'Train operator to reduce its service between Worcester and Gloucester'

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Worcester News:

Rail services between Worcester, Cheltenham and Gloucester are to be cut by a third after one of the line^s two train operators withdrew its services.

London Midland has revealed it will stop operating along the Worcester to Gloucester line from mid-December. It says that a lack of passengers means that the service is running at a loss.

First Great Western will continue to operate services, but London Midland^s withdrawal means that on current time-tabling there would only be one train about every two hours.

Responding to an inquiry from your Worcester News, a spokesman for London Midland said: ^From the introduction of our time-table on Sunday, December 13, London Midland will be withdrawing its daytime services running between Gloucester and Worcester Shrub Hill.^

There are currently 13 trains each day running from Worcester to Gloucester, through Ashchurch-for-Tewksbury and Cheltenham ^ and 14 back.

London Midland^s withdrawal means that from December, there will only be nine in each direction.

The Worcester to Gloucester services have never been part of the operator^s core contract and the firm said it introduced them last year to fill the gaps between First Great Western trains and to ensure that passengers had a regular service. The hope was that this would encourage more people to use the service.

London Midland said in a statement that its policy has not proved successful because each 120-seat train is only used by an average of just 16 passengers.

The spokesman said: ^The withdrawn services are not funded by the Department for Transport or other funders and they were not included in the London Midland franchise. We introduced them in last year^s service in the belief that providing a standard pattern of service throughout the day between London Midland and First Great Western services would encourage passenger growth. But after a year in operation these services are still operating with very low numbers of passengers and as such are making a loss. We regret having to withdraw these services and would be happy to reinstate them if long-term funding can be found.^

The nine services to be withdrawn in December will be the 9.56am, 12.15pm, 2.16pm and 4.16pm from Worcester, and the 11.13am, 1.16pm, 3.13pm, 5.10pm and 7.10pm from Gloucester.

A spokesperson for First Great Western said it has no plans to reduce its services along the line. She said: ^This is the first we^ve heard of this but it^s not a well-used line.^

[willc]

A shame, but not entirely surprising given the way Worcester-Cheltenham-Gloucester has been treated by the rail industry, both by BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) and under privatisation, with sparse, erratic services for many years, most importantly the absence of morning peak services in either direction reaching their destination just before 9am, even with the extra services in the past year, which didn't exactly do much for the prospects of success.

Ashchurch's services have fluctuated so much over the years that it's no wonder no-one in the Tewkesbury area trusts the railway and XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) have abandoned any pretence of serving Worcester.

Against that sort of backdrop, just putting the trains on for a year - and still lacking a proper morning peak service -  what did they expect to happen? Was there any sort of co-ordinated promotion? Given the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) spokesman's comment, was there any co-operation between the two operators, full stop?

[Btline]

Ok. FGW^▸ (First Great Western) currently terminate one northbound train every two hours at Gloucester.

LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) currently terminate one southbound train every two hours at Gloucester.

Joining these two up* (combing with FGW's current through trains) would provide an HOURLY WORCESTER BRISTOL SERVICE  which would be used. Also giving Ashchurch a decent service between the two.

Knowing that there was a good hourly service to Cheltenham would also encourage Worcestershire passengers to change at Cheltenham onto Southbound XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) services, not New Street.

I feel that a lack of vision and cooperation has put paid to a route who's potential is still unlocked.

*Preferably FGW would operate, although I realise that the stock would be hard to find - even if LM managed to magic some to do the train.

[John R]

So there will be one spare unit from December? Can anyone think of a route that could usefully use it, and which maybe has been cited in a recent RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy) as having an extremely positive BCR^▸ (Benefit Cost Ratio) of 2.8 and an NPV of ^43m.

[Btline]

Hopefully, LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) will re-start the Walsall to Woverhampton service which should NOT have been axed.

Or replace that bus PPM^‡(resolve) with a proper train on the Stourbridge branch.

Or lengthen peak Worcester - New Street trains further with 100 mph stock instead of 75 mph.

Sorry guys, LM will find a use for the unit!

[Steve Bray]

I always felt that with a bit of juggling, and withdrawing the Worcester/Great Malvern journeys, that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) could operate an hourly Bristol to Worcester service.

[Not from Brighton]

Yes, I've always felt that extending the Bristol service to Great Malvern serves little purpose other than to make the timetables erratic and introduce delays. I'm sure the service would be better provided by extensions to LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) Stourbridge services.

[willc]

Or replace that bus PPM^‡(resolve) with a proper train on the Stourbridge branch.

Why on earth would you do that? The shuttle, crawling along for less than a mile, was always a total waste of a main line train.

Knowing that there was a good hourly service to Cheltenham

There is one now, just not until after 9am - and it's that hole in the morning peak that's the fundamental flaw. And you can't "juggle" up any extra FGW^▸ (First Great Western) stock because it's desperately needed to work trains around Bristol in the morning peak. See the Great Western RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy) on what's happening to loadings there if you don't believe me.

Yes, I've always felt that extending the Bristol service to Great Malvern serves little purpose other than to make the timetables erratic and introduce delays.

One purpose it serves is to get the trains into the centre of Worcester (ie Foregate St) and out quickly, given the utterly inadequate track layout in the Worcester area, which is handling far, far more trains than the people who created it ever envisaged. If you're not going to turn back at (poorly located) Shrub Hilll, don't want a train blocking a platform at Foregate St while you turn back there, or the hassle of reversing at Henwick, you might just as well go up to Malvern and set back there.

LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) has already increased its Malvern service by going hourly Birmingham-Hereford last December.

[Btline]

I think an hourly Great Malvern to Bristol service, using some stock pinched from LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) should be possible. It requires no new paths in the Bristol area.

And Willc, I agree that there is a good service Southbound (after 9), but coming back it is effectively a 2 hourly service due to the timetable.

[willc]

I think an hourly Great Malvern to Bristol service, using some stock pinched from LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) should be possible. It requires no new paths in the Bristol area.

And Willc, I agree that there is a good service Southbound (after 9), but coming back it is effectively a 2 hourly service due to the timetable.

But with the 172s running late, how exactly do you 'pinch' any LM DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit), which are all already destined for Bristol, the North of england, etc - and squeeze anything else through Worcester?

[Buckham]

Commuting from Ashchurch to Bristol just doesn't work with the current timetable. I drive past Ashchurch every day to an office 5 mins walk from Bristol Parkway. There is a 7.25 train to Bristol, and a 17.10 back, but if you miss that it's a wait until 18.40 - far too long a gap to risk the train. I was rather hoping the Dec timetable might show some improvement, but reading this thread it sounds highly unlikely.

[Btline]

It seems that Ashchurch is cursed.

It has been let down by Central Trains, Cross Country, London Midland and First Great Western.

Again, an untapped market is abandoned, as the people of Tewkesbury drive onto the M5...

[Worcester_Passenger]

The spokesman said: ^The withdrawn services are not funded by the Department for Transport or other funders and they were not included in the London Midland franchise. We introduced them in last year^s service in the belief that providing a standard pattern of service throughout the day between London Midland and First Great Western services would encourage passenger growth. But after a year in operation these services are still operating with very low numbers of passengers and as such are making a loss. We regret having to withdraw these services and would be happy to reinstate them if long-term funding can be found.^

The nine services to be withdrawn in December will be the 9.56am, 12.15pm, 2.16pm and 4.16pm from Worcester, and the 11.13am, 1.16pm, 3.13pm, 5.10pm and 7.10pm from Gloucester.

The combined departures from Shrub Hill are currently at 07:09, 09:00, 09:56, 11:06, 12:15, 13:06, 14:13, 15:06, 16:01, 17:06, 19:06, 21:31 and 22:32, returning from Gloucester at 06:01, 07:15, 09:38, 11:13, 11:36, 13:16, 13:38, 15:13, 15:37, 17:10, 17:38, 19:10, 19:38, 21:34 and 22:54.

If "a London Midland spokesman" thinks that that constitutes a "standard pattern of service", then this is a new use of the word "standard".

[Chris from Nailsea]

Welcome to the Coffee Shop forum, Buckham!  

I'm sorry to see that your Ashchurch commute by train is so unviable - and that there seems to be no prospect of that situation being improved in the short term.  

[Buckham]

So yesterday I tried the commute from Ashchurch to BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) and caught the 7.25. First the good news - a Cappucino van at Ashchurch offering breakfast followed by a refurbed 158 with lots of spare tables to work at. The the bad news; got to Yate and the train became more crowded than the Northern Line in rush hour. Now I understand why FGW^▸ (First Great Western) doesn't have the stock to improve services from Ashchurch in rush hour. They needed four more cars for this train alone.