St Ives branch line - engineering work, closures, incidents (merged topics)

[whole diary]

[FarWestJohn]

Transport briefing today:

Cornwall weighs up case for 5-car trains to St Ives
Filed 08/01/08 

Trains on the Cornish branch line to St Ives could be lengthened to five-car formations as part of a package of measures being considered by Cornwall County Council.

The local authority has appointed JMP Consulting to develop a business case for a new park and ride facility, designed to address a shortage of car parking spaces, and measures to relieve overcrowding on trains to the resort during the summer months.

See for complete write up: http://www.newsnow.co.uk/cgi/NGoto/250863347?-10958

[Lee]

Fair play to them.

[Andy]

I've got a plan!

Redouble the main line along Long Rock into Pz station
Reopen Marazion station.
Run 5-car shuttles along the St Erth-St Ives branch to connect with main line services and in between, extend the shuttle to run St Ives-St Erth-Marazion-Penzance.   

[FarWestJohn]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have the re-doubling of the line from Long Rock to PNZ on their wish list but I have never seen a date given for it to happen. I seem to remember seeing it somewhere in a Network Rail planning document.

The existing unit can only just cope with a half hourly St.Erth to St.Ives frequency. To extend the service to PNZ would require extra rolling stock to be obtained and paid for - and we all know what the answer to that is.

There is also a very good number 17 [sadly First] half hourly bus from, St. Ives to St.Just via St.Erth and PNZ which is fairly quick.

The existing departure boards at PNZ do not even show the nest train from PNZ  to St.Ives with a change at St.Erth. It is almost as though first ignores this traffic. If it was not for the Council support and interest I get the impression FGW would be quite happy to lose the ST.Ives branch.

Very different from Redruth where the departure boards show Platform 3 which is one of the bus stops outside the station for the T34 bus to Helston and the Lizard known as ' The Helston Branch Line'.

[Conner]

I don't see Long Rock getting doubled any time soon as there isn't enough space and I don't think there is that much demand as it is so close to a terminus and a small section. Not like the Burngallow section which could take 30 mins for a train to get through after being stopped because of it.

[Lee]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have the re-doubling of the line from Long Rock to PNZ on their wish list but I have never seen a date given for it to happen. I seem to remember seeing it somewhere in a Network Rail planning document.

Network Rail Business Plan 2007 (see quote below) :

Long Rock - Penzance re - doubling comes under "Route enhancement aspirations" (Page 20 of the link below.)
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/BusinessPlan2007/PDF/Route%2012%20Reading%20to%20Penzance.pdf

Lowest priority , dont expect anything to happen soon.

[smokey]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have the re-doubling of the line from Long Rock to PNZ on their wish list but I have never seen a date given for it to happen. I seem to remember seeing it somewhere in a Network Rail planning document.

The existing unit can only just cope with a half hourly St.Erth to St.Ives frequency. To extend the service to PNZ would require extra rolling stock to be obtained and paid for - and we all know what the answer to that is.

There is also a very good number 17 [sadly First] half hourly bus from, St. Ives to St.Just via St.Erth and PNZ which is fairly quick.

The existing departure boards at PNZ do not even show the nest train from PNZ  to St.Ives with a change at St.Erth. It is almost as though first ignores this traffic. If it was not for the Council support and interest I get the impression FGW would be quite happy to lose the ST.Ives branch.

Very different from Redruth where the departure boards show Platform 3 which is one of the bus stops outside the station for the T34 bus to Helston and the Lizard known as ' The Helston Branch Line'.

Farwest you make a valid point about the departure monitors, Penzances does ignore the connection for St Ives, and whilst Redruth mentions the bus to Helston, St Austell shows buses, FGW ones (run by Truroian) to Eden Project,  and Bodmin Parkway show buses to Wadebridge and Padstow but these are NOT connections but (bus) services that start at these Stations.
The whole information system Ex-Wessex fails to show connections, indeed even the Ex FGW systems fail to show connections.
Unless the announcement is made Manually, all Train Running Information made by the Auto systems FAIL to say Change at Cfor D, E for F etc.

[vacman]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) make a fortune from the St Ives branch between St Erth and St Ives, the fare on the branch is a flat fare of ^4 which is a St Ives line rover, in the summer months the trains run from Lelant Saltings to St Ives completely full as a four car, every half hour! the service is modelled around the majority which is park and ride traffic from Lelant Saltings therefore connections take a second priority,when I last saw some figures it showed something like 93% of passengers on the branch are travelling between St Erth/Saltings/Carbis Bay and St Ives with a tiny percentage using the mainline connections! If you don't believe me then take a trip on there at about 1100 one weekday this August!

[devon_metro]

Have to agree, they are almost empty leaving St Erth, although it didn't fill it that much from the P&R^▸ (Park and Ride)

[vacman]

Have to agree, they are almost empty leaving St Erth, although it didn't fill it that much from the P&R^▸ (Park and Ride)

It will be empty this time of year, but summer is another story!

[smokey]

I beleive the St Ives branch has the Highest Summer/Winter loading Ratio of Any Train Service in Britain today, (talking Network Rail of Course).

It's something Manic like 450! Vacman you agree?

[vacman]

I beleive the St Ives branch has the Highest Summer/Winter loading Ratio of Any Train Service in Britain today, (talking Network Rail of Course).

It's something Manic like 450! Vacman you agree?

I think it's more than that, around 80% of daytrippers to St Ives in summer arrive by train, I bet there aren't any other towns in Britain that can compare to that!

[Andy]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have the re-doubling of the line from Long Rock to PNZ on their wish list but I have never seen a date given for it to happen. I seem to remember seeing it somewhere in a Network Rail planning document.

The existing unit can only just cope with a half hourly St.Erth to St.Ives frequency. To extend the service to PNZ would require extra rolling stock to be obtained and paid for - and we all know what the answer to that is.

There is also a very good number 17 [sadly First] half hourly bus from, St. Ives to St.Just via St.Erth and PNZ which is fairly quick.

The existing departure boards at PNZ do not even show the nest train from PNZ  to St.Ives with a change at St.Erth. It is almost as though first ignores this traffic. If it was not for the Council support and interest I get the impression FGW would be quite happy to lose the ST.Ives branch.

Very different from Redruth where the departure boards show Platform 3 which is one of the bus stops outside the station for the T34 bus to Helston and the Lizard known as ' The Helston Branch Line'.

Fair points, qprule, and a reality check that the last thing most companies are thinking about is maximising the potential service (to the community or the environment) that railways can offer.

I'm not sure that the bus is as attractive an alternative during the summer months when the bottlenecks into St Ives and Penzance can be quite something.

It is a shame that the St Ives connection isn't better publicised at Penzance. There may be little through traffic between St Ives branch & "up country" services but I'd have thought that there is some potential for local tourist St Ives-Penzance traffic. Still, if the line is at capacity now with a four-car unit, there wouldn't be much use in encouraging more users, I suppose.

(ps - it's a smart marketing tool but the "Helston Branch line" name irritates me every time I see it - because it isn't the REAL one  )
 

[FarWestJohn]

Strange you should say that about the branch line connection direction.

I regularly travel from Truro to St.Ives and that always seems to be the busiest direction. In the morning especially in the summer there are lots of day trippers who come down from the Plymouth direction and go to St.Ives and then out on the coast path.

With the timekeeping of main line trains it is hardly worth using the train from St.Ives to PNZ with a change at ST.Erth even with the summer traffic the bus is still miles quicker. If the main line timekeeping was reliable this would be a different matter.

[oooooo]

What bugs me about the current winter SIV service on a Sunday is its pretty much hourly. Why on earth cant you run it hourly PNZ to/from SIV on a Sunday, would surely capture much more trade (if actually marketed), faster than bus and far more scenic..... (even if not possible in the summer)