The 08:49 - can it run earlier?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

The 08:49 Swindon to Westbury dawdles along and gets to Westbury just after a number of potential connections have left     ... what a shame.

Here's a suggestion ....

08:49 Swindon to Westbury - switch to 08:36 and follow same timings after the hour as the 17:36 from Swindon to Westbury

Community advantages
- Connections available at Westbury for Salisbury (and beyond) and Weymouth
- Slighly more of a peak train so better to market to southbound commuters
- Faster journey time

Community changes
- Connection from London goes back from the 07:45 to the 07:30

Community disbenefits
- Nothing that I can see.

Onward connections from Westbury would give us a HUGE marketing benefit from May onwards, allowing us to reach the Swindon market which we just startd to tap on summer sundays in 2011.  And the trains used - both on the TransWits and the Heart of Wessex lines - would be contra-flow ones that have good space.

Proposal is NOT for Saturday, when (summer) Weymouth trains overload.   I understand that summer Sundays, when the SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) - WEY trip is also possible will need to be carefully adversised as there's going to be a lot of "bustitution". 

As an aside / fares on this train - can off peaks fares to Weymouth via Yeovil be allowed (anyway) and can the Heart of Wessex Ranger ticket include validity for this train? (Whatever time it runs - 08:36 or 08:49)

To which I await a response.

Today, this train was delayed at Swindon, 6 minutes late from Chippenham, and yet a minute early by Westbury just showing how much slack there is in the schedule.     Start it 13 minutes earlier from Swindon, have it gain 7 minutes, and it gets to Westbury at 09:22 not 09:42.    It then connects to 09:32 to Weymouth and 09:39 to Salisbury (and on to Waterloo).

[eightf48544]

Is running it at 08:36 from Swindon enough time to turn round the unit what time dose it arrive from it's previous journey? What about crew when do they arrive at Swindon?

What about at Westbury does it stable or return from the platfom will it block other trains?

If all these  are OK then it seems a very good move

[grahame]

Is running it at 08:36 from Swindon enough time to turn round the unit what time dose it arrive from it's previous journey? What about crew when do they arrive at Swindon?

Arrives at 08:18 and I'm pretty sure it's the same crew on there up and down.

What about at Westbury does it stable or return from the platfom will it block other trains?

Slightly more complex.  P1 occupied 09:28 to 09:32 (->WEY) ; P2 09:33 to 09:39 (-> WAT) and P3 09:35 to 09:38 (-> GMV).  Previous trains cleared at 09:01 and next train doesn't arrive until 09:49.  Currently the TransWilts train uses P3 - suspect it still could, with a shunt and that has a 14 minute allowance from arriving to being shunted.  I think the WEY train may drop carriages, so sending the GMV through there may be an issue.

If all these  are OK then it seems a very good move

Another reason, perhaps, for the :49 off SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) for this train is that it's close to a pattern - 08:49, 10:47, 12:47 and whilst clock face is good, I think the benefits of reaching Westbury for those connections outweigh sticking to what's already just a tendency to a pattern.

[JayMac]

This highlights the capacity issues at Westbury now that it has these additional terminating services.

Even more reason to re-open the fourth platform face. But even that may be problematical as it could potentially reduce freight capacity through the station. Something the FOCs^▸ (Freight Operating Company) may not be happy with. 

Maybe even look at turn backs at Warminster.

All for the future. Current priority is to ensure the existing TransWilts service is robust.