The importance of connections

[whole diary]

[grahame]

An example that's local to me - but illustrative of something I've seen and written on muchley in many places.

I really don't mind if trains are occasionally a few minute late - and indeed I'll tend to shrug my shoulders at the odd train now and then that's up to quarter of an hour late.  It strikes me, on an infrequent and regional (as opposed to local) service as a fair price to pay when the alternative is a train that's scheduled with longer station lags and turn arounds which would add to passenger frustration and subtract from the number of round trips the train can make in a day.

However ... connections are paramount.  I can tell of a late running train pulling in to Westbury as the train (which runs only every 2 hours) to Taunton and beyond pulls out from the other side of the same platform.  And I can tell of passengers running up to the 10:21 (Sunday) Westbury to Weymouth from a late train from Swindon and seeing it pulling away, next train 14:22.   These are historic experiences, but it's still happening

Passengers use the 07:21 from Melksham to connect at Chippenham, across the platform, into the 07:44 to Bristol Temple Meads.  The 07:21 train was delayed by "13 minutes" (JourneyCheck report) by a train fault and arrived into Chippenham according to Real Time Trains 15 SECONDS after the Bristol train left. Nice one for the passengers on this well-used connection.

I appreciate that holding up a train to make a connection of 15 seconds probably costs 90 seconds by the time people transfer (and longer if there is a wheelchair passenger).  But I also notice that the 07:44 has 2.5 minutes of recovery time in its schedule between Chippenham and Bristol.   Ironically this morning, it slipped out of Chippenham so that people could not transfer ... and then got checked between Bath and Bristol because of a train in front of it.  A pause of an extra 90 seconds at Chippenham would have saved connecting passengers around 1500 seconds each into Bristol at no cost to other on the train travelling to Bristol.   Passengers from Swindon and east thereof to Bath Spa would have been delayed by (estimate) about 30 seconds each.

[ChrisB]

Those on that connectingtrain may havetheir ownconnections elsewhere, including BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains). Picking up a couple at CPMmay mean more missing a majorconnection elsewhere.

No one traveller is more important than any other, thus the more likely major connections ought to be met by staying on time?

It is a difficult one, i agree.

[TaplowGreen]

It goes to a cultural issue within the railways which places customer service and experience far down the list of priorities.

[PhilWakely]

A few years back, in the early days of the Weymouth Wizard, there were a few of us on it having come up from Exeter. The return Wizard was booked into Platform 3 at Castle Cary with an advertised westbound connection for Taunton and beyond arriving into Platform 2 shortly afterwards.

For some unknown reason, the [on-time] Wizard was held outside Cary until the Plymouth train had departed and then routed into Platform 2.  Even the TM^‡(resolve) on the Wizard was puzzled, having announced the imminent arrival at Cary and platform restrictions. With no westbound train due for another 2 hours, the very helpful member of staff on duty put us all into taxis bound for Taunton.  

[grahame]

No one traveller is more important than any other, thus the more likely major connections ought to be met by staying on time?

A good philosophy in general.

Those on that connecting train may have their own connections elsewhere, including BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains). Picking up a couple at CPM^» (Chippenham - next trains) may mean more missing a major connection elsewhere.

No connection was missed at Bath or Bristol - and it would not be with a delay of a handful of minutes on this train.

It is a difficult one, i agree.

Yes - that's especially the case at a general level.  At a local level there's already a handful of "this train should be held for up to xx minutes to maintain connections from yy" directives, and it would be beneficial to review those and implement them more widely.  As it is, the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) risks having its precious operational stats damaged by awaiting a connection while significantly inconveniencing a chunk of its passengers.