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Government To Scrap Rail Franchises


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10 hours ago, lmsforever said:

How long before xcountry is finally put on the market and who would be daft enough to bid for it?

When we moved down here that was the first time I even knew let alone suspected there was a Penzance to Glasgow X-Country, it’s a bit epic.........worst bit about the X-Country journeys is if your on a long haul trip is all the local passengers getting in and off all the way......just don’t travel during school starting or ending times, it’s a nightmare!

 

Send the kids to school on the Pacers :lol:

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14 hours ago, DavidB-AU said:

 

First would bid for anything.

 

Cheers
David

Since winning the WCML, First have stated they are not interested in bidding for any more franchises, once the next extension the the GWR franchise expires they are dropping that one as well.

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4 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

When we moved down here that was the first time I even knew let alone suspected there was a Penzance to Glasgow X-Country, it’s a bit epic.........worst bit about the X-Country journeys is if your on a long haul trip is all the local passengers getting in and off all the way......just don’t travel during school starting or ending times, it’s a nightmare!

 

Send the kids to school on the Pacers :lol:

What I find interesting now with TPE is that there are restrictions using them in the Manchester area, especially on the Bolton-Manchester corridor where TPE set down only and you have to use Northern services.

 

Maybe if XC didn't stop at Stafford and Wolverhamton it would cut down on commuters, or maybe just apply ticket restrictions like in the Northwest.

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3 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

What I find interesting now with TPE is that there are restrictions using them in the Manchester area, especially on the Bolton-Manchester corridor where TPE set down only and you have to use Northern services.

 

Maybe if XC didn't stop at Stafford and Wolverhamton it would cut down on commuters, or maybe just apply ticket restrictions like in the Northwest.

Or they do what the trains are supposed to do and carry passengers from A to B.

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1 hour ago, ColinK said:

I used XC once several years ago, never used them since due to Voyagers and because people can reserve the seat you are sitting in after the train has started its journey.

 
I don’t have that option.Although EMR operate Burton station,Only XC call there.

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6 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

What I find interesting now with TPE is that there are restrictions using them in the Manchester area, especially on the Bolton-Manchester corridor where TPE set down only and you have to use Northern services.

 

Maybe if XC didn't stop at Stafford and Wolverhamton it would cut down on commuters, or maybe just apply ticket restrictions like in the Northwest.

 
And thus deprive themselves of a source of revenue ? 

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1 hour ago, royaloak said:

Or they do what the trains are supposed to do and carry passengers from A to B.

Of course, and I can see the attraction of a train that only stops twice between Birmingham and Stafford, and then there are the folk who get on at Stoke, where would you stop.  

 

My preference would be that XC operated decent length trains and then perhaps the overcrowding in the central core area of operation wouldn't be an issue and they wouldn't need to let people reserve seats en-route.

1 hour ago, Ian Hargrave said:

 
And thus deprive themselves of a source of revenue ? 

I do wonder how TPE feel about not serving so many stations on the Preston-Manchester route now Northern has taken hold of all the services.

 

I went on a TPE Manchester Airport - Glasgow train last week from Oxford rd, some TPE services have no longer even been calling there on their routes out I am not sure if that is still the case; but this particular service did stop at MCO but sailed blissfully through Bolton and didn't stop till Preston.

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1 hour ago, woodenhead said:

What I find interesting now with TPE is that there are restrictions using them in the Manchester area, especially on the Bolton-Manchester corridor where TPE set down only and you have to use Northern services.

 

Maybe if XC didn't stop at Stafford and Wolverhamton it would cut down on commuters, or maybe just apply ticket restrictions like in the Northwest.

 

In the Up direction, Wolverhampton (rather than New St) is the recommended location for changing from Up WCML services (ie from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool etc) onto southbound XC trains.

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4 hours ago, royaloak said:

Or they do what the trains are supposed to do and carry passengers from A to B.

Yes but it’s a pain when you want to go from A to B and then proceed to stop at C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y and Z on the way :D

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3 hours ago, woodenhead said:

I went on a TPE Manchester Airport - Glasgow train last week from Oxford rd, some TPE services have no longer even been calling there on their routes out I am not sure if that is still the case; but this particular service did stop at MCO but sailed blissfully through Bolton and didn't stop till Preston.

 

That is a legacy from the delayed NW electrification works!

 

When the Airport to Scotland services went over to EMUs then routing HAD to change - although it has always been stated that once the wires were up, trains would return to the Bolton route at the earliest suitable timetable change.

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On 09/11/2019 at 12:25, Dunsignalling said:

Bi-mode IETs are the obvious replacements but I don't particularly care what comes next, just so long as they provide an adequate amount of accommodation.

 

No more of the bloody silly little four-car sets that make travelling on far too many XC services a misery.  

 

John

 

Are you going to advocate demolishing large chunks of Birmingham or Reading (and no doubt other places) to provide more platforms then!

 

Look, when will people get it into their heads that lots of the XC services HAVE to be 5 cars or less to RUN AT ALL! They must platform share with other services or use short bay platforms - and if you don't want to put up with that then the XC service frequency will HAVE TO DROP SIGNIFICANTLY!

 

The railway itself is running many, many more trains since the days of BR (not just on the XC network) and the number of pinch points has grown considerably since the days of British Rail. What was possible 30 years ago on a much quieter railway system is simply not possible now!

 

One thing people complaining about XC could do to help is get behind the HS2 project which, if fully completed, will syphon off some of the longer distance XC users (Birmingham to Liverpool / Manchester / Scotland / Sheffield / Leeds / North East) and free up room on XC services via Stafford or Burton

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3 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

 

Are you going to advocate demolishing large chunks of Birmingham or Reading (and no doubt other places) to provide more platforms then!

 

Look, when will people get it into their heads that lots of the XC services HAVE to be 5 cars or less to RUN AT ALL! They must platform share with other services or use short bay platforms - and if you don't want to put up with that then the XC service frequency will HAVE TO DROP SIGNIFICANTLY!

 

The railway itself is running many, many more trains since the days of BR (not just on the XC network) and the number of pinch points has grown considerably since the days of British Rail. What was possible 30 years ago on a much quieter railway system is simply not possible now!

 

One thing people complaining about XC could do to help is get behind the HS2 project which, if fully completed, will syphon off some of the longer distance XC users (Birmingham to Liverpool / Manchester / Scotland / Sheffield / Leeds / North East) and free up room on XC services via Stafford or Burton

I'll just travel via London or take the car When I want to go north until HS2 is finished, then....

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3 hours ago, phil-b259 said:

 

That is a legacy from the delayed NW electrification works!

 

When the Airport to Scotland services went over to EMUs then routing HAD to change - although it has always been stated that once the wires were up, trains would return to the Bolton route at the earliest suitable timetable change.

Ha, the Bolton route even if they don't actually stop in Bolton anymore.

 

Actually, about half the TPE trains stop still but if they are not available to holders of Northern tickets into Manchester

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48 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

I'll just travel via London or take the car When I want to go north until HS2 is finished, then....

 

Which is exactly what myself and a couple of people I know do, rather than take the XC service.

 

There's an hourly XC service from Southampton to Manchester.

It takes around 4 hours and is laborious.

I prefer to drive (which takes roughly the same time as the XC service) or fly (there are several flights a day from Southampton to Manchester - much quicker, often cheaper).

 

When I do go by rail, I now do as a mate of mine does and take the train to Waterloo, tube to Euston and catch a Pendolino., instead of using the direct XC service.

Via London is invariably the cheapest rail option compared with using XC and there's little difference in the total rail journey time.

 

 

.

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21 hours ago, ColinK said:

I used XC once several years ago, never used them since due to Voyagers and because people can reserve the seat you are sitting in after the train has started its journey.

That is a real problem on XC however I have found a possible answer to it.  When I came back from York recently(ish) I asked the lady who examined my ticket if she could reserve the seat for me - and she did.

 

The Reading problem - highlighted above by Phil - is undoubtedly a constraint on XC train length although a number of their trains use No 7 or a platform over on the Relief Line side but when there are two XC trains in the station simultaneously it is more or less unavoidable that one of them will be in the length restricted No.3 bay.  There is no physical way of lengthening the platform itself as the site is heavily constricted although it might be feasible to move the signal - but probably not far enough.  So it's either make greater use of other platforms or run short trains or avoid calling at Reading (General as was) and much up the traincrew working in the process.  One possible alternative might be to make more radical use of No.7 but that would really require an inventive approach to the signalling.

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17 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

Yes but it’s a pain when you want to go from A to B and then proceed to stop at C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y and Z on the way :D

Cross Country only stop at the major stations so I dont understand the point you are making, or do you mean they should only stop where you want to get on and off and nowhere in between?

 

Like it or not people will catch whatever train is convenient for them, if you dont want to be on a train that fills up with commuters then travel at a time when they are all at work, its your choice.

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1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

That is a real problem on XC however I have found a possible answer to it.  When I came back from York recently(ish) I asked the lady who examined my ticket if she could reserve the seat for me - and she did.

 

The Reading problem - highlighted above by Phil - is undoubtedly a constraint on XC train length although a number of their trains use No 7 or a platform over on the Relief Line side but when there are two XC trains in the station simultaneously it is more or less unavoidable that one of them will be in the length restricted No.3 bay.  There is no physical way of lengthening the platform itself as the site is heavily constricted although it might be feasible to move the signal - but probably not far enough.  So it's either make greater use of other platforms or run short trains or avoid calling at Reading (General as was) and much up the traincrew working in the process.  One possible alternative might be to make more radical use of No.7 but that would really require an inventive approach to the signalling.


The Reading platforms are clearly a difficulty not easily overcome. I have to wonder though where else on XC routes the platform lengths are such a problem,bearing in mind that XC do operate Voyagers in multiple on a daily basis. Platform space at New Street is also a complex arrangement.

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