Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 21:35 28 Mar 2024
* Bus plunges off South Africa bridge, killing 45
* Easter getaways hit by travel disruption
- Where Baltimore bridge investigation goes now
- How do I renew my UK passport and what is the 10-year rule?
- Family anger at sentence on fatal crash driver, 19
- Easter travel warning as millions set to hit roads
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

On this day
28th Mar (1992)
MOD Kineton tour, branch line society (*)

Train RunningCancelled
18:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
18:36 London Paddington to Plymouth
19:33 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill
19:35 Exeter St Davids to London Paddington
20:29 Gatwick Airport to Reading
20:54 Reading to Gatwick Airport
20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington
21:30 Shalford to Reading
21:53 Newbury to Bedwyn
22:25 Bedwyn to Newbury
22:30 Gatwick Airport to Reading
22:47 Newbury to Bedwyn
Short Run
17:03 London Paddington to Penzance
17:36 London Paddington to Plymouth
18:03 London Paddington to Penzance
19:04 Paignton to London Paddington
20:03 London Paddington to Plymouth
20:42 Bedwyn to London Paddington
21:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
21:20 Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach
22:10 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads
23:04 Reading to Bedwyn
23:17 Bedwyn to Reading
Delayed
16:15 Penzance to London Paddington
Additional 17:26 Castle Cary to Penzance
19:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
21:30 Gatwick Airport to Reading
23:45 London Paddington to Penzance
PollsOpen and recent polls
Closed 2024-03-25 Easter Escape - to where?
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 28, 2024, 21:49:04 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[104] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
[103] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[78] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[56] If not HS2 to Manchester, how will traffic be carried?
[41] Return of the BRUTE?
[25] Reversing Beeching - bring heritage and freight lines into the...
 
News: A forum for passengers ... with input from rail professionals welcomed too
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: Negative press - trade off, engineering v improvements brought  (Read 7871 times)
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« on: March 07, 2015, 08:35:18 »

http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/draft/story-26120020-detail/story.html?

Quote
Rail commuters are facing a miserable summer as electrification work begins between Chippenham and Bath ^ work which could provide a saving of just three minutes on the journey to London

The work, part of a ^1.7 billion electrification project on the Great Western main line from London to Swansea, is set to disrupt journeys for thousands of passengers.

Phase one begins on July 18, when Box Tunnel will be closed, affecting journeys between Bath and Chippenham, and journeys via Melksham.
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
ellendune
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4452


View Profile
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2015, 09:33:45 »

Has GW (Great Western) Electrification ever been promoted as a journey time reduction?
Logged
stuving
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7156


View Profile
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2015, 09:58:21 »

Has GW (Great Western) Electrification ever been promoted as a journey time reduction?
Yes. In pretty well every statement about every electrification. It's often given as "faster" rather than "shorter journeys", but that means the same.

For example, from a randomly chosen DfT» (Department for Transport - about) release:

Quote
Benefits of electric trains over diesel
Electrified railways are essential to getting maximum efficiency and capacity from a modern railway.

Compared to non-electrified railways, electrified railways are:

faster
quieter
greener as they produce less CO2 and emit no air pollution at the trackside
more reliable
lighter and cause less wear and tear on the tracks
more cost-effective for carrying freight loads
cheaper to buy, operate and maintain

"Faster" is top of the list.
Logged
Super Guard
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1308


View Profile
« Reply #3 on: March 07, 2015, 10:03:26 »

Having the improved infrastructure to run the current timetable reliably would probably mean faster times!  Wink
Logged

Any opinions made on this forum are purely personal and my own.  I am in no way speaking for, or offering the views of First Great Western or First Group.

If my employer feels I have broken any aspect of the Social Media Policy, please PM me immediately, so I can rectify without delay.
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2015, 10:10:05 »

Some government / official stuff about speed.  Note weasel words "could" and "often" ...

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmwelaf/95/95we04.htm

Quote
In its statement announcing the scheme, the Department for Transport stated that journey times to South Wales from London could be improved by as much as 19 minutes.

http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/News-Releases/Groundbreaking-factory-train-to-cut-years-off-Great-Western-Electrification-1e0d.aspx

Quote
Benefits of an electrified railway:
They are more reliable and often faster.
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2015, 10:18:54 »

And another ... off Network Rail's web site ...

Of course, "faster" doesn't necessarily mean shorter journey times if you increase the number of stops, station dwell time, and recovery time.  Back to "do you want a train that takes 3 hours and run every 2 hours, or one that takes 3 hour and 20 minutes and runs twice an hour"? 

Bath, though, comes out of initial electrification plans as published and touted still with the same service level to London, but with more capacity because of abstraction of traffic onto extra services running via Badminton.  This structuring would allow for the extra Metro West service from Bristol to Bath which another pair of expresses would not, and indeed that MetroWest could well be electric and extend east from Bath.
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
phile
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1382

Language spoken Welsh as well as English


View Profile Email
« Reply #6 on: March 07, 2015, 10:37:15 »

They are slower now than in Steam Days !!!
Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #7 on: March 07, 2015, 12:59:49 »

Quote from Claire Perry talking this morning at TravelWatch SouthWest

Quote
Electrification will .. Reduce journey times Bristol - London by quarter of an hour
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
stuving
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7156


View Profile
« Reply #8 on: March 07, 2015, 13:19:28 »

They are slower now than in Steam Days !!!
What "they"? And when?

I can find times for 1949, when the typical time from Bath was 2:05 or 2:10, and a non-stopper (the Bristolian) was 2:00.
In 1965, (not relevant, but still) that's down to 1:43 non-stop but still 1:54 to 2:14 with stops.
(Note these are not commuter trains - there were none. If you wanted to get to London before 9:00 you had to use the sleeper, which took 3 hours.)

Today it's typically 1:30.
The IEP (Intercity Express Program / Project.) schedules we have show 1:24.

The pre-war Bristolian was timed at 1:45, but didn't serve Bath. Were most (non-prestige) trains anything like that speed? I suspect not.

Quote from Claire Perry talking this morning at TravelWatch SouthWest

Quote
Electrification will .. Reduce journey times Bristol - London by quarter of an hour

Of course that's done by IEP non-stopping from Bristol Parkway. Bath trains on the same 3-stop pattern as most are now are listed as 1:24 vs. 1:29 now.
« Last Edit: March 07, 2015, 13:35:41 by stuving » Logged
PhilWakely
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 2007



View Profile
« Reply #9 on: March 07, 2015, 13:21:10 »

They are slower now than in Steam Days !!!

Isn't this entirely down to today's compensation culture - i.e the fear of arriving late. Hence the large amounts of dwell and recovery time built in?

Under the wires, journey times may decrease, but will probably still be slower than could be.
Logged
Timmer
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6293


View Profile
« Reply #10 on: March 07, 2015, 15:23:51 »

I saw this chronicle article the other day thinking what a completely negative piece of journalism. No pain no gain springs to mind with regards to the work taking place in the Bath area July and August. We want new faster trains but work has to be done first in order for this to happen and that means buses and diversions. At least Bath will still have a direct link to London during the duration of the works.
Logged
Red Squirrel
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 5190


There are some who call me... Tim


View Profile
« Reply #11 on: March 07, 2015, 16:05:41 »

Quote

Clickbait (n)

Web content that is aimed at generating online advertising revenue, especially at the expense of quality or accuracy, relying on sensationalist headlines to attract click-throughs and to encourage forwarding of the material over online social networks.


Ref: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Logged

Things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page