Great Western Coffee Shop

Frustrated passengers trail through Reading Station waiting for trains to London Waterloo.  (https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/18125509.queues-reading-train-station-due-london-paddington-closure/)

I wonder how many realised that Paddington was closed - and that it would take 75 to 85 minutes to get to London, and the same again back. Presumably the sales were a big attraction?

At least nearly all trains today to Waterloo have left Reading on time.

Marlburian

Yes, GWR just tweeted:


People obviously keen to head back to The Smoke.

No mention of it being a bus connection?

Nope. Might catch a few out who aren’t railway geographically aware. Fortunately it’s not too long a bus journey.

Indeed, and many of them with luggage.

I'd forgotten about this, so when I checked trains were happening from Wokingham was puzzled to see some extra ones - but only one GWR train to Ash per hour. My SWR train at a usual time (13:27) was not at all full. At Reading, the barriers were set out but there wasn't a queue - maybe two trains had just left.

Returning to the station just after 16:00, there was a long queue along P7 even after loading a train. I thought an Ash train would be my best bet, with no queue for that and seats too. But was puzzled to see it announced at the platform end as the 16:02 (after that time) when I was sure there wasn't one. That did change to 16:32, but it's odd it showed a departure that didn't exist on RTT or the Tiger CIS.

SWR were running one extra train in most hours, non-stop inward of Staines. Mid-afternoon there was another train each way that was non-stop all the way - though no faster, of course. Now, I wonder what kind of pseudoguard that train had (if any)?

I’m not sure how anybody can get frustrated by something that was planned. With all the technology available I’m sure many of these people already knew about it and were willing to wait, it’s just people are naturally miserable looking when in queues.

Hang on. Or did all these people know the line to London was closed and thought that they could just use the new crossrail line instead?  ;)

Let's hope this is the last year of closure on the lines out of Paddington over Christmas - as the vast majority of electrification and Crossrail upgrades are now completed.  Are there any planned for next year?  Stuving?

My list for next year (but may well have been updated)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/2020eng.jpg)

Hmm ...someone too lazy to look in the EAS then? But as Graham's list shows, next year it's Bristol's turn. There's a lot of "normal" heavy maintenance, as usual over the holiday, with two of the four lines closed most of the way out to Reading, but no blockade of the main line.

Something struck me earlier today - is Temple Meads now the largest station in the UK without any electrification?  Will the roof work include enabling for electrification the following year?  Would such a follow up be a good idea?

I was told that the roof work would be massively more expensive if carried out after electrification.  I assume the same could be said of Bristol East Junction renewal. 

Two thoughts ...

1. Many probably knew they would have change at Reading and take the slower local train into Waterloo and accepted that, but what they did not know was that there would be significant queuing / waiting for that service - and perhaps that's what caused their frustration?

2. It's pretty darned hard (virtually impossible) to reach everyone of what (for the rest of the year) is a frequent turn-up-and-go service, and a disproportionate element of the people queuing would have been from that unasserted group.

Possibly, but between Christmas and new year on any transport service, it is more likely that many would look up what sort of service it will be and if it’s running. It’s certainly not the time of year that people would want to get stranded. I imagine people would look up opening hours for venues and shops in the same manner at this time of year. I would say that most of this article is the chronicle attempting to look like they have their finger on the pulse with the latest news in a town that their journalists appear to know so little about. Local news loves an outrage story and no longer appear to be accountable for getting facts correct. I trust nothing from a local news site that doesn’t get road names or area names correctly, the trouble is that many take what is written on these sites as the gospel.

To add further. The queue would look like a problem when first viewed but this would have been set up to keep people off the terminal platform where the southern electric service arrives, allowing passengers to leave the train first. If you dispersed the same amount of people over the up platforms on the main line it would probably be perceived as relatively quiet.

Agree. No one likes to see a queue but it would have moved pretty quick once the Waterloo service was ready for boarding. Better to have it organised than have chaos, which on the small Southern region platforms at Reading could have become dangerous.

Bristol East isn’t like for like, is it? I’m assuming it’s to build on the Filton re-quadding.

Correct. More tracks, better access to platforms.

Yes, basically.  But I know you love sniffing such detail out...  ;D