Off peak trains from Bedwyn replacement by Newbury shuttle to be permanent

[whole diary]

[Robin Summerhill]

I believe the trench was already dug before the railway arrived. The Kennet and Avon canal isn't particularly suited to electrification though.

Oh I don’t know...

We have the example of the Listowel to Ballybunion that was mentioned recently

You could have a conductor rail above water level and pannier-shaped barges. It could work!!

I’ll have to stop typing now – Nurse is coming...

[grahame]

It isn't too difficult to find blogs of individuals that were opposed to Bedwyn electrification not so much on aesthetic grounds but a feeling that it would increase road traffic to the station (& associated parking problems) for the improved service. No indication this was related at all to the Passenger Group though.

I have bolded that element to say "you don't know how right you are" ... and I am having to be very careful indeed how I write.   The longer established moderators will know exactly where I am coming from.  Are you sure that the blogs you found were from different individuals?  Parking has been a massive controversy and has spilled over into the whole "do we want better trains because it will bring more people?" question.

BTPG have been in, perhaps, a similar situation to the people who want electrification thorough Bath - supportive of course, but anxious for their support to be in such a way that it doesn't generate a massive backlash.   In spite of Steve's wording, written for the local audience in Bedwyn, there was no "opposition to electrification" outside one or two individuals.

[Robin Summerhill]

Parking has been a massive controversy and has spilled over into the whole "do we want better trains because it will bring more people?" question.

I speak with some knowledge and experience here having had, with my Surveyor’s hat on, to visit The Knapp several times (which is the estate outside the station)

The natives were getting restless many years ago about overspill parking there

[IndustryInsider]

A Hungerford stop on the 2-hourly semi-fasts that pass through would be a sensible gesture IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion).

It does indeed look as if that's going to happen on several of them*.  Good news for those wanting to head west from Hungerford as that will be much easier (best ever service?).  Still poor heading towards London as no direct trains between 07:26 and 15:24 so the London leisure market is going to be very badly hit. 

Better for London passengers on a Saturday with an 09:17 to Paddington and 19:04 return, though that's very poor compared with the hourly Saturday service on offer at the moment, though at least the connections at Newbury work well on a Saturday, where they're pretty appalling on a weekday. 

Rubbish on a Sunday...but then it is rubbish now!

* All timings subject to change as based on data in RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website).

[Robin Summerhill]

A Hungerford stop on the 2-hourly semi-fasts that pass through would be a sensible gesture IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion).

Good news for those wanting to head west from Hungerford as that will be much easier (best ever service?). 

The service west of a Bedwyn stop has been very poor ever since local passenger services between Bedwyn and Westbury/ Holt Jcn via Devizes were withdrawn at the time of Beeching. It wasn't all that good beforehand but there were some interesting workings such as a mid-afternoon Paddington to WSM via Devizes and Bristol, but even this was predominantly a stopper.

It did however give a through service between Wootton Rivers and Weston Milton! I wonder how many tickets got sold...?

[grahame]

An update from Bedwyn Trains Passenger Group

Hello All,
 
Thank you to everybody who has written to their MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) regarding the loss of our direct Paddington off-peak services from May. Thank you too to everybody who has recently joined our email list.
 
What’s been happening:
 
1)      Our initial email has been picked up by various press outlets, including Penny Post, Newbury Weekly News and the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page).
2)      Bill Wells and I did a TV interview for South Today. This aired on March 3rd.
3)      We have a Zoom meeting with our local MP, Danny Kruger, booked for Monday afternoon.
4)      We are due to meet GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) face to face w/c 21st.
5)      We have been examining the proposed timetable and have put our concerns to GWR. This is aside from the fact that we don’t agree with the cuts. Instead we are at least trying to get the May timetable to work for Kintbury, Hungerford and Bedwyn. At present the shuttle service (Bedwyn to Newbury) has a number of, shall we say, strange timings in it.
 
In preparation for our meetings with our MP and (separately) GWR we have prepared the attached timetable summary document. It shows three timetables:
 
1.       The service we should be getting (i.e. the pre-Covid December 2019 service).
2.       The service we are getting today.
3.       The service proposed from May.
 
It indicates quite clearly how much the Bedwyn service level is being reduced with the direct services to Paddington being reduced from 19 to 6 and the return journey directs from 16 to 3. As mentioned before the connections at Newbury do not work very well, so the situation is even worse than it looks.
 
Although the document is prepared for Bedwyn, it’s very similar for Kintbury and Hungerford.
 
Best wishes
 
Steve Smith
Bedwyn Trains Passenger Group