Wow! 50 ons and offs at MKM» on the 1736 ex SWI» . And as you've previously mentioned, the earlier southbound train is loading really well too.
As it happens I was idly speculating just now how much (if stock was available, with no extra leasing costs incurred) it would cost to do one round trip. I reckon about £100 in crew, maybe £65 in fuel per vehicle, and a small amount on track access (maybe £4). I have no idea of any marginal vehicle maintenance costs, but lets round it up to £200 per day. Or £50,000 a year. Am I on the right track?
So just to fill the gap between the 1549 and 1803 departures would not be cheap, and that's assuming a 1 car unit.
You're probably in the right order of magnitude in the final figure - but as vehicles are "all day" products, and crews come in 8ish hour shifts, and there isn't (
quite) a spare train lying around, throwing 50k at it directly wouldn't sort this issue.
It is interesting to note the extra lunchtime trip that's been running since May and because that uses layover stock (not sure on crew rotas) many of the costs are there anyway. And I look at the 2-car that parks in the bay at Swindon from 16:24 to 17:54 ... but that's something we've visited in the past and it hits just past the edge of robustness to get it out to Trowbridge and back (where it couldn't reverse at the platform anyway); even swapping with the set that is on layover at Westbury from 16:33 to 17:11 doesn't quite work. There's lots of other trains around ... the best solution I've seen looses the 17:28 Warminster to Worcester Shrub Hill as far as Westbury and that's robbing Peter to pay Paul. There's a potential bigger picture solution to that one if / when a train coming up from Salisbury calls at Warminster at 17:38, but the ripples go on, and I haven't even started on crew - just on trains.
Adding a train / carriage to the fleet just for the peak (and remember we're in the swansong of 153s in our area) doesn't add up - even with London commuter trains, the parking up overnight in Hastings and during the day at Grove Park is (I think) a thing of the past. So I suspect that after finding all the layovers that can be used, the ongoing solution is in something which plugs other gaps too; quoting Melksham times, you have 07:49 to 10:04 northbound, and 06:38 to 09:15 southbound. If you fill the 07:49 to 10:04 gap, you
really need to fill the evening gap where I started in the first place, otherwise the 17:36 off Swindon becomes even more crowded.
