SWR December 2022 Timetable Consultation

[Flange Squeal]

South Western Railway (SWR) have published a December 2022 timetable consultation document on their website.

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www.southwesternrailway.com

In partnership with Network Rail and the Department for Transport, we have launched a stakeholder consultation on proposals for our December 2022 timetable. This is a strategic review of future service levels across our network.

We are acutely aware that in the past we have responded to ever growing customer demand by increasing the number of trains on the SWR network, often at the expense of the performance and reliability of our services. But, as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, we have a unique opportunity to build back a better railway for the future.

Since March 2020, we have been supported by the Government to run a reduced service that has kept key workers moving. This period has shown that our performance improves significantly when we are able to run fewer trains while still meeting customer demand for our services.

Even though passengers are now returning to the railways, all the forecasts suggest they will not return to pre-Covid levels for the foreseeable future. The December 2022 timetable is our opportunity to plan for a long-term timetable that will retain the reliability improvements we’ve made, meet the forecast demand and provide value for the taxpayer while balancing other local and national priorities.

We are considering a specification for services rather than specific trains or a timetable. It is for that reason that we are consulting with a defined set of organisations, which have a strategic or representative role rather than the wider community. This includes all MPs and district and county councillors across our network, as well as passenger groups amongst others.

You can find out more about our plans by reviewing our consultation document (PDF, 2MB), which sets out the context to our approach, details of the proposed specification of services, and more information about the consultation. If you have any questions, you can email us at [email protected].

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I’ve just read it and I can see all negative changes and barely any improvements.

To summarise for you all:

- London to Dorking goes permanently hourly from half-hourly apart from peaks

- So does London to Guildford via Epsom

- 4tph to Reading permanently axed, it will be 2tph all day but will call additionally at Vauxhall all day

- Peak services to Shepperton via Twickenham permanently axed

- Waterloo to Bristol permanently axed

- Waterloo to Exeter (**20) will now be first stop Basingstoke for most of the day, and will call additionally at Overton, Whitchurch and Grateley

- Waterloo to Yeovil Pen Mill (**50) - currently alternate hours via Gillingham or via Frome - will be truncated to terminate at Salisbury all day. 3tpd will shuttle between Salisbury and Yeovil via Frome. This service will now be first stop Basingstoke for most of the day.

- Waterloo to Haslemere stopper permanently axed. This stopper is currently extended to Portsmouth in peaks meaning peak services to Portsmouth go from 4tph to 3tph

- Waterloo to Portsmouth via Guildford - hourly semi fast service calls additionally at Milford and Witley - the half-hourly fast service stays the same except one an hour will now call also at Farncombe

- Waterloo to Portsmouth via Basingstoke will call additionally at Shawford giving it 2tph

- Waterloo to Poole stopper axed and replaced by a stopper to Southampton Central, which unlike the Poole stopper will call at Micheldever (giving it 2tph), Swaythling and St Denys (giving them direct services to London). From Southampton a stopping shuttle to Bournemouth will run. In peaks this shuttle will be a portion detached from the Weymouth train.

- Waterloo to Weymouth stays 2tph, but now instead of terminating at Bournemouth, once an hour the rear 5 coaches will continue to Branksome, Parkstone and Poole to compensate for the loss of services to Branksome and Parkstone due to the cancellation of the Poole stopper. (The front 5 to Weymouth will be first stop Poole)


That’s about it really. I’m not thrilled personally.

 

[ivorytoast28]

Disappointing that they are keeping the only 3tph poorly spaced Guildford - London fasts. If GWR implement their 3tph (which admittedly seems unlikely now), Guildford will have just as many trains to Reading/Redhill as non-overtaken trains to london
Seems they're slowly shifting the responsibility of Leatherhead/Epsom mostly over to southern, which could cause issues if southern also start picking services to remove on that rational
Full removal of the Bristol service makes sense.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

Waterloo to Exeter (**20) will now be first stop Basingstoke for most of the day, and will call additionally at Overton, Whitchurch and Grateley

You’ve got that the wrong way round - it says for Exeter: Calling at: Clapham Junction, Woking, Basingstoke, Andover, Salisbury, all to Honiton, Cranbrook, Pinhoe, and Exeter Central.

Alternate services call at Feniton and Whimple.

Peak services do not call at Clapham Junction and Woking, but do call at Overton, Whitchurch, and Grateley.

Peak services to Shepperton via Twickenham permanently axed

it says this will remain if you look at page 25.

 

[abn444]

Having had a quick look through it doesn't look a whole lot different from the 2019 timetable, except for some peak trains, cutting the Bristol trains and (perhaps unsurprisingly) not running the Weymouth via Salisbury specials, oh and cutting back the Dorking/Guildford via Epsom trains. Kind of a mix of now and the 2019 timetable.
For all the speculation on the 701 thread it seems very much like they still plan to introduce them with multiple references to "Arterio" (class 701) trains

 

[pompeyfan]

The removal of the half hourly 1Txx service may upset people, but I see there will be additional 2Txx Winchester - Portsmouth shuttles.

slightly surprised there’s no additional services along the Netley line. The further dumbing down of the Portsmouth fast services is also disappointing.

 

[[.n]]

I’ve just read it and I can see all negative changes and barely any improvements.

- Waterloo to Weymouth stays 2tph, but now instead of terminating at Bournemouth, once an hour the rear 5 coaches will continue to Branksome, Parkstone and Poole to compensate for the loss of services to Branksome and Parkstone due to the cancellation of the Poole stopper. (The front 5 to Weymouth will be first stop Poole)

Thanks I'll go and read it properly - but that seems like to me at least we get our "normal" service back (in between Weymouth/Bournemouth)

 

[PTR 444]

Interesting to hear that the rear 5 coaches of the xx05 Waterloo - Weymouth are being split at Bournemouth into a Poole stopping portion. While it keeps the fast Pokesdown - Hamworthy running on the front portion, I can foresee capacity issues as New Milton and Christchurch cannot take full 10-car trains, therefore passengers from those stations headed for Branksome and Parkstone are limited to 2-3 cars of the train.

If we use the existing timings, the xx05 ex Waterloo arrives in Bournemouth at xx00 (1hr 55m later) before departing at xx04. This means presumably the proposed Poole portion would depart at xx07, calling Branksome at xx12, Parkstone at xx15 and Poole at xx19. This should give it a roughly 22-38 minute interval from the xx35 service to Weymouth.

 

[Flange Squeal]

I’ve just read it and I can see all negative changes and barely any improvements.

To summarise for you all:

One improvement appears to be the restoration of more Hounslow services off-peak. Currently “rounders” have been cut back to only run during the peaks, leaving the Hounslow loop with just 2tph (Weybridge bays) - down from 4tph (2x Weybridges & 2x Rounders) pre-COVID.

Looks like the proposal to restore 4tph via Hounslow off-peak comes in the form of introducing 2tph running Waterloo - Hounslow - Twickenham, calling at all stations except Queenstown Road. In peaks they would continue to run as full ‘Rounders’ beyond Twickenham, to Waterloo via Richmond.

 

[swt_passenger]

So when all this is done, will they have too much rolling stock? I suppose it’s really a question for a different part of the forum, but I wonder if the next announcement will cancel the 458‘s conversion for the Portsmouth fasts…

I’ve also posted this in the 458/5 thread here:

SWR Class 458 to be retained

Are the 458's having some sort of renaissance on the Reading line? I've only just started travelling back on this line again but each 458 I've been on has been clean and I've seen no examples of fogged up or "swimming pool" windows. We were waiting for more glass to be available, we had a...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[PTR 444]

I’ve just read it and I can see all negative changes and barely any improvements.

Another improvement - Micheldever and Shawford go from 1tph to 2tph, but whether the higher frequency is actually needed is another matter.

 

[pompeyfan]

Another improvement - Micheldever and Shawford go from 1tph to 2tph, but whether the higher frequency is actually needed is another matter.

Only during the AM and PM peaks which is the same as pre covid.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

Only during the AM and PM peaks which is the same as pre covid.

Indeed in many cases it’s not that different to now, a bit of a mix of some pre-Covid and some of today’s timetable.

Does very much show there’s not going to be as many trains as before though and the cuts are there!

 

[Kite159]

Reading - Salisbury gets
"Three trains per day in the evening after the PM peak (Mon-Thu), in each direction,
replacing London Waterloo to Salisbury services." But calls only at Andover heading back to Salisbury. Are they planning to axe the Sunday services to Reading?

I assume the calls at Grateley, Whitchurch & Overton will be inserted into the XX;20 services which carry on beyond Salisbury?

Good that the Salisbury stopper now calls at Clapham Junction heading away from London during offpeak hours.

Shame the Bristol portion is getting dropped, as the 159s are far nicer to travel on than the 3+2 seated 166s.

 

[miklcct]

Another improvement - Micheldever and Shawford go from 1tph to 2tph, but whether the higher frequency is actually needed is another matter.

It will definitely an improvement for me. The frequency at Branksome, Parkstone and Hamworthy will be increased from 1tph to 2tph, and between Bournemouth and Poole, 2tph to 3tph. This is what all I need for travel within Bournemouth and Poole.

 

[bb21]

Shame the Bristol portion is getting dropped, as the 159s are far nicer to travel on than the 3+2 seated 166s.

All comes down to cost I suspect, and I would expect more of such "top-up" services from other than the established operator on a route to be dropped across the country, unless they provide useful diversionary routes in times of disruption.

 

[30907]

It will definitely an improvement for me. The frequency at Branksome, Parkstone and Hamworthy will be increased from 1tph to 2tph.

Which is back to where it was pre Covid (but better spaced at B and P).

 

[Goldfish62]

- 4tph to Reading permanently axed, it will be 2tph all day but will call additionally at Vauxhall all day

Reading will be 3tph during the peaks. Yes, it is a disappointment that the the 4tph service will not be returning, but hardly a surprise. I wouldn't have been surprised if none of the peak extras had made a return. My one hope is that the 3tph is evened out and not run (as per the AM peak pre-Covid) with trains on each others tails then a long gap.

I currently travel 1-2 days per week in the peaks into Waterloo and the loadings even with the current stripped back timetable loadings are shockingly low.

 

[bb21]

Reading will be 3tph during the peaks. Yes, it is a disappointment that the the 4tph service will not be returning, but hardly a surprise. I wouldn't have been surprised if none of the peak extras had made a return. My one hope is that the 3tph is evened out and not run (as per the AM peak pre-Covid) with trains on each others tails then a long gap.

I currently travel 1-2 days per week in the peaks into Waterloo and the loadings even with the current stripped back timetable loadings are shockingly low.

Loading on some peak services can be quite high, but nothing unmanageable with a couple of extras to Windsor or even Strawberry Hill/Hounslow. Beyond Staines it will likely take a significant length of time for demand to return to near pre-Covid levels.

 

[TXMISTA]

Very disappointed to see the scrapping of Bristol services. I am a regular user of the through service to London and have seen some very generous loadings in the past few weeks on these services

 

[Goldfish62]

Reading will be 3tph during the peaks. Yes, it is a disappointment that the the 4tph service will not be returning, but hardly a surprise. I wouldn't have been surprised if none of the peak extras had made a return. My one hope is that the 3tph is evened out and not run (as per the AM peak pre-Covid) with trains on each others tails then a long gap.

Actually, having re-read the consultation it looks like it's just one additional train in the busiest hour, so effectively a return to pre-2004 on the Reading line.

There is also one additional peak Ascot - Reading service and surprisingly (or perhaps not given the vociferous Camberley line users) all three through trains to/from Waterloo on the Camberley line are being retained. It therefore looks like this overall will give a peak frequency of 4tph between Waterloo and Ascot, compared to 6tph in 2019.

All this just as the resignalling west of Ascot featuring splitting of the long block sections is being commissioned.

 

[Meerkat]

That seems to say that Worplesdon loses all peak trains?!

 

[higthomas]

TBH it seems massivly premature to be consulting on long term changes to the timetables at the moment when we have no idea about long term travel trends post covid. Sure, consult on what the timetable should look like over the next couple of years but making massive long term cuts (especially those to off-peak services, which most forecasts I've read predict will come back just as strongly) based on utter guesswork is crazy. But we all know it's a treasury consultation so unsurprising

The December 2022 timetable is our opportunity to plan for a long-term timetable that will retain the reliability improvements we’ve made, meet the forecast demand and provide value for the taxpayer while balancing other local and national priorities.

Edit: Oh, and I suspect this is a preview of the future for the railways. Seems like (Great) British Railways is returning just in time for some more managed decline.

 

[Bob M]

Interesting to hear that the rear 5 coaches of the xx05 Waterloo - Weymouth are being split at Bournemouth into a Poole stopping portion. While it keeps the fast Pokesdown - Hamworthy running on the front portion, I can foresee capacity issues as New Milton and Christchurch cannot take full 10-car trains, therefore passengers from those stations headed for Branksome and Parkstone are limited to 2-3 cars of the train.

Actually New Milton can accommodate 5 cars (of a 444) and Christchurch 7, so they limited to zero or 2 cars!

 

[HamworthyGoods]

Actually New Milton can accommodate 5 cars (of a 444) and Christchurch 7, so they limited to zero or 2 cars!

Just get on at New Milton and walk a coach back!

 

[PTR 444]

Just get on at New Milton and walk a coach back!

Hopefully this will be advertised at the station

 

[HamworthyGoods]

Hopefully this will be advertised at the station

Yes the announcements on the station are quite clever these days. It’s no different if you want to go from Weymouth to New Milton etc you have to move forward to alight.

 

[Western Sunset]

And the class 442s will be unscrapped.

Only joking, only joking...

 

[Goldfish62]

TBH it seems massivly premature to be consulting on long term changes to the timetables at the moment when we have no idea about long term travel trends post covid. Sure, consult on what the timetable should look like over the next couple of years but making massive long term cuts (especially those to off-peak services, which most forecasts I've read predict will come back just as strongly) based on utter guesswork is crazy. But we all know it's a treasury consultation so unsurprising

Edit: Oh, and I suspect this is a preview of the future for the railways. Seems like (Great) British Railways is returning just in time for some more managed decline.

Agreed, but we all knew this was going to happen, didn't we?

Looking at it another way, I think everyone is surprised at just how much the Treasury has supported the railways over the past year, especially from the base assumption that they just wanted the whole network closed down in the first lockdown. They now want their pound of flesh asap.

Regarding leisure, which the consultation actually estimates will be greater than pre-Covid, Sunday services do not form part of this consultation, but I would certainly hope that they will be something along the lines of the Saturday service to reflect increased leisure travel.

 

[bb21]

There is also one additional peak Ascot - Reading service and surprisingly (or perhaps not given the vociferous Camberley line users) all three through trains to/from Waterloo on the Camberley line are being retained. It therefore looks like this overall will give a peak frequency of 4tph between Waterloo and Ascot, compared to 6tph in 2019.

The Camberley through trains have been useful at moving certain stock between Wimbledon and Farnham.

TBH it seems massivly premature to be consulting on long term changes to the timetables at the moment when we have no idea about long term travel trends post covid. Sure, consult on what the timetable should look like over the next couple of years but making massive long term cuts (especially those to off-peak services, which most forecasts I've read predict will come back just as strongly) based on utter guesswork is crazy. But we all know it's a treasury consultation so unsurprising

Edit: Oh, and I suspect this is a preview of the future for the railways. Seems like (Great) British Railways is returning just in time for some more managed decline.

For Winter 2022 this is about time to start the consultation process. Note this isn't a consultation on the exact timetable so lots of additional work still to be done once this bit is finished.

As for longer term aspirations, unfortunately passenger numbers are likely to stay subdued for a long while yet, which is a generally accepted conclusion so at least for the next few years you are looking at suppressed demand compared to pre-covid levels. If signs of recovery are there no doubt further work will be done to enhance service levels.

But yes unfortunately the Treasury will also have £ signs in their eyes too.