New South Western franchise: Awarded to First/MTR

[superalbs]

Pinhoe calls must actually increase as the franchise spec says all trains must stop there.

yay

 

[TheWalrus]

Judging by the number of people who board/alight the Exeter services at Woking, I would say quite a lot.

How many stay on after Salisbury? Still if they keep Woking and Basingstoke calls that doesn't, answer how they will cut 10 minutes off the journey time. They must be cutting calls somewhere but where? My point on my previous post is they won't compete on journey time to London so surely it's better to keep calls at Clapham, Woking and Basingstoke and keep connections?

 

[pompeyfan]

How many stay on after Salisbury? Still if they keep Woking and Basingstoke calls that doesn't, answer how they will cut 10 minutes off the journey time. They must be cutting calls somewhere but where? My point on my previous post is they won't compete on journey time to London so surely it's better to keep calls at Clapham, Woking and Basingstoke and keep connections?

They've said they can save 5 minutes by reducing conflicts at Waterloo and Salisbury. This can be found in the new internal page which is publicly available.

 

[swt_passenger]

How many stay on after Salisbury? Still if they keep Woking and Basingstoke calls that doesn't, answer how they will cut 10 minutes off the journey time. They must be cutting calls somewhere but where? My point on my previous post is they won't compete on journey time to London so surely it's better to keep calls at Clapham, Woking and Basingstoke and keep connections?

The ITT spreadsheet required one stop per hour at Woking and Basingstoke in either the Salisbury or Exeter services, but not both.
"Bidders must provide a minimum of 1tph and this stop can be on any train between London Waterloo and Salisbury."
Oh and must provide 2 tph at Andover (which was asked about earlier).

Having NO West of England trains call at those stations isn't actually in the ITT, unlike the main Weymouth line services.

 

[A Challenge]

Sorry, I can't imagine this wouldn't be here somewhere, but is there an online ITT copy available?

 

[TheWalrus]

They've said they can save 5 minutes by reducing conflicts at Waterloo and Salisbury. This can be found in the new internal page which is publicly available.

Can someone link me to this? I've not seen it and would be interested to read it.

 

[DelW]

My point on my previous post is they won't compete on journey time to London so surely it's better to keep calls at Clapham, Woking and Basingstoke and keep connections?

I fully agree with that. The skip stop pattern of Basingstoke / Woking can already be a pain for those of us changing from / to Portsmouth direct slows.

 

[swt_passenger]

Sorry, I can't imagine this wouldn't be here somewhere, but is there an online ITT copy available?

On DfT's website here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/south-western-franchise-2016-invitation-to-tender

The third file is the service specification in Excel spreadsheet format.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

During the blockade - the **50 Salisbury stopper will not run, instead there will be an hourly service running Reading - Basingstoke - Overton - Whitchurch - Andover - Grateley - Salisbury

Plus the hourly Exeter service. This will leave Waterloo five minutes earlier than usual at **15

 

[greaterwest]

During the blockade - the **50 Salisbury stopper will not run, instead there will be an hourly service running Reading - Basingstoke - Overton - Whitchurch - Andover - Grateley - Salisbury

Plus the hourly Exeter service. This will leave Waterloo five minutes earlier than usual at **15

Yeovil Pen Mill, Castle Cary, Bruton & Frome also lose their direct services to London, which instead will terminate and start at Reading.

The 09:18 additional service from Gillingham Dorset will terminate at Reading.

 

[swt_passenger]

Temporary changes/diversions during next months blockade are nothing much to do with the possible future timetable changes under First/MTR; which is what was being discussed?

There's a separate discussion in the infrastructure sub forum where Reading diversions have already come up...

 

[Goldfish62]

Immediately following the end of the blockade there are some peak hours improvements the Reading line services being introduced.

There is a new 0652 from Reading. The 1805 from Waterloo to Farnham via Ascot is diverted to Reading an there is a new 1754 Waterloo to Farnham via Hounslow and Ascot. I believe all these were originally from be introduced in 2014, but were delayed for various reasons.

 

[3141]

I travelled to Waterloo today on the 11.20 from Overton, due at Waterloo at 12.19. The train arrived at Overton shortly after 11.18. It spent around two minutes at Basingstoke (I didn't time it exactly) and two minutes and fifteen seconds at Woking. It stopped in the platform at Waterloo at 12.15.20. In the peak hours the times spent at Basingstoke and Woking might be needed, but there still appears to be scope for shortening the scheduled journey from Exeter without omitting stops..

 

[TheWalrus]

I travelled to Waterloo today on the 11.20 from Overton, due at Waterloo at 12.19. The train arrived at Overton shortly after 11.18. It spent around two minutes at Basingstoke (I didn't time it exactly) and two minutes and fifteen seconds at Woking. It stopped in the platform at Waterloo at 12.15.20. In the peak hours the times spent at Basingstoke and Woking might be needed, but there still appears to be scope for shortening the scheduled journey from Exeter without omitting stops..

May need those two minutes if specifies in the rules of the plan. Could be padding or engineering allowance.

 

[embers25]

Would Aldershot passengers be obliged to change at Brookwood or is there an easement allowing travel via Woking?

My main commute is Pinhoe to Woking/Guildford/Petersfield and there are lots of through passengers from Woking to beyond Yeovil. There are also a couple of other people that do Pinhoe to Woking at least once a week. Also you are allowed to change at Woking with an Aldershot ticket and I do regularly. Woking is mainly for connections to Pompey line and Heathrow and there are plenty of passengers from west of Yeovil to Heathrow too.

 

[3141]

Or even Yeovil to Gatwick, with a change at Woking and Guildford. This is a route that can come up on a journey planner, and I did once travel from Overton to Gatwick that way, though with two changes instead of the one at Clapham Junction, and a less frequent service from Guildford to Gatwick, the risks of something not working are greater.

 

[pompeyfan]

I've just seen the following on a local Facebook group; might be interesting to some.

On the subject of Driver Only Operation: a representative of disabled groups said that it was "essential" to have a guard on their trains and asked the MD to give this assurance. The reply was that they were committed to "having a second person on our long-distance services". This seems that they are intent on having the same set-up as they have on First Great Western, which has DOO on the Thames Valley branches and as far out as Oxford but guards on services to Bristol, Exeter and beyond - and what safety-critical training will this "second person" have?

Changes to the service pattern will mean: extra services to Reading, longer suburban trains (once the Waterloo platform extensions have been completed), re-introduction of 18 442 units on the Portsmouth Direct line (these will be refurbished, have new traction packages to improve their acceleration & braking and will be restricted to fast services due to the limited number of doors increasing dwell time at stations). The current stopping service to Poole will terminate at Southampton, one of the two current services to Weymouth will terminate at Poole and those stations which lose out by these terminations will benefit from a new semi-fast Portsmouth to Weymouth service. They would like to have all Waterloo - Weymouth services made up to ten cars as far as Bournemouth. It is intended to run more of the Exeter services as six car trains beyond Salisbury and to extend some of the Waterloo - Salisbury trains to Yeovil Junction. There will also be an extra semi-fast Portsmouth to Southampton service which may mean some of the Southern (Brighton line) services running via Eastleigh. The plan is for the basic service to run all day with some enhancements during the peaks. There was a commitment to investigate ways to deal with the "problem" of the loss-making Island Line. There is the intention of having a better service on Sunday evenings and later final trains from Waterloo but when I asked how they could preserve access to Network Rail for maintenance, it was made clear that these anticipated changes were minor. Finally, they are in discussions with Network Rail over running a service on Boxing Day in future, although they are aware of the impact this would have on major upgrading schemes which take place over the Christmas period.

 

[swt_passenger]

The current stopping service to Poole will terminate at Southampton, one of the two current services to Weymouth will terminate at Poole and those stations which lose out by these terminations will benefit from a new semi-fast Portsmouth to Weymouth service.

Ah, that's just as I was predicting a few months ago, based on the hints in the ITT service specification.

Although who was the author of this Facebook summary, someone vaguely official or just someone who reads rail forums...

By the way, you need to swap to a "forward slash" in your end quote tag.

 

[speedy_sticks]

I have spoken to a could of guards on SWT and they have said that their job role has been guaranteed for two years.

 

[pompeyfan]

I've Pm'd you

 

[Bletchleyite]

So am I reading that right - a halving of the through service from Waterloo to Weymouth?

 

[pompeyfan]

So am I reading that right - a halving of the through service from Waterloo to Weymouth?

The way I understand it is that the current up semi fast will hang a right at St Denys then call at Swanwick then all stations to Portsmouth except Hilsea.

 

[theironroad]

The way I understand it is that the current up semi fast will hang a right at St Denys then call at Swanwick then all stations to Portsmouth except Hilsea.

So places like upwey, moreton, wool will lose their direct service to London? Or are these being added into the current fast service?

 

[swt_passenger]

So am I reading that right - a halving of the through service from Waterloo to Weymouth?

Yes - it is exactly what is proposed in the ITT service specification spreadsheet, as I've been quoting from for about 3 or 4 months. I posted the link a page or so back: http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=3070956&postcount=2108

 

[swt_passenger]

So places like upwey, moreton, wool will lose their direct service to London? Or are these being added into the current fast service?

The ITT did not require them to have a through service to Waterloo. The wording was:

In the SX and SO standard hour bidders must provide a minimum of 1tph to and from Southampton Central (SOU). Bidders may determine if this is a through service to or from Waterloo (WAT) or elsewhere.

 

[pompeyfan]

So places like upwey, moreton, wool will lose their direct service to London? Or are these being added into the current fast service?

It's still very much a guessing game, as something still needs to pick up the calls of the current Poole stopper, by reading the above would it would appear the new service is semi fast from Weymouth to Swanwick, or am I the only one reading that?

 

[Bletchleyite]

It's still very much a guessing game, as something still needs to pick up the calls of the current Poole stopper, by reading the above would it would appear the new service is semi fast from Weymouth to Swanwick, or am I the only one reading that?

Hoping they won't go Parly on Beaulieu Road - it's quite a useful station for me getting groups of Scouts to/from Ferny Crofts!

 

[swt_passenger]

It's still very much a guessing game, as something still needs to pick up the calls of the current Poole stopper, by reading the above would it would appear the new service is semi fast from Weymouth to Swanwick, or am I the only one reading that?

The spreadsheet suggests the Portsmouth > Southampton > Weymouth would be semi-fast as far as Poole, and then all stations to Weymouth. But then again it also suggests (as published) that some journeys between adjacent stations from Brockenhurst to Poole may not be possible.

No doubt it will become clearer in about a year's time, as the Dec 2018 timetable starts materialising on realtimetrains etc...

 

[swt_passenger]

Hoping they won't go Parly on Beaulieu Road - it's quite a useful station for me getting groups of Scouts to/from Ferny Crofts!

Beaulieu Rd weekdays: "Bidders must provide a minimum of 12 station stops in each direction."

 

[adamello]

Hoping they won't go Parly on Beaulieu Road - it's quite a useful station for me getting groups of Scouts to/from Ferny Crofts!

good shout! and not to mention the very nice pub next door!