There are a number of peak summer scheduled PAD-NQY services to cover most of that demand.

 

Unless you wanted to head to Alvechurch or Redditch in my example, or to Herefordshire from Great Malvern or points east.

I realise its a huge conundrum.  But I'm pretty sure stopping the show when the weather turns adverse, but not impossibly so, is not the answer.  People need a robust train service, not one that hides in a tunnel when the rain falls

 
How do you get on, carrying your Rakeestad 3-door wardrobe flatpack on your back, as you board the bus?

 
tl:dr - it's doable, but...

Yes, really. It's a bit of a challenge though, sitting as it does alongside the M32 and cosying up to an urban retail centre and associated car parks.

Travelwest's app didn't quite cut it as it suggested rail all the way, with quite a hike from the stations at each end. Google maps didn't find Bristol's 25 bus route either and suggested a lengthy hike beneath the M32. Dragging info on Bristol's 25 bus to the top - then found that the route only had one bus allocated to it - which was running a quarter of an hour behind time for what should have been a half hourly bus but was now hourly.

A forty minute wait at the stop closest to Bristol bus station had sightlines to two different passenger information displays, which were each giving information that conflicted one with the other, both promising the number 25 in ten minutes, then five, then two, then 'Due' - and then, off the screen it vanished. After which, rinse and repeat. During the wait, any heavy vehicle that hit the extensive length of  damaged road surface there produced an alarming resonance and bounce beneath my feet at the bus stop c. 8 metres away and made me wonder if there was a risk of something going through the road and dropping into the culverted river Frome there.

Bristol's 25 is a shortish route that serves a string of not well off areas and people and mid-way, passes the back of the retail centre, with a pair of bus stops on a crossable road that are a five minute walk to IKEA involving stairs (which isn't particularly well signed, Openstreetmap's standard map can help here with the walking route, and then their transport layer can help with the location of the bus stop).

Knowing the other bus stop from sight, I left the bus at the stop on the wee bit of dual carriageway close to the motorway, which turned out to be not the best place as the stop is across the road from the destination - myself and half a dozen other people then crossed the queueing traffic there rather than hike down to the lights-controlled crossing 50 metres away and back up again and we'd all have been better off alighting at the rather anonymous previous stop.

**Old Railway interlude - behind that stop, the scant remains of the embankment approach to the vanished 13 arches viaduct on that line from Fishponds that ran across in the direction of Clifton Down.**

Then, into IKEA, on a quest that turned out to be successful, and back through the retail centre to that more convenient bus stop and another 40 minute wait, though things were looking up, as a second bus and driver had been sourced for the route.

It was raining, the stop had a shelter but was strangely wet - it turned out that there was a large puddle very close to the slope-edged raised kerb, well known to vehicle miscreants - the driver of the grey discovery that shortly appeared and floored it, swinging in to include the puddle and sending about 5 litres of water into the bus shelter. (Thankfully neither I nor the other intending passengers were in it at the time but I'm irked that I didn't get their numberplate, and the incident caused that other passengers to decide that perhaps it was a good idea to walk to the train at Stapleton Road instead of waiting for the distant 25 bus). Four passengers arrived, were cautioned about the puddle peril, a general conversation ensued... and after 40 minutes the 25 hauled into sight having been accurately displayed on the tracking as it went to its terminus and back and the very full bus headed back into Bristol, where it passes the (rather congested***) bus station.

From there, onto an X39 back to Bath. Bristol's road works are a permanent fixture aren't they. The X39, though, made reasonable progress and actually made a good connection with Bath's first 6a of the evening.

So, yes, IKEA, doable but not for first-time users of buses perhaps - and the retail park's design's treatment of those nearest bus stops isn't the best.

Mark

*** Noooh idea how people manage bus congestion at undersized underspecced bus stations.

 

The trouble is that it's in Latin, and I don't speak Latin per se.

 
Over an inch of rain here since midnight - prior to today we had only had 14 inches all year!

 
I put I don't know, not because I don't but because my answer does not fit any of the above.

I have no problem with Overground Underground names or even TfL Rail.  They are marketing labels that make no difference. 

I don't care whether Overground or TfL services are run by GBR or TfL so long as they work.

I don't have a problem with the legacy of Network South East but I do have a problem with the pricing outside its area as they is why anytime fares are so high outside Network South East because they were never controlled fares. However extending it won't solve the legacy problems. It needs fares reform. 

 
It isn't - just cutting services short in order to stand a better chance of running to time

 

This service had already been amended to run from Paddington to only Great Malvern.  Now it's somewhat more truncated

The return working:


EDIT: to add the return working

 
Certainly in Exeter things are getting better albeit very slowly. Our local service, a circular route through the city centre via mainly significant residential areas, was fairly recently increased from 4 (2 in each direction) to 6 (3 obviously) on weekdays between 07:00 and 18:00.

And on my return journey last night - BSO concert at the University - both buses were equipped with audio/visual PIS' displaying service id and next stop information.

Stagecoach are unfortunately still having problems recruiting sufficient drivers to enable the delivery of 100% of services.

 

We used to call it "weather".  "Weather" would arrive without doom-laden advance announcements

Here in Worcestershire, the railway service between Longbridge and Redditch has been replaced today by a bus service, because of the weather.  I can't see why a bus service would be any less prone to incident than would a railway service

 

There are sections of DfT and ORR who are being moved into GBR, the devolution of local / metro services is a distinct possibility

 

I think you are mistaken in that the DfT, having transferred the services to GBR, will then move them again to the elected mayors.

Yes, the mayors will have overall control of what services are offered in their Metro areas, but I think that'll remain through 'requests' to GBR.

 

Only to Worcester Forgate Street (via Evesham) These days.

 
My thoughts on the direction of travel (pun intended  ) of the current Government with the devolution to an elected Mayor structure of local Government is to hand over the "Metro" type of services to the Mayors / local authorities.

So I can see for instance in London the remaining, mainly the Southern Region (SE Trains, Southern, SWT) Metro services being transferred to TfL, leaving the more regional and intercity with GBR.  The National infrastructure will I feel remain with GBR (former Network Rail)

Whether the all changes will take place this side of the next 2029 General Election is the question, certainly some will where the ToC is part of GBR

 
In 2025, Network Southeast is a magnificent quirk, yes. That said, a permanent debt of gratitude to Chris Green for what he did there, but as to its quirkiness, it reminds me of the arrangements for fares out in... is it the direction of Amersham, where, is there a faint fingerprint of commercial arrangements between the Metropolitan Railway and the long-vanished Great Central?

Mark

 
So basically just like any other November day in the past

 
On Saturday, I'm planning to go to London for an indoor location. It's part of my "every Saturday out" plan and I'll be starting from Melksham some 100 miles away.  "Travel for London" but should it be "Transport for London" (TfL) all the way?

The Underground ^(*) has expanded out of tunnels beneath the cities of London and Westminster into the suburbs, and 55% of it isn't actually underground.  Total around 250 miles.

That has expanded into the Overground - six lines with recent names that I'm getting used to https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/culture-and-heritage/londons-transport-a-history/london-overground of a further 100 miles, with some sections distinctly underground or - between Shadwell and Wapping for example - actually under the River Thames in Brunel (Snr)s original tunnel.

Transport for London Rail runs a further 65 miles or so, from Reading and Heathrow to the west of London, underground through the centre, and out to Shenfield and to Woolwich, sharing infrastructure in the outer area with the national network (Network Rail) but exclusive in the inner tunnels.  It's now known as the Elizabeth Line

Network South East runs all the way out from London to the Kent and Essex coasts ... and up country and out west as far as Weymouth, Exeter (but only via Honiton) and Hereford (via Evesham) but NOT West of Didcot or Bedwyn - not an operational entity any longer, except that fares, railcards, etc have different rules in that area.

^(*) - the Underground is sometimes referred to as "the tube" though this term really should cover only the deep level narrow bore lines.   The District, Metropolitan, Circle and Hammersmith and City lines are built to a larger gauge, typically constructed using and a cut and cover technique, and are much nearer the surface - they are not tubes.

* Should "Network South East" extend out further / have a regularised shape to places that are - say - less than a 100 minute journey from London (3 days a week communising range)?  

* Should Transport for London Rail extend to cover more services - there is a very useful piece ((here)) from RailFuture which looks at TfL's desire to take over Great Northern services from Moorgate, and in some ways it's a curiosity that Thameslink isn't a part of the TfL brand.  

* Should lines such as West Ealing to Greenford be included into the Overground?

 
Friday November 14

 

AIUI they have £2m of s106 money in the bank but need another £1.5m to do the feasibility work. So before spending it, they need to be reasonably certain that a package of funding for the extension could be assembled.

As for the DCO process, it seems to me that no end of money has been spent on initiatives to make local rail reopenings cheaper including light rail, minimal signalling etc. I suspect that as with electrification, the solution is probably Treasury commitment to a long-term rolling programme of reopenings, including with in-house NR teams doing work rather than consultants who inevitably have to pad their estimates to cover contingencies and lean times.

 
But will it be built with enough clearance for proper electrification? 

 

..........and this'll be cosy too, especially as it's Friday.

18:36 London Paddington to Plymouth due 22:10
Facilities on the 18:36 London Paddington to Plymouth due 22:10.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 9. There are no reservations on this service.

 
05:03 Penzance to London Paddington due 09:54
Facilities on the 05:03 Penzance to London Paddington due 09:54.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 10. There are no reservations on this service.

5 all the way to Paddington (again).

 
Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading
Following a points failure between London Paddington and Reading all lines have now reopened.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 10:15 14/11.

 
Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a points failure between London Paddington and Reading some lines are closed.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 10:15 14/11.

 
And the time of year with drivers driving defensively…though the IET fleet is easily the best at dealing with slippery conditions of the types of train I have driven over the years.

 
Has a bit of an interesting history, there were originally a series of level crossings in the area.

In the late 1890s the LSWR in conjunction with Southampton Council worked on number of improvement schemes that would allow full quadrupling from Southampton to north of Eastleigh.

Central bridge was opened halfway between 2 level crossings (and tram line extended over it to old Itchin floating bridge) and the crossings shut.  To the north Wide lane (near what is now Southampton Airport Parkway station) also gained a new 4 track overbridge replacing the level crossing.

Swaything station got new buildings that were set back on assumption both existing platforms would become islands with new platform faces at the back.

The third new rail bridge (Northam) was opened around 1908 (can't quickly find exactly when).  This is the one they want to replace.

The 4th bridge at Mount Pleasant didn't happen as First World War stopped the widening work (and LSWR had prioritised six tracking from Clapham Cutting to New Malden, of which quite a lot got of trackbed and bigger bridges got built until work ground to a halt around 1916 due to the war).   I think Mount Pleasant is the only level crossing remaining on London and Southampton Railway.

The curve under the Northam bridge used to be restricted to 15mph, it was eased to 25mph about 40 years ago after closure of the electrified southern curve. It remains to be seen if new bridges allow a further line speed increase (even if it just a couple of hundred metres transition at 35-40mph).

I assume DfT request for funding is that it carries an A road (A3024) and will allow it to almost become dual carriageway throughout.  There is a short section about quarter of of a mile east of Northam rail bridge which is 4 rather narrow lanes single carriageway.

 

Most passengers from Barnstaple have a destination in the Exeter area and would need an onward train connection from Tiverton Parkway into the city.  The flow metrics are very different to those that happen when the sea wall at Dawlish is out.