Worcestershire Parkway - a disappointment?

[Andy Kirkham]

I investigated the possibility of travelling from Bristol to Worcestershire Parkway and found that there is only one direct service - a Bristol - Stansted service calling at 7:36. Otherwise it is generally served by Crosscountry services from Cardiff to Birmingham.

 

It seems a poor show that there is really no direct service between this station and the West Country. Does it represent a (partial) failure of the concept? had it been an aspiration for Bristol trains to call there? Why do they not call? Is it for commercial reasons (insufficient demand) or operational (the line is too busy)?

Edited September 5, 2023 by Andy Kirkham

[KingEdwardII]

Forget Worcestershire Parkway for a moment - the service from Bristol TM to Worcester (e.g. Shrub Hill) is a bit of a mess. There are direct trains, but these are way slower than the journeys that involve a change at Cheltenham! 1hour 14mins vs 1 hour 30+mins...even allowing for waiting on the platform at Cheltenham.

 

So the journeys from Bristol TM to Worcestershire Parkway don't look much different to the fast trains to Worcester Shrub Hill!

 

I agree that the service to Worcestershire Parkway is a bit of let-down.

 

Yours, Mike.

[hexagon789]

8 hours ago, Andy Kirkham said:

I investigated the possibility of travelling from Bristol to Worcestershire Parkway and found that there is only one direct service - a Bristol - Stansted service calling at 7:36. Otherwise it is generally served by Crosscountry services from Cardiff to Birmingham.

 

It seems a poor show that there is really no direct service between this station and the West Country. Does it represent a (partial) failure of the concept? had it been an aspiration for Bristol trains to call there? Why do they not call? Is it for commercial reasons (insufficient demand) or operational (the line is too busy)?

It was intended, and still is, for two further XC services each way per hour to call.

 

These being one call per hour each way in the South West to Scotland and the Bristol to Manchester routes.

 

Accommodating the stops requires not insignificant alterations to the timetable without omitting stops elsewhere, so it will need a future recast to solve this. (I understand the alternative was to omit Cheltenham in alternative services.)

 

I'm not aware of aspirations for this to happen next year, especially given that the long planned changes to the timetable periods have been postponed, throwing next year's changes into a bit of chaos already.

[Edwin_m]

The way the Cross Country timetable works, there is a good same-platform connection at Cheltenham for Bristol.

[Enterprisingwestern]

17 hours ago, Andy Kirkham said:

Bristol - Stansted service

 

Nobody uses that to get from Bristol to the airport I would have thought?

I know services are linked nowadays, but this must be one of the strangest.

 

Mike.