Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
 Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 15:35 01 May 2025
 
- Snake halts Japanese bullet trains after wrapping around power line
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]		 05/05/25 - Walk to Pilning
10/05/25 - BRTA Westbury
10/05/25 - Model Railway Show, Calne
13/05/25 - Melksham TUG / AGM

On this day
1st May (1972)
Bristol Parkway station opens
Train RunningCancelled
13:10 Gloucester to Weymouth
13:57 Exmouth to Paignton
15:03 Oxford to London Paddington
15:21 Reading to Gatwick Airport
15:25 London Paddington to Heathrow Terminal 5
15:27 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
15:30 Warminster to Bristol Temple Meads
15:51 Filton Abbey Wood to Bristol Temple Meads
15:54 Reading to Gatwick Airport
15:55 London Paddington to Heathrow Terminal 5
15:57 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
16:00 Cardiff Central to Taunton
16:00 Oxford to London Paddington
16:27 Heathrow Terminal 5 to London Paddington
16:59 Gatwick Airport to Reading
17:00 Oxford to London Paddington
17:29 Gatwick Airport to Reading
17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury
18:54 Reading to Gatwick Airport
20:11 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
20:29 Gatwick Airport to Reading
Short Run
13:03 London Paddington to Plymouth
14:38 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway
16:50 Plymouth to London Paddington
17:30 London Paddington to Taunton
Delayed
12:48 London Paddington to Swansea
13:48 London Paddington to Carmarthen
14:30 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington
14:32 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa
14:48 London Paddington to Swansea
14:59 Marlow to Maidenhead
15:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington
15:07 Oxford to Didcot Parkway
15:28 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
15:30 Banbury to Didcot Parkway
15:30 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington
15:34 Didcot Parkway to Oxford
15:34 Oxford to Didcot Parkway
16:07 Didcot Parkway to Oxford
16:18 London Paddington to Carmarthen
16:22 Swansea to London Paddington
16:35 Didcot Parkway to Banbury
16:35 Oxford to Didcot Parkway
•
PollsOpen and recent polls
Open to 08/05 09:07 Steam Excursion - or diesel excursion with a featured steam section?
Open to 07/05 09:27 Should train, bus and coach operators be required to accept cash
•
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
•
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
•
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
•
Train companiesSelect from:
GWR
SWR
XC
Chiltern
TfL
TfW
WMR
Southern
• Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple Meads • Bath Spa • Chippenham • Swindon • Didcot Parkway • Reading • London Paddington • Melksham
Exeter St Davids • Taunton • Westbury • Trowbridge • Bristol Parkway • Cardiff Central • Oxford • Cheltenham Spa • Birmingham New Street
May 01, 2025, 15:46:56 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[102] Steam excursion - except there's much more diesel than steam!
[101] Brighton Belle - merged topics
[87] Cash payments for transport services
[84] "Save the Last Remaining British Rail Hovercraft from Destruct...
[41] May Timetable Change
[40] Longer distance canal walks - public transport for one way sec...
 
News: A forum for passengers ... with input from rail professionals welcomed too
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Great Western Coffee Shop > Journey by Journey > Cross Country services > Cross country - Long Distance, or providing full line service?
Poll
Question: Where should Cross Country stop?  (Voting closed: July 16, 2018, 06:53:24)
Major Interchanges only - 14 (38.9%)
All major stations - 9 (25%)
Everywhere - 0 (0%)
Alternate trains - major interchanges and all major stations - 7 (19.4%)
Another mixture - 2 (5.6%)
Should not be a separate franchise - 3 (8.3%)
Other - 1 (2.8%)
Total Voters: 36

Pages: 1 2 [3]
« previous next »
  Print  
Author Topic: Cross country - Long Distance, or providing full line service?  (Read 18414 times)
broadgage
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 5680



View Profile
« Reply #30 on: July 04, 2018, 17:31:42 »
I voted for option 4, alternate services serving all major stations and main interchanges only.

However I agree strongly with those who state that the lack of capacity is by far the greatest problem, full length trains are needed before any tinkering with calling patterns.
And yes LONGER trains, NOT squeezing a few more seats into the existing trains.

Fixed formation at least 8 car, with provision for lengthening to at least 10 car. NOT flexible length. Whilst I don't think much of voyagers, I cant support scrapping them, they should be retained for lightly used services.
Logged
A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
Adelante_CCT
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1314



View Profile
« Reply #31 on: July 04, 2018, 18:09:31 »
Nothing about full length buffets broadgage?  Shocked         Wink


I agree, capacity is the number one issue before anything else.

Being a little picky though, and actually a disadvantage to longer train lengths is the situation at Reading. With full length crossrail trains, services are more restricted for the use of common platforms 13 & 14 whilst anything longer than a 5 car voyager rules out the other common Platform 3, which is the perfect platform for XC▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) services at the moment and therefore would make that platform pretty much redundant. More careful planning will be required.
Logged
JayMac
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 19310



View Profile
« Reply #32 on: July 04, 2018, 18:22:44 »
Alternate longer trains call Didcot and skip Reading?  Tongue
Logged
"Good news for regular users of Euston Station in London! One day they will die. Then they won't have to go to Euston Station ever again." - David Mitchell
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 43946



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #33 on: July 04, 2018, 18:43:23 »
Quote from: bignosemac on July 04, 2018, 18:22:44
Alternate longer trains call Didcot and skip Reading?  Tongue

And carry on to Poole which along with Middlesborough, Liverpool, Swindon, Hull, Bradford, Northampton, Norwich , Sunderland and Preston is one of the ten largest urban connurbations outside the South East which is not served by Cross Country. 
Logged
Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member
Adelante_CCT
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1314



View Profile
« Reply #34 on: July 04, 2018, 19:01:10 »
Quote from: grahame on July 04, 2018, 18:43:23
Quote from: bignosemac on July 04, 2018, 18:22:44
Alternate longer trains call Didcot and skip Reading?  Tongue

And carry on to Poole which along with Middlesborough, Liverpool, Swindon, Hull, Bradford, Northampton, Norwich , Sunderland and Preston is one of the ten largest urban connurbations outside the South East which is not served by Cross Country. 

Why not just skip Didcot, Reading and go beyond Poole to Weymouth, calling at Swindon and Melksham along the way   Wink
Logged
didcotdean
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1454


View Profile
« Reply #35 on: July 04, 2018, 23:25:24 »
I can remember going from Weymouth to Leicester without changing one summer Saturday in the mid 1980s, avoiding Reading, going via Bedworth.
Logged
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: 1 2 [3]
  Print  
« previous next »
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the 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 the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules via admin@railcustomer.info. Full legal statement (here).

Jump to top of page • Jump to Forum Home Page