Bath Spa - Bristol Temple Meads Oct 27-30 replacement buses only

[whole diary]

[matth1j]

Early warning: https://www.gwr.com/travel-information/travel-updates/planned-engineering

[John D]

Didn't they close line for few days last week of October last year too.

Maybe school half term week is week of choice

However the wording of trains that will run, doesn't seem to mention the trains that go to Salisbury, Southampton, Castle Cary, or Yeovil from Bristol, or early service to London from BoA^» (Bradford-on-Avon - next trains) and Trowbridge.  Suggests to me that these are all quietly being axed for duration.

[grahame]

Didn't they close line for few days last week of October last year too.

Maybe school half term week is week of choice

However the wording of trains that will run, doesn't seem to mention the trains that go to Salisbury, Southampton, Castle Cary, or Yeovil from Bristol, or early service to London from BoA^» (Bradford-on-Avon - next trains) and Trowbridge.  Suggests to me that these are all quietly being axed for duration.

During previous closures, Portsmouth to Cardiff service have routed to Swindon where you can change for Bristol (Parkway, and Temple Meads via Parkway) and for Cardiff.   With 2 local trains an hour from Westbury to Bath, such an arrangement might make sense again.

The early service from B-o-A and Trowbridge to London, frankly, picks up very few passengers indeed at either of those stations and could for a few days be substituted by a local train to Westbury, with a change there onto the Bristol to Paddington via Wilts and Berks service, running from Bristol via Taunton and picking up its normal route at Westbury.   A side question as to why this service in normal times is underused is worthwhile; my educated guess is that it's too early in the day, too expensive, relatively slow, little publicised, and there are no equivalent direct services in the opposite direction ...

[Mark A]

A side question as to why this service in normal times is underused is worthwhile; my educated guess is that it's too early in the day, too expensive, relatively slow, little publicised, and there are no equivalent direct services in the opposite direction ...

Even concerning advance fares, looking a week ahead an advance single is £53 (compared to £86 for an anytime single, both with a railcard) so the advance offer doesn't exactly shine, and neither is persuasive unless someone really needs to be somewhere and at that time of the morning.

I seem to recall the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) chaps and to some extent GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) made plenty of hay with this service though, at the time they axed the services that *did* run at a time that met people's needs.

Mark

[John D]

A side question as to why this service in normal times is underused is worthwhile; my educated guess is that it's too early in the day, too expensive, relatively slow, little publicised, and there are no equivalent direct services in the opposite direction ...

Even concerning advance fares, looking a week ahead an advance single is £53 (compared to £86 for an anytime single, both with a railcard) so the advance offer doesn't exactly shine, and neither is persuasive unless someone really needs to be somewhere and at that time of the morning.

I seem to recall the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) chaps and to some extent GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) made plenty of hay with this service though, at the time they axed the services that *did* run at a time that met people's needs.

Mark

I actually tried Friday 31st October (day after the closure) for advance single (Bradford on Avon - Paddington)
Standard £35 or about 50p cheaper if split at Hungerford
First class £52.50 or saving about £2.30 if split at Hungerford
(prices before railcard discounts)

So first class advance for 9 weeks time, is cheaper than standard advance in a week.   Dynamic pricing is crazy.

[John D]

Not sure if this should be in a different section eg Bristol area commuter services.

But it now appears the Mon-Thur (27-30 Oct) closure of Bristol-Bath has a spin off as all local stopping trains Bristol-Filton Abbey Wood are suspended too.

Seems some local trains in Westbury-Bath area have also been withdrawn during the works.  (Probably because East facing bay platform at Bath Spa was deemed never required during disruption so is nowadays trackless).

[grahame]

Not sure if this should be in a different section eg Bristol area commuter services.

Fine where it is ... where a line is shared by multiple services (as in this case) or where we're talking about specific shared / interchange stations, there are multiple and equally good places to post things like this. And though we have looked, we've not found any better alternative way of arranging it.

Seems some local trains in Westbury-Bath area have also been withdrawn during the works.  (Probably because East facing bay platform at Bath Spa was deemed never required during disruption so is nowadays trackless).

I would suspect it's also because they're expecting a much reduce traffic to handle on a reduced number of trains and at a reduced operating cost.  I would hope that with fewer trains running, they could all be long enough to let passengers travel in a modicum of comfort.

[grahame]

From Bristol Live

A section of the A4, the major road connecting Bristol and Bath, is set to be affected by works for six months from today (Monday, September . The works are part of the construction of a new 208-home development on the eastern edge of Keynsham by Curo Group, a home builder and housing association.

[snip]

There will be no diversions in place during the construction. Temporary traffic lights will be in operation between 9.30am and 3pm. Arrangements will be made to ensure "two way traffic and normal pedestrian flow" during the busy Christmas period between November 24 and January 1, according to traffic monitoring site One.Network.

Thousand of extra motorists journey along the A4 at that time of year to visit Bath's incredibly popular Christmas Market, with congestion particularly common at weekends.

According to Bath and North East Somerset Council, delays are unlikely to occur as a result of the works. The project will also include pedestrian and cycle improvements, Curo said.

Noting that the Christmas Market is considered, but the time the railway line is shut is not mentioned ...

[John D]

More info from Network Rail

18-19 October suspended Bristol - Weston super Mare for part replacement of Bristol West junction, and other work near Parson Street

27-30 October suspended Bristol - Bath (with service reductions via Chippenham and via Bradford on Avon) for replacement of over 1km of track and 5000t of stone in St Anne's tunnel, and with other work on closed section.

https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/autumn-track-work-to-affect-trains-between-bath-bristol-and-weston-super-mare

[matth1j]

27-30 October suspended Bristol - Bath (with service reductions via Chippenham and via Bradford on Avon) for replacement of over 1km of track and 5000t of stone in St Anne's tunnel, and with other work on closed section.

https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/autumn-track-work-to-affect-trains-between-bath-bristol-and-weston-super-mare

That's kind of you to correct their typos ("more than 5,000 tonnes of stone though St Anne’s tunnel")

[Sulis John]

One just has to hope that the M4 closure over the previous weekend doesn’t overrun.