24 hour trains

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43961628

Nice idea but perhaps get the scheduled service somewhere near where it should be first?

[JayMac]

RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) will be rubbing their palms with glee. A perfect opportunity to call strikes.

How about the railways sort out Sunday rostering before attempting to find staff to run overnight services.

[didcotdean]

I do recall a few years back overhearing someone on a Friday asking at the Reading station information desk when the last train was back from London and being somewhat puzzled initially with a reply along the lines of '01:30 Sunday morning'.

[grahame]

The "24 hour railway" was touted by Network Rail some years back (earlier in the life of this forum, as I recall) and it's a logical aspiration, becoming ever more logical as social change turns us much more into a 24 hour society - here I am posting at Silly O'Clock.   

However, I have to agree with previous comments - "sort out the current system first".  At the present time,  our local rail industry can't even run it's scheduled service.   Current [TransWilts] data:
* Only 72% of the scheduled passenger service ran yesterday
* Only 39% of trains running due to engineering for 50 days this year
* Only managed "full reduced engineering" service of 7 out of 18 trains on 1 day in 4 (25%) last week
Not to mention massive holes in provision on Sundays and half length trains where longer ones have been promised.

The 24 hour railway is not new, even in fairly recent times.  Not sure of the start date, but I remember that there was a Wales and West (that must date it!) service that ran from Maesteg to Waterloo and back in the early hours. I can recall in my youth changing trains in the middle of the night at York, having arrived on the train from Aberystwyth which terminated there, for onward connection to the train from Glasgow to Colchester.

The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) article does highlight services that already run through the night - to Gatwick, Manchester Airport to York, etc, and indeed there is scope for more. But it will be a few years yet, I suspect, before we see too much in our part of the country; early morning services are being improved, but you just try asking for a train after 22:35 from Bristol to Chippenham / Swindon / London, or after even after 20:06 from Swindon to Westbury on a Monday to Friday, or after 18:35 from Westbury to Swindon on a Saturday!

[WelshBluebird]

but you just try asking for a train after 22:35 from Bristol to Chippenham / Swindon / London, or after even after 20:06 from Swindon to Westbury on a Monday to Friday, or after 18:35 from Westbury to Swindon on a Saturday!

Exactly this. Most people I know who travel by rail do not want a 24 hour service. They just want one which ends a bit later!

[eXPassenger]

Exactly this. Most people I know who travel by rail do not want a 24 hour service. They just want one which ends a bit later!

and after several iterations of extending the time of the last train, followed by passengers then changing their plans and asking for later trains, we will have a 24 hour railway.

[Phantom]

I'd like to be able to get from Temple Meads to Weston at a decent time on a Saturday evening - so we could actually go to a show / concert etc

Guess it is all about where the trains are ending up?
As there are more services on a Sunday !

[martyjon]

I'd like to be able to get from Temple Meads to Weston at a decent time on a Saturday evening - so we could actually go to a show / concert etc

Guess it is all about where the trains are ending up?
As there are more services on a Sunday !

You'll have to wait until the arenal is built if it is built next to BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains).

[TaplowGreen]

I seem to recall back in the 90s there were hourly Paddington-Reading services throughout the night during the week, but I think they stopped some years ago.

[ray951]

Did we not use to have 24 hour services when there were Travelling Post offices, more widespread sleeper services, newspaper trains, etc.

Most of these finished in the 1980's/1990's and in the run up to Privatisation.

Maybe if we bring back British Rail they will return   

[IndustryInsider]

I seem to recall back in the 90s there were hourly Paddington-Reading services throughout the night during the week, but I think they stopped some years ago.

Yes there was, although there is still a through the night service of sorts with departures from London to Reading at 00:34, 01:34, 03:34 and 05:12 and returns at 00:40; 01:24, 02:24 ,03:54 and 04:40 all nights apart from Saturday night/Sunday morning which is probably about right.  An 02:34 from Paddington in the early hours of Saturday morning, and a better through the night service on Sunday mornings (the last departure from London is 01:00) would be obvious ways of improving it further.

[ellendune]

Did we not use to have 24 hour services when there were Travelling Post offices, more widespread sleeper services, newspaper trains, etc.

Most of these finished in the 1980's/1990's and in the run up to Privatisation.

Maybe if we bring back British Rail they will return   

Two rules:

1) You can never bring back the past; and,

2)The past was never as good as you remember it. 

[Wizard]

RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) will be rubbing their palms with glee. A perfect opportunity to call strikes.

How about the railways sort out Sunday rostering before attempting to find staff to run overnight services.

Why would RMT be desperate to call a strike? Surely more trains = more staff = more subs for the union.

[Bmblbzzz]

I can't see there being sufficient demand for this outside of London and a few other big cities. We might at some point in the future get a 24hr service between say Bristol and Bath or a 24hr Henbury Loop but not, say, Melksham. 

[grahame]

I can't see there being sufficient demand for this outside of London and a few other big cities. We might at some point in the future get a 24hr service between say Bristol and Bath or a 24hr Henbury Loop but not, say, Melksham. 

How late services will finish, how early they will start,how they will continue to develop on Sundays is both a factor of currnt demand and future social change.

I'm delighted at the growth we have seen in Sunday morning services - the most recent enhancement there being the first Warminster to Bristol train back from 10:49 to 08:47 ... and t was last year that the summer only"early" Sunday morning TransWilts service became all year.   Year before that, Weymouth gots its Sunday morning service in winter as well as summer.  And RichardB could tell us how Sunday morning has grown on Community Rail in Devon and Cornwall. Proudly, I hope, as he's been very much a mover for this - as for the late train to Barnstaple.

Other late trains are needed too - off Bristol on a (normal) evening, services have really thinned out prior to the 23:35 (I think it is) departure for Frome - pity anybody who wants to see a show then go home to Chippenham or Swindon.  You mention Melksham - something later that 18:32 would be nice from Westbury on a Saturday, and something later from Swindon than 20:06 during the week.   Agreed no middle-of-night in current plans / aspirations.

Early trains during the week?  The gap from Chippenham into Bristol at the start of the morning rush needs filling (been telling that to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) for a while and, drip, drip, drip, obvious case) wouldn't be surprised to see it happen.  Not so much our campaigning, more common sense!