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  • Station dwell inputs, last day: July 24, 2019
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Author Topic: Helping to keep trains on schedule when timetables tighten up in December 2019  (Read 8986 times)
grahame
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« on: July 19, 2019, 06:15:29 »

Of late we have become used to new trains arriving at stations ahead of schedule and seeing station duties completed and staff waiting around for the scheduled departure time.  The scale of this can be seen by looking at real time trains  - as an example, I looked at yesterday's 17:42 off Paddington to Cheltenham Spa and see ten minutes longer in intermediate stations than scheduled, yet a final arrival within one minute of time.

Come the December timetable change, faster timetable schedules will be introduced to take advantage of the faster start to stop (station to station) times that the new trains can achieve, cutting back on the current "fat" at stations, and it will be important for timekeeping and to avoid knock on delays that station duties be performed at a smart speed.

Some 76% of trains are to be sped up (GWR (Great Western Railway)'s figures) and that confirms the changes spread beyond just the IET (Intercity Express Train) trains.  Thames Valley class 387 trains have a quicker envelope than the the 165 and 166 trains they have replaced. 165, 166 and 158 trains taking over in places from 143, 150 and 153 trains with a top speed of 90 mph rather than 75 mph - and the effect already seen is that there are currently extended station waits at places like Chippenham and Melksham where such trains have longish inter-station runs on high speed capable infrastructure.

GWR are very much aware that, come December, dwell times will be reduced and the slack taken out, and are looking ahead / asking for ideas to help improve (reduce) station dwell times.  An email I received yesterday (and it appears to have had quite a wide circulation list) seeks ideas ... a meeting of the Melksham Rail User Group officers came up with some local thoughts we will be circulating for the station we represent, but there could well be other more general ideas too. Time is short - this train of input opportunity leaves on 24th July. Should new ideas that have a consensus of agreement be posted in this thread, they can be passed on to GWR (who read us anyway).  Really useful opportunity here for some win-wins!
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grahame
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« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2019, 06:24:15 »

As a first answer after my announcement... and a bit of analysis.  It's about ...

* Getting people ready at the right place in the train / on the platform and at the right station

* Getting doors released and open as soon after stopping as practical

* Allowing for most rapid / widest flows off and on

* Ensuring that stragglers don't straggle too long and that passengers who need extra time are well catered for

* Having it quickly clear when passenger loading / unloading has been completed

* Having a time efficient process for getting the train from load mode to being ready to go, ensuring the driver knows to start and actually starting.
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« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2019, 07:04:04 »

They will also need to tighten up how they support passengers with disabilities who book assistance, and those older passengers with luggage who don't.
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PhilWakely
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« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2019, 07:10:38 »

They will also need to tighten up how they support passengers with disabilities who book assistance, and those older passengers with luggage who don't.

A couple of weeks ago, at Totnes, an elderly lady turned up in a taxi just 2 minutes before her XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) train was due, with no booked assistance. She had a zimmer frame and a fold-up (heavy) mobility scooter as well as a heavy suitcase. The taxi driver just dumped her at the platform entrance and expected the platform staff (single manned at the time!) to deal with her. All credit to the staff concerned, who got the train away just one minute down, thanks to the help of other pax joining the train.
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johnneyw
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« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2019, 07:50:15 »

It helps that you can drive right up to the entrances to both platforms at Totnes without needing to use the footbridge.
BTW (by the way), does anyone know if the goldfish pond, that was lost to the new bridge construction, has been replaced? I used to like waiting for the train home there on a sunny evening.
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Robin Summerhill
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« Reply #5 on: July 19, 2019, 10:29:37 »

Quote from: grahame
GWR (Great Western Railway) are very much aware that, come December, dwell times will be reduced and the slack taken out, and are looking ahead / asking for ideas to help improve (reduce) station dwell times. 

My message to GWR would simply be "This is the Art of Management." There is hardly anything new in railway services being accelerated when new forms of traction come along, or when PW (Permanent Way) and signalling improvements clear lines for higher speeds, and so on. I am reminded of a paragraph in Gerry Fiennes' book "I tried to run a railway" (on page 123 if you want to read it yourself!)

"We set out to teach homo sapiens erectus railwayanus to abandon his casual habits and to run trains to time. The first task was with ourselves. Will officers kindly instruct their stations that trains will no longer wait for passengers strolling down the hill or from one platform to another? Will officers kindly instruct their Controls not to stop trains where they are not booked to stop for anyone but the Sovereign? Will officers no longer stop trains for themselves? Will the engineers kindly keep off the fast lines during "express" hours? Will officers get out and about and encourage louder whistles, more noisy slamming of doors, more dramatic waving of flags?"

That was written about the railways in the 1960s and, whilst many of the points raised are no longer an issue on today's railway, the basic underlying point of making sure that managers manage effectively is just as salient now as it has ever been.
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« Reply #6 on: July 19, 2019, 11:01:10 »

I know a great deal of time and effort is being put into trying to make the December timetable work (is it happening in December again now?  I thought Broadgage had heard different?), from educating staff through to tightening up procedures and having a 'command centre' approach to the initial period after introduction.  This 'asking for suggestions' email is obviously one part of that.

Not everything will run smoothly, I'm sure - and launching a new timetable right in the middle of Winter gives rise to other external factors that might not happen if you launched in, say, March.  GWR (Great Western Railway) management is taking a very proactive approach to sorting out potential problems though, which is encouraging.
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« Reply #7 on: July 19, 2019, 11:09:50 »

The best thing they could do to improve dwell times is to put more effort into ensuring that trains are the right way round, with First Class at the Up end, so that we get rather less of the amusing display of passengers running back and forth up and down the platform. At the very least, the worst possible configuration of a 10-car train with First Class in carriages 4, 5, 6, and 7 should be actively avoided, as the reality is that Standard Class passengers are accustomed to waiting in the middle of the platform at most stations, and presenting the centre of the platform with two kitchen doors flanked by two First Class doors on either side is inevitably going to lengthen dwell times.

The carriage lettering in those awful 5-car sets (can we please give them to another operator and order some proper trains instead?) should be sorted out so that A-E are always in the unit at the Down end and G-L always in the unit at the Up end -- I understand that this can be changed on the fly and is not difficult.
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broadgage
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« Reply #8 on: July 19, 2019, 11:32:19 »

Reliably reducing station dwell times is going to be a considerable challenge, as much due to political correctness as due to technical reasons.

"Mother with 2 special needs children left behind"
"90 year old war veteran left on wrong platform"
"nasty train man let train go when he could see me coming"

Whilst IETs (Intercity Express Train) have the merit that passengers cant leave the doors open, other aspects of the design tend to slow boarding.
I seems to me that IET dwell times are often extended, but that the superior acceleration away from each stop usually compensates for this.
I have observed an IET stopped at Taunton for over 5 minutes, mainly due to conflicts over outsized luggage, cycles,  and giant baby carriages "no one came to help me" and "where is the guard's van"

Arrival at Paddington was well within time despite the extended dwell time at Taunton. If however the service was to be accelerated, the on time arrival at London seems doubtful.
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A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
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« Reply #9 on: July 19, 2019, 11:47:00 »

I know a great deal of time and effort is being put into trying to make the December timetable work (is it happening in December again now?  I thought Broadgage had heard different?),

broadgage has indeed heard otherwise, but I should stress that this was rumour and not any official source.
I doubt that the planned changes will be COMPLETLY postponed, or abandoned, too much loss of face ! Much more likely IMO (in my opinion) is a gradual or phased introduction, with very, very little in the first phase taking place this December.
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A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
TonyK
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« Reply #10 on: July 19, 2019, 17:00:12 »

Wider use of the new-ish zone markings on platforms will help enormously, if passengers know that their reserved seat will be through the door at a specified place on the platform. The removal of practically all slam-door trains in the region is another major step forward - if the door is locked when you arrive, you ain't getting on, and staff no longer have up to 16 doors to close before a train can leave the station. The speed out of the blocks for the IETs (Intercity Express Train) is certainly impressive.

The Bristol Post is getting all excited about the December timetable.

Quote
How quick new GWR (Great Western Railway) train from Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington will be
"More trains and faster journeys will help people switch from cars to public transport"


ByHannah BakerBusiness Editor
08:23, 19 JUL 2019UPDATED09:08, 19 JUL 2019



A GWR train

Bristol is getting a super-fast train to London Paddington at the end of the year.

GWR’s new route, which is part of a massive timetable change taking place in December, will take 67 minutes from Bristol Parkway to the capital.

The journey from Temple Meads to London will also be reduced by 17 minutes - to one hour and 19 minutes, according to Business Live.

The changes are subject to final industry approval, including from Network Rail, and are expected to come into effect on December 15.

It will be the biggest change to the timetable since 1976.

 
Managing director Mark Hopwood said: “While December may seem a long time away for many, we have been working hard behind the scenes to prepare to implement the biggest timetable change on this network since 1976.

“In providing more frequent and quicker journeys our new timetable will for the vast majority of users quite literally mean ‘all change please’ and we are looking forward to publishing further details soon.”

There will also be more trains running as part of the plan; there will be 20,000 extra seats every day from Temple Meads and 15,000 more from Parkway.  And there will be an extra train an hour at peak times from both stations.

'This is great news'

The extra train will be added during off-peak hours in 2020.

“This is great news for the West of England,” said metro mayor Mayor Tim Bowles.

“More seats, more trains and faster journeys will help people switch from cars to public transport, reducing congestion and improving the air we breathe.

“The new timetable will support the new rail services we have planned through MetroWest and it’s great to see even more investment in both track and train.”

The plans are expected to be published on September 15.
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Timmer
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« Reply #11 on: July 19, 2019, 17:12:22 »

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The Bristol Post is getting all excited about the December timetable.
I am too. It’s been a long time in coming where we will finally get to see the benefits of electrification and the new IET (Intercity Express Train) trains. They may not be to everyone’s taste but they really do shift.
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CyclingSid
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« Reply #12 on: July 19, 2019, 17:28:19 »

Slight variation on what happens at stations. I believe that it has been said elsewhere on the forum that when the new timetable is fully implemented there will not be a lot of slack running into Paddington. My thought (nightmare?) is on the stretch between Heathrow Junction and Paddington, what happens when we have people running around on the track (a not unknown occurrence)? How long will it take to recover the timetable to something close to normal with so little slack in the system.
I realise this is not the objective of the questionnaire and there is not a prior (?) solution, but presumably there will be some contingency planning, especially for people stuck on trains possibly for a lengthy period.
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grahame
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« Reply #13 on: July 19, 2019, 18:10:34 »

I know a great deal of time and effort is being put into trying to make the December timetable work (is it happening in December again now?  I thought Broadgage had heard different?),

broadgage has indeed heard otherwise, but I should stress that this was rumour and not any official source.

I suspect there is confirmatory evidence in this quote by TonyK from the Bristol Post - not that the Bristol Post is an official source!

The Bristol Post is getting all excited about the December timetable.
Quote
The extra train will be added during off-peak hours in 2020.
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« Reply #14 on: July 19, 2019, 20:33:56 »

There's one thing that would help - eliminate dividing trains mid-journey. One of the regular trains on my evening commute is the 18-57 ex-Reading stopping train for Didcot Parkway, which arrives as a 12 car train, "sheds" the last 4 and continues as an 8 car train to Didcot. The dividing procedure almost always takes longer than timetabled (although no longer as bad as the early days of Electrostar use, when 20 minutes was not uncommon), and this on a train which probably is the one that is the poorest time-keeper on the Reading - Goring leg of my journey. Yet while it fumbles with the manoeuvre, another stopping service usually arrives alongside from Paddington and terminates. Why not put the extra coaches on that one?

(No doubt someone out there will know and tell me......!)
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