Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 13:15 28 Mar 2024
- How do I renew my UK passport and what is the 10-year rule?
* Man held over stabbing in front of train passengers
- Easter travel warning as millions set to hit roads
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

On this day
28th Mar (1917)
Bideford, Westward Ho! and Appledore closed (link)

Train RunningCancelled
11:23 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
11:50 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
12:15 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
12:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
13:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington
13:15 Swindon to Westbury
13:26 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
13:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
14:19 Westbury to Swindon
15:14 Swindon to Westbury
Short Run
08:03 London Paddington to Penzance
10:35 London Paddington to Exeter St Davids
10:55 Paignton to London Paddington
11:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
11:48 London Paddington to Carmarthen
12:03 London Paddington to Penzance
12:12 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
12:42 Bristol Temple Meads to Salisbury
12:46 Avonmouth to Weston-Super-Mare
13:03 London Paddington to Plymouth
13:07 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
13:10 Gloucester to Weymouth
13:26 Okehampton to Exeter Central
14:05 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
16:19 Carmarthen to London Paddington
Delayed
10:04 London Paddington to Penzance
10:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
11:29 Weymouth to Gloucester
11:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
12:27 Okehampton to Exeter Central
12:28 Plymouth to Gunnislake
12:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
14:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
PollsOpen and recent polls
Closed 2024-03-25 Easter Escape - to where?
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 28, 2024, 13:34:20 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[142] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
[80] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[56] Return of the BRUTE?
[46] If not HS2 to Manchester, how will traffic be carried?
[43] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[34] Reversing Beeching - bring heritage and freight lines into the...
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: Newquay Line - Summary of services from December 2020  (Read 10771 times)
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« on: November 22, 2020, 18:00:45 »

Par to Newquay - the Atlantic Coast Line
Connections from London, Exeter, Plymouth, Liskeard and Bodmin Road
Connections from Penzance, Truro and St Austell

Noting that from mid December, there are two extra round trips on Mondays to Fridays on the Newquay branch.

Arrivals into Newquay have been:
10:13, 13:05, 15:08, 17:07, 19:15 and 21:21
and they become:
06:52, 09:10, 11:02, 13:05, 15:08, 17:07, 19:15 and 21:21

Return trains to Par have been:
10:23, 13:10, 15:10, 17:19, 19:22 and 21:28 until mid December
and they become:
07:12, 09:17, 11:12, 13:10, 15:10, 17:19, 19:22 and 21:26

Seven round trips on Saturdays (no change - 06:52 to 20:22 off Par)
Three round trips on Sundays (no change - 10:05 to 16:15 off Par)

Summer see through services from London daily, and from The North on Saturdays.
All services except summer through service call on request at all intermediated stations

To someone who's not all that familiar with the line, this seems to be a very logical filling of the most enormous crater in services that appears to have left a previous service totally unfit for "9 to 5" commuters to either end of the line. Having said which, I know an earlier round trip as tried for a period a few years back, but then taken off.

From December ... 07:12 off Newquay, 07:41 Bugle, 08:13 St Austell and 08:30 Truro. (Bugle being the busiest intermediate station). Return from Truro at 17:54, St Autell at 18:10 and getting to Bugle at 18:39 and Newquay at 19:15.  Makes huge sense in moving todays a "mid-Cornwall Metro" starting with a peak train.

Par. Connecting services to Plymouth and beyond, and to Penzance
overview - local map - wider map

St Blazey - operational point

Luxulyan
overview - local map - wider map

Passing loop at Goonbarrow; limit of freight operation.

Bugle
overview - local map - wider map

Roche
overview - local map - wider map

St Columb Road
overview - local map - wider map

Quintrill Downs
overview - local map - wider map

Newquay - Single platform / no sidings just a buffer stop.
overview - local map - wider map
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
bobm
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 9809



View Profile
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2020, 18:35:51 »

It does look logical although if it is to provide a commuter service back from Newquay there is an element of risk introducing at this time.

Mondays excepted it connects with the down sleeper.  (On Mondays it needs a change at Plymouth).  It also connects  with the first stopper up from Penzance. 
Logged
Jamsdad
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 201


View Profile Email
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2020, 19:26:28 »

Good to see a better service but I am not sure there is much regular commuter trafffic. The line is painfully slow and the bus service from Newquay to St Austell is quicker. This is why the re-routing of the service via Burngullow makes so much sense.
Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2020, 22:50:12 »

Good to see a better service but I am not sure there is much regular commuter trafffic. The line is painfully slow and the bus service from Newquay to St Austell is quicker. This is why the re-routing of the service via Burngullow makes so much sense.

I think you may be surprised at some of the other traffic that might develop.  I note that passenger journey numbers at Newquay have been around 100,000 per annum but the five intermediate stations aren't unused totalling 20,000 journeys per annum.  Not many, perhaps, but no useful commuter services so starting from a "useless" point.  They may each be quite small communities at the moment, but the coming of a rail service one step better than useless will help them and help the railway.  And how about commutes into Newquay especially for summer jobs.  Then you have people headed for Liskeard and Plymouth for the day ...

Here are three of the close station catchments to give you an idea ...






And here from elsewhere is a "control" example of a desperate case.
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
Jamsdad
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 201


View Profile Email
« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2020, 23:44:05 »

I'm not disputing the potential passenger flows, what I am saying is the bus is currently faster because the branch is so slow. Get a faster Newquay service preferably running straight in to St Austell and passenger numbers would rise.
Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2020, 09:20:58 »

I'm not disputing the potential passenger flows, what I am saying is the bus is currently faster because the branch is so slow. Get a faster Newquay service preferably running straight in to St Austell and passenger numbers would rise.

I do hear you on that flow; I was saying "look at other potential flows too".

There are similarities here from my own home town.   The most common journey from Melksham is to Bath, and that involves a change and dogleg by train, but we have direct buses - indeed, advise for people headed to Bath is "catch the bus". However, we have done quite well with the other direction(s) which do not go to or via Bath, and also with flows that pass through Bath by train on their way beyond.  Moving the service up to a level that remains poor (every 2 hours, like the Newquay branch becomes) but is useable for day return trips now has moved passenger numbers up by more than an order of magnitude; I wish the Newquay service well and can understand how it has significant potential.
 
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page