Romsey, Dean and Mottisfont station management transferred from GWR to SWR

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Joint letter yesterday from Matthew Golton and Mark Hopwood mirrored at http://www.passenger.chat/stns2swr.pdf

We are writing to update you on the future of Romsey, Dean, and Mottisfont and Dunbridge stations.

From tomorrow (Wednesday 1 April), South Western Railway will take over the management these three stations from sister operator Great Western Railway.

This means that SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) will now be responsible for the operation and facilities at these stations, and GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) station staff at Romsey will transfer to South Western Railway.

etc

It makes logistic sense.  Dean and Mottisfont and Dunbridge stations have been served by SWR (formerly SWT^▸ (South West Trains)) trains only for years, yet have been managed by GWR.   Romsey is served by both companies, but was an outpost for GWR station staff based in Westbury in what was generally SW[T,R] territory.   The situation was a broadly historic  one from the days that these station's services were almost exclusively provided by trains based in Bristol.

I have to ask "so what does this mean for aspirations to join Swindon - Westbury, Westbury - Salisbury - Southampton and Salisbury - Southampton - Eastleigh - Romsey services into a single through service?".   I don't know the answer; part of me sees the elements being torn apart, the other part of me sees a letter signed by the two MDs and wonders if full restored services when they come back in a few months might be a sensible joined and joint co-ordinated service.

[infoman]

Good date April 1st,maybe Bristol to Weymouth line could be transferred next.

[grahame]

Good date April 1st,maybe Bristol to Weymouth line could be transferred next.

Why?

[infoman]

They might open the toilets on Weymouth station, for those who are in need of the toilets more than others.

[grahame]

They might open the toilets on Weymouth station, for those who are in need of the toilets more than others.

Weymouth station is already managed by SWR^» (South Western Railway - about), and they operate four out of five trains leaving from there already.  I don't see how transferring the remaining 20% of services to them would have a significant influence on their toilet opening hours.

[paul7575]

Transfer of Dean & Mottisfont (but not necessarily Romsey), must have been first mentioned in an ITT^▸ (Invitation to Tender) or stakeholder brief or similar quite a few years ago, it shows how long even the obvious decisions take...

(The DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) July 2012 ITT for GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about) states that transfer was currently “under discussion with SWT^▸ (South West Trains)”, it’s certainly written as more of a statement than a possibility.  Wonder why it never happened then?)

Paul

[grahame]

Transfer of Dean & Mottisfont (but not necessarily Romsey), must have been first mentioned in an ITT^▸ (Invitation to Tender) or stakeholder brief or similar quite a few years ago, it shows how long even the obvious decisions take...

(The DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) July 2012 ITT for GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about) states that transfer was currently “under discussion with SWT^▸ (South West Trains)”, it’s certainly written as more of a statement than a possibility.  Wonder why it never happened then?)

Paul

Logic has to be that stations are looked after by a TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) that calls there in most circumstances.
- exception - major stations looked Network Rail
- exception - stations served only by Cross Country
- exception - (gone today) Dean and Mottisfont

A further quirk - all stations except Fishguard Harbour are owned by Network Rail
- Fishguard Harbour is managed by Transport for Wales but owned and staffed by Stena

I was lead to believe that one of the problem of swapping over the stations was that the franchises had different renewal / change dates in them and there was never a right time!

[grahame]

From the Three Rivers Community Rail Partnership

Dear stakeholder,

Today marks the formal transferal of Dean, Mottisfont and Dunbridge and Romsey stations from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to SWR^» (South Western Railway - about).

We would like to sincerely thank all those at GWR who have worked with the Three Rivers Community Rail Partnership over the past 13 years to improve these stations significantly.

There have been consistent increases in patronage at all of them over this period and the train service has improved dramatically as well. Together with our dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers we have together made a huge difference in the appearance, infrastructure and facilities of these stations.

Their transferal to SWR is actually very sensible in that GWR have not stopped their trains at Dean and Mottisfont and Dunbridge for some time and we were somewhat on the periphery of their network.

Thank you GWR for all your amazing support and help in achieving these improvements and we look forward to your continued backing for our Partnership as you develop your train services through our area.

But things will not stand still now. Over the same period we have worked just as constructively with SWR in the remainder of the Three Rivers area and we look forward to their further input into building on the significant improvements made.

All our activities will continue at Dean, Mottisfont and Dunbridge and Romsey. There is a great deal of support available from SWR to help promote and develop the stations and volunteers further. We will need to sign new Station Adoption forms at some stage to mark the change in Train Operating Company, but otherwise it’s business as usual!

If you have any questions please let us know.

[Surrey 455]

A further quirk - all stations except Fishguard Harbour are owned by Network Rail
- Fishguard Harbour is managed by Transport for Wales but owned and staffed by Stena

I thought the rail stations at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted airports (and possibly others) were owned by the airports themselves. Is that not the case?

[grahame]

A further quirk - all stations except Fishguard Harbour are owned by Network Rail
- Fishguard Harbour is managed by Transport for Wales but owned and staffed by Stena

I thought the rail stations at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted airports (and possibly others) were owned by the airports themselves. Is that not the case?

You are probably correct with Heathrow, nor sure on Stansted and I doubt Gatwick - over to others to tell us; not the sort of thing you think about at the airport.

[eightonedee]

I thought Gatwick Station was one of the Network Rail stations, but could not find it on their website. Wikipedia has provided the answer - it was transferred to Southern in 2018