Norwich departures (off-peak)

[90sWereBetter]

It seems that Norwich has all of its timetabled departures concentrated in the second half of an hour. It seems to go like something like this

xx:30 "fast" train to London Liverpool Street (stopping at Diss, Ipswich, Manningtree, and Colchester)
xx:36 to Great Yarmouth
xx:40 to Cambridge
xx:45 to Sheringham
xx:50 or xx:55 to Lowestoft (depending if it's a fast or stopper)
xx:57 to Nottingham/Manchester/Liverpool Lime Street
xx:00 "stopping" train to London Liverpool Street (stopping at Diss, Stowmarket, Ipswich, Manningtree, Colchester, Chelmsford and Stratford)

The only activity in the other half of the hour is the East Midlands Trains arrival from Lime Street, usually around xx:10, and the arrival of a London service around xx:25. Is there any particular reason why the departures are clustered together?

 

[306024]

Well simply because that is the best way to get everything to fit in order to
1) provide reasonable connections
2) minimise the number of units required for local services

It just happens to land that way, no particular other reason.

 

[TheEdge]

If you want some random variety get there at the crack of dawn with us traincrew!

04+40 Norwich - Lowestoft
04.45 Norwich - Liverpool Street
05.06 Norwich - Great Yarmouth
05.10 Norwich - Sheringham
05+28 Norwich - Lowestoft
05.30 Norwich - Liverpool Street
05.33 Norwich - Cambridge
05.36 Norwich - Lowestoft
05.40 Norwich - Sheringham
05.50 Norwich - Liverpool Lime Street
05+50 Norwich - Great Yarmouth
06.00 Norwich - Liverpool Street
06.13 Norwich - Great Yarmouth
06.24 Norwich - Liverpool Street
06.27 Norwich - Lowestoft
06.33 Norwich - Cambridge
06.45 Norwich - Lowestoft
06.48 Norwich - Liverpool Street
06.51 Norwich - Liverpool Lime Street
06.52 Norwich - Great Yarmouth
06+59 Norwich - Lowestoft
07.05 Norwich - Liverpool Street
07.15 Norwich - Sheringham
07.36 Norwich - Great Yarmouth
07.37 Norwich - Cambridge
07.40 Norwich - Liverpool Street

And then to normal service patttern.

 

[Class 170101]

xx:36 to Great Yarmouth

Some peak departures at xx:06

xx:50 or xx:55 to Lowestoft (depending if it's a fast or stopper)

Some departures now at xx:05 (off peak every two hours)

It should be noted that most of these are around the xx30 London to Norwich and the xx00 Norwich to London as these trains run in all hours. The opposite trains don't run throughout the traffic day.

 

[Ze Random One]

Actually I would say Norwich provides a pretty good example of a customer friendly timetable, similar to Taktfahrplan. The maximum wait for passengers changing from local services to the London/Liverpool services is 30 minutes, with most coming in around the 15 minute mark. In the opposite direction, only the Liverpool-Lowestoft connections are poorly timed (40-50mins wait) all others are under ~30mins change time

 

[Sleepy]

Will be interesting to see if the timetable is completely recast when Norwich - London goes 3 per hour off peak in the new franchise - class 360 passed north of Stowmarket ?

 

[306024]

Actually I would say Norwich provides a pretty good example of a customer friendly timetable, similar to Taktfahrplan. The maximum wait for passengers changing from local services to the London/Liverpool services is 30 minutes, with most coming in around the 15 minute mark. In the opposite direction, only the Liverpool-Lowestoft connections are poorly timed (40-50mins wait) all others are under ~30mins change time

Ironically it is as much operations lead as customer friendly, within all the pathing and resource constraints it will always be a compromise of the two. Without more fleet, and therefore considerable cost, you can't make everything connect with everything else.

Compared to Lincolnshire, Norfolk does very well for a train service, given the economics of operating rural branch lines.

Will be interesting to see if the timetable is completely recast when Norwich - London goes 3 per hour off peak in the new franchise - class 360 passed north of Stowmarket ?

That is anyone's guess. No doubt there will be some interesting ideas that will have to be put right before they can be made to actually work

 

[dk1]

Actually I would say Norwich provides a pretty good example of a customer friendly timetable, similar to Taktfahrplan. The maximum wait for passengers changing from local services to the London/Liverpool services is 30 minutes, with most coming in around the 15 minute mark. In the opposite direction, only the Liverpool-Lowestoft connections are poorly timed (40-50mins wait) all others are under ~30mins change time

Liverpool Lime St arrivals are very frustrating for the 12:05 & 14:05 Lowestoft as well as the 17:06 & 18:06 departures to Great Yarmouth due to the fact they tend to arrive early & thus pass these departures either in the platform or under Carrow Road Bridge.

The lack of services in the xx:00 to xx:30 period has been talked about before but is an awkward one to solve. One thing that's better is moving the Lowestoft departures away from their previous xx:57 departure. Lost count of the times I was asked if this train stops at Peterborough :roll:

 

[Alfie1014]

The eight trains an hour on the single line over Trowse Swing bridge is obviously one constraint, which will only be made worse when three trains an hour to/from London are operated as part of the new franchise from 2019.