Maidenhead evening timetable (both now and December)..

[whole diary]

[johoare]

Does it not worry anyone else that there is no fast train to Maidenhead between the 17.44 (stopping at Slough) and the 18.18 (first stop Maidenhead).. That is a whole 34 minutes with no fast train.. I have told FGW^▸ (First Great Western) this many times yet the same big gap is in the new December timetable. If anyone just misses the 17.44 (due to no fault of their own usually) it is a very long wait until the next train. The old 18.06 before it was removed (first stop Maidenhead) used to be very overcrowded until Maidenhead so obviously there is a need for a train then.

[martyjon]

Goodness, you pampered people of Maidenhead moaning because theres a half an hour gap in services. Did you know that there's a town in Wiltshire which coincidentally also begins with the letter 'M', which, if you are travelling to or from that station and depending on the time of day, you've got to be equipped with either a packed lunch and picnic blanket or a tent and bedroll in case you miss the train.

Anyway you pampered people got CROSSRAIL to look forward to.

Don't tell me, by the time that happens you'll be drawing your state pension.

All said tongue in cheek by the way.

[johoare]

Ha ha. I'll take it tongue in cheek.

I don't know about Melksham (not entirely sure how far away it is and I come from wiltshire originally so I should know) but Maidenhead has always been a busy commuter town on the mainline and has always had a fast train at least every 15 minutes, and more, in both morning and evening rush hour.. So, considering those trains were always full and now there are less of them, it's a bit of a cattle truck like service now! 

[grahame]

As a resident of Melksham,  I'm pretty sure that I'm rather more experience with our train service here than most, and I intentionally didn't jump in on the comments about a half hour's gap in service, even if I thought "I wish!".  An appropriate level of service here (according to a submission made by experts at the County Council, revealed under FOI^▸ (Freedom of Information)) would be an hourly train and we couldn't in all honesty justify more frequent for the short or medium term.

Our problem is that after the 06:19 (morning) departure from our commuting centre of Swindon, there isn't another train until 18:42 (evening) and we feel that's a gap that should be plugged.  Our population is around 24000. The census which tells me than Maidenhead had 59000 in 2001.

I don't know the Maidenhead case well enough to talk "appropriate" for that neck of the woods, but if our appropriate service is hourly, then with 2.5 times the population it seems that an express every 20 minutes or so might not be so far out for you - perhaps more frequent as all your communting might be in one direction?  But I do think you're already much closer to "appropriate" than we are!

[johoare]

I totally agree Grahame.

However I guess it's more important how many of the population actually commute than how many live in a town.. Hopefully you don't get to suffer the cattle like services with people crammed in that we do, but knowing FGW^▸ (First Great Western) I imagine you do?

If they remove any more trains from Maidenhead we'll be travelling on the roof I think!!

[grahame]

Hopefully you don't get to suffer the cattle like services with people crammed in that we do, but knowing FGW^▸ (First Great Western) I imagine you do?

No, we don't have cattle-like services on the TransWilts at the moment.  It was headed that way until last December, but the timetable changes extended the commuter's day on the only remaining train by 90 (ninety) minutes.  An arrival in Swindon well before 8 a.m., then an evening departure at a quarter to seven, is just too much.   Remember - if we're doing a comparison (dangerous) I'm giving you the equivalent of Paddington time - so that would be the equivalent of leaving Maidenhead at 07:10 and getting back there at around 19:30.

If I drive to Trowbridge, near to use here, and catch  the train to Bristol, sure we get overcrowding. I've been denied access to trains because they can't take any more passengers, and the next one's not always "right behind" - it can be almost an hour.  The gap there will get better from December, since there are two trains an hour but they have been running shortly after each other this year, then leaving a gap.

Your point on numbers of commuters is utterly valid.  First have quote 120000 journeys per annum to me for 2005, and the figure seems sensible. This year, I would be surprised if the Westbury to Swindon service managed a tenth of that.  Current service - crap and crass!

[johoare]

Oh dear.. And will FGW^▸ (First Great Western) do anything about it? I doubt it!!

[grahame]

Oh dear.. And will FGW^▸ (First Great Western) do anything about it? I doubt it!!

I love discussing the TransWilts but we're getting off topic.

I have a big presentation to do - over 100 people - on Saturday and I'm putting my notes together though.   Draft notes including history start here!