| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
How a train should run? - 1028/2859 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Wednesday, 10th January 2007 I'm watching the 07:00 from Westbury this morning. It left there 11 late ... was 26 minutes late by Chippenham and shows a Swindon arrival of 08:11. The onwards to Gloucester and Cheltenham, estimated arrival there just 9 minutes after it is scheduled, (it's allowed an incredible 19 minutes from Gloucester to Cheltenham). 1. Glad it ran 2. If it can gain 15 minutes from Chippenham to Cheltentenham, why can't it be retimed to start out quarter of an hour later in the first place? An 07:30 from Melksham to Swindon would be a lot more useful than an 07:17 - a little of the business might come back. Re: How a train should run? - 1028/2865 Written by Sion Bretton on Wednesday, 10th January 2007 The 7.17 this am was 8 minutes later then once we joined the main line held up while 2 London bound trains went by arrived in Chippenaham Re: How a train should run? - 1028/2866 Written by Nick Field on Wednesday, 10th January 2007 [quote author=Sion Bretton link=topic=1028.msg2865#msg2865 date=1168428624] once we joined the main line held up while 2 London bound trains went by arrived in Chippenaham Re: How a train should run? - 1028/2867 Written by Nick Field on Wednesday, 10th January 2007 [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=1028.msg2859#msg2859 date=1168416681] 2. If it can gain 15 minutes from Chippenham to Cheltentenham, why can't it be retimed to start out quarter of an hour later in the first place? An 07:30 from Melksham to Swindon would be a lot more useful than an 07:17 - a little of the business might come back. [/quote] It would appear that there is plenty of slack in the timetable then. Surely FGW would be aware that a slightly later start form West Wilts would gain them more customers without much of a change to the timetable? I suspect they may have built in the slack knowing that they can hold the train at either Thingly Junction, Swindon or Gloucester for a while if they need to but get things back on time by the time it gets to Cheltenham. Re: How a train should run? - 1028/2880 Written by Steve35 on Wednesday, 10th January 2007 [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=1028.msg2859#msg2859 date=1168416681] 2. If it can gain 15 minutes from Chippenham to Cheltentenham, why can't it be retimed to start out quarter of an hour later in the first place? An 07:30 from Melksham to Swindon would be a lot more useful than an 07:17 - a little of the business might come back. [/quote] The single track between Swindon and Kemble appears to be a stumbling block. Times at the moment are Melksham 0717, Swindon 0750-0752, Kemble 0807, Gloucester 0842-0850, Cheltenham 0901. But the 0715 Cheltenham-Paddington is due at Kemble 0807-0808 and Swindon 0822-0823. i.e. as soon as the Melksham train has arrived at Kemble the Paddington train goes on to the single line to Swindon. Running the Melksham train 15mins later would mean it arriving at Swindon at 0805 only 3 mins before the Paddington train goes onto the single line at Kemble. So in reality the Melksham train wouldn't be able to leave Swindon until the Paddington train has arrived at Swindon at 0822. The Swindon-Cheltenham leg of the journey would therefore be approx half an hour later than at present giving arrival times of approx 0910 at Gloucester and 0930 at Cheltenham which is too late for many commuters. The fundamental problem is that the Westbury-Swindon and Swindon-Cheltenham legs of the journey are made by the same unit. If the two legs were run with seperate units it would probably be possible to run the Westbury-Swindon leg at a more convenient time. [quote author=Nick Field] It would appear that there is plenty of slack in the timetable then. [/quote] Yes and no. There's a few minutes 'pathing allowance' in the schedule of the 0700 Westbury-Cheltenham but this is there specifically to make the timetable work. e.g. if you're planning a timetable and you find that you've got two trains converging on a junction at the same time then obviously one of them is going to have to wait it's turn. So you put some 'waiting time' (correctly known as pathing allowance) into the schedule of one of the trains. Now if the train with the pathing allowance was 10 mins late then by the time it got to the junction the other train would be long gone - so the pathing allowance wouldn't actually be needed. The late train therefore makes up some time. So for the Melksham train this morning because it was late it probably didn't need some or all of it's pathing allowance and therefore made up some time (it also managed a very quick 2 min reversal at Gloucester (allowed 8 mins) which saved 6 mins of the delay). Re: How a train should run? - 1028/2882 Written by Lee on Wednesday, 10th January 2007 Steve , could you take a look at the link below , and suggest alterations if necessary. http://www.shinewithstyle.co.uk/literature/melksham%20new%202007%20timetable%20proposals.pdf Re: How a train should run? - 1028/2905 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Thursday, 11th January 2007 Steve, many thanks for your detailed inputs. link to index of articles |
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Save the Train was the campaign to bring an approriate train service back to and through Melksham. Most big contributors are still around writing at the Coffee shop forum where new members are very welcome. The train has been saved - sort of - we have stepped back up from an unusable service to a poorish one but it's doing very well. We did that through setting up the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership. That fulfilled its early objectives; it has been taken over by local and regional government types who are now doing medium and long term work. The team from this forun can also be found at the Melksham Rail User Group (which was the Melksham Rail Development Group at the time these articles were written and we had no users. We mustn't loose sight, though, that the train service remains poor and needs our community support in marketing and campaigning to keep it going in a positive direction ... and all the more so when we're expecting to find a different normallity once we get out of the Coronavirus Pandemic and head for zero carbon via the climate crisis. Yes, it's saved ... it's now a key community facility ... the need for enhancement and the strong and near-universal local support remain, and the rail industry and goverment remain slow to move and provide the enhancements even to level us up with other towns. Please support the Melksham Rail User Group - now very much in partnership rather than protest with the rail industry and local government, including GWR, TransWilts and unitary and town councils. And please use the trains and buses, and cycle and walk when you can. -- Graham Ellis, (webmaster), February 2021 | |||
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