Proposed CrossCountry December 2017 timetable change consultation

[D1009]

There are, of course, still some open. But those that are, don't do Saturday-Saturday holidays the same any more. Many do Friday to Monday, or Monday to Friday, or a combination of these. So Summer Saturday trains are not needed the same. But the railway took them off, rather than adapt to changing demands

Actually you've picked on the one of XC's many seasonal markets for which they do provide, in that some summer Saturday trains run to and from Paignton instead of Plymouth. Given the loadings of the average XC Plymouth terminator west of Newton Abbot, they could do this on Fridays and Mondays as well, but it would make the timetable too complicated. You will have to get over the fact that XC don't have the stock to run additional trains to cater for this type of traffic; in other parts of their network trains are already severely overcrowded on a daily basis.

 

[TheBigD]

Deleted

 

[221129]

Does anyone know if any of the proposed changes are actually happening please???

From what's currently on opentraintimes it seems that the May 2018 XC timetable is almost identical to the current one with no sign of the extra Exeter extensions (half hourly to/from Birmingham) or the extra Cambridge-Leicester (0624/1752) extension of an existing Leicester-Birmingham and vv service (0818/1752)...

Timings for May aren't in the systems yet....

 

[TheBigD]

Deleted

 

[ATW158Xpress]

I thought confirmed times must be made available to the public 90 days before date of travel

 

[pt_mad]

I thought confirmed times must be made available to the public 90 days before date of travel

It must be nearing the time on which the operator must confirm the times or its too late. So it must presumably all be decided by now if it IS going ahead in May. As they missed the deadline last time didnt they and that was a fair amount of time before the actual timetable change date.

 

[berneyarms]

I thought confirmed times must be made available to the public 90 days before date of travel

The new timetable isn’t due to start until May 20th.

12 weeks back from that, which is when the trains are supposed to be available to book is February 25th. That’s well over a month away from now.

We’ve multiple threads on these boards with all sorts of debates being carried out about different TOC’s May timetables, based on what is on OTT which are clearly either not uploaded yet or are only partially uploaded.

I think people are going to have to be more patient.

 

[pt_mad]

The new timetable isn’t due to start until May 20th.

12 weeks back from that, which is when the trains are supposed to be available to book is February 25th. That’s well over a month away from now.

We’ve multiple threads on these boards with all sorts of debates being carried out about different TOC’s May timetables, based on what is on OTT which are clearly either not uploaded yet or are only partially uploaded.

I think people are going to have to be more patient.

Doesn't seem to have been any press releases, publicity or magazine articles about any major changes for May so far.

 

[Martin_1981]

They are probably still finalising the timetable so we might see something in the next few weeks. Either that or they have put it on the backburner again until December 2018 when the new Great Western timetable comes into effect and bring the changes into effect then.

 

[Starmill]

I thought confirmed times must be made available to the public 90 days before date of travel

"must" is perhaps a bit strong.

 

[berneyarms]

Doesn't seem to have been any press releases, publicity or magazine articles about any major changes for May so far.

Given it’s not due until May I’m not really surprised. The hint is in the word “May”.

The current timetable has barely started and there seems to be a frenzy on these boards about a timetable change that’s a full four months away!

 

[ainsworth74]

The current timetable has barely started and there seems to be a frenzy on these boards about a timetable change that’s a full four months away!

Whilst I agree with your broad point (and it's certainly far to early for any press releases!!) to be fair to people on this board May is going to be a substantial change for some areas and in particular Northern and Transpennine. So I think it's understandable that people are quite excited by this. I don't usually get that into timetable changes but I must admit that I'm quite keen to know more about this May's timetable change!

 

[pt_mad]

Given it’s not due until May I’m not really surprised. The hint is in the word “May”.

The current timetable has barely started and there seems to be a frenzy on these boards about a timetable change that’s a full four months away!

Well the May timetable will go final sometime during the next 3 or 4 weeks. So it will very much be at the final stage now.

 

[berneyarms]

Well the May timetable will go final sometime during the next 3 or 4 weeks. So it will very much be at the final stage now.

I can understand the desire to see what the changes are, but they aren’t due to be finished until the end of February and expecting them to all be up now is a bit much!

 

[The Planner]

Already considering Dec 18 to start working on.

 

[tbtc]

Whilst I agree with your broad point (and it's certainly far to early for any press releases!!) to be fair to people on this board May is going to be a substantial change for some areas and in particular Northern and Transpennine. So I think it's understandable that people are quite excited by this. I don't usually get that into timetable changes but I must admit that I'm quite keen to know more about this May's timetable change!

Good points.

The two timetable changes a year are the railway enthusiast's version of football's two "transfer windows" - which means months of speculation before finding out that very little has actually changed - but the May 2018 changes feel like the biggest set that I can recall for some time.

Hmm, that gives me an idea for a separate thread...

 

[Starmill]

I thought confirmed times must be made available to the public 90 days before date of travel

SWR are refusing on twitter to confirm any times for Sunday 21st Jan (i.e. two days time) to and from Waterloo because it is 'not yet known' how engineering work will affect these services (platforms 7-15 are closed). Their advice is that the timetable will be uploaded to journey planners by 0200 on the day and people should check then...

 

[xtradj]

The 20.27 Man Pic to New St was due to be extended to Reading

Will this now happen in May 18 or Dec 18?

Never understood why it didn’t continue as a separate train goes from New St to Reading not long after the Man Pic to New St arrives!

 

[Confused147]

The 20.27 Man Pic to New St was due to be extended to Reading

Will this now happen in May 18 or Dec 18?

Never understood why it didn’t continue as a separate train goes from New St to Reading not long after the Man Pic to New St arrives!

Its so trains don't arrive at their destination so very late if they get mega delayed. If the 2027 is delayed it wont affect the 2204 to Reading.
Same thing happens with the last Paignton to New street which arrives around the same time as the 2230 to Manchester.
And also with the 2245 Virgin Wolverhampton to Euston that doesn't combine with the from Scotland service.

PEOPLE SHOULD TAKE CAUTION BEFORE USING THE LAST TRAINS AND RELYING ON THEM FOR CONNECTIONS OTHERWISE YOU'LL BE STUCK SINCE THEY DONT WAIT

 

[221129]

Same thing happens with the last Paignton to New street which arrives around the same time as the 2230 to Manchester.


PEOPLE SHOULD TAKE CAUTION BEFORE USING THE LAST TRAINS AND RELYING ON THEM FOR CONNECTIONS OTHERWISE YOU'LL BE STUCK SINCE THEY DONT WAIT

The last Paignton won't be anywhere near Birmingham at 2230... Also the last sentence doesn't make a lot of sense....

 

[221129]

The 20.27 Man Pic to New St was due to be extended to Reading

Will this now happen in May 18 or Dec 18?

Never understood why it didn’t continue as a separate train goes from New St to Reading not long after the Man Pic to New St arrives!

I believe it is done to make it easier to swap sets about in the evening. Although it is booked to be the same set forward.

 

[xtradj]

I believe it is done to make it easier to swap sets about in the evening. Although it is booked to be the same set forward.

Thanks, knew a valid reason would be found just couldn’t quite work it out myself!

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I believe it is done to make it easier to swap sets about in the evening. Although it is booked to be the same set forward.

Is it the same set forward? A quick look at RTT shows that they are booked in separate platforms (during the week at least): 1 for the set ex-Manchester, heading off to Barton under Needwood, with the 2204 Reading being formed out of a Reading arrival on 5. I will bow to superior knowledge but it always struck me as a need to keep a 5 car unit up north and a 4 car at Eastleigh for the stock balance into the next morning, which obviously December 2017 would have amended to knock the set through as part of the wider rejig. Happy to be corrected mind.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Scrap that, the corresponding unit ex-Manchester does indeed run into 5 mid, however from my experience it is the set at the a end of 5 (ex-Reading) that forms the 2204 Reading service.

 

[Starmill]

The last Paignton won't be anywhere near Birmingham at 2230... Also the last sentence doesn't make a lot of sense....

I wonder if confused174 was referring to the 1825 Plymouth to Birmingham New Street, which at least some of the time goes on to form the 2231 Birmingham New Street to Manchester Piccadilly.

 

[_toommm_]

Its so trains don't arrive at their destination so very late if they get mega delayed. If the 2027 is delayed it wont affect the 2204 to Reading.
Same thing happens with the last Paignton to New street which arrives around the same time as the 2230 to Manchester.
And also with the 2245 Virgin Wolverhampton to Euston that doesn't combine with the from Scotland service.

PEOPLE SHOULD TAKE CAUTION BEFORE USING THE LAST TRAINS AND RELYING ON THEM FOR CONNECTIONS OTHERWISE YOU'LL BE STUCK SINCE THEY DONT WAIT

Well you won't be stuck, as long as your itinerary is valid, and you arrive on time, you can rely on the last train and, if it doesn't turn up, you have a right to a taxi/other mode of transport to your destination, or a hotel.

Whether the TOC agrees to that is another story as some of us know on here, but hey ho. Correct me if I'm wrong on any details by the way.

 

[221129]

I wonder if confused174 was referring to the 1825 Plymouth to Birmingham New Street, which at least some of the time goes on to form the 2231 Birmingham New Street to Manchester Piccadilly.

Ah yes, The 1825 ex Plymouth is diagrammed to carry on to Manchester.

 

[221129]

Scrap that, the corresponding unit ex-Manchester does indeed run into 5 mid, however from my experience it is the set at the a end of 5 (ex-Reading) that forms the 2204 Reading service.

I'll check the diagram when I am next in on Friday but I know a lot of services are split this way at this sort of time.

 

[yorkie]

PEOPLE SHOULD TAKE CAUTION BEFORE USING THE LAST TRAINS AND RELYING ON THEM FOR CONNECTIONS OTHERWISE YOU'LL BE STUCK SINCE THEY DONT WAIT

As my Guard tonight said, the railway has a duty of care and will not abandon people. If there is no later train, alternative arrangements will be made.

It is not the case that people will be stuck.

 

[Confused147]

The last Paignton won't be anywhere near Birmingham at 2230... Also the last sentence doesn't make a lot of sense....

I was thinking of the Plymouth arrival which arrives at 2204.

And why doesn't it make sense? Suppose I travel from Manchester to Reading and decide to travel home on the 2027 to New Street and hope my train arrives on time (2200) in time for the 2204 Reading. That gives me 4 minutes or maybe less to make a rush between platforms. But if my train from Manchester is delayed severely then haven't I missed my Reading train?, and therefore shouldn't I consider myself stranded?