Great Western Coffee Shop

Between 7th and 13th of August XC services will be diverted via Bath and Westbury between Bristol and Taunton whilst work is carried out at Bristol TM.

Looking at RTT, XC trains will stop at Bath Spa ‘for staffing reasons’ but not listed as a passenger stop. So if you need to travel between Bath and the North you will still need to change at Bristol Parkway.

To me that is yet another example of a lack of common sense that at times the railway is only too good at that goes against providing customers with a better level of service.

This happened last winter when Sunday services were diverted between South Wales and London via Bath and the B&H, with early to mid morning trains not stopping at Bath. So the first train to London was still at 11.13 despite trains passing through that so easily could have provided Bath passengers with trains to London.

I’m sure someone more learned than me can tell me why XC can stop trains at Bath for traincrew reasons but not pick up/set down passengers.

Could the stop at Bath Spa be to pick up / drop off a Pilot to cover parts of the route not normally signed by XC Drivers?  If so this process is quite quick.

Is there the passenger numbers for Bath to the North? Also this only for a short duration ie not normal service and is not likely to be either which for the short duration would need an advertising campaign to drum up passengers numbers 

I also note the Didcot / Swindon / Chippenham / Bath to Taunton / Exeter / Plymouth / Penzance flow,  badly disrupted at times during the works at Bristol Temple Meads, and for whom a change at Bath Spa would be a welcome option.   Not really any need to advertise if the journey planners brought it up??

Its only for 6 days

Even so, we have this nonsense every summer while works take place around Bristol.

I'll repeat what I've said before on this - it makes far more sense to me to route those from Bath (and there is a large demand) who want to travel north to go via Swindon rather than via Temple Meads, as the latter gets very busy and can be confusing for those who don't know their way round. The route via Swindon and the Stroud valley is also a far more pleasant experience than the long trawl through the Bristol suburbs.

If a diverted train is stopping at Bath anyway, the extra delay caused by allowing passengers on and off would be very small, probably less than a minute from what would happen anyway.

Several years ago, the direct route from Cheltenham and Worcester to Birmingham via the Lickey incline  was closed for engineering work on Sunday mornings.  CrossCountry trains had to go round by way of Kidderminster.  Very sensibly, they all stopped at Kidderminster - CrossCountry thought there'd be a worthwhile trade to be had with people having a day out on the Severn Valley Railway.  OK, on the way home you had to take the local train back into Birmingham, but a direct outward train was an attractive offer.

Even closer to home ... when Cross Country diverted during the closure of Filton Bank, they stopped at Swindon.   Yeah, I know that's kinda necessary to reverse, but it was an advertised and useful passenger stop.

In the past XC have also stopped at Bath. I’m puzzled why the aren’t on this occasion.

As an aside, why is the explanation for "XC" styled as "(Cross Country franchise trains (now run by Arriva))"?

Why not simply "(CrossCountry Trains)" seeing as that's their name?

"Cross Country franchise trains" is pretty poor grammar.

Also "now run by Arriva" implies this is a new development. Arriva have run the franchise since 2007. So why the "now"?!

It bugs me every time I see it.

Topic spilit - took an aside on old place names used for bus stops ... http://www.passenger.chat/25256