Which rail body sets times / routes?
Nov 4, 2008, 1:42 am
#16
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Nov 4, 2008, 1:56 am
#17
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We have a great system over here. It's called timetable integration; which means when the hourly train arrives at the end of the line town near me, the hourly bus to towns further down the coast left five minutes ago. 
Nov 4, 2008, 2:17 am
#18
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It's not just VWC who are going to be suffering from this - East Midlands Trains have a new December timetable and National Express East Coast have applied for a huge timetable change too.
In the case of EMT, Luton and Bedford will lose several trains, including all beyond Derby. The stations between Bedford and Leicester will see their service halved (although Kettering will be back up, Southbound at least, once the Corby service is reinstated).
The result? Anybody travelling from Bedford, Luton, St Albans, anywhere round there, will now have significantly increased journey times headed North. Not only that, but Bedford and Luton commuters will be cascaded on to the already overcrowded First Capital Connect trains, making it even harder to get on in St Albans and the like in the morning. The benefit? A few minutes' less journey time to Sheffield (and it really is a few).
As for the ECML, it gets worse...
NXEC want to withdraw loads of Peterborough stops, citing the reason that is 'only a town of 165k people'. This seemingly forgets that fact that people connect in Peterborough from, well, pretty much anywhere in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and the whole line into London (including Biggleswade). Ever been waiting in a howling gale on Peterborough platform 4 at 8am for a Glasgow train? Or even moreso, on a Saturday? Mobbed.
The plan is to introduce 'stopping' services to Lincoln and York (and possibly Harrogate/Bradford) that run two-hourly, providing an hourly service (on a small DMU) from Peterborough northbound, needing a change in York, Doncaster or Leeds. Again, the impact is that all the Peterborough commuters will be cascaded on to the already overcrowded First Capital Connect trains, making it impossible to get on from St Neots down the line.
The galling thing is that these proposed timetables don't even allow for the likes of the fast, intermediate 'Desiro' services that the WCML will get. In fact, Biggleswade (and many others) looks like having their (currently rather nice) trains reduced to ex-Silverlink knock-offs, with several diverted via the Hertford Loop (as a result of increased NXEC frequency), meaning increased journey times into London.
All for a few minutes less to Edinburgh.
Of course, with some decent signalling, track maintenance and rolling stock investment, this could be resolved, with the train running at their 140mph levels again. And with some reliability, they wouldn't need to pad the schedules so much.
But no, basically, unless you're travelling from a large city to London, forget it. It's as if they don't actually want you to travel by train.
</rant>
In the case of EMT, Luton and Bedford will lose several trains, including all beyond Derby. The stations between Bedford and Leicester will see their service halved (although Kettering will be back up, Southbound at least, once the Corby service is reinstated).
The result? Anybody travelling from Bedford, Luton, St Albans, anywhere round there, will now have significantly increased journey times headed North. Not only that, but Bedford and Luton commuters will be cascaded on to the already overcrowded First Capital Connect trains, making it even harder to get on in St Albans and the like in the morning. The benefit? A few minutes' less journey time to Sheffield (and it really is a few).
As for the ECML, it gets worse...
NXEC want to withdraw loads of Peterborough stops, citing the reason that is 'only a town of 165k people'. This seemingly forgets that fact that people connect in Peterborough from, well, pretty much anywhere in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and the whole line into London (including Biggleswade). Ever been waiting in a howling gale on Peterborough platform 4 at 8am for a Glasgow train? Or even moreso, on a Saturday? Mobbed.
The plan is to introduce 'stopping' services to Lincoln and York (and possibly Harrogate/Bradford) that run two-hourly, providing an hourly service (on a small DMU) from Peterborough northbound, needing a change in York, Doncaster or Leeds. Again, the impact is that all the Peterborough commuters will be cascaded on to the already overcrowded First Capital Connect trains, making it impossible to get on from St Neots down the line.
The galling thing is that these proposed timetables don't even allow for the likes of the fast, intermediate 'Desiro' services that the WCML will get. In fact, Biggleswade (and many others) looks like having their (currently rather nice) trains reduced to ex-Silverlink knock-offs, with several diverted via the Hertford Loop (as a result of increased NXEC frequency), meaning increased journey times into London.
All for a few minutes less to Edinburgh.
Of course, with some decent signalling, track maintenance and rolling stock investment, this could be resolved, with the train running at their 140mph levels again. And with some reliability, they wouldn't need to pad the schedules so much.
But no, basically, unless you're travelling from a large city to London, forget it. It's as if they don't actually want you to travel by train.
</rant>
Nov 4, 2008, 2:24 am
#19
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Blimey, and there was me moaning at a gap of an hour in peak period and a walk across Manchester.
Having read a few of the tales of timetabling woe, I think I'll just be greatful for a better morning service at least.
Having read a few of the tales of timetabling woe, I think I'll just be greatful for a better morning service at least.
Last edited by RAPC; Nov 4, 2008 at 4:22 am Reason: Spelling
Nov 4, 2008, 2:29 pm
#21
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The chuffernuts on the bmi board seem to have provided a lot of additional information on the implications of the forthcoming rail timetable change, so I'll move this thread over to the 'UK & Ireland' forum so it may be found more easily in the future.
Nov 4, 2008, 2:55 pm
#22
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It's not just VWC who are going to be suffering from this - East Midlands Trains have a new December timetable and National Express East Coast have applied for a huge timetable change too.
In the case of EMT, Luton and Bedford will lose several trains, including all beyond Derby. The stations between Bedford and Leicester will see their service halved (although Kettering will be back up, Southbound at least, once the Corby service is reinstated).
The result? Anybody travelling from Bedford, Luton, St Albans, anywhere round there, will now have significantly increased journey times headed North. Not only that, but Bedford and Luton commuters will be cascaded on to the already overcrowded First Capital Connect trains, making it even harder to get on in St Albans and the like in the morning. The benefit? A few minutes' less journey tie to Sheffield (and it really is a few).
In the case of EMT, Luton and Bedford will lose several trains, including all beyond Derby. The stations between Bedford and Leicester will see their service halved (although Kettering will be back up, Southbound at least, once the Corby service is reinstated).
The result? Anybody travelling from Bedford, Luton, St Albans, anywhere round there, will now have significantly increased journey times headed North. Not only that, but Bedford and Luton commuters will be cascaded on to the already overcrowded First Capital Connect trains, making it even harder to get on in St Albans and the like in the morning. The benefit? A few minutes' less journey tie to Sheffield (and it really is a few).
Nov 9, 2008, 7:37 am
#23
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,525
We went through all this last winter on the West Coastway line between Brighton and Southampton. Southern brought in the "biggest timetable changes since 1956" promising "major improvements to our services and extra trains which will benefit more customers". The upshot of all this is that my journey which used to take 1hr6 minutes now takes 1hr36 minutes and requires a change of train enroute. There is still a one an hour direct service as there was before, but it takes 10 minutes longer and unfortunately the timetable has changed so much it gets me to my destination too late for me to get to work in time. I read somewhere recently that the new timetable is under review though due to the amount of delays that are occuring since its introduction.
Anyway, as a result, I am now back to driving along the road to hell aka the A27.
Anyway, as a result, I am now back to driving along the road to hell aka the A27.