Regular HST service via Westbury avoiding line from May 2011

[whole diary]

[bobm]

I hope there is an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) replacement for the 19:17 from Westbury if indeed it no longer runs.   I have a customer in Kintbury and it's my train home after a pint and a meal in the Dundas Arms!  (so much better than a three car from Bedwyn!).

[eightf48544]

Oh dear more track to bash and I still haven't got Foxhall, the Yeovil link and now they've added the Westbury East Loop.

[XPT]

Why would they have reasonably priced advance fares. They are simply the Berks & Hants commuter services starting from Bristol instead of Westbury. Both of which are fairly busy trains.

Update to my post regarding fares between Bristol and London on these services, the 0520 Bristol Temple Meads-London Paddington and the 1706 London Paddington-Bristol Temple Meads.

Advance single fares for May 23rd when these services commences are now available to purchase.

Dissapointly and surprisingly(to me), the cheapest advance single fare on the 0520 Bristol-London is ^33.50.  However, the good news is that the advance single fare on the 1706 London-Bristol is just ^10!! Even cheaper than I predicted! BRILLIANT!  And for those people travelling to Trowbridge on this service, the cheapest advance single fare is just ^9.50!  Yet interesting the single fare to Newbury on this service is ^20.40.

I did have a feeling that there might well be bargain advance fares available on one of those two services at least, because of the much longer journey time between Bristol and London.  ^10 single for a peak time departure from London is great news.  Well done First Great Western, if you are reading this.

I'll have to make a booking on these two services soon.

[Ollie]

Yet interesting the single fare to Newbury on this service is ^20.40.

Not really - it's to be expected seeing as though Pad - Newbury doesn't have advance tickets.

[BBM]

I see that Twyford to Bristol TM^‡(resolve) on this train has an advance fare of only ^7.50, I might have to try that some time this summer! 

[grahame]

Fare metrics will (are) be very interesting on this one, bearing in mind that SWT^▸ (South West Trains) also offer direct London services from Bradford-on-Avon and Trowbridge ... longer journey, different times of day, different London destination, of course.

[XPT]

Am booked for the inaugural service for the 1706 London Paddington-Bristol Temple Meads.  Looking forward to it.  And got to be said again, great that the fare is only ^10 single for a peak time departure from London.  None of these ridiculous fares such as ^84.50, ^46.50 etc, and hence having to wait till gone 7pm to depart London at a more reasonable price.  So if you want to get to Bristol at around 5pm get the 1706 service for just ^10!  

 Just one thing though, this is a FGW^▸ (First Great Western) service but why is this service not showing up on FGW's journey planner?  I had to book through the East Coast journey planner instead.  EDIT: It does show up on FGW's journey planner, but ONLY if you click on the "check for slower services" link.

[inspector_blakey]

Presumably because it takes such a long time going all round the houses that it's quicker to take a different train from Paddington. It's a geographically longer route than via Swindon and once you've called Twyford, Reading, Theale, Thatcham, Newbury, Kintbury, Hungerford, Bedwyn, Pewsey, Trowbridge, Bradford On Avon and Bath Spa must be an achingly low average speed - btw, XPT, weren't you complaining about all the stops that a normal HST^▸ (High Speed Train) makes between Paddington and Bristol...?!

I assume this routing is intended to keep staff route knowledge current, or is it effectively an HST service to Pewsey running back to the Marsh but still in service? Either way, although it might be nice for the cranks who like to try out esoteric routes, I sincerely doubt that any customers who aren't enthusiasts will actually want to use that service all the way through. For that reason I really don't see much of a problem with it not popping up on the journey planner.

[JayMac]

Some customers may be tempted to use the 1706 if they are aware of split ticketing. Take a GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) Bristol service around that time and you pay ^84.50 Anytime Single.

Take the 1706, split your ticket at Newbury and pay ^40.40.

A forty quid saving for an extra 49 minutes journey time. Could tempt some.

[XPT]

Regarding the prices of the other normal London-Bristol services at peak times, ^84.50 single or ^169 Anytime Return really are crazy prices. I can understand why they're charged as such to deter day-trippers and casual travellers from travelling on these services so that season ticket commuters get seats. But I do wonder just how many of joe public passengers actually fork out and pay these sort of crazy prices for travel on peak time services to/from London?   I would think many would either get a National Express coach instead for a much more affordable fare, or travel on earlier or later services (if convenient) at a more reasonable price rather than pay those prices. I think unless these people have got absolutely pots of money to throw around, then they must be absolutely crackers to pay out such ridiculous fares as these.

For a peak time departure from London, the ^10 single for the 1706 service to Bristol is a bargain even though the journey is approx 50 minutes longer than the normal regular services.  Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.  And be happy at the money you've saved by travelling on this particular service!

It will be interesting to see how many London-Bristol passengers travel on this new service.

Yes bignosemac, I was commenting about all the stops on the regular HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services between London-Bristol in that they should re-introduce at least some regular scheduled express/limited stop services between the two cities.  But I also like services which are a change from the norm like for instance those additional services via Newbury over the past two weekends.  The new 1706 service has loads of stops enroute and a much longer journey time, but it will be a change from the "same old same old" normal services. 

[JayMac]

Yes bignosemac, I was commenting about all the stops on the regular HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services between London-Bristol....

'Tweren't me. 

[XPT]

Ah yes sorry, I meant Inspector Blakey.

[XPT]

Well I travelled on the inaugural service of the 1706 from London on Monday.  Was a little surprised to see it listed on the departure boards and on the pre-recorded announcements as terminating at BRADFORD-ON-AVON.  I can sort of understand this tactic to some degree to prevent any confusion to passengers wanting the normal fast(well fast-ish anyway) services to Bristol Temple Meads.  But it may well also cause some confusion to passengers who are booked on this service to Bath and Bristol.  I knew that the service was really terminating at Bristol, so I boarded.  Though the PA^▸ (Public Address) announcement from the conductor on the train said "this is the 1706 service to Bristol Temple Meads.".  

Anyway nice journey along the alternate and more scenic route via Hungergord.  The train was very busy at first.  The vast majority of passengers were for all station stops through to Hungerford.  When the train arrived at Trowbridge and Bradford-on-Avon I could see several people getting off the train, not sure how many in total actually got off at these stations as I was near the front of the train.  Likewise with the stop at Bath I could see several people disembarking from the carriage I was in and the adjoining carriage, couldn't see fore sure how many people did get off though.  The train arrived into Bristol Temple Meads some 5 minutes early at 1936.  Once I got off the train I could see about 25 to 30 people disembarking too, of which the vast majority of these passengers would have got on at Bath Spa, plus several or so people from Bradford-on-Avon and Trowbridge.   How many people actually travelled all the way from London-Bristol on this service would probably have been no more than several people.   It is not out of the question that it could well have been only ME who travelled for the full duration of this service!

Would I travel on this service again?  Of course I would, if I wanted to travel back from London on a weekday around 5pm-ish.  Much longer journey than the normal services, but for ^10 single it's a great value fare for a peak time weekday service.  None of this ^84.50, ^57.50 or whatever nonsence.

[Ollie]

Just for the record, the screen does have a scrolling message below the calling points saying continues to Bristol TM^‡(resolve).

[bobm]

Just been reading Barry Doe's timetable review in Rail issue 671. This new train is only partially included in the new Network Rail printed timetable. The calls at Trowbridge and Bradford on Avon are not shown in Timetable 123 or as a footnote in 135.

Indeed reading the whole article it seems the whole publication is riddled with errors. I wonder if any of the errors highlighted will be changed in the on line downloadable timetables. From what Mr Doe says it seems unlikely!!