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Should trains from the South West of England call at Old Oak Common?

sh24

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Truly bizarre. South West needs better connectivity, so let's NOT do that for the sake of 4 mins on 2-5 hour journey. I say that as someone with a business in Plymouth who shuttles to and fro most weeks.

Politicians chasing a cheap headline and not really thinking.
 
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Benjwri

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To which the real answer is ‘Who knows?’ as HeX’s track access agreement expires in June 2028 before OOC opens. What happens after that is, at the moment, anyone’s guess.
The HEX will still be here in 2028. Heathrow owns the tunnels and it makes them money.

Not to mention it would be an incredibly easy negative headline, and few other major international airports don’t have express services to the city they serve.
 

irish_rail

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Truly bizarre. South West needs better connectivity, so let's NOT do that for the sake of 4 mins on 2-5 hour journey. I say that as someone with a business in Plymouth who shuttles to and fro most weeks.

Politicians chasing a cheap headline and not really thinking.
Perhaps, but good news for the majority from "the muff" who wouldn't have been using Old Oak anyway. On balance, the Old Oak stop just isn't justifiable.
 

coppercapped

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The HEX will still be here in 2028. Heathrow owns the tunnels and it makes them money.
I know. The point I was answering was whether or not HeX would stop at OOC, not whether or not HeX would continue as should have been clear from the quotes to which I was replying.
HeX and its infrastructure form part of Heathrow's Regulated Asset Base (as has been explained in other threads by, IIRC, Mr Clarence Yard) and so helps fix Heathrow's landing charges.
Not to mention it would be an incredibly easy negative headline, and few other major international airports don’t have express services to the city they serve.
One of the few is Munich, which has two all stations S-Bahn routes to the Hauptbahnhof each taking about 45 minutes.

Truly bizarre. South West needs better connectivity, so let's NOT do that for the sake of 4 mins on 2-5 hour journey. I say that as someone with a business in Plymouth who shuttles to and fro most weeks.

Politicians chasing a cheap headline and not really thinking.
Better connectivity to where?

Stopping GW trains running on the Mains at OOC will give two, possibly three, connections only:
  • via HS2 to Birmingham (once HS2 opens) with a routing that is some 140 miles longer than the direct route from Bristol to Birmingham
  • a connection into and out of the Elizabeth line a few minutes earlier (or later) than if the connection were to be made at Paddington with no time savings as the running time between OOC and Paddington will be very similar whether on an Elizabeth line train or on a main line train, and
  • some 15 years later connections to Manchester and points north on HS2.
I fail to see how this very limited offer gives 'better connectivity'.
 
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fishwomp

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Not to mention it would be an incredibly easy negative headline, and few other major international airports don’t have express services to the city they serve.
There are loads of airports with poor suburban metro type links, or no link..!

Tokyo's Narita and Haneda; JFK New York; San Francisco; O'Hare Chicago; Dulles Washington; Dublin; Rome (FCO); etc. it's probably shorter to list the good ones..

Back on topic, I hadn't considered that HEX wouldn't stop at OOC.. but oops, yeah, it'll surely be eating fast line capacity, or sitting behind Elizabeth line stoppers if it does.
 

Bald Rick

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Stopping GW trains running on the Mains at OOC will give two, possibly three, connections only:
  • via HS2 to Birmingham (once HS2 opens) with a routing that is some 140 miles longer than the direct route from Bristol to Birmingham
  • a connection into and out of the Elizabeth line a few minutes earlier (or later) than if the connection were to be made at Paddington with no time savings as the running time between OOC and Paddington will be very similar whether on an Elizabeth line train or on a main line train, and
  • some 15 years later connections to Manchester and points north on HS2.

It won’t be 15 years after HS2 opens that OOC has trains to Manchester and other WCML destinations. Why do you think that? It will be 1 or 2 years max.
 

Uncle Buck

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Is it less stressful though? Paddington lets you get on your train before it's ready to leave, move to your reserved seat, etc. At OOC, with only two platforms (?) you'll have 12 departures per hour - that's a lot of flow (if it were successful), lot of churn, people to get out of the way of, to get to your part of the train etc etc. plus a lot of 'is this my train' punters when things arrive a few mins late. It can be done, but I challenge the 'stress' angle.
Would anybody be able to illuminate this by providing figures on the most comparable existing situation- is there a way of seeing what proportion of people, approaching London on a GEML service into Liverpool Street, change onto the Elizabeth Line change at Stratford, rather than Liverpool Street, for onward journeys into central London?*

I must say that if I was approaching London from the West Country, I would change at OOC- but if I was heading out, I would make my way to Paddington. In both cases, that feels like the “more reliable” option.

(*= I realise that this is not comparable because an intermediate station exists at Whitechapel)
 

Bald Rick

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Would anybody be able to illuminate this by providing figures on the most comparable existing situation- is there a way of seeing what proportion of people, approaching London on a GEML service into Liverpool Street, change onto the Elizabeth Line change at Stratford, rather than Liverpool Street, for onward journeys into central London?*

I must say that if I was approaching London from the West Country, I would change at OOC- but if I was heading out, I would make my way to Paddington. In both cases, that feels like the “more reliable” option.

(*= I realise that this is not comparable because an intermediate station exists at Whitechapel)

I don’t think the numbers are out there, but I’d be surprised if that many change at Stratford rather than Liverpool St on the way in. Mostly because there is only half the service on the EL at Stratford than at Liv St, and the inbound trains are at their fullest departing Stratford (routinely leaving people behind in the morning peak) whereas lots alight at Liv St leaving room for boarders.

The situation at OOC is different in that about half the trains will be empty from there on their way in.
 

Uncle Buck

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I don’t think the numbers are out there, but I’d be surprised if that many change at Stratford rather than Liverpool St on the way in. Mostly because there is only half the service on the EL at Stratford than at Liv St, and the inbound trains are at their fullest departing Stratford (routinely leaving people behind in the morning peak) whereas lots alight at Liv St leaving room for boarders.

The situation at OOC is different in that about half the trains will be empty from there on their way in.
Yes that is true thank you.
 

cle

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Well it will happen, it has to operationally - and MPs don’t really determine rail stopping patterns! Easy promise to make years out.

And it should do. There are tons of journeys which will be quicker and easier.
 

Dr Day

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It won’t be 15 years after HS2 opens that OOC has trains to Manchester and other WCML destinations. Why do you think that? It will be 1 or 2 years max.
This is a key point that many are forgetting. HS2 is just a piece of infrastructure like HS1 was. Services will run over it and then run on existing infrastructure. So people going from say Swindon to Swinton (Manchester) may well find it easier and quicker to change at OOC than via other routes.
 

YorkRailFan

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I know. The point I was answering was whether or not HeX would stop at OOC, not whether or not HeX would continue as should have been clear from the quotes to which I was replying.
HeX and its infrastructure form part of Heathrow's Regulated Asset Base (as has been explained in other threads by, IIRC, Mr Clarence Yard) and so helps fix Heathrow's landing charges.

One of the few is Munich, which has two all stations S-Bahn routes to the Hauptbahnhof each taking about 45 minutes.


Better connectivity to where?

Stopping GW trains running on the Mains at OOC will give two, possibly three, connections only:
  • via HS2 to Birmingham (once HS2 opens) with a routing that is some 140 miles longer than the direct route from Bristol to Birmingham
  • a connection into and out of the Elizabeth line a few minutes earlier (or later) than if the connection were to be made at Paddington with no time savings as the running time between OOC and Paddington will be very similar whether on an Elizabeth line train or on a main line train, and
  • some 15 years later connections to Manchester and points north on HS2.
I fail to see how this very limited offer gives 'better connectivity'.
Depends if the Overground Station at OOC is built, that would offer connectivity that Paddington simply doesn't, whilst those wanting to change onto the Tube can simply continue to PAD on GWR.
 

Snow1964

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The HEX will still be here in 2028. Heathrow owns the tunnels and it makes them money.

Not to mention it would be an incredibly easy negative headline, and few other major international airports don’t have express services to the city they serve.
Although it is now making lot less money than decade ago. Back in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 etc HEX consistently had 500k-550k passengers per month (per ORR passenger usage figures). Now fallen to 300k-350k passengers per month.

So now about 11,000 passengers per day, or average of about 90 per train. And if current loss of passengers continues (around 8% per annum) then by 2028 will be down to about 65 passengers on average per train.

I am not convinced HEX would survive, with an Old Oak Common stop, especially if Old Oak Common-Paddington section sees even emptier trains as passengers have got off at OOC. It's not like they will get extra revenue from passengers making short journeys on this section. It's actually in airports interest to take passengers to Paddington and be able to charge more for longer journey, which suggests they don't want passengers paying less and only travelling to OOC from Heathrow.
 

JamesRowden

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Well it will happen, it has to operationally - and MPs don’t really determine rail stopping patterns! Easy promise to make years out.

And it should do. There are tons of journeys which will be quicker and easier.
Allow passengers to use HS2 as a metro service from Old Oak Common to Euston, and you help people traveling from the South West of England to North London by also stopping the GWML service at Old Oak Common. It may add 1-2 mintues to HS2 journeys by having more people interchanging with HS2. But according to your theory, the more connectivity the better. :D
 

cle

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Javelin isn't even included for Oyster/contactless travelcards at the regular rate. I can't see this happening.

Maybe there could be a shuttle of sorts (using any old EMUs and a dedicated platform, 4-5tph) - if HS2 doesn't reach capacity. But not sure if even worth it.
 

JamesRowden

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Javelin isn't even included for Oyster/contactless travelcards at the regular rate. I can't see this happening.

Maybe there could be a shuttle of sorts (using any old EMUs and a dedicated platform, 4-5tph) - if HS2 doesn't reach capacity. But not sure if even worth it.
HS1 domestic is low frequency and Stratford International isn't well connected. These arguments seem to contradict your view for the need for a high frequency fast service between Reading and Old Oak Common when people could otherwise just double back at Paddington. :D

When something can be done to help the minority at the cost of the mojority, ones view seems to be very much affected if one would be in the mojority losing or the minority gaining doesn't it? :D
 

HSTEd

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Javelin isn't even included for Oyster/contactless travelcards at the regular rate. I can't see this happening.

Maybe there could be a shuttle of sorts (using any old EMUs and a dedicated platform, 4-5tph) - if HS2 doesn't reach capacity. But not sure if even worth it.
HS1 Domestic is a rather different proposition to the rump of HS2. HS1 Domestic is a comparatively low intensity, heavily loaded, service. HS2 will not be, it will have vast surplus capacity.

Given where we are, I don't think we can decide to not use a very high capacity link that will pretty much always be underloaded for the forseable future.

It could remove substantial amounts of Paddington-Euston/KGX traffic from the underground at functionally negligible cost.
 

coppercapped

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It won’t be 15 years after HS2 opens that OOC has trains to Manchester and other WCML destinations. Why do you think that? It will be 1 or 2 years max.
I wasn’t as clear as I could have been! My point was in reference to the HS2 documents which I referred to in my post #102 which tried to talk up the importance of enabling people from GW land changing to HS2. Thus I was referring to the completed HS2 routes to Manchester and Leeds rather than trains running on existing routes once they reach the end of HS2.
That the journey time from OOC to Manchester and other points north will be longer without HS2 is indisputable so the attraction of travelling to OOC on the GW and changing will be less as the time saving will be less and an additional change is required.
Well it will happen, it has to operationally - and MPs don’t really determine rail stopping patterns! Easy promise to make years out.

And it should do. There are tons of journeys which will be quicker and easier.

This is a key point that many are forgetting. HS2 is just a piece of infrastructure like HS1 was. Services will run over it and then run on existing infrastructure. So people going from say Swindon to Swinton (Manchester) may well find it easier and quicker to change at OOC than via other routes.
I dispute the size of the potential market as suggested by some of the posters here. In my post # #102 I used the data available in the ORR’s Origin and Destination Matrix to quantity some of the flows. The daily flows between stations on the GW main line and Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool are seen in the table below. Note that if the daily flows are less than 10 no figures are shown, but to avoid any suggestions that I am biasing the numbers I have assumed a flow of 5 per day.

ReadingDidcotSwindonChippenhamBath SpaBristol TMBristol PWay
Manchester Picc85555198923
Liverpool LS165555165
Leeds555553710

So, rather than Swindon to Swinton being significant I would suggest that there might be, at best, a couple per year as the daily flow to Manchester Piccadilly is less than 10.

Even if the full HS2 service to Manchester, Leeds and other places trebled the flows off the GW via OOC, the numbers would still be trivial. Most of the improvements or connectivity benefits suggested here by stopping GW main line trains at OOC are imaginary and bear no resemblance to real life.
 

fishwomp

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Allow passengers to use HS2 as a metro service from Old Oak Common to Euston, and you help people traveling from the South West of England to North London by also stopping the GWML service at Old Oak Common. It may add 1-2 mintues to HS2 journeys by having more people interchanging with HS2. But according to your theory, the more connectivity the better. :D
:) - compared to Swindon to Swinton - I think the flow from Swindon to Paris would be non-zero. This may be the quickest way to St Pancras for HS1 from Swindon, or at least come close.. There may be a lot of empty seats between OOC and Euston given the Crossrail connection.
 

The Ham

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Whichever side you feel is better, there's a chance that when the trains start running that there'll be objections as to why it should be the other.

That is true if the services don't call and new services start (the longer this goes on for the more likely that there would be more services - for example in time the Southern Approach to Heathrow could run paired up with HEx creating a selection of others connections).

Likewise it's true if services do call and people observe very few people changing trains.

The difficulty is knowing which is going to create the biggest complaint or likely create the biggest (positive) difference in passenger numbers.

Of course, there's one thing which hasn't been discussed, how good will the level boarding be for GWR services at Old Oak Common compared to at Paddington?

Assuming that as it's a new build station and therefore it'll be better than Paddington, you could find that there could be a decent level of people willing to change at Old Oak Common over at Paddington. Likewise you could find that there's a fair amount of negative press about the fact that people who need level access have been blocked from using the facilities they need is the long distance trains don't stop there.
 

JamesRowden

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:) - compared to Swindon to Swinton - I think the flow from Swindon to Paris would be non-zero. This may be the quickest way to St Pancras for HS1 from Swindon, or at least come close.. There may be a lot of empty seats between OOC and Euston given the Crossrail connection.
I think you are misunderstanding. I am suggesting people could change from the GWML at Old Oak Common to use the spare seats on the HS2 services to/from Euston. Euston has the Northern line branches and the Victoria line (from which one can go to Finsbury Park to change to the Picadily Line, Great Northern metro and Thameslink services) so could be a useful link between the GWML and North London.
 

cle

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HS1 domestic is low frequency and Stratford International isn't well connected. These arguments seem to contradict your view for the need for a high frequency fast service between Reading and Old Oak Common when people could otherwise just double back at Paddington. :D

When something can be done to help the minority at the cost of the mojority, ones view seems to be very much affected if one would be in the mojority losing or the minority gaining doesn't it? :D
I don't get the connection. I was speaking about a OOC-Euston shuttle, if there was excess capacity. There isn't the ability to double-back from Euston, nothing else shadows HS2 from OOC-Euston (like Crossrail/GWML fasts) - so i think it's moot. If talking about St Pancras - Stratford, yes it's only 4tph off peak (7tph peak) but still a very nippy journey. Intl is badly connected, admittedly.

But Reading-OOC is like Birmingham-OOC, which I agree should be high frequency. Reading-New St is slow and infrequent.
 

JamesRowden

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I don't get the connection. I was speaking about a OOC-Euston shuttle, if there was excess capacity. There isn't the ability to double-back from Euston, nothing else shadows HS2 from OOC-Euston (like Crossrail/GWML fasts) - so i think it's moot. If talking about St Pancras - Stratford, yes it's only 4tph off peak (7tph peak) but still a very nippy journey. Intl is badly connected, admittedly.

But Reading-OOC is like Birmingham-OOC, which I agree should be high frequency. Reading-New St is slow and infrequent.
Running shuttles on HS2 would eat capacity and offer a less frequent service than letting everyone use any train, like stopping some but not all GWML services would.
 

fishwomp

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I think you are misunderstanding. I am suggesting people could change from the GWML at Old Oak Common to use the spare seats on the HS2 services to/from Euston. Euston has the Northern line branches and the Victoria line (from which one can go to Finsbury Park to change to the Picadily Line, Great Northern metro and Thameslink services) so could be a useful link between the GWML and North London.
No, I think I'm not - not only does OOC-EUS add the tube and Euston suburban for those (eg) ex-Swindon passengers.., it also possibly is faster for KGX/STP and so HS1 to Paris. Another connection..
 

HSTEd

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Running shuttles on HS2 would eat capacity and offer a less frequent service than letting everyone use any train, like stopping some but not all GWML services would.
Unlike the situation on the GWML fast lines, there is functionally no capacity limitation between Euston and OOC, given that the bulk of the HS2 scheme has been axed.

I assume the idea would be passengers can board any HS2 train, but that extras would be run just to OOC to use up the space in the timetable.

Although it might be better to just run more trains to Curzon Street, stopping at OOC and Birmingham Interchange.
 

sh24

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Not sure that looking at historic usage data in isolation helps justify the decision. There are a bunch of changes to come

1 - Old Oak will become a smaller Stratford, a regional centre for W London. That will itself generate significant traffic
2 - the likely Overground station for the WLL and Orbital will further underpin that hub offering a huge amount more connectivity to W, SW and NW London
3 - HS2 will stimulate demand

Then there is the improved interchange to Elizabeth line too.
 

cle

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Running shuttles on HS2 would eat capacity and offer a less frequent service than letting everyone use any train, like stopping some but not all GWML services would.
Nobody talked about Paddington-OOC shuttles on spare capacity. You're conflating two different things.

I was very careful to caveat that this would only be a thing if HS2 was severely underused. And something like a 6tph shuttle between Euston and OOC could be easily timetabled and platformed.

The equivalent would be Stratford Intl and St Pancras as a shuttle. If it was a singular Stratford complex, that might well be an interesting thing. Platforms at St P are harder, as is the track layout at Stratford. But Intl is still a bit of a backwater.

Whereas OOC will be very well connected and a Euston fast link might be very useful for many employers, hospitals and universities - and a ton of new transport options E/W. Many of which would likely relieve TCR/Crossrail - for example journeys from Northern line stations to the GWML (especially with no Euston Square link coming soon!) - or the fact that the Victoria line misses Crossrail entirely.

Or heading up to Camden, Hampstead, not to mention Arsenal and Spurs, from the west side of London (and west of it!)
 

Tester

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There are loads of airports with poor suburban metro type links, or no link..!

Tokyo's Narita and Haneda; JFK New York; San Francisco; O'Hare Chicago; Dulles Washington; Dublin; Rome (FCO); etc. it's probably shorter to list the good ones..

Back on topic, I hadn't considered that HEX wouldn't stop at OOC.. but oops, yeah, it'll surely be eating fast line capacity, or sitting behind Elizabeth line stoppers if it does.
Bit in bold.....

I think the good burghers of Tokyo would be somewhat surprised to hear that they have 'poor suburban metro type links, or no link..!' :D
 

Topological

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Not sure that looking at historic usage data in isolation helps justify the decision. There are a bunch of changes to come

1 - Old Oak will become a smaller Stratford, a regional centre for W London. That will itself generate significant traffic
2 - the likely Overground station for the WLL and Orbital will further underpin that hub offering a huge amount more connectivity to W, SW and NW London
3 - HS2 will stimulate demand

Then there is the improved interchange to Elizabeth line too.
Yes.

The effort being put into arguing that the GWR longer distance trains should not stop would be much better spent lobbying for smaller interventions away from London that can speed up journey times over currently slow sections. You can easily find a few minutes savings elsewhere to make up for the OOC stop and more.

OOC stops have clear benefits and are being planned. How many people realise those benefits is unknown because the benefits are not real yet. However, there are plenty of examples given in this thread that are tangible for a percentage (whatever that percentage is).

The only reason not to stop put forward is the time penalty and skipping OOC is not the only answer to speeding up services.
 

JamesRowden

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Nobody talked about Paddington-OOC shuttles on spare capacity. You're conflating two different things.

I was very careful to caveat that this would only be a thing if HS2 was severely underused. And something like a 6tph shuttle between Euston and OOC could be easily timetabled and platformed.

The equivalent would be Stratford Intl and St Pancras as a shuttle. If it was a singular Stratford complex, that might well be an interesting thing. Platforms at St P are harder, as is the track layout at Stratford. But Intl is still a bit of a backwater.

Whereas OOC will be very well connected and a Euston fast link might be very useful for many employers, hospitals and universities - and a ton of new transport options E/W. Many of which would likely relieve TCR/Crossrail - for example journeys from Northern line stations to the GWML (especially with no Euston Square link coming soon!) - or the fact that the Victoria line misses Crossrail entirely.

Or heading up to Camden, Hampstead, not to mention Arsenal and Spurs, from the west side of London (and west of it!)
You have just made the case for my suggestion for allowing GWML passengers to use standard HS2 services to get to Euston (if fast GWML stop at Old Oak Common).

And you have also stated what I was trying to explain earlier, that HS1 at Stratford International is not comparable to HS2 at Old Oak Common.
 

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