing so in the next few weeks)

 

[Bletchleyite]

I see from the LNR website (and the WMR one) that they have just received an award for the information campaign for the new (May) timetable!!

Excuse me while I roll on the floor in hysterics.

 

[Silverlinky]

How are platforms at Euston allocated? Should it not be Fast Line one side, Slow Line the other with the DC lines in the middle? I don't use Euston as much as I used to do as Chiltern trains are now more convenient to me since I moved house. It always seemed to me to be a lottery which side of Euston I was on as I used both Virgin and LM (I have so far not had need to use LNR to Euston since the start of their franchise but may be doing so in the next few weeks)

Back in the day it was virgins 1-7 and 12-15 with 16 and 18 shared with LM who used 8, 10, 11 and 17 with the DC on 9.
With LM and now LNW running many more services they pretty much use any platform, as well as the fact 17 and 18 have gone.
HS2 work would have seen all LNW services move to 1-7 with virgin taking 8-16 and the DC moved out temporarily. Voyagers would have used 9 and 10 in 5 car formation only. Work was done on 11 to accommodate 11 car pendos.
This would have seen the high platforms get access to the fast line easily and the low platforms go out on the slows after removal of line X.
However I think we are on draft number 57 now and things always change.
Anything departing via Line X to the fast at present has to maintain a lower speed meaning valuable seconds are lost.

 

[Silverlinky]

Was booking a LNR service with GWR today and this warning came up: "From Monday 7 October, this train will no longer call at Long Buckby due to a timetable change - this change is being made to improve performance and reliability across the London Northwestern Railway network." Checked, and Long Buckby is losing a train an hour in the direction of Birmingham for much of the day (XX14 Northampton), but nothing seems to be changing in the other direction. I can't find any information on the LNR website.

Now been briefed out to staff, 0925 to 1725 inclusive from northampton will not call at long buckby, resulting in 2-3 minute earlier arrival at Coventry and better pathing into new street.
This will allow for services continuing north out of new street to run more punctually and also services south where the crew of the northbound service are relieved and will now have another few minutes to get to their next southbound working.
Services from long buckby going south are unaffected by any changes and frequency is maintained.
The xx36 from long buckby going north only ran 12 minutes behind the previous service and was lightly used.

 

[DavidGrain]

Looking at Long Buckby from the train and looking at Google maps, it is some way from habitation so I think of it as a P+R station. Some commuters might have to change their travel times.

 

[RealTrains07]

I've been having a look at Stone on RTT based on some of the comments on this thread. Last night for example RTT shows the last train in both directions was cancelled with most of the other northbound trains running late - in some cases significantly late. Southbound doesn't seem to be as bad (when the trains weren't cancelled) as the trains haven't travelled as far and presumably absorbed the northbound late running in the turnaround at Crewe.

If you look at any given day on RTT, Stone seems to suffer from cancellations and late running. What are people in Stone doing about it? Are they using alternative transport? Are they raising the issue anywhere? Is there a pressure group? MP involvement?

If I lived in Stone I don't think I would be able to rely on the current service to get me to work or place of education or any other kind of commitment. Theres one train an hour and if that's cancelled or late then you have real problems.

Are there any Stone people on here to give an insight? Is it as bad as RTT suggests? What are you and people you know doing?

What are the people doing about it? Nothing as per usual. They fight to keep a service but do nothing when it goes wrong

Their were already issues with the timetable before it started let alone 4 months after its not just the consistent crew shortages across the LNR network in general either

got a list of problems (which includes the recent ones) if you want to see it?