What do YOU want

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

I'm not sure whether Res Squirrel is thinking of something larger but I'd be content with making the City of Bristol as large as the city of Bristol.

There is some scope for debate, but clearly Bradley Stoke, Emerson's Green and Oldland Common are inside the logical boundary. If the good burghers of Clevedon, Nailsea, Keynsham, Winterbourne, Yate Sodbury and Thornbury would rather pretend that these are independent places that could exist without Bristol (they can't; they were all developed as satellites) then that would be their choice.

[broadgage]

I would like to see

Firstly a greatly simplified fares system, with no more than 3 fares for any journey (in each class). Which of these 3 fares is payable to be determined by how busy the train is likely to be, which in turn is determined by the time and date of travel.
I see no merit whatsoever in the present system whereby the fare is largely determined by when the ticket is purchased, rather than by the time and date of travel.

Secondly I would like to see a pause in ordering new shorter trains, with available funds concentrated on building full length new trains. I fully accept that short trains are needed for some routes, but feel that voyagers, adelantes, and various existing EMUs^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) are sufficient to meet the demand for short units for secondary routes or services.
What we are short of is full length trains.
So far as is contractually possible, reduce the order for half length SETs^▸ (Super Express Train (now IET)) and spend the money instead on more of the 9 car ones.

Thirdly I would like to see more attention given to improving infrastructure reliability, increasingly we seem to have a fair weather only railway in which modestly cold or warm weather, or limited snow, rain, or wind causes widespread dislocation.

[BerkshireBugsy]

If I had to choose between express services that had more seating between Reading and Paddington and services that were reliable (or at least within 5 minutes of scheduled arrival time) I would choose the latter. I don't mind catching an earlier train to get a seat (my choice) but having to add extra time on because the services are not reliable grates on me.

I must add that I haven't had to travel daily by train for a couple of months so things may have improved in which case my wish could have been granted

[Rapidash]

I'd like 1)a half hourly service to Exeter Central from Paignton (happening soon TM^‡(resolve)),
2) Reduced waiting times at Newton Abbot/Dawlish Warren
3)Parity of IC^▸ (Inter City) services for Cornwall and Torbay.
4)Electrification would be nice,  but is never going to happen in my lifetime.
5) Pacers banished unto the warp,or, preferably Cornwall (to be consistent with the local buses!)
6) A later departure from Exeter -Torbay on Saturday nights.

And, in fantasy land, reinstatement of a line to Brixham. We border a town which even Narnia  finds too fantastical, so it's not the weirdest idea around!

[Chris from Nailsea]

If we're living in fantasy land ... how about reinstating the Kingsbridge Branch Line?

I was down that way today - the roads were very busy, with tourists a-plenty: surely the railway would have a business case for such a re-opening?

[Surrey 455]

4. That I be granted the Moon on a Stick.

I suspect that (4) may be the easiest to achieve.

You may need to speak to Richard Herring to achieve your dream

[JayMac]

Not something I want as I'm rarely directly affected by it...

But, it would be nice for a week to go by without something going wrong with the infrastructure in the Thames Valley.

Today I witnessed how smooth things can be in the evening peak when neither track or signalling has gone t*ts up. I was at Reading watching services from London heading west.

Of particular note was the 1800 from Paddington to Bristol TM^‡(resolve), rolling to a stop on P8 at Reading at 1823:30. 23^ minutes from Paddington to Reading. Start to stop average of 92mph. Impressive.

The following 1803 managed 24^ minutes. Still too many Reading commuters alighting from this one though. Meant to be pick up only at Reading.

[grahame]

Of particular note was the 1800 from Paddington to Bristol TM^‡(resolve), rolling to a stop on P8 at Reading at 1823:30. 23^ minutes from Paddington to Reading. Start to stop average of 92mph. Impressive.

The following 1803 managed 24^ minutes. Still too many Reading commuters alighting from this one though. Meant to be pick up only at Reading.

It's fascinating to look at recent time trains and see the arrival graphs - impressive in showing a consistency of arrivals that rather gives lie to the emphasis of the news feeds which only tell us the bad news.   But also of note, interesting to look at disruption when it happens and how one train with a problem can knock the graph back for so many following.

[BerkshireBugsy]

Very interesting indeed. Are you able to do the same for another London terminus such as kings X or Euston ?

That is a very powerful image in terms of the story it tells

[grahame]

Very interesting indeed. Are you able to do the same for another London terminus such as kings X or Euston ?

That is a very powerful image in terms of the story it tells

I should have added a URL - it's publicly available at Recent Time Trains - http://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk - which uses the nationwide ( I think) Network Rail data feeds.    Publicly available, but not well publicised!

[BerkshireBugsy]

Thanks Graham  yet another useful site to bookmark.

Im looking into how services from other London termini fair - I've just looked at kings cross which doesn't seem so bad.

Does anyone know of any sites which allow you to map delays based on cause (such as signal/track problems, unit failure etc? I believe I have seen this information elsewhere but can't recall where.
In a nutshell I'm trying to work out if FGW^▸ (First Great Western) delays are really any worse than any other TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) if you exclude any infrastructure issues or issues caused (for example) by persons / cattle being hit by a train.

Maybe I'm just being too kind to FGW

[IndustryInsider]

It's fascinating to look at recent time trains and see the arrival graphs - impressive in showing a consistency of arrivals that rather gives lie to the emphasis of the news feeds which only tell us the bad news.

That's very true.  If you only ever used the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Twitter feed as a source of information then the impression would be of an appalling company.  Not to say they haven't been disappointing in many respects lately, but are no worse than many TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) in my opinion.

Similarly, if you read newspapers or watch the news then the vast majority of stories are confrontational and/or negative.  Real life isn't like that all the time - for example, for every Lord who makes the front pages of the paper for being an idiot, there are many hundreds who do sterling work for the nation, yet the impression we get is different and sometimes it's a hard impression to break free from.

Also, when you've 'made your mind up' on something, it's human nature to search for things and generally take more notice of things that reinforce that opinion, be it a good or bad one.

[Bmblbzzz]

I'm not sure whether Res Squirrel is thinking of something larger but I'd be content with making the City of Bristol as large as the city of Bristol.

There is some scope for debate, but clearly Bradley Stoke, Emerson's Green and Oldland Common are inside the logical boundary. If the good burghers of Clevedon, Nailsea, Keynsham, Winterbourne, Yate Sodbury and Thornbury would rather pretend that these are independent places that could exist without Bristol (they can't; they were all developed as satellites) then that would be their choice.

The first three are clearly (to my mind) suburbs or outskirts of Bristol. The others are separate towns in the greater Bristol area (though Winterbourne is virtually a suburb) but without the real mass to administer themselves. It's when you get to Bath that it gets difficult. (I'd say Bath could administer itself plus eg Clutton, Radstock, etc; places like Thornbury would probably be best as part of Gloucestershire. But all this is way off topic!)

[Tim]

1, better service from Worcester to both London and Bristol
2, a proper national, realistic electrification and stock cascade plan which is long term rather than this silly system of announcing improvements and then pausing them.  If is clear that the previous plans were too optimistic in terms of staff and kit capabilities, but instead of a pause we need all the work rescheduled - MML^» (Midland Main Line. - about), valley lines, North West, and various extensions and follow ons.  Only then will the industry see it as worthwhile investing in people and kit to get the job done.  If the assumed future electrification rate is slow that doesn't particularly bother me so long as it is steadily moving forward and there is provided enough certainty for the RoSCos to take sensible decisions about providing diesel stock for secondary routes rather than waiting for stock cascades which may never come.

 

[ellendune]

2, a proper national, realistic electrification and stock cascade plan which is long term rather than this silly system of announcing improvements and then pausing them.  If is clear that the previous plans were too optimistic in terms of staff and kit capabilities, but instead of a pause we need all the work rescheduled - MML^» (Midland Main Line. - about), valley lines, North West, and various extensions and follow ons.  Only then will the industry see it as worthwhile investing in people and kit to get the job done.  If the assumed future electrification rate is slow that doesn't particularly bother me so long as it is steadily moving forward and there is provided enough certainty for the RoSCos to take sensible decisions about providing diesel stock for secondary routes rather than waiting for stock cascades which may never come.

This is a bit chicken and egg. What they found is that they cannot work out how long it will take. So it is very difficult to reschedule. The GW^▸ (Great Western) Electrification needs to be completed to find out how well the Electrification Train will eventually work, train the staff, see if the new OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") kit works properly and the work out the cheapest practical way of completing various other tasks. That will allow a sensible programme (and budget) to be developed for later projects. 

They could and may be are still doing survey and design work on MML etc., but without the information from GW it will still not be possible to reschedule. So putting all the effort into getting GW to work is probably the best option for now. Even though it is very frustrating. 

Please also remember we have a chronic shortage of trained engineers in the country you cannot just go down to the Job Centre and pick them up. Professional Engineers (4 years University then on the job training) and Technicians all take many years to train. We are also short of the raw material in that our Schools are not inspiring their pupils to study Physics even to GCSE and Maths to A levels.  This is therefore not going to be easy to fix. 

Sorry Rant over