South Western Railways Waterloo - Bristol services axed

[whole diary]

[brooklea]

Yet this service arrived on p3 from Gloucester, then ecs to p1 via sig64, while most of the other arr/dep p1

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:V31557/2021-11-26/detailed

I would suggest that it didn’t do this shunt at all, as it departed back to Westbury as 2Z83 at 1931. https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:82916/2021-11-26/detailed#allox_id=0.

The set of points with the issue, as I understand it, are to the south end of platforms, so trains from the north could theoretically arrive in p3 and then shunt to p1 via the north end, but this would only be necessary to pass a SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) train in p1, and these have all been cancelled.

[grahame]

Talking about through trains from Middlesbrough to London which START next month in the Northern Echo

Middlesbrough MP^▸ (Member of Parliament): One train a day ‘not a proper service’ for town

I agree with him ...

Andy McDonald, the Middlesbrough MP and former Shadow Transport Secretary, welcomes the start of a daily train service from the Boro to the capital but says it is not enough to get the region’s economy on track.

ON Monday, December 13, before the sun has risen, the inaugural direct Azuma^▸ (Brand name for Class 80x trains on LNER) train to London will glide out of Middlesbrough station.

While it may be a stretch to say it represents a new dawn, it is undoubtedly a hugely important milestone in our railway journey and represents the successful culmination of years of campaigning.

Why are [whoever] starting through services to London from Middlesbrough and withdrawing them the same weekend from Keynsham, Oldfield Park, Bradford-on-Avon and Trowbridge? 

Middlesbrough to London is 250 miles, Trowbridge to London only just over 100 miles.   I would have thought that there would be more call for (and use of) services at around 100 miles than over 250 where, perhaps, other places such as Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle would have been strong super-regional destinations.   I suppose on the same basis I should ask about trains from Trowbridge to Birmingham ....

[rogerw]

Middlesbrough has an hourly service to York and a half hourly service to Darlington, both of which have services to London at least every 30 minutes. The proposed London service duplicates the existing service to York. Double standards?

[Mark A]

"Rail Social Value Tool goes live for early adopters"

Can't think of a good test case for this that's local to Bristol, Bath, West Wiltshire stations, and other destinations Salisbury to South London. Anyone??

Mark

https://www.railwaygazette.com/uk/rail-social-value-tool-goes-live-for-early-adopters/60420.article

[Western Pathfinder]

From SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) earlier today on the Twitter feed meet the manager!.
https://www.southwesternrailway.com/contact-and-help/meet-the-manager.

[grahame]

From SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) earlier today on the Twitter feed meet the manager!.
https://www.southwesternrailway.com/contact-and-help/meet-the-manager.

Our next Meet the Manager session will be taking place on Thursday 13 January between 15:00 & 19:00 (3pm & 7pm) through Microsoft Teams.

You can book a one-to-one session lasting up to 15 minutes by emailing meet.swr@transportfocus.org.uk and providing your contact details, preferred time and the topic you would like to discuss.

Spaces are limited, so request your appointment by no later than 5 January.

[Clan Line]

Just collected my daughter from Warminster station.

Left Aylesford (Kent) 1020.
Left Paddock Wood    1100. (12 min connection)
Left Waterloo            1220. (32 min connection from WAE. WMN^» (Warminster - next trains) train on platform, time to pick up a hot pasty)
Arrive WMN              1411. (train appeared to be around 50% full at WMN !!)

The next time she does that trip she will have a 59 minute (non-) "connection" at Salisbury to factor in. Thanks SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) !!

[Mark A]

Thanks for the estimate of the passengers it was carrying on a Thursday daytime in early December '21.

It's legitimate to wonder how much awareness there is out there that soon those services won't be running.

Also, it's legitimate to wonder if the rumour is true - that the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) has required that all SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) comms and press releases be signed off by them.

[Mark A]

"Andrew rails against train cuts"

I should think he does, given the part he played the last time the service was threatened.

https://www.andrewmurrison.co.uk/news/andrew-rails-against-train-cuts

Have any of his constituents asked him for an update since he put that on his web site - as late as the 18th November? That is a remarkably late date for an MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) to be having a discussion about an established and, barring industrial action and the depths of a pandemic, well used  service with the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) - when it's going to cease to run within three weeks.

Mark

[Mark A]

And another thing: when a TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) justifies cutting a train service - a move that's guaranteed to lose income, even though, yes, that income doesn't cover the cost of the service, their rep. shouldn't highlight that the TOC will be able to reduce the track access charges to Network Rail - because as well as that 2 or 3 carriage train shuttling along between Waterloo and Bristol three times a day - remove that and you still have the matter of 50 or so miles of double track steel rail to be paid for, and the other infrastructure.

Even down to the inadequately maintained lineside vegetation that cost the industry several tens of millions as a result of the Salisbury collision the other week. All that still needs paying for.

[grahame]

Have any of his constituents asked him for an update since he put that on his web site - as late as the 18th November? That is a remarkably late date for an MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) to be having a discussion about an established and, barring industrial action and the depths of a pandemic, well used  service with the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) - when it's going to cease to run within three weeks.

But bear in mind, Mark, that although the idea of permanently cutting was seriously taken about between SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) and the DfT in February, and finalised in April / May (at which point SWR could start running down route knowledge and their staff pool), it didn't get any publicity until the early days of August, when it came out as a side-note in a consultation across the "next area to the south" in the form of (I paraphrase) "this is not a consultation on Bristol to Salisbury services because they'll be gone a year before any of the things we're consulting on takes place".  My FOI^▸ (Freedom of Information) asking "what the **** happened", asked in Mid August, was delayed from the usual 20 days response limit to 40 days, and we only learned what went on in the spring a couple of wornihg days before our October 20th meeting.

I think the MPs were blindsided on this one - not given any realistic chance of an input until far too late in the day.  I have been assured that they were offered a briefing at a date prior to 28th July on the "2022 consultation" so had an opportunity to be involved then, but I don't think they had any way of knowing that such a briefing would have revealed to them the loss of this loved service - they must get 00s of such offers of information, and it looks to me that it was done in a way almost designed to NOT have them take it up, but in such a way that the DfT could say "you had an opportunity"

Now - having missed / been mislead earlier in the year, both MPs in Wiltshire have become aware of the issue, have asked the DfT about it and been given the DfT's reasons and have gone back and enquired further as to what can be done, having received answers which are less that satisfactory.  Andrew raised it in a parliamentary debate and Grant Shapps referred him on to Chris Heaton-Harris.  I'm glad that the second enquiries have been made, though find it significant and disappointing that there have been no reports back from those meetings.

[Witham Bobby]

I think the MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) were blindsided on this one - not given any realistic chance of an input until far too late in the day.  I have been assured that they were offered a briefing at a date prior to 28th July on the "2022 consultation" so had an opportunity to be involved then, but I don't think they had any way of knowing that such a briefing would have revealed to them the loss of this loved service - they must get 00s of such offers of information, and it looks to me that it was done in a way almost designed to NOT have them take it up, but in such a way that the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) could say "you had an opportunity"

I am positive telling someone something in a way that they didn't know they'd been told was a plot in an episode of "Yes, Minister"

The DfT are following standard operating procedure

[Mark A]

The incumbent political party will have a particular issue with the recent Old Bexley and Sidcup byelection in that their majority has been cut from nearly 19000 to under 5000. To all of us, it's the turnout of a little over 30% that should be more concerning though.

https://members.parliament.uk/constituency/3669/election-history

That aside, it's not unreasonable to expect the Bristol - Waterloo train service or lack of it to play at least a small part when election time comes round again.

Small, that is, in comparison with the incumbent government's handling of rail development in the north. Rail Magazine's editor Nigel Harris has written a scathing response to that and swept up the impractical nature of the various mitigations on offer: it's well worth looking out the copy.

Mark

[Mark A]

One Stephen Joseph, in an article decrying what's become an ebbing tide for the railway's passengers, current and prospective, has now name-checked the Bristol to Waterloo services... good.

https://theconversation.com/government-must-back-uk-train-travel-or-risk-long-term-retreat-to-cars-172667

He's linked to a piece by Graham on the Friends of Severn Beach's site...

https://fosbr.org.uk/plans-to-cut-bristol-to-waterloo-service/

Mark

[grahame]

The incumbent political party will have a particular issue with the recent Old Bexley and Sidcup byelection in that their majority has been cut from nearly 19000 to under 5000. To all of us, it's the turnout of a little over 30% that should be more concerning though.

https://members.parliament.uk/constituency/3669/election-history

That aside, it's not unreasonable to expect the Bristol - Waterloo train service or lack of it to play at least a small part when election time comes round again.

Small, that is, in comparison with the incumbent government's handling of rail development in the north. Rail Magazine's editor Nigel Harris has written a scathing response to that and swept up the impractical nature of the various mitigations on offer: it's well worth looking out the copy.

Mark

Indeed.  I have (just) published a major update at http://www.passenger.chat/25727 - a separate thread as it's a keynote that I want to be able to share.

The "Chippenham" constituency is much more marginal than others around.

Boundary Commission proposals for West Wiltshire move Bradford-on-Avon from Chippenham into a much safer seat including Melksham and Devizes,  and bring Calne and Royal Wootton Bassett into the seat that will retain the name "Chippenham".  The cynic would suggest that this part of Wiltshire is being adjusted and will be blue except for Bath as far as the eye can see ... not withstanding the shock of some 3,000 people in the two current Wiltshire constituencies with stations loosing all trains from London, and potentially remindable of that after 2023.