Pragmatic Changes to XC post EW

[BlueLeanie]

Once East-West opens, passengers will have whole new opportunities for routing around the countryside. For passengers from Oxford, and perhaps even Reading and Southampton, it will probably be far quicker changing at (Oxford and) Milton Keynes for services to Liverpool, the Lake District, Glasgow, and Manchester than using the XC services via Birmingham. It'll certainly be easier to travel in the morning without the toxic 9F restriction on XC tickets!

With this in mind, would it be better for XC to withdraw their Manchester to Southampton services completely? Re-introducing the hourly direct service from Reading to Newcastle (currently a token 3 services each way per day).

Then for Chiltern or Great Western to be awarded a direct contract to operate an hourly Southampton to Northampton service via Bicester Village.

Customers in the Thames Valley & South would be no worse off than they are today with services to Birmingham, it would significantly improve the current services to the North East. For those travelling to the North West or to Northamptonshire it would deliver a considerable improvement on speed of journeys and equal or better existing connections.

 

[The Planner]

Once East-West opens, passengers will have whole new opportunities for routing around the countryside. For passengers from Oxford, and perhaps even Reading and Southampton, it will probably be far quicker changing at (Oxford and) Milton Keynes for services to Liverpool, the Lake District, Glasgow, and Manchester than using the XC services via Birmingham. It'll certainly be easier to travel in the morning without the toxic 9F restriction on XC tickets!

With this in mind, would it be better for XC to withdraw their Manchester to Southampton services completely? Re-introducing the hourly direct service from Reading to Newcastle (currently a token 3 services each way per day).

Then for Chiltern or Great Western to be awarded a direct contract to operate an hourly Southampton to Northampton service via Bicester Village.

Customers in the Thames Valley & South would be no worse off than they are today with services to Birmingham, it would significantly improve the current services to the North East. For those travelling to the North West or to Northamptonshire it would deliver a considerable improvement on speed of journeys and equal or better existing connections.

Or just reinstate the Reading Newcastle as planned. You lose any connectivity to Coventry and International with your suggestion.

 

[A S Leib]

What happens to Bournemouth, and what makes up the lost capacity between Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent and Manchester? An hourly LNR service, at least meaning Birmingham – Manchester would finally have a frequent direct electric service?

 

[weeklycommuter]

Once East-West opens, passengers will have whole new opportunities for routing around the countryside. For passengers from Oxford, and perhaps even Reading and Southampton, it will probably be far quicker changing at (Oxford and) Milton Keynes for services to Liverpool, the Lake District, Glasgow, and Manchester than using the XC services via Birmingham. It'll certainly be easier to travel in the morning without the toxic 9F restriction on XC tickets!
With this in mind, would it be better for XC to withdraw their Manchester to Southampton services completely? Re-introducing the hourly direct service from Reading to Newcastle (currently a token 3 services each way per day).
Then for Chiltern or Great Western to be awarded a direct contract to operate an hourly Southampton to Northampton service via Bicester Village.
Customers in the Thames Valley & South would be no worse off than they are today with services to Birmingham, it would significantly improve the current services to the North East. For those travelling to the North West or to Northamptonshire it would deliver a considerable improvement on speed of journeys and equal or better existing connections.

No it would not be better for XC to withdraw the hourly Bournemouth-Southampton-Winchester-Basingstoke-Reading-Oxford-Coventry-Birmingham International-Birmingham New Street-Stoke on Trent-Manchester train services, these services just need new trains with a lot more seats. The point of these XC services is they provide direct train services from Bournemouth, Hampshire and the Thames Valley to Coventry, Birmingham International, Birmingham New Street, Stoke on Trent and Manchester. Otherwise rail passengers from Bournemouth and Hampshire may as well travel to these and all other West Coast Mainline destinations via London. Hourly XC train services Reading-Oxford-Birmingham New Street-Derby-Sheffield-Doncaster-York services which do not call at Coventry or Birmingham International are expected to be restored in May 2025 with every other train extending to Newcastle and the Thames Valley will again have two trains an hour to Birmingham New Street, one continuing to Manchester and one continuing to York and Newcastle.

 

[stevieinselby]

There are already any number of journeys from Reading and points south to various parts of the north that can be made on a direct XC journey, or quicker by another route. That doesn't mean those services aren't worth running – XC particularly caters to long-distance passengers who want a direct journey, but also lots of overlapping shorter journeys. Withdrawing some of those direct services would reduce the attractiveness of the journey to some passengers, and unless you are re-providing that capacity, as well as adding more capacity on the ICWC services that you are pushing people towards, you're going to see worse overcrowding and fewer affordable fares as a result. The last thing we need to be doing with XC is cutting back the core provision!

 

[swt_passenger]

In addition to points already made, DFT explicitly ruled out capacity for ‘cross country’ style services from the south via EWR. It’s been discussed a few times in the various EWR threads.

As an infrequent user of the XC Manchester service from the south coast, I see it primarily as my obvious route to Birmingham. There’s almost always a large proportion get out at New St. I don’t think converting it into a service terminating at Northampton would really help many people.

 

[DerekC]

As an infrequent user of the XC Manchester service from the south coast, I see it primarily as my obvious route to Birmingham. There’s almost always a large proportion get out at New St. I don’t think converting it into a service terminating at Northampton would really help many people.

I agree. I have been from Winchester to Birmingham many times on that route. Derby, Manchester and York just occasionally. And changing at Reading for points north-east of Birmingham isn't really a problem (unlike New Street which is a real pain), so I am looking forward to the hourly service Reading - York as mentioned in an earlier post.