Hello from Didcot

[whole diary]

[mjones]

Hi all, just found your forum.

I'm a Didcot resident, commuting to Wokingham via Reading.

Amongst other things, I've been wondering about the often poor timetabled connections at Reading between services from the west and the North Downs line. Just as with poor connections at Didcot for Oxford, this strikes me as a missed opportunity to make the most out of the network we've got...

[Btline]

Hi all, just found your forum.

I'm a Didcot resident, commuting to Wokingham via Reading.

Amongst other things, I've been wondering about the often poor timetabled connections at Reading between services from the west and the North Downs line. Just as with poor connections at Didcot for Oxford, this strikes me as a missed opportunity to make the most out of the network we've got...

Welcome to the forum, mjones.

I think the congestion at Reading restricts the ability for FGW^▸ (First Great Western) to do good connexions.

I think that there are plenty of trains (stopping) from Dicot to Oxford, some express.

[Ollie]

You need to remember that the north downs line in parts is shared with: South West Trains, Southern, and at the moment CrossCountry.

Sure having good connections would be great. But then it would be the issue of which service should it connect with, one from Penzance? Bristol TM^‡(resolve)? Swansea? Worcester?

[swlines]

The North Downs will still be shared by CrossCountry, Ollie. It's part of the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) franchise agreement for the December 2008 timetable to operate IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) 2 services to Guildford (mainly in order to retain route knowledge for Bournemouth / Reading (I think there is an XC crew depot there) drivers).

[mjones]

Hi all, just found your forum.

I'm a Didcot resident, commuting to Wokingham via Reading.

Amongst other things, I've been wondering about the often poor timetabled connections at Reading between services from the west and the North Downs line. Just as with poor connections at Didcot for Oxford, this strikes me as a missed opportunity to make the most out of the network we've got...

Welcome to the forum, mjones.

I think the congestion at Reading restricts the ability for FGW^▸ (First Great Western) to do good connexions.

I don't doubt it... nonetheless I feel that connections with longer distance trains from Bristol and South Wales have got worse in the most recent timetable change. I'll try to get some numbers out of the timetable when I've got more time. Certainly in the morning peak the 7.44 from Didcot (a Swansea train) invariably just misses the 0804 Redhill service; the 0800 (Bristol train) usually just misses the 0820 to Shalford and the 0817 just misses the 0834 Gatwick train. Of course it isn't possible to make every connection work, but as I said I feel that it has got a bit worse since the last change.

I think that there are plenty of trains (stopping) from Dicot to Oxford, some express.

There are usually two per hour from Didcot to Oxford. Sometimes an express stops as well. However, the problem is with connections with trains from Bristol and South Wales; often the Swindon train is timetabled to arrive a few minutes after the Oxford train leaves, or with a very short and easily missed connection. This is discussed in the forum about journeys from the west of Swindon to Oxford and Reading.

[Ollie]

The North Downs will still be shared by CrossCountry, Ollie. It's part of the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) franchise agreement for the December 2008 timetable to operate IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) 2 services to Guildford (mainly in order to retain route knowledge for Bournemouth / Reading (I think there is an XC crew depot there) drivers).

Fair enough, think I might have been confusing myself because of the CrossCountry services to Brighton which will stop? I think I'm actually totally wrong, don't know a great deal about the CC franchise

[swlines]

Brighton via Kensington Olympia and Gatwick via Guildford services will end at the end of the upcoming timetable. The only services that will continue are Guildford via Farnborough North (not stopping, of course).

[Steve44]

I've used the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) (when it was Virgin) from Oxford to Brighton before on a few occassions, and always found it to be quite well used.. any reason for it's cancellation?  Does that include the service to Gatwick aswell?

[swlines]

Yes, any service beyond Reading towards Brighton is removed with the exception of a few Guildford services.

Reason for its withdrawal, low usage!

[grahame]

Yes, any service beyond Reading towards Brighton is removed with the exception of a few Guildford services.

Reason for its withdrawal, low usage!

Hmmm ... so I wonder if that is real low usage or perceived low usage. 

Sorry to be cynical, but we lost the Swindon to Southampton service in December 2006 to a similar "low usage" excuse.  And, no, the usage was NOT low ... it just had been low in 2002, the year after another major timetable change after which it grew at 35% per annum compound (figure from ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about)) not the 0.8% assumed in the franchise spec.

Flagging it up at this stage probably wouldn't help to get the service corrected to an appropriate level in the short term even if we could show the decision was based on bad or out-of-date data. It's taking us an age to get back to something resembling a decent service here across Wiltshire ...

[swlines]

It's real low usage compared to the costs of operating the service.

Southern will be operating a comparative replacement service for passengers going to the north - I'll explain that later on in the post.

For passengers from Guildford to Reading - already served with Great Western, likewise with anywhere on the North Downs route. Kensington Olympia is the only real loser in this - but you can just get SWT^▸ (South West Trains) from Clapham to Reading if needs be, or GW^▸ (Great Western) from London Paddington.

Southerns replacement service will be an East Croydon to Milton Keynes Central as I understand it, although initially only going to Bletchley from the next timetable change IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) due to signalling works. This service will connect directly into Virgin West Coast services, as it does currently with their Brighton to Watford Junction service - although passengers will have to change a bit more, having a through service to Milton Keynes actually opens up more connectional opportunities than it does to just serve Watford Junction. It would not surprise me one bit if Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) is accepted beyond Watford Junction when Southern shift their service northwards.

[Lee]

Recent related Parliamentary Written Answer :

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate she has made of the number of people affected by the decision to terminate trains on the Watford to Brighton line at Clapham Junction from winter 2008; and if she will make a statement.

Mr. Tom Harris: A recent survey showed that an average of around 70 passengers (per train operated) would require to change trains at Clapham Junction. Many times that number of people will benefit from the implementation of the full Thameslink service that is made possible by the service change.