Cross Country Bristol trains to stop at Worcestershire Parkway?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From Worcester News

It was agreed that discussions to add a Manchester to Bristol service at Worcestershire Parkway would be reopened once the station had proven itself as a success.

Worcestershire Parkway then opened in 2019 and, despite facing reduced demand during the pandemic, the station is now operating ahead of projections.

Harriett Baldwin MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) has voiced her support for the efforts being made to add extra train services at Worcestershire Parkway.

[snip]

Discussions for its expansion are now underway with Mrs Baldwin meeting with Great Western Railway’s Matt Cambourne, Cross Country’s Richard Gibson and Cotswold Line Promotion Group chairman John Ellis on Thursday (March 30).

“When the station was first discussed, I met with Cross Country to urge them to plan for extra services stopping there beyond the current service between Nottingham and Cardiff,” said Mrs Baldwin.

“I am hoping that the Cross Country service between Manchester and Bristol will stop at Worcestershire Parkway as originally proposed before the pandemic, and I have offered my support as these negotiations take place.

Do you find it ironic that the article celebrates the removal of the Slough stop on trains from Worcestershire Parkway to London?

[Electric train]

From Worcester News

It was agreed that discussions to add a Manchester to Bristol service at Worcestershire Parkway would be reopened once the station had proven itself as a success.

Worcestershire Parkway then opened in 2019 and, despite facing reduced demand during the pandemic, the station is now operating ahead of projections.

Harriett Baldwin MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) has voiced her support for the efforts being made to add extra train services at Worcestershire Parkway.

[snip]

Discussions for its expansion are now underway with Mrs Baldwin meeting with Great Western Railway’s Matt Cambourne, Cross Country’s Richard Gibson and Cotswold Line Promotion Group chairman John Ellis on Thursday (March 30).

“When the station was first discussed, I met with Cross Country to urge them to plan for extra services stopping there beyond the current service between Nottingham and Cardiff,” said Mrs Baldwin.

“I am hoping that the Cross Country service between Manchester and Bristol will stop at Worcestershire Parkway as originally proposed before the pandemic, and I have offered my support as these negotiations take place.

Do you find it ironic that the article celebrates the removal of the Slough stop on trains from Worcestershire Parkway to London?

Slough is very well served with trains to London, the Didcot - Padd running fast from Slough is 2 trains per hour on top of the Elizabeth Line direct into cental London.   The main loss I guess are the passengers from Slough who travel to Oxford I  suspect these numbers are quite small

[IndustryInsider]

Worcestershire Parkway has proven to be very popular.  This is despite claims it would be an expensive white elephant…including from some on this forum, though I don’t think Btline is active now.

The car park is now often around 75% full.  I think the time has indeed come to stop the Bristol<>Manchester service to improve the frequency to/from Birmingham, offering more destinations and take a bit of pressure off the very busy Cardiff<>Nottingham trains.  Also it would further improve the Worcester<>Bristol service on top of the improvements already being made by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) this May.  Places like Pershore, Evesham and Moreton would also benefit by making many journeys easier with a single change there.

Interestingly, many of these Bristol<>Manchester trains have generous pathing allowances in the area, suggesting added time for a station call would be fairly easy to include without upsetting the apple cart elsewhere.

A big and easy win all round IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion).

[TonyK]

At the moment, only one train daily from BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) stops at WOP, that being the 0624 to Stansted Airport. The Manchester service from BRI goes from twice daily to hourly as of 22 May, which would seem an optimum date for the introduction of a stop at WOP. I don't know if the services are worked by a single driver, but the trip MAN-BRI-MAN with a 40 minute layover in Bristol takes 7 hours. But Manchester trains don't show WOP as a pass in RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website). Does anyone know the reason for that?

[paul7575]

At the moment, only one train daily from BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) stops at WOP, that being the 0624 to Stansted Airport. The Manchester service from BRI goes from twice daily to hourly as of 22 May, which would seem an optimum date for the introduction of a stop at WOP. I don't know if the services are worked by a single driver, but the trip MAN-BRI-MAN with a 40 minute layover in Bristol takes 7 hours. But Manchester trains don't show WOP as a pass in RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website). Does anyone know the reason for that?

I think it might be because WOP is not a compulsory timing point for through trains. RTT adds the passing times using its own calculations, but it’s only done on the day, and they will show for the past week.  AFAICT^▸ (as far as I can tell) for future days, (ie tomorrow onwards), the only XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) services that show are stopping trains on the Cardiff services.

[grahame]

I'm feeling like we may have been here before, but there is logic for Cheltentham - Birmingham regional expresses every half hour, calling at Worcestershire Parkway and consideration to some at Ashchurch, Bromsgrove and University.  Alternate trains in that service extended in the south to Cardiff or Bristol (or into Somerset or Devon including a Bridgwater call and either Worle or Weston). Add to the South West express into Birmingham, and one each goes on to Nottingham, Manchester, and Leeds / Newcastle.

[Bmblbzzz]

From Worcester News

It was agreed that discussions to add a Manchester to Bristol service at Worcestershire Parkway would be reopened once the station had proven itself as a success.

Worcestershire Parkway then opened in 2019 and, despite facing reduced demand during the pandemic, the station is now operating ahead of projections.

Harriett Baldwin MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) has voiced her support for the efforts being made to add extra train services at Worcestershire Parkway.

[snip]

Discussions for its expansion are now underway with Mrs Baldwin meeting with Great Western Railway’s Matt Cambourne, Cross Country’s Richard Gibson and Cotswold Line Promotion Group chairman John Ellis on Thursday (March 30).

“When the station was first discussed, I met with Cross Country to urge them to plan for extra services stopping there beyond the current service between Nottingham and Cardiff,” said Mrs Baldwin.

“I am hoping that the Cross Country service between Manchester and Bristol will stop at Worcestershire Parkway as originally proposed before the pandemic, and I have offered my support as these negotiations take place.

Do you find it ironic that the article celebrates the removal of the Slough stop on trains from Worcestershire Parkway to London?

In the Worcester News? Hardly. It would be ironic in the Slough Observer though.

[Ralph Ayres]

Slough is very well served with trains to London, the Didcot - Padd running fast from Slough is 2 trains per hour on top of the Elizabeth Line direct into cental London.   The main loss I guess are the passengers from Slough who travel to Oxford I  suspect these numbers are quite small

The other losers are those of us (probably fairly few in number, granted) travelling from stations near Slough who increasingly have to dawdle out to Reading on an all stations TfL^» (Transport for London - about) train to pick up anything longer distance. 

[jamestheredengine]

They should really reformat it so that Bristol and Cardiff both get 1tph of fast trains from Birmingham and the 1tph semi-fast goes to Bristol as its second tph.