South Western Railways Waterloo - Bristol services axed

grahame

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Posts: 44115

Re: South Western Railways Waterloo - Bristol services axed

« Reply #525 on: Today at 05:01:48 »

Now that GBR^▸ is responsible for the former franchise of SW[TR], is it time for them to be Great British and consider restoring the through services from London via the County Town of Wiltshire - the nearest county town to London without a through train from the capital.


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Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member

IndustryInsider

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Posts: 10470

Re: South Western Railways Waterloo - Bristol services axed

« Reply #526 on: Today at 08:00:19 »

GBR^▸ isn’t responsible for SWR^» . The DfT^» are. And wasn’t it them that mandated their removal in the first place?


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To view my GWML^▸ Electrification cab video 'before and after' video comparison, as well as other videos of the new layout at Reading and 'before and after' comparisons of the Cotswold Line Redoubling scheme, see: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/IndustryInsider/

TaplowGreen

Transport Scholar
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Posts: 8685

Re: South Western Railways Waterloo - Bristol services axed

« Reply #527 on: Today at 08:17:58 »

I think the message for this and all aspects of "renationalisation" should be "manage your expectations".

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/great-british-railways-south-western-london-waterloo-b2756798.html


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Mark A

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Posts: 2020

Re: South Western Railways Waterloo - Bristol services axed

« Reply #528 on: Today at 10:30:18 »

That'll need a return to the likes of the pre-2018 SWR^» culture - in those times it was meeting people's travel needs, had a healthy set of destinations, passenger numbers on the service were trending upwards, with encouragement from the TOC^▸ and plans to grow the service.

Industrial relation woes, plus a change of franchise with a new MD with their heart in mass transit for big cities has left the SWR services west of Basingstoke in a curious situation and I wonder how (or if) they will be pulled together.

The road network isn't good, rail has plenty of potential and particularly to the South West there's a lot of suppressed demand, but without political pressure, will we just see the likes of 'Until the service improves we're not going to give you any breathing space to develop'? This at a time that Covid caused the service to contract along with the revenue - and at that time some of the seed corn went in the bin.

So, is there a mechanism up and running behind the scenes that takes a rail system that's essentially been nationalised for years albeit with a very curious model, can it quickly turn that into a system that's quick on its feet, hungry for growth and better able to serve people's need to travel? We'll soon find out.

Mark


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