Philip Hammond MP launches Great Western Improvement Programme at Paddington, 14 Jul 2011

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

There will have to be some stops cut out of the schedule to make a 20-minute saving as advertised.  Better acceleration and linespeed improvements won't be able to do that alone!

[Henry]

   Notice the Firstgroup shares took a positive turn at the close of business.

   Meanwhile long queue's at Totnes TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) because of no booking office yesterday (0830 on a Friday !!!!!).

    Then assisted 2 visually impaired 'regulars' at Teignmouth because of the lack of platform staff.

    Investment/Improvement but is it only west of Exeter that the prescence of ticket office/platform staff
    seems to be an optional extra?.
    Certainly during the days of BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) I can remember platform staff at Exeter St Davids in abundance.
    I am aware that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) has to be a profitable business - but surely their must be a minimum service requirement ?
     ( Or do I suffer from naivety in my advancing years?)
   

[JayMac]

From the Oxford Mail:

Chief hails 'new age of rail'

TRANSPORT Secretary Philip Hammond hailed a ^new age of Rail in Britain^ yesterday as Network Rail launched a 10-year, ^5bn development plan for the Great Western Main Line, which links Oxfordshire with London, the West of England and South Wales.

Speaking at London^s Paddington station, where he unveiled a newly-restored section of the station^s roof, Mr Hammond said the aim of the Government and the rail industry was to create a ^21st century railway for a 21st century future^. Network Rail and train operator First Great Western say investment is needed to cope with soaring demand for rail travel. The number of passengers from Oxford has risen by 65 per cent over the past decade.

A number of the developments are already under way, such as the ^67m redoubling of the Cotswold Line between Oxford and Worcester, which is due for completion next month, and the rebuilding of Reading station.

The key element of the programme is the installation of overhead power supplies for electric trains from London to Oxford and Newbury, and from Didcot to Bristol and Cardiff, combined with the introduction of new InterCity Express Programme high-speed trains and new signals.

Electrification work will start in 2014, with the first electric trains between Oxford and London due to run in 2016. Electric services from Didcot to Bristol will start the same year, with Cardiff following in 2017.

[JayMac]

From Bristol 24/7:

Bristol to London rail line set to be best in UK^▸ (United Kingdom)

Train passengers in Bristol could reach London Paddington in one hour 20 minutes within five years after Transport Secretary Philip Hammond officially launched a project to make the Great Western Main Line the best in the UK.

Speaking at the launch in London yesterday, Network Rail Chief Executive David Higgins said the ^5bn investment in electrification and resignalling and the procurement of new trains would make the route ^the most advanced inter-city railway in Britain^, providing capacity to cater for a predicted 51% increase in passengers over the next 30 years.

^The case for developing the Great Western Main Line into a railway for the 21st century is above all an economic one,^ said Mr Hammond. ^The transformational 10-year programme that Network Rail is leading will do more than help to meet projected demand for increased passenger and freight journeys; it will deliver a long-term boost to the economies of Wales and the South West.^

Apart from the remodelling of the key junction at Reading which is already underway, work will begin with renewal of the signalling between London and Bristol by end of 2011, making the infrastructure ready for electrification.

Electrification will pave the way for the introduction of about 70 new Super Express Trains.

Meanwhile, Mark Hopwood, the managing director of First Great Western, confirmed talks were under way about revamping Brunel^s Temple Meads station.

Speaking to the Bristol Evening Post, he said: ^We are talking about increasing the number of services between Bristol and London from two to four every hour and getting rid of the need for passengers to stand on our trains. Temple Meads is a lovely station but once these improvements are introduced we are talking about a large increase in passenger numbers. We will have to make improvements to the station in terms of access and also a general refurbishment. The scale of this work means that it is going to be challenging time for everyone involved but it is a challenge worth fighting for.^

Just five more years to wait for that magical 1 hour 20 minute journey time. A massive improvement on the 1 hour 23 minutes that was timetabled in 1990. 

Yeah, I know. Calling patterns and capacity. But still, does rather highlight that headline timings need to be taken in context.

[ChrisB]

Those 1h20 trips won't stop at Swindon, and go via Parkway

[anthony215]

I suspect then that they are going to sort filton bank out if they want extra services via bristol Parkway

[XPT]

Just five more years to wait for that magical 1 hour 20 minute journey time. A massive improvement on the 1 hour 23 minutes that was timetabled in 1990. 

Yeah, I know. Calling patterns and capacity. But still, does rather highlight that headline timings need to be taken in context.

Yeah, just looking at my 1990 timetable now. From Temple Meads on Monday-Fridays two fast services to London with 1 hour 23, and 1 hour 24 minutes respectively.

The first is the 0740 service calling enroute at Bristol Parkway and Swindon only, and then just FIVE minutes later the 0745 service calling enroute at Bath Spa and Chippenham only. Another one worth mentioning is the 1545 service calling enroute at Bath Spa and Reading only, and 1 hour 25 mins to London.  Plus there's numerous other services throughout the day with journey times of 1 hour 28/1 hour 29 minutes too, still faster than the normal services nowadays.


I find it a little amusing that when they talk about how the upcoming electrification and new trains will bring much faster journey times of say "22 minutes shorter between Bristol and London" as though it's never been done before. When in fact it was very common place 20 or even 30 odd years ago!

That said though. I'm all in favour of the upcoming electrification, new trains, and "the return" of Bristol-London express services. And I look forward come 2016 to making some journeys on this line onboard these new trains.

[Rhydgaled]

If there's going to be 4tph to Temple Meads, with 2tph via Bristol Parkway, I'm thinking somthing like this might be a good idea:

1tph Paddington, Reading, Bristol Parkway, Newport, Cardiff Central, Bridgend, Port Talbot Parkway, Neath and Swansea.
1tph Paddington, Reading, Didcot Parkway, Swindon, Bristol Parkway, Newport and Cardiff Central (prefrablly extended to Swansea with the above stops and the above services loosing the Bridgend, Neath and Port Talbot stops).
1tph Paddington - Bristol calling at Reading, Swindon, Chippenham, Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads
1tph Paddington - Bristol calling at Reading, Chippenham, Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads
2tph Paddington - Bristol calling at Reading, Didcot Parkway, Swindon, Bristol Parkway and Bristol Temple Meads (taking the stops off the Swansea service and one of the via Bath services)

[Electric train]

From the Oxford Mail:

Chief hails 'new age of rail'

TRANSPORT Secretary Philip Hammond hailed a ^new age of Rail in Britain^ yesterday as Network Rail launched a 10-year, ^5bn development plan for the Great Western Main Line, which links Oxfordshire with London, the West of England and South Wales.

Speaking at London^s Paddington station, where he unveiled a newly-restored section of the station^s roof, Mr Hammond said the aim of the Government and the rail industry was to create a ^21st century railway for a 21st century future^. Network Rail and train operator First Great Western say investment is needed to cope with soaring demand for rail travel. The number of passengers from Oxford has risen by 65 per cent over the past decade.

A number of the developments are already under way, such as the ^67m redoubling of the Cotswold Line between Oxford and Worcester, which is due for completion next month, and the rebuilding of Reading station.

The key element of the programme is the installation of overhead power supplies for electric trains from London to Oxford and Newbury, and from Didcot to Bristol and Cardiff, combined with the introduction of new InterCity Express Programme high-speed trains and new signals.

Electrification work will start in 2014, with the first electric trains between Oxford and London due to run in 2016. Electric services from Didcot to Bristol will start the same year, with Cardiff following in 2017.

My my how a political party can change its spots in a decade

[anthony215]

If there's going to be 4tph to Temple Meads, with 2tph via Bristol Parkway, I'm thinking somthing like this might be a good idea:

1tph Paddington, Reading, Bristol Parkway, Newport, Cardiff Central, Bridgend, Port Talbot Parkway, Neath and Swansea.
1tph Paddington, Reading, Didcot Parkway, Swindon, Bristol Parkway, Newport and Cardiff Central (prefrablly extended to Swansea with the above stops and the above services loosing the Bridgend, Neath and Port Talbot stops).
1tph Paddington - Bristol calling at Reading, Swindon, Chippenham, Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads
1tph Paddington - Bristol calling at Reading, Chippenham, Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads
2tph Paddington - Bristol calling at Reading, Didcot Parkway, Swindon, Bristol Parkway and Bristol Temple Meads (taking the stops off the Swansea service and one of the via Bath services)

I highly doubt you would find any paths to run non stop between Cardiff & Swansea.

personally i think the south wales services should run non stop Bristol Parkway - Reading which should save at least 10 minutes. Passngers requiring swindon should chance at Bristol Parkway, that said there do seem to be a lot of people traveling from south wales to Swindon.

[tramway]

Bristol to London rail line set to be best in UK^▸ (United Kingdom)

Meanwhile, Mark Hopwood, the managing director of First Great Western, confirmed talks were under way about revamping Brunel^s Temple Meads station.

First I've heard about bringing Brunel's trainshed back into use. You would have thought they would have looked at the rest of the station first. 

[eightf48544]

Has anyone got the service pattern for the original HST^▸ (High Speed Train) service in the 70s/80s.

Remember doing Reading - Bristol Parkway 70m 72ch in around 40 minutes made breakfast a bit rushed. Also that afternoon Bath to Reading 75m 64 sprint. 113 mph average. Exhilarating

[XPT]

If there's going to be 4tph to Temple Meads, with 2tph via Bristol Parkway, I'm thinking somthing like this might be a good idea:

1tph Paddington, Reading, Bristol Parkway, Newport, Cardiff Central, Bridgend, Port Talbot Parkway, Neath and Swansea.
1tph Paddington, Reading, Didcot Parkway, Swindon, Bristol Parkway, Newport and Cardiff Central (prefrablly extended to Swansea with the above stops and the above services loosing the Bridgend, Neath and Port Talbot stops).
1tph Paddington - Bristol calling at Reading, Swindon, Chippenham, Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads
1tph Paddington - Bristol calling at Reading, Chippenham, Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads
2tph Paddington - Bristol calling at Reading, Didcot Parkway, Swindon, Bristol Parkway and Bristol Temple Meads (taking the stops off the Swansea service and one of the via Bath services)

think they said the two extra services per hour between Bristol Temple Meads and London Paddy will run via Filton bank and Bristol Parkway. Whether that will be the case we'll have to see. They also haven't indicated what the calling patterns of these extra services will be. I hope they're going to be more limited stop than the current services.  If so, I'd like to see these two services as such.

Service 1
----------

Bristol Temple Meads-London Paddington.  Calling Bristol Parkway and London Paddington.

Service 2
----------

Bristol Temple Meads-London Paddington. Calling Reading and London Paddington.

Service 2 could run via the Bath and Chippenham route though. With departure times from Temple Meads of xx:00, whilst the normal slower services CALLING at Bath, Chippenham, Swindon, etc would now depart at xx:05.



It's all just speculation as to what the calling patterns of these new services will be like. And we all have our own ideas of what we'd like to see. Some people even commented they would like to one of the new services to be a Bristol Temple Meads-London Paddington(and vice versa) non-stop service.  Whilst that would be great, I don't think we'll ever be seeing such services as these.



We'll have to see come 2016. Or hopefully a year or so before then when they announce more details and maybe publish timetables of these new services.

[ChrisB]

Stopping patterns were sort of mentioned for the new services, saying they were running via Parkway, with a running tine that I can longer recall, but had to be fast from Reading to Parkway