Weston rail track improvements will be delayed

[whole diary]

[jakemonkfish]

so that explains the slow crawal along the outside line after yatton last tuesday whilst the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) sped past - we were late, it was later

[Btline]

Do XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) have the same agreement that VT^▸ (Virgin Trains - former franchises) have, where signalmen have to give their trains priority at all times?

Do VT still have this?

[devon_metro]

Give priority at all times...??

It was never that. All Vt services are class 1 so should be high in priority however a good signaller will make a good judgement.

VXC^▸ (Virgin Cross Country - former franchise) used to have some trains as class 9. (eurostar and 15mph freight)

By being class 9 it simply raised awareness that the train was vulnerable to delay. All XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) are now class 1 or 2.

[Btline]

So do signalmen give Class 1 trains priority, then class 2 etc?

If this is so, I go back to my original point - In normal circumstances XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) shouldn't be late, esp with that slack!

[John R]

As described by the Trout, they will use their judgement. 

So they will delay a stopping service at Bedminster for up to 5 minutes, but if it would be any more than that then off it goes, and the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) catches it up. Otherwise, they could delay the stopping service by over 15 minutes to guarantee the XC a free run beyond Worle, what with the delay at Bedminster and then again at Yatton loop.

I'm looking forward to the day Btline runs the railway. No delays, cheap fares, and investment happens in a matter of months, without all that pesky preparation and planning etc. Utopia! 

[Btline]

I'm looking forward to the day Btline runs the railway. No delays, cheap fares, and investment happens in a matter of months, without all that pesky preparation and planning etc. Utopia! 

Sounds good to me! Although running a railway like ours with no delays is nigh-on impossible. And cheap walk up fares are not impossible if TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) can give seats away for a fiver, they can charge ^15 for them, helping people at the same time!

[devon_metro]

^5 or ^15

Now, let me think about that one for a minute.

[Chris from Nailsea]

For reasons that may become apparent in due course, I've just been doing some digging on the National Rail website, and I have discovered that someone could travel from Plymouth to Truro this Friday for ^2.50 ... 

[cereal_basher]

For reasons that may become apparent in due course, I've just been doing some digging on the National Rail website, and I have discovered that someone could travel from Plymouth to Truro this Friday for ^2.50 ... 

Bear in mind it would only be about ^7 on the day.

[thetrout]

In a perfect world Btline, No Service should be late... But as John R says, it's all too easy for an XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) Service to become delayed no matter how much slack is in the timetable... I've travelled with XC into Birmingham N S before, and because it is such a congested area with all the LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) & VWC services running around, things can very quickly go wrong... I dread heading into Birmingham as it always seems to be really slow and takes ages...! Onwards to Wolverhampton is no better!

As I noted in my list of scenarios, it's unfortunate but the 14:44 is commonly late, which then has troubles in Bristol with the stoppers in front... I feel especially sorry for pax heading for Tiverton and Stations between Plymouth and Penzance because if they miss their connection at Taunton... They get a complimentary 1 & 2 hour delay retrospectively...!

As an aside, to Chris' point, Another Bargin to note is the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) summer service to Newquay from Plymouth...!

Advance:

^2.50 Standard
^5.50 First

Dep 12:29 Arr 14:31 Journey Time 2:02

Walk up:

^7.90 Standard
^16.00 First

(Prices listed are Singles)

To be honest, considering the journey times, even the First Class Walk Up is good value...! If you have a railcard, it's even cheaper