Midland Mainline (South) capacity issues

[edwin_m]

Part of the reason EMT is emptier is that many people in Nottingham area drive to Grantham and people around Derby probably head for the WCML instead. So making the MML even slower by adding extra stops might even mean even fewer passengers on the majority of the journey.

 

[Bald Rick]

Part of the reason EMT is emptier is that many people in Nottingham area drive to Grantham and people around Derby probably head for the WCML instead. So making the MML even slower by adding extra stops might even mean even fewer passengers on the majority of the journey.

Derby people don’t head for the WCML as a rule. People on the eastern outer suburbs of Nottingham might head to Grantham, but it will be a relatively small number. I used to, but that’s when the Grantham car park was about £2 rather than £12.50.

The reason the MML is emptier on LDHS is that there are fewer traffic generators for London for the service provided.

 

[Kettledrum]

From my observations, the EMT services are probably the lightest loaded of all LDHS services into London. Off peak is often deserted.

Perhaps I'm having a senior moment, but what is LDHS? Either way, if true, suggests EMT have got something seriously wrong with their business plan - ticket prices too high? journey times too slow?

I bow to your greater knowledge, besides St Albans still has the fast TL services to use.

So what services would stop at which station? Nottinghams already stop at Luton Parkway and Bedford, Corbys already stop at Luton and Bedford so could Sheffields stop at Luton and Bedford?

East Midlands trains from the North seem to stop at so many stations already that journey times are far too slow from stations north of Leicester. Passengers choose not to travel or drive to Doncaster or Grantham and use the faster ECML. Perhaps this is linked to the light loading of the trains?

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

Perhaps I'm having a senior moment, but what is LDHS? Either way, if true, suggests EMT have got something seriously wrong with their business plan - ticket prices too high? journey times too slow?



East Midlands trains from the North seem to stop at so many stations already that journey times are far too slow from stations north of Leicester. Passengers choose not to travel or drive to Doncaster or Grantham and use the faster ECML. Perhaps this is linked to the light loading of the trains?

LDHS= Long Distance High Speed

 

[Kettledrum]

Derby people don’t head for the WCML as a rule.

Sorry Bald Rick, you are wrong. In peak times, there are significant numbers from South of Derby and Burton who travel to Tamworth and use the fast Virgin services. I know this because I have numerous colleagues who do this and speak to lots of them every week. If you do a search on a ticket booking site, it will even suggest Derby to Tamworth, change at Tamworth, then Tamworth to London as an alternative to the MML - in peak times anyway.

 

[Bald Rick]

Sorry Bald Rick, you are wrong. In peak times, there are significant numbers from South of Derby and Burton who travel to Tamworth and use the fast Virgin services. I know this because I have numerous colleagues who do this and speak to lots of them every week. If you do a search on a ticket booking site, it will even suggest Derby to Tamworth, change at Tamworth, then Tamworth to London as an alternative to the MML - in peak times anyway.

Well the people I know in Derby don’t, but then I don’t know many, and only one of them is south side (Chellaston, he uses Derby and sometimes EM Parkway).

Besides, there are precisely 4 Fast Virgin services from Tamworth to Euston daily, and one of those is at 2205. I don’t believe that there are a ‘significant’ number of people who travel from Derby for these; perhaps 100 total? Compared to several thousand travelling by EMT.

Burton is, of course, not Derby. It’s in Staffordshire for a start!

 

[edwin_m]

If we're getting anecdotal I know people in West Bridgford area who drive to Grantham. Parking at Nottingham is £9 and EM Parkway is £8 but someone else is paying and once they've got into the car they might as well go to Grantham where the train is quicker.