Great Western Coffee Shop

Over the past several months, every evening the Crosscountry 16:30 train from BTM to Edinburgh has 'parked' outside BPW for several minutes. Why? Is the timetable too tight, or are GWR useless at running trains on time and freeing up platform 3?

Over the years, I have experienced many minutes on trains stuck outside stations waiting for platforms to be cleared, but only Reading station up to 2011/12 has equalled these delays in waiting for a platform.

Is there a known issue?

Today the 15:56 Cardiff to Paddington was 12 minutes late, and that held it up.   The Cardiff train was 6 minutes late yesterday, 4 minutes late on Tuesday (and the Edinburgh just 2 late), and Monday's delays were identical to Tuesday's.

Thanks for the update.

So the next question,

• is the timetable too tight
• are GWR not capable of running to a timetable
• does BPW require more capactity

(Meekly holds hand up slowly.  Gets ready to run for cover...)
The timetable for Bristol Parkway shows:
1L74 (1524 Swansea to Paddington) arr 1630H, dep 1633 platform 3.
2D20 (1615 Bristol TM to Bristol Parkway) arr 1634 platform 4
1S55 (1425 Plymouth to Edinburgh) arr 1638, dep 1639H.

2D20 leaves Filton Abbey Wood at 1626H, and has a 3.5 minute pathing allowance approaching Bristol Parkway, so that it is meant to follow 1L74.
But the ARS programming gets it wrong - it "thinks" that it can get 2D20 over the junction ahead of 1L74. If the signaller doesn't catch it in time, then 2D20 goes first, causing delay to 1L74, meaning it can't vacate its platform in time to prevent delay to 1S55.

But the good news: I'm doing a fix to the ARS logic (due to be installed in November) to sort this out.

Thanks Rower,

Please also could you have a look at the ARS logic that holds traffic on the Down Relief at Didcot East Junction.  I have spent too many minutes of my life at that locality - often being passed by an Up Local (showing the route into Didcot is clear) yet continuing to wait for a further conflicting crossing on the junction ahead.  Like the love of God - it passeth all understanding.

Another place the ARS seems slow on the uptake is coming into Padd on Line 6 waiting by Royal Oak LUL for a platform. The Down train seems to have gone past  a long time before we move.

Thanks rower for the update.

Obviously, as rail demand increases, some bright spark will have to consider someways to increase the capacity of places like BPW, possibly with A|B platforms.

I believe the intent is to add a new platform at BPW

Indeed, and there are closures in the 'reasonably near future' for at least some of the required work:

https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/planned-engineering/autumn-upgrade-2017

Paul

 

The new platform won't help matters as it will be in the down direction.  The additional platform in the up direction was added a few years ago, but the movements described by rower40 are conflicting, so the two moves can't take place in parallel despite the extra platform.

If the new platform 1 is used for the terminators from the south, instead of platform 4, that would remove the conflicts. Whether it will be used that way is another matter.

According to that esteemed organ of non fake news, otherwise known as the Bristol Evening Post, printed in Didcot.....Platform 11 at Temple Meads is closed because the heat has caused the expanding bitumen in the edging slabs to push them out of alignment, with the possibilty that trains could be scraped.

I wonder if they missed an extra letter p in that last word ?!

That's a very good point. Let's hope they do.

According to the signalling scheme plan I have seen there will be no connection from the Filton direction to allow northbound trains to directly access the new platform no.1

Health Warning: The plan I have seen is dated 2011 (yes, the new platform has been planned for that long!)

Thanks for the clarification. (Though on a point of detail I didn't make the comments quoted as mine.)

Thanks, John R - and fair comment.  With my humble apologies to you, and SandTEngineer, for taking so long to catch up with such admin issues here, I've hopefully now clarified the 'quote attribution' in your previous posts.

Hope this helps, with regards from CfN.  ;)

I have now seen a more up to date Signalling Scheme Plan and I can confirm there is now a signalled route through the currently OOU facing crossover at the old Filton station that will allow trains to access Bristol Parkway Platform No.1 directly from the Bristol TM direction without conflicting with Down Trains using Platform No.2 heading to the South Wales direction.

The new route uses a new chord line converted from the existing Stoke Gifford freight yard shunting neck.  This facility also means that there can be parallel departures from Bristol Parkway to South Wales and Bristol TM at the same time.  Its actually better than that as there are facilities for three parallel movements at once, either arrivals or departures or a mix of both, Platform No.1 to/from Bristol TM, Platform No.2 to/from Avonmouth and Platform No.3 or 4 to/from South Wales.  So all in all a very flexible layout for a change ;) :D