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Shenfield/Brentwood

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AlanFry1

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Just looking at the timetable on TFL Rail homepage, for Jan-may 2017, there are no Monday - Friday trains between Shenfield - Brentwood? So does this mean everyone is going to slam onto greater Anglia trains, or are greater Anglia only stopping at brentwood instead of shenfield too?
I assume this is for crossrail works... No idea why they work on Saturday and sundays though...:cry:
 
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higthomas

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I'm not quite sure what you are asking, but as far as I can tell (by looking at realtimetrains no Greater Anglia trains currently call at both Shenfield and Brentwood, and that will continue to be the case after then, so the only way to get from one station to another will be the bus. The Greater Anglia trains which currently call at Shenfield look like they will continue to and will also call at Stratford, Romford etc. as they do now; so the only change looks to me like the buses in place of trains for TFL rail between Brentwood and Shenfield.
 

dk1

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Just looking at the timetable on TFL Rail homepage, for Jan-may 2017, there are no Monday - Friday trains between Shenfield - Brentwood? So does this mean everyone is going to slam onto greater Anglia trains, or are greater Anglia only stopping at brentwood instead of shenfield too?
I assume this is for crossrail works... No idea why they work on Saturday and sundays though...:cry:

There was a DE-UE crossover installed last year just South of Brentwood with this work in mind. Not sure of the plans yet as its easy for GA trains to call weekends but a whole different story weekdays.
 

iphone76

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Some late night Southend Victoria trains (22:45/23:15/23:45/00:15 from London - and a few from Southend to London) have been stopping at both Brentwood and Shenfield for a couple of weeks now on weekdays due to the evening works. Not sure whether this will be a regular thing next year once the buses are in place. (Doesn't look like it in RTT).
 

306024

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The electric lines (slow lines for those that don't speak Great Eastern) will be closed from Christmas 2016 to Mayday bank holiday 2017 between Brentwood and Shenfield. This is to enable the massive task of remodelling Shenfield to take place, but still only closing the main lines between Christmas and New Year.

Monday to Friday the timetable is as indicated, with buses between Brentwood and Shenfield (except the first up and last down train which run on the main lines). GA trains do not call at Brentwood, simply because it can't be timetabled (or not without a huge disproportionate effect). Plus peak 12 cars couldn't call anyway, so the simple solution is a frequent bus service for one stop.

Weekends are a different issue. Due to other work elsewhere, the TfL service can only get to Brentwood on relatively few occasions. There is so much going on that the weekend timetable will be amended in all sorts of ways. Therefore there is little point in producing a permanent weekend timetable that only amends the Shenfield part of the work, only to have to further amend it to account for everything else, much of which is different each week. There is small print in the top right of the timetable warning of weekend engineering work.

Stopping weekend GA services at Brentwood on the up is relatively easy, but the added time on the down starts to cause ripples across East Anglia, especially with connections onto single line branches, unless the trains leave Liverpool St earlier. You then start to affect everyone, just to assist the relatively few making intermediate journeys between Gidea Park, Harold Wood or Brentwood to / from beyond Shenfield. Mind you those GA services won't get as far as Brentwood many weekends anyway.

Details of weekend timetables should be available at the usual 12 weeks beforehand, but the volume of change makes that quite a challenge for everyone involved. Hope that answers a few questions.
 
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PeterC

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So does this mean everyone is going to slam onto greater Anglia trains
It is a while since I commuted from Shenfield but in those days the metro services were only boarded by schoolkids and a handful of people like me who didn't drive to their suburban jobs.
 

westv

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It is a while since I commuted from Shenfield but in those days the metro services were only boarded by schoolkids and a handful of people like me who didn't drive to their suburban jobs.

Indeed. A chap I knew who lived in Brentwood drove to Shenfield to catch the train from there into London. A lot quicker than getting the sloooow service from Brentwood.
 

PeterC

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I am still unclear about what the new layout at Shenfield will look like. Are there any actual track plans published anywhere?
 

AlanFry1

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Because I was speaking to someone who uses brentwood at work today and he says he goes up one stop to shenfield to get a fast train from there - do many do this?
 

dk1

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Because I was speaking to someone who uses brentwood at work today and he says he goes up one stop to shenfield to get a fast train from there - do many do this?

100s do & have done since Brentwood became essentially a 'metro' station in GE days.
 

JW16

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Because I was speaking to someone who uses brentwood at work today and he says he goes up one stop to shenfield to get a fast train from there - do many do this?

Many do, although I have done it in the past and found it saved barely 5 minutes or less. By the time you go one stop to Shenfield (can take 4 or even 5 minutes depending on signals etc), change platforms, wait for a main line service, and then get into Liverpool Street you've barely saved 5 minutes. And you didn't get a seat which you would've done from Brentwood.
 

AlanFry1

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There is one strange anomaly on the timetable though.
Why does one train (1650 from Liv st to Gidea Park) not stop at Manor Park leaving a 20 min break between trains? until February?
 

Class 170101

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Because of Gospel Oak to Barking Blockade. Allows a Freight to cross on the flat of GEML between NLL and Barking en route to Tilbury.
 

dk1

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Because of Gospel Oak to Barking Blockade. Allows a Freight to cross on the flat of GEML between NLL and Barking en route to Tilbury.

A tad annoying but reminiscent of the days before the Gospel Oak line was strengthened.
 

stu227

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Because I was speaking to someone who uses brentwood at work today and he says he goes up one stop to shenfield to get a fast train from there - do many do this?

Yes, and the volume of schoolchildren in the morning / afternoon is considerable - lots of kids headed for Chelmsford / Ingatestone / Shenfield schools from suburban London. Will be quite a challenge for a lot of people. As usual Brentwood / Shenfield the poor relation on the Crossrail line.
 
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