Chiltern Mainline: Nice & Fast!

[whole diary]

[Btline]

It makes sense, as commuters who have shelled out for business class won't want an extra walk at London. They'll want to be straight through the barriers.

[paul7575]

A word of warning though is that the set is currently in reverse formation

Why 'warning'?   

Is it more risky having it that way round or something?

Paul

[Chafford1]

Here:

http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/news/december-2012-timetable-consultation


The current 90 minute 6.55 train from Moor Street arriving Marylebone 8.25, now starts at 6.56 and has an additional stop at Leamington Spa at 7.22 arriving Marylebone 8.30 (94 minutes in total).

[ChrisB]

Indeed - fewer trains means more stops....they seem to have given up on the 90 minute headline journey.

btw - the powered door set was the 'right' way around this morning, on the 0615 ex BMO, but no quiet zone coach at the front. BZ at the rear.

[Southern Stag]

The 90 minute London-Birmingham train is a sham anyway. Booked to arrive in the Working Timetable at 18:02 1/2, booked to arrive in the public timetable at 1800, necessary for the 90 minute timing. The train before through the platform at Birmingham Moor Street is booked to leave at 17:59 1/2, so the chances of it ever arriving at 18:00 are pretty slim.

[ChrisB]

The train before through the platform at Birmingham Moor Street is booked to leave at 17:59 1/2, so the chances of it ever arriving at 18:00 are pretty slim.

Bear in mind the LHCS^▸ (Locomotive Hauled Coaching Stock) service uses the terminating platforms at BMO, not the through platform. So could be over the points at 1759 potentially.

[Btline]

It would be better for Chiltern to redistribute the stops on B'ham trains, so both take the same time to get to London (bar peak time expresses).

Both should also run through to Snow Hill as they did before so commuters can reach the Snow Hill business area more easily.

The Leamington Spa - Moor Street service should be axed, and given over to London Midland to integrate into their Snow Hill core service.

Did someone say FEWER TRAINS? How does this work. I though the problem was that they needed more trains?

[Southern Stag]

The train before through the platform at Birmingham Moor Street is booked to leave at 17:59 1/2, so the chances of it ever arriving at 18:00 are pretty slim.

Bear in mind the LHCS^▸ (Locomotive Hauled Coaching Stock) service uses the terminating platforms at BMO, not the through platform. So could be over the points at 1759 potentially.

Not the 90 minute service though. It's the 1630 London Marylebone-Birmingham Snow Hill, so has to use the through platform at Moor Street as does the service half a minute before. It's formed of a 168 rather than the LHCS as well, the LHCS services on the London-Birmingham services don't run the super fast 90 minute services.

[ellendune]

I thought that the Moor Street terminal platforms were brought back into use because of lcak of capacity either at Snow Hill or in the tunnel.  If this is the case you can't have all trains going through to Snow Hill. 

[Southern Stag]

Chiltern wanted to start services at Moor Street so passengers who'd been shopping in Birmingham could turn up early and get on early, like they would on Virgin at New Street.

[ChrisB]

btw - the powered door set was the 'right' way around this morning, on the 0615 ex BMO, but no quiet zone coach at the front. BZ at the rear.

The BZ coach has now gone for repair! so its running as a 4 coach train now.

Fewer, but supposedly longer trains.

Take your point about the 1630.....

[mjones]

Many thanks.  Any updates you (or others) get throughout it would be appreciated.

According to this local paper:

http://www.buckinghamtoday.co.uk/news/business/decision-due-over-130m-rail-scheme-1-3911268

"The inquiry is due to end on June 13, and the planning inspector^s recommendations could be published in the autumn."

'could be', by the autumn! How on Earth can this be dragged on for so long?

[ellendune]

'could be', by the autumn! How on Earth can this be dragged on for so long?

Because every unpopular decision (in areas where people have enouugh money) is now challenged by judicial review.  This has now made up for any saving  in time for planning!

[IndustryInsider]

Thanks for that 'mjones' - sadly the wheels roll very slowly for decisions over everything these days and the railways are one of the worst affected it seems!

As for additional Leamington Spa stops, I'm not surprised.  There is very little time penalty in stopping a train at Leamington Spa as the speed on the through lines is a very slow 35mph maximum, so why miss out custom at one of your larger centres on the route when very little actual time is gained by missing it?  Banbury is a different case though, with a linespeed of 75mph, so I would be surprised to see stops there added on the current fast services that pass by in the peaks.

[IndustryInsider]

Good to see Chiltern's punctuality back to acceptable standards following the post-Mainline launch dip.  The last three months have been well over 94% with 95.59% recorded for April.  They've been meeting charter payment season ticket discount thresholds for 'punctuality' for the last three months now (just) and 'reliability' never did dip below that threshold and is now way ahead of it at 99.34% - higher than it was before the Mainline services started.