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Title: First Group announce new open access service to Hereford Post by: ray951 on June 06, 2025, 09:18:07 FirstGroup’s proposal is for two return journeys a day (one on Sundays) between London Paddington and Hereford, calling at Bristol Parkway and Severn Tunnel Junction as well as providing direct London services at Cwmbran, Pontypool & New Inn and Abergavenny.
Further details can be found here https://www.firstgroupplc.com/news-and-media/latest-news/2025/06-06-2025.aspx (https://www.firstgroupplc.com/news-and-media/latest-news/2025/06-06-2025.aspx) Only 2 journeys a day but is there room for more OA services into Paddington? And if all the proposed OA services run won't there be a loss of service to all the places east of Bristol that these and the other First Group OA services don't stop at? Title: Re: First Group announce new open access service to Hereford Post by: ray951 on June 06, 2025, 09:29:04 FirstGroup’s proposal is for two return journeys a day (one on Sundays) between London Paddington and Hereford, calling at Bristol Parkway and Severn Tunnel Junction as well as providing direct London services at Cwmbran, Pontypool & New Inn and Abergavenny. Further details can be found here https://www.firstgroupplc.com/news-and-media/latest-news/2025/06-06-2025.aspx (https://www.firstgroupplc.com/news-and-media/latest-news/2025/06-06-2025.aspx) Only 2 journeys a day but is there room for more OA services into Paddington? And if all the proposed OA services run won't there be a loss of service to all the places east of Bristol that these and the other First Group OA services don't stop at, if you assume that these services will take some existing paths? Title: Re: First Group announce new open access service to Hereford Post by: Richard Fairhurst on June 06, 2025, 14:31:04 2023: GWR (owner: FirstGroup) withdraw two daily services from Hereford to Paddington (https://clpg.online/2023/05/summer-rail-timetables-start-today/)
2025: Lumo (owner: FirstGroup) propose two additional daily services from Hereford to Paddington ??? Title: Re: First Group announce new open access service to Hereford Post by: ChrisB on June 06, 2025, 21:05:09 If the DfT request that GWR drop shared services with another TOC & the operator disagrees, of course they form an OA opportunity
Title: Re: First Group announce new open access service to Hereford Post by: Richard Fairhurst on June 06, 2025, 22:43:17 The head of Open Access at FirstGroup posts to a Certain Other Forum and is adamant that there are Chinese walls between the DfT-contracted parts of First and the OA parts! Which I'm sure is true.
I think the point is rather that DfT mandated GWR to make savings; the little-used Cotswold through services to Hereford were an easy way to cut a lot of (effectively) dead mileage; and so it happened. Can't blame them at all for that. But (Chinese walls notwithstanding) First's OA division will be very aware that the gains from Hereford itself are not that huge. Effectively this is a way of running OA services from Bristol Parkway to Paddington, with a little bit of extra revenue from Cwmbran, Abergavenny and Hereford. This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net |