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Some Wirral Line timings being altered due to recent problems

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trainophile

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https://www.merseyrail.org/news/wirral-line-improvement.aspx

To improve train performance on the Wirral line, Merseyrail will be implementing some amendments to the timetable.

Overview
  • Trains from Chester will depart earlier than currently timetabled and arrive in Liverpool later than timetabled
  • Trains from Liverpool will depart at the same time as is currently timetabled, but arrive in Chester later then timetabled.
These timetable alterations will take effect from Monday 16 October, and full information will be available on the Merseyrail website from Friday 13 October.

Modifications are in response to a series of problems we have experienced over the last few weeks, resulting from slippery rails, caused by leaf-fall; busier trains as a consequence of to the Lime Street upgrade work; as well as infrastructure failures...
Not sure if this is a permanent change, but it will be interesting to see whether it improves things.
 
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Quakkerillo

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Will that mean they'll use an extra train, and give staff a bit of a break in Chester? Because they currently have about a 4 minute turnaround, and with later arrival / earlier departure...
 

D1009

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I can't see how the Chester trains can arrive in Lime Street later without affecting the other lines.
 

185143

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Great-less semi fasts (BOO!) and a load more times/connections to memorise...
 

Kite159

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Makes sense having a longer turnaround at Chester, even if it involves an additional unit. Builds in better reliability so they don't have to run services semi-fast
 

Loop & Link

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I can't see how the Chester trains can arrive in Lime Street later without affecting the other lines.

They won’t. They’ll depart 5 mins earlier from Chester -Birkenhead Cen the normal times round the Loop. Then normal times Liverpool-Bache and sitting outside Chester arriving 5 mins later
 

Foxcover

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It’s a clever change - hope it works. I wonder if the extra unit needed is coming off a six-car?
 

D1009

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They won’t. They’ll depart 5 mins earlier from Chester -Birkenhead Cen the normal times round the Loop. Then normal times Liverpool-Bache and sitting outside Chester arriving 5 mins later
Thanks for that, I was going on the quoted press release which states that trains would arrive in Liverpool later.
 

Y Ddraig Coch

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Thanks for that, I was going on the quoted press release which states that trains would arrive in Liverpool later.


They will take 5 minutes longer. Chester - Central is currently a 45 minute journey from Monday it will be 50 minutes.

Nobody seems to have told National Rail Enquiries yet either. Still quoting the old departure times. People will be missing trains.

Pretty outrageous for a 20 odd mile journey I can do Llandudno Junction to Chester 43 miles in about the same

New timetable link below


https://www.merseyrail.org/seasonal/timetable-changes-on-the-chester-line.aspx

Chester to Liverpool
capture1.jpg


capture-2.jpg


Liverpool to Chester
capture3.jpg
 

Bletchleyite

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To be fair the semifasts weren't proper semifasts, they just dropped Capenhurst to save a minute, didn't they?

Merseyrail is a metro system of sorts and is not about fast journeys. The Halton Curve will hopefully provide a proper Liverpool to Chester fast service.
 

Kite159

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Seems Capenhurst is getting 4 trains an hour heading into Liverpool (with the usual 2 trains an hour on route to Chester).
 

Foxcover

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To be fair the semifasts weren't proper semifasts, they just dropped Capenhurst to save a minute, didn't they?

Merseyrail is a metro system of sorts and is not about fast journeys. The Halton Curve will hopefully provide a proper Liverpool to Chester fast service.

I know what you mean - but the semi-fasts in this case are the late ones that run fast at short notice from (usually) Birkenhead Central to Hooton, then stations to Chester, to be able to start back from Chester on time. There had been up to a dozen of those a day since Lime St closed - all on the Chester line, and sometimes late at night or first thing too. (Some of the - usually - good natured replies to the semi fast advice tweets in the Merseyrail Twitter feed will raise a smile if you’ve not seen them before - one chap was keeping a running total of the disruptions each day with increasingly surreal gifs as the count rose!)
 

Welshman

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There will have to be a changing of platforms at Chester for the Llandudno-Manchester Airport trains, as they normally use platform 7A from x49-x52, to avoid conflict at Chester East with the incoming service from Manchester Airport. But if a Merseyrail electric is going to be parked in 7B from x45-x55 than that neat arrangement is clearly not possible.
So will there be conflict again at Chester East with the Llandudno-Manchesters using platform 4 instead?
 

Foxcover

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To be fair the semifasts weren't proper semifasts, they just dropped Capenhurst to save a minute, didn't they?

Merseyrail is a metro system of sorts and is not about fast journeys. The Halton Curve will hopefully provide a proper Liverpool to Chester fast service.

Not sure re the Halton Curve ... the proposal seems to indicate 47 minutes for a stopping service via the Curve and 43 mins for a fast ...
 

jamesst

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Seems Capenhurst is getting 4 trains an hour heading into Liverpool (with the usual 2 trains an hour on route to Chester).

That'll be a mistake, Capenhurst will remain with 2 trains an hour in either direction.
Interesting the current temporary timetable (for the Lime Street work) shows all services from Chester stopping at Capenhurst when they don't..
 

Foxcover

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That'll be a mistake, Capenhurst will remain with 2 trains an hour in either direction.
Interesting the current temporary timetable (for the Lime Street work) shows all services from Chester stopping at Capenhurst when they don't..

Yes, the Trainline now has the new timings loaded and it’s just the xx10 and xx40 ex Chester stopping at Capenhurst. They’re going to have to make sure they announce that onboard next week! Given the timetable change announcement also wrongly states that trains will get to Liverpool later than the original timetable (‘Loop’ times are unchanged and the additional time is all at the Chester end), it really could do with correcting.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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It’s a clever change - hope it works. I wonder if the extra unit needed is coming off a six-car?
I don't think there are any 6-car on the Wirral at the moment, they've all gone to strengthen the Southport-Parkway service.
Actually the new timetable is much like the one which applied during the Loop upgrade earlier this year, with an extra set and longer turnrounds at Chester.
Maybe they are using the spare with parks up at Birkenhead Central off-peak.
 

Statto

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Hopefully the new timetable will improve reliability a bit, the current timetable, trains have a 4 minute turn around time at Chester, so any minor delay has a knock on affect to the next journey, i was at james Street yesterday & there was a Chester train running 3 minutes late, which would have a knock on affect on the next service that train was on from Chester
 

frodshamfella

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I may have missed some posting somewhere, but I was at Spital Station on Saturday just gone, I want to go to Ellesmere Port, then connect there for the 16.04 to Frodsham. I noticed there were no direct trains, had to change at Hooton, why is this ? I didn't make the connection anyway, as the next train to Hooton was cancelled.
 

Kite159

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I may have missed some posting somewhere, but I was at Spital Station on Saturday just gone, I want to go to Ellesmere Port, then connect there for the 16.04 to Frodsham. I noticed there were no direct trains, had to change at Hooton, why is this ? I didn't make the connection anyway, as the next train to Hooton was cancelled.
The Ellesmere services are currently running as a shuttle to free up units to allow South Parkway - Southport services to run as double units
 

Bevan Price

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They won’t. They’ll depart 5 mins earlier from Chester -Birkenhead Cen the normal times round the Loop. Then normal times Liverpool-Bache and sitting outside Chester arriving 5 mins later
Did Chester - Liverpool today (24 Oct.) for the first time since the timetable changes. We sat for over 2 minutes at both Rock Ferry & Birkenhead Central, so I hope the changes are only temporary for the leaf-fall season.
 

185143

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Did Chester - Liverpool today (24 Oct.) for the first time since the timetable changes. We sat for over 2 minutes at both Rock Ferry & Birkenhead Central, so I hope the changes are only temporary for the leaf-fall season.
It feels so much slower doesn't it!

I've been told by several different guards that it's for 9 weeks-so it looks like they're trialling it for the rest of the year.

The diagrams have changed-you still stop at Capenhurst once on the round trip from Chester-Chester, but it used to be the case that once you arrive in Chester, the return service you form immediately stopped at Capenhurst if you skipped it on the way to Chester. So if one makes a return trip to Chester now from Liverpool and immediately returns to Liverpool on the same unit, you'll either stop at Capenhurst twice or not at all.

It's only a matter of time until the inevitable happens... there's already been cases where the guards diagram shows a call, and the drivers diagram doesn't!
 

Foxcover

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The Chester services are changing again tomorrow - main change is to include Capenhurst as a stop on all services, ie every 15 minutes as with other stations. I guess the extended turnaround means that saving the extra minute by running through Capenhurst isn’t needed at the moment; it will also make it forgotten stops there less likely, per the post above! I wonder if it’s an indication that the more resilient timetable may be here to stay?
 
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