Great Western Coffee Shop

We are up to 11 weeks of closures now, including 3 weeks in the summer. Only 3 weeks up at stations but worse on GWR.com.

Anyone have any more detail? And why has 3 weeks suddenly become 11?

I am getting in touch with the GWR team in the morning to ask ...  we knew that "a couple more" weeks in the second half of the year were planned but this is a huge jump!

And welcome to the forum.  "317361" looks like a Greater Anglia unit number - alas I doubt you'll see it running in the Kennet Valley ...

52 days in total listed for closure.

Wow that is a huge increase. Obviously the only way they are going to get this done on schedule (well the new schedule anyway) is to have these extra possessions during the week. Quite a bit of pain for the gain of electric services to Newbury.

Response I have:


I also bumped into Network Rail at Melksham yesterday afternoon, and now have less faith in the 12th March start date for lengthening the platform than I had before that chance meeting.

Reading back - I think "change" not "chance" - though it sometimes feel it's left to chance ...

Interesting to note that on 21/22 July 2018 that the line is also closed through Oxford for Phase 1 of the resignalling between Aynho Junction and Didcot North, leaving only one GW route open West of Reading ::)

.... and if that is disrupted by any means the GWR are really stuffed.

....as that's the start of the Summer holidays, I suppose they think no one will be travelling!

Perhaps its a casualty of Carillionisation.


Carillionisation.

A delay to a contracted project by unforeseen circumstances seen by many requiring the re-tendering and re-letting of the contract provided that the re-tendered quotes are no greater than that of the originally awarded contract.

Presumably to coincide with holiday closure of the car factory.

The briefings at the 'meet the manager' sessions recently had no mention of this, I was assuming maybe another 3 weeks, but we have 8 and a vague sense that there will be more.
Publicity wise we have a small yellow notice on one platform at Kintbury with the original dates.I really am worried how badly this could go. Guess I find out in a few weeks with attempt 1.

I would be happy with 317361 round here I think...grew up with it!

Yes indeed, the BMW plant at Oxford was a very important factor in deciding a date for this years Oxford blockade, with the remodelling of Derby also impacting on possible dates apparently.

For what it is worth, there was a tannoy announcement at Maidenhead yesterday (morning I think), saying there were planned closures on the Newbury line and to visit the website for more info.

Yes, all pain and no gain for people wanting to travel to/from stations west of Newbury, i.e. Kintbuty, Bedywn Hungerford and Pewsey.

Once the much-loved HSTs are replaced by the new Hitachi trains, there is likely to be even more pain due to the hard "ironing board" seats that they have. >:(

Won't stations west of Newbury as far as Bedwyn benefit from an hourly service with IET's replacing (mostly) Turbos, with better connections to the west - that's surely an improvement, even if you do think the seats are too hard (which I personally don't)?

And won't Pewsey benefit from a far more clockface pattern of services than the random service it currently receives?  For me, the Berks & Hants line is one of the ones that benefits the most from electrification and new trains, although it does seem like this year is going to be very disruptive.

From what I have seen, there is some woolliness in public information and plans have changed a bit along the way.

* From Reading to Newbury there will be two stopping trains an hour one calling at all stations and one only at major stations.  The all stations train will be electric, and run just between Reading and Newbury. The major-stations-only train will be an IET from London, calling at Reading, major stations to Newbury, Kintbury, Hungerford and Bedwyn where it will terminate.

* Every 2 hours, a "semifast" IET is planned from London to Reading, Pewsey, Westbury, Castle Cary and Taunton; then on to Exeter St David's is suggested but probably not beyond.  Any stops between Reading and Pewsey are unclear to me.

* Every hour, an express will run - Paddington, Reading, Taunton, Tiverton, Exeter, Newton Abbott, Plymouth.  Additional stops west of Exeter and continuation on into Cornwall - I'll let others comment.

So ...

Kintbury, Hungerford and Bedwyn gain the replacement of a turbo with a five car IET.
Pewsey and Westbury both gain trains that fill the current massive gaps during the day
Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary loose though trains beyond Exeter
Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth, Cornwall gain improvements to their London and Reading services
Kintbury, Hungrford and Bedwyn probably see no change in the virtually zero provision from them via Pewsey
Frome will see no change (?) - virtually no service to its county town of Taunton, and perhaps one peak train to London
All trains used on these services will be new.

Hourly service to Plymouth is pretty much the same as now I think?

Yes, though more trains will omit some of the smaller intermediate stops and will be quicker, in some cases by quite a large amount.  Though of course that works both ways and will remove the attractiveness of direct trains from places like Westbury that are currently available, albeit in a patchy way.

Exactly - I worded the original carefully - perhaps too carefully.   And I should have include opposites too, but being on the Kennet Valley, I wrote it from that viewpoint.    However, let's have a further go:

Kintbury, Hungerford and Bedwyn gain the replacement of a turbo with a five car IET.
London and Reading passengers will gain a better train to Kintbury, Hungerford and Bedwyn

Pewsey and Westbury both gain trains that fill the current massive gaps during the day
Passengers from London, Reading, Taunton and Exeter will have gaps in services to to Pewsey and Westbury filled

Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary loose though trains beyond Exeter
Passengers from Torbay, Plymouth and Cornwall will have to change to get to Westbury and Pewsey
Passengers from Torbay, Plymouth & Cornwall will have to change twice rather than once to get to Solent & Trowbridge.
Passengers from Solent & Trowbridge will have to change twice rather than once to get to Torbay, Plymouth & Cornwall.

Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth, Cornwall gain (speed) improvements to their London and Reading services
London and Reading passengers will be able to get to Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth, Cornwall consistently a bit faster

Kintbury, Hungrford and Bedwyn probably see no change in the virtually zero provision from them via Pewsey
Getting from the west to Kintbury, Hungrford and Bedwyn will remain a hassle

Frome will see no change (?) - virtually no service to its county town of Taunton, and perhaps one peak train to London
Still bl**dy difficult to get to Frome from London, or from Taunton or beyond, even though it's on the same line

Oh - and passengers from Castle Cary to London will find they have a more consistent but slower service and vv

This thread has gone a bit off topic (how unusual!  ;) ) however we're now in the first week.

From yesterday afternoon:


From Bedwyn trains


Significant concern at some higher fares being charged on journeys / trains that have been modified due to the engineering; that applied to at least three journey groups I'm aware of - though none of them relates to journeys that start or end at stations between Theale and Pewsey.   

To note - also effected, TransWilts services - all but the first morning service each way cancelled.

My information on the reason isn't quite what they say - engineering works did finish on time, but the engineers / engineering train managed to damage some infrastructure which they're now having to fix.

Going back to the info around what services will look like at the end of the year....


The all-stations trains will presumably be a 387. If I look at the current timetable, it's scheduled at between 29 to 31 mins each way.

With the better performance of the 387 vs. 165/166 (accel, decel, speed between stops on a track that is mostly 100mph linespeed), could this be operated with a single (4 or 8 coach) unit?

In theory, probably just about.  In practice you need at least three minutes turnaround at either end meaning a 27-minute journey time (ideally 25 or 26 minutes) which might just be asking a little too much to do all day with enough of a resilience margin.

It's been mentioned elsewhere that points were damaged at Heywood Road Junction  ::)

Disruption to services now expected to last until 2pm.

No wonder the train is delayed.... ;D

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/swipew.png)

Should we start a search?


If it went along the old M&SWJR, it probably wouldn't have got past Rushy Platt Jn as the rails were taken up in about 1965, so it should be easy to find. 
Alternatively it might have taken the wrong turn at Westbury in which case who knows?

Disruption to services now expected to last until 4pm.

The Cornish Riviera was so late it ran non stop from Plymouth to Truro and they provided a bus connection from Truro for Newquay branch passengers.

The final week closure in November has been cancelled

Which schedule is that?  The one thats already two years late.....? ::)

Presumably the one that says the B&H electrification needs to be ready for IET's (on AC) and 387's to start running to Newbury in January (2019, that is!)

Just to continue the irony  ;)

‘ang on, so 387s takeover is planned in January, so I presume this is when IETs will take over as well?

I think that's the assumption, but now that the turnback at Bedwyn is done (not sure if an IET has actually been in it yet), perhaps they could start sooner (albeit on diesel west of Reading)?

Wires not yet quite complete.  Noticed today (05/09/2018) that the Up Line still missing contact wire between Newbury Racecourse and Thatcham.

Yes, still a few areas with small amounts to finish off, but certainly looking good for a Christmas(ish) start (assuming nothing goes bang)

From Network Rail Western this morning


https://twitter.com/networkrailwest/status/1078588835959840768?s=21

Technicallity - are they really "brand new" units or have they been in service already between Paddington and Didcot?

I'm guessing what this means in reality is that we will start to see 387's on the Reading-Newbury shuttles, as it's going to be Turbo's for a while yet on the Paddington-Bedwyn's (due to the "DOO/camera" issue that needs to be resolved on the IET's)

Edit: Through/long-distance IET's should also start using the AC between Reading and Newbury from the 2nd.

Looking at the diagrams it would appear nearly all trains that start/terminate at Newbury to/from the east are to be class 387s, the exceptions being:

06:09 Newbury to Paddington (Class 80x)
07:10 Reading to Newbury
07:53 Newbury to Reading
09:10 Reading to Newbury
10:14 Newbury to Reading
17:12 Reading to Newbury
18:12 Reading to Newbury
18:52 Newbury to Paddington
19:12 Reading to Newbury
21:12 Newbury to Reading
21:51 Newbury to Reading

Just seen a 4-car 387 on the Newbury Railcam, service appears to be 2K33.

Not sure if this is the first 387, but it is the first one I've noticed in passenger service, a few days earlier than the advertised date of 2nd Jan  :)

Well spotted, started its diagram as the 06:12 off Reading

Personally I don't see why full use could be made of the electrification off-peak by making the Bedwyn service a diesel shuttle to/from Newbury, change there for electric services to Reading/Paddington.

I already have my hat and coat on thank you..... :P

I made a trip from RDG to NBY and return today and I was able to travel on 387145 on both journeys - I took the 1114 from RDG and returned on the 1412 from NBY (the other stopper diagram today was a Turbo). As my photos show, I arrived in P3 and left from P1.

The 11:14 Reading to Newbury, formed of a 387, has been struggling between Midgham and Thatcham.  It has come to a stand twice with two trains trapped behind it.

The 387 in question made it to Newbury around 1hr down, and has now been rescued by another, sent from Reading as 1Z99.

The pan of the rescued unit was clearly down as it passed the Newbury Railcam.

Not great on one of the first days of the much-heralded electric ops at Newbury  :(