New faster North to South Wales Service

[whole diary]

[Btline]

Virgin Trains do not call at Banbury! The reason Banbury is a restricted stop is because there are already trains to London run by Chiltern (believe me - that is what W&S^▸ (Wrexham and Shropshire (Open Access Operator)) said when they set up their website!).

Therefore, one assumes that the Arriva trains will be restricted at Bicester and Leamington (although I am not sure they have to).

W&S want to increase their services in the future. The Arriva services will restrict W&S's options.

Really, the whole plan is not necessary - there are 3 trains per hour to London from B'ham International with an hour's journey time. Why would anyone want to spend an extra hour getting to London to avoid a simple platform change?

And I am not happy about the choice of rolling stock. Any 90 mph trains might hold up Chiltern's 100 mph trains. Chiltern will want more 100 mph track to allow for the 90 minutes journey, but they'll get held up behind the Arriva 158s (which will probably be late knowing Arriva).

[willc]

No, Virgin West Coast don't serve Banbury and never have, but the restrictions on W&S^▸ (Wrexham and Shropshire (Open Access Operator)) there (and at Wolverhampton - and Birmingham International if W&S ever exercise their approved right to call there) are to do with the terms of VWC's franchise and restrictions it places on other operators carrying passengers between London and the West Midlands under open access arrangements. No other franchisee has ever managed to get anything similar in their terms - though I'm sure NXEC^▸ (National Express East Coast), and GNER^▸ (Great North Eastern Railways) before them, would have loved to.

There are revenue-sharing issues and if passengers were allowed to board and alight from W&S in both directions at Banbury (or Leamington in the case of ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)))), then they could buy tickets for two separate legs of the journey either side of Banbury and circumvent the rules protecting VWC from competitors for traffic from key West Midlands stations - Chiltern is not affected by these conditions as it was already operating London-Birmingham trains before the VWC agreement was signed off. Similarly, because Virgin does not serve Tame Bridge, there are no constraints on W&S there.

This was discussed months ago in the Wrexham & Shropshire launch date thread in Thames Valley via Oxford.

Why avoid a change? Well, if you're a student (8,000 of them at Aberystwyth these days), with your worldly goods in several heavy bags - or holidaymakers in the summer - you might appreciate not having to drag them across a platform at International, especially on a wet, windy day with those short platform canopies, even at the cost of a slower journey. You don't have to perform a similar manoeuvre if you're off to West Country universities or most major resorts there on FGW^▸ (First Great Western).

As for 90mph trains mixing it with 100mph trains, you have train planners who path things carefully so the timetable works. That's how you fit in Chiltern's fasts with their stoppers and freights south of High Wycombe and pack in three Pendolinos per hour between Coventry and Birmingham along with LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) stoppers, XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) Voyagers, ATW to International, some W&S workings and the odd freight, and Chiltern, XC, FGW, Freightliner and EWS^▸ (English Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd, now known as DB Schenker Rail (UK^▸ (United Kingdom))) operate between Leamington, Banbury and Oxford.

Reliability on the Cambrian route should be assisted by the extended loop running for about two miles west of Welshpool, a new loop at Dovey junction and easing of some speed restrictions, all due for completion by next spring, with the ERTMS^▸ (European Rail Traffic Management System.) resignalling to follow. And if ATW aren't reliable and are making a mess of things between New Street and International, then Network Rail will not be in the mood to be nice to them about running further south, will they?

[Btline]

Sorry, I don't understand how the VWC "no competition" contract is relevant at Banbury! Is it because Banbury is classed as a "West Midlands" (in which case it is categorised wrongly!).

Besides, W&S^▸ (Wrexham and Shropshire (Open Access Operator)) said on their website "Our calls at Wolverhampton and Banbury will be restricted because other operators -VT^▸ (Virgin Trains - former franchises) and CH - already run trains to London from these stations."

And I've wondered why W&S don't stop at B'ham International. It would provide another market for their passengers. I expect the train has to slow down anyway....

[stebbo]

Reference Virgin calling at Banbury, are we talking about the time before Virgin lost the cross country franchise? Cross Country call there, don't they?

[willc]

I know it's daft but the Banbury situation is due to the Virgin West Coast franchise terms - which have recently been reconfirmed until 2012. After that, I'd suggest the rules will be dropped on the basis that Virgin will have had about three years to make lots of money post-WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) modernisation - and W&S^▸ (Wrexham and Shropshire (Open Access Operator)), ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) and anyone else will never be a serious threat anyway, due to the extra time needed to reach Marylebone and frequency of services to Euston.

W&S don't serve International because they can't get paths for all their trains to run that way, even though some do stop there to allow Virgin services to overtake. Others are booked to stop at New Street after running via Solihull.