Slough commuters

[whole diary]

[Mookiemoo]

Thanks. I didn't realise that Slough was so well served by HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s.

Yep, Cotswolds and Oxford fasts stop (bar the peaks).

I assume that Slough commuters jut have to get a stopper in the peaks!

GRRRRRRRRRR

YES they do!

[IndustryInsider]

Thanks. I didn't realise that Slough was so well served by HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s.

Yep, Cotswolds and Oxford fasts stop (bar the peaks).

I assume that Slough commuters jut have to get a stopper in the peaks!

GRRRRRRRRRR

YES they do!

Not in the majority of cases they don't. True, if you commute from Reading to Slough you have to get a stopper in the majority of cases, but Slough to Reading commuters and Slough to London commuters (i.e. the vast majority) have a reasonable selection of non-stop fast trains running at least half-hourly intervals to and from their place of work. Only a few of them are HST's, but a Turbo can still do the trip to Paddington in around 16 minutes.

[Mookiemoo]

Thanks. I didn't realise that Slough was so well served by HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s.

Yep, Cotswolds and Oxford fasts stop (bar the peaks).

I assume that Slough commuters jut have to get a stopper in the peaks!

GRRRRRRRRRR

YES they do!

Not in the majority of cases they don't. True, if you commute from Reading to Slough you have to get a stopper in the majority of cases, but Slough to Reading commuters and Slough to London commuters (i.e. the vast majority) have a reasonable selection of non-stop fast trains running at least half-hourly intervals to and from their place of work. Only a few of them are HST's, but a Turbo can still do the trip to Paddington in around 16 minutes.

I didnt care about the HST's/Turbo thing.................

It was the RDG^‡(resolve)-Maidenhead-London Trains that bugged me

I DO NOT expect intercity HST's to stop at Slough etc but surely, there can be in the peaks at least two trains an hour - be they local stoppers or oxford stoppers that do RDG-Midenhed-Slough-Ealing-London

Oh I forgot - that was the bad old days!

[IndustryInsider]

I DO NOT expect intercity HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s to stop at Slough etc but surely, there can be in the peaks at least two trains an hour - be they local stoppers or oxford stoppers that do RDG^‡(resolve)-Midenhed-Slough-Ealing-London

Oh I forgot - that was the bad old days!

We're getting well off topic here, and I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Has there even been two trains an hour in the peaks running fast between Slough and Paddington, but calling at Ealing? I certainly can't remember it - even in whatever the 'bad old days' were. If you want an Ealing stop then trains have to run relief line or you destroy capacity on the main lines. If you run relief line then you have to slot in between (and take up valuable paths) that the local services (which are already bursting at the seams) use between Slough and Paddington.

There are only two ways that the pattern of trains might change anytime soon, to allow such a service;

1) If the much discussed West Ealing bay platform gets built and the two paths an hour from/to Greenford that have to be 2-cars between West Ealing and Paddington are freed up, then there will be extra relief line capacity that could be used to run more semi-fast trains. It could also be used to run more stoppers from Slough though where there is arguably more demand.

2) As and when Crossrail is built, I'm not at all sure there'll be a need for a Heathrow Express train four times an hour out of Paddington. That might free up a few main line paths.

[Electric train]

1) If the much discussed West Ealing bay platform gets built and the two paths an hour from/to Greenford that have to be 2-cars between West Ealing and Paddington are freed up, then there will be extra relief line capacity that could be used to run more semi-fast trains. It could also be used to run more stoppers from Slough though where there is arguably more demand.
2) As and when Crossrail is built, I'm not at all sure there'll be a need for a Heathrow Express train four times an hour out of Paddington. That might free up a few main line paths.

Not wishing to perpetuate the straying off topic but - 1) the extra paths are for Heathrowconect to run 4 tph instead of 2 tph, 2) HEX remains as part of the Crossrail plan although HEX have tentatively agreed with NR^» (Network Rail - home page) to relocate out of plat 6 & 7 at Padd thereby improving platform usage, HEX do not really need dedicated platforms now that baggage handling is no longer done a Padd.

Best we get back on topic.

In memory to those who perished

[super tm]

Thanks. I didn't realise that Slough was so well served by HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s.

Yep, Cotswolds and Oxford fasts stop (bar the peaks).

I assume that Slough commuters jut have to get a stopper in the peaks!

GRRRRRRRRRR

YES they do!

Yes this was part of the previous RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy) when it was decided that to improve the timekeeping of the main lines no trains should stop on the main lines at slough.  This was modified so that in the off peak they continue to do so but not in the peak im afraid.

[Chris from Nailsea]

As has been pointed out, this discussion was becoming 'off topic' in the original thread, on the tenth anniversay of the Paddington / Ladbroke Grove crash.

I have therefore split these posts into this new topic, in view of the sensitive nature of the original topic.

Thanks, Chris.

[Btline]

That's why we need 6 tracks Reading to London. Crossrail can take the reliefs; the semi fasts trains (i.e. trains calling at one or two of Slough Maidenhead and Tyford) can take the current fast lines; and two new 140 mph ready express lines can be used for non stop trains.

[Electric train]

That's why we need 6 tracks Reading to London. Crossrail can take the reliefs; the semi fasts trains (i.e. trains calling at one or two of Slough Maidenhead and Tyford) can take the current fast lines; and two new 140 mph ready express lines can be used for non stop trains.

Electric traction with a more modern signaling system will be cheaper not quite as effective but quicker to achieve

[John R]

That's why we need 6 tracks Reading to London. Crossrail can take the reliefs; the semi fasts trains (i.e. trains calling at one or two of Slough Maidenhead and Tyford) can take the current fast lines; and two new 140 mph ready express lines can be used for non stop trains.

And which forest of money trees is going to pay for this? Sonning Cutting, Maidenhead, etc.

[Btline]

The same money filed that is fuelling HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) or GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) electrification.

I would rather see 6 tracks on the first few miles of the GWML, WCMl and ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) than HS2, as I feel that the same amount of money would benefit most people in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), rather than the select few from B'ham, M'chester and Leeds.

[devon_metro]

That's why we need 6 tracks Reading to London. Crossrail can take the reliefs; the semi fasts trains (i.e. trains calling at one or two of Slough Maidenhead and Tyford) can take the current fast lines; and two new 140 mph ready express lines can be used for non stop trains.

And which forest of money trees is going to pay for this? Sonning Cutting, Maidenhead, etc.

Labour's overdraft...? 

[paul7575]

The same money filed that is fuelling HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) or GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) electrification.

I would rather see 6 tracks on the first few miles of the GWML, WCMl and ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) than HS2, as I feel that the same amount of money would benefit most people in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), rather than the select few from B'ham, M'chester and Leeds.

They are already planning to 6 track between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace. The outer tracks will remove Moorgate to Hertford trains from the 'main lines'.  North of there though I think they'd be quite chuffed if the railway was ever made four track over the Welyn viaduct - with that and the Hitchin flyover done the ECML could cope for quite a while I suspect.

Paul

[John R]

They are already planning to 6 track between Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace.
Paul

It's already six track. It's just that one of them isn't currently passed for passengers. It's a lot cheaper to convert an existing track to passenger use for a 3 mile stretch than build an extra 2 tracks that don't exist for around 30+ miles.

[IndustryInsider]

1) the extra paths are for Heathrowconect to run 4 tph instead of 2 tph,

That will probably be the case, and hopefullymay free up some of the trains that have come from Slough and the west to miss out stops at places like Hayes & Southall, hence speeding them up. Just getting rid of those Greenford trains in the peaks will do a lot to remove the suburban capacity issues.

As for Btline's 6-track idea, I've tried to explain before why that is a total non-starter of an idea. It would only be possible if a separate high speed line was built towards the west - there's no way it could follow the route of the existing GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) for anything but the smallest of distances, in fact it would more likely closely follow the route of the M4. What Crossrail would/will give us though is sections of 5-track west of Slough.

Thanks for splitting the topic, Chris.