Additional Trains to Weymouth during the Olympic Weeks

[whole diary]

[ReWind]

I visited Weymouth today, along with the nearby town of Dorchester.

With concerns to the 2012 Olympic involvement Weymouth will have, does anyone know whether Weymouth station will have any sort of re-development to cope with the large increase of passengers expected to decend on the town during the period?

The current 3 platform station will be far from adequate to cope, and the appearance of the station is outdated to say the least.

Also, with large parts of Westbury - Weymouth single line, are the any contingency plans being draft up to try and increase capacity, to which will probably be required, to cope with demand.

I know its 2 years away yet, but these things take time, and as it currently stands, Weymouth will struggle to cope.

[Timmer]

Weymouth struggles to cope with normal summer visitors net alone Olympic visitors. My guess is SWT^▸ (South West Trains) will run 10 car 444s all the way to Weymouth instead of splitting down to five cars as present at Bournemouth. FGW^▸ (First Great Western) will probably run a more frequent shuttle service between Castle Cary/Westbury and Weymouth but its still early days on that front.

[JayMac]

Increased train service frequency is planned from Waterloo and Bristol. I imagine the frequency can be increased between Castle Cary and Dorchester without too much problem; there are two passing places at Yeovil Pen Mill and Maiden Newton.

I think Weymouth Station will cope, maybe a temporary platform on the Quay branch alongside the coach park for a bit of extra capacity.

And I expect we'll see more loco hauled or maybe even HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) from Bristol.

[paul7575]

Hmm, there's always the 2012 transport plan etc, I was only looking at it earlier to confirm that there will be no international trains stopping at Stratford during the games.  Goes away, searches for a while, comes back having found a small section in one of many documents checked...

http://www.london2012.com/documents/oda-transport/pages-from-olympictransportplanpart2-7-18.pdf

All they say about Weymouth:

Weymouth Station will be the promoted as the ^venue station^.
The location of the venue offers relatively good accessibility with respect to public transport by rail, being served by two train operating companies. South West Trains operates the London Waterloo to Weymouth service. First Great Western operates the Bristol Temple Meads to Weymouth Service.
The rail capacity is limited due to line constraints (particularly the single track section of line between Dorchester and Moreton) and available power supply between Wareham and Weymouth Stations, however the ODA is currently investigating options to increase the rail capacity.
The choice for railway access station to the spectator viewing areas is limited to the main station within Weymouth.
The railway station is approximately 100 metres from the Esplanade.
Improvements to Weymouth Station^s forecourt area are being delivered by Dorset County Council^s Weymouth Transport Package.

IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) SWT^▸ (South West Trains) cannot run more than a single ten car train, or two five car, beyond Moreton at once.
I can't find any info about power supply improvements in any of the usual NR^» (Network Rail - home page) documentation, such as the route plan and CP4^▸ (Control Period 4 - the five year period between 2009 and 2014) enhancement plan. The latter does however mention London area Olympic work, so I'm assuming Weymouth doesn't get any new infrastructure - and to think only a couple of years ago people were talking about track doubling AND power supply improvements...   

I also think the current 2 tph frequency from Waterloo to Weymouth is the increased frequency for the games - there isn't much hope of more, due to the single track section.

The Network Rail route plan seems pretty lukewarm too, and I don't think you can read much into it anyway, cos it discusses Weymouth and Wimbledon together:

The Olympics in 2012 will see events being held in Wimbledon and Weymouth but it is expected that
travel demand in relation to these events can be broadly accommodated within the current network
capability. Extra services may need to be provided at certain times, but, for example, Wimbledon
already sees high demand during the tennis fortnight so it is expected that regularly implemented
service strengthening will apply. Traction power supply issues between Bournemouth and
Weymouth may limit any increase in the number of electric trains which can be run during the games
period.

Having said all that, I'm not that convinced of the draw for spectators of offshore sailing - I wonder if those you see on TV aren't usually friends, family, other competitors waiting to go on, and coaches etc?

You can read up on squillions of improvements in Stratford though...

Paul

[MrC]

Extending 10-car 444s down to Weymouth could be difficult under the current (ho-ho) restrictions although selectively cutting out traction/aux packages could be an option. Alternatively some Bournemouth crews now sign 158/159s for the Lymington branch so perhaps some of these could be used to pad out the services. Another rumour floating around is that XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) could temporarily extend their Bournemouth services to Weymouth. I suspect it'll be a while before we know what the changes, if any, will be.

Other things that could potentially cause some timetabling headaches are the short single line section in Weymouth station throat, and the relatively long signalling sections between Weymouth and Bincombe with Upwey station right in the middle.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Schedule for Olympic sailing events in Dorset released

The schedule of sailing events in Weymouth and Portland for the London 2012 Olympic Games has been released.

Events such as the Finn, Laser and Star classes will run from 29 July to 11 August, with ticket prices ranging from ^35 to ^55.

Up to 50,000 visitors are expected to watch the sailing events during the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012.

Osprey Quay was the first site for the games to be completed and will host up to 400 international athletes.

British sailors began intensive training at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy after the Christmas holidays.

Other nations' teams are also set to train there over the course of the year.

[readytostart]

XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) are provisionally being asked to plan for 2tpd Mon-Sat and 1tpd Sun in each direction. Very little else can be done with the amount of rolling stock available to us.

[Timmer]

XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) are provisionally being asked to plan for 2tpd Mon-Sat and 1tpd Sun in each direction. Very little else can be done with the amount of rolling stock available to us.

Has a Voyager ever made it to Weymouth before Virgin withdrew summer Saturday workings?

[readytostart]

XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) are provisionally being asked to plan for 2tpd Mon-Sat and 1tpd Sun in each direction. Very little else can be done with the amount of rolling stock available to us.

Has a Voyager ever made it to Weymouth before Virgin withdrew summer Saturday workings?

Not to my knowledge, 220020 made it to Swanage to be named Wessex Voyager. Think the Summer Saturdays to Weymouth continued until 2002 which would give some overlap with the initial introduction of Voyagers from late 2001.

[JayMac]

rts. Do you know where these provisionally planned XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) services are originating from? And the route to Weymouth they will be taking?

[readytostart]

rts. Do you know where these provisionally planned XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) services are originating from? And the route to Weymouth they will be taking?

Through services from Birmingham I understand, extension on current Bournemouth terminators. Issues with Sundays due to the later start up, but maye be a service starting from Reading, in addition to one from Birmingham.

[eightf48544]

Up to 50,000 visitors are expected to watch the sailing events during the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. From BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) quote above.

Is that over the whole time or per day?

They (ODA) are quoting 30,000 a day for Dorney Rowing. Which is at least two miles from the nearest railhead down narrow lanes and up to a mile walk  from the Park and Ride and coach drop off at Windsor Racecourse.

Anyone want to rent a house in Taplow for the duration only offers > ^3k accepted? Or does this contravene the Boards rules about advrtising.

[Steve Bray]

Don't forget that the Dorking area will see the Cycling Road Races on Saturday 28th July (mens) and Sunday 29th July (womens). The men's route will take do a circuit of Box Hill 9 times and the women's race will do it 3 times.   

[The Grecian]

XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) are provisionally being asked to plan for 2tpd Mon-Sat and 1tpd Sun in each direction. Very little else can be done with the amount of rolling stock available to us.

Has a Voyager ever made it to Weymouth before Virgin withdrew summer Saturday workings?

Yes. The Weymouth service was withdrawn in September 2002, by which time the Voyagers had taken over. The book shown here shows a Voyager on that line if anyone has an urge to see it:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dorset-Further-Selection-British-Railways/dp/1858952190/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1298213589&sr=8-1

I don't think a Crosscountry HST^▸ (High Speed Train) has ever worked to Wemouth though.

[Timmer]

I don't think a Crosscountry HST^▸ (High Speed Train) has ever worked to Wemouth though.

I'm sure I have seen a picture somewhere of a Virgin XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) HST at Weymouth but I can't remember where. If I do find it I will let you know.