Wrexham and Shropshire are Go!

[JamieLei]

They've finally started, after a 0 day delay (as opposed to Grand Central with over a year) and run 5 trains per day between London Marylebone and Wrexham via Tame Bridge Parkway. Their website looks extremely professional and they have their own booking system to buy the WSMR specific -Advance, -Off-Peak and -Anytime fares. London to Wrexham starts at £22 each way and railcards are accepted. Sadly they do not accept PRIV tickets for industry workers, not that that really concerns anyone here

[Kevo00]

And their very first train broke down apparently.

[Ameecher]

And their very first train broke down apparently.

Fair play to them though, they managed to get it going again, 57 mins later and arrived in London a mere 30mins late. Not bad really.

[Badger]

Or some fairly generous timings!!

[Ameecher]

Or some fairly generous timings!!

Yeah but they managed to run the locos round from what I understand as the service is currently running with Cargo-D coaches and 2 67s (with the trailing loco being Dead in Tow) until they get their own stock sorted.

[JamieLei]

There are very generous timings in the West Midlands region - there's at least a 5 if not 10 min stand at New Street on one of the journies. Some of the services go through International, others go through Solihull when I looked at the planning timetable. Mabye FGW should have a look at their timings - they might learn something!

Sadly apparently a load of trains was stuck for hours this morning... - Network Rail were to blame aparently as signals went down.

[teccuk]

Its funny of course cos this was entirely the sort of thing envisaged back when the railways were first privatised. Fair play, and good luck to them.

[Dave]

Also later delay of 120 minutes+ due to demic 67 at Wrexham (according to WNXX). Rescued by EWS 37 from Warrington. Service turned at Banbury for return leg.

Trains via New Street go Leamington-Solihull-Tyseley-Bordelsey Junction, whilst trains via Stechford and Aston go Leamington-Coventry-Brum Int.

Long stops at New Street don't occur on the two services via it - Proof House Junction to Soho South Junction (via New Street) is given ten minutes, which is not much less than a Pendolino would need.

PROOFHJ 12/21
BHM 12/27
SOHOSJ 12/31

That's not a long stayover.

In fact:

BAN d. 1125
--
--
BHM 12/27
--
--
WVH d. 1255

Isn't that long at all... 90 minutes compared to:

BAN 1723 1724
--
--
BHM 1817 1817
--
--
WVH 1838 1838

1 hour 14 minutes.

Bear in mind that the second goes BHM-WVH via Dudley Port, whereas W&S trains go via Bescot (extra ten minutes) plus a stop at Tame Bridge Parkway.

I'd say there's not much more leeway than anyone else had.

For the record, compare W&S' path via Cov and Int to a Virgin Pendolino on a weekend:

COV 1907 1909
BHI 19/18
--
BSC 19/36
--
BSBYJN 19/46

Giving a Pendolino 37 minutes to get from Coventry to Bushbury Junction non-stop. Now Bushbury's another half-mile or so on from Wolverhampton North Junction, where trains to Wrexham diverge (not even that...) so consider these timings:

COV 21/50
BHI 22/03
--
TAB 2222 2223
BSC 22/24
--
WVH d. 2236
WVRMTNJ 22/38

Bearing in mind that W&S trains need to diverge at Portobello Junction to get to Wolverhampton, rather than zipping straight through to Bushbury, AND stop at Tame Bridge and Wolves, the extra 11 minutes taken isn't really anything.

[JamieLei]

Some XC trains get an extraordinary amount of time at New Street, eg: upto 20 mins in some cases, although the average is about 4-5 mins. They get very generous slack in the west midlands though.

Poor WSMR - everyone seems to be having teething troubles nowadays. Hope they don't do a GC and cut half their trains for a provisional timetable...

[Dave]

Some XC trains get an extraordinary amount of time at New Street, eg: upto 20 mins in some cases, although the average is about 4-5 mins. They get very generous slack in the west midlands though.

That's because everyone does. The mainlines in the Midlands are some of the most highly congested in the country.

Why do you think they're closing Tipton Owen Street LC? There's a train through there every 4-5 minutes.

[Born Acorn]

Has anyone heard the recent possible threats to WSMR's continuance?

Virgin have done a U-Turn, but ATW still wants to run to Euston, which could disrupt WSMR's business. What do you more experienced people think this might do to them if it succeeds?

[JamieLei]

What routing are ATW planning to take out of intrest?

Virgin were planning to go Shrewsbury - Wolverhampton - Walsall - [through Sutton Park line] - Coleshill Parkway - Nuneaton - London, although I doubt any of ATWs 158s would be allowed paths on the WCML.

[Ameecher]

All depends on how quickly they can push the service through and the paths they can obtain. They'll be able to get paths but they'll likely be very slow due to the 90mph top speed. If they are slow getting it going W&S will be able to establish a considerable customer base which they already seem to be doing and if W&S finally get their coaches from Marcroft they'll be in a better position having a whole fleet of newly refurbished intercity trains rather than worn-out regional trains that aren't likely to get refurb'ed or refreshed anytime soon due to like of funding and lack of cover to do so. I think W&S may well be able to weather the storm, they've taken the sensible precaution already of reducing some of their services and have managed to speed up their services due to timetable changes and are experiencing good reliability from their trains. Things bode quite well, especially as the general public seem on their side rather than that of Virgin West Coast who suddenly seem to be suffering a wave of negative publicity.

Edit: Arriva will have the possible advantage of planning to run their service through to Aberystwyth, for what it's worth.

[Dave]

There had been chatter of another service down the Chiltern Main Line by extending the diagrams of trains to International. This was apparently an open access effort part owned by Arriva and the owners of Chiltern. Pass if it's still going to happen.

[Born Acorn]

....if W&S finally get their coaches from Marcroft...

I hear they might be finally getting them in May.

Of course, they said that in August

I hope nobody pulls out. The 87's and Voyagers add a bit of variety to the usual 158s, 153s and 170s.

[Ameecher]

Wait, what? I hope you mean 67s and 175s, not 87s and 170s.

[Born Acorn]

Wait, what? I hope you mean 67s and 175s, not 87s and 170s.

Yes. 67's! and 175s!

Yes. 67's! and 175s!

And sorry, kind of edited my reply into your post. Damn the edit and quote buttons being next to each other!

[orudge]

You could always edit it out again.

[andel]

The coaches are hoped to be ready this summer... Marcroft just seem to betaking their sweet time with Grand Centrals last 3 coaches, too...

[Kevo00]

Surely no one in their right mind is going to want to take a 158 all the way from Aberystwyth to London? Can't imagine traffic from Aber-London is at any time more than a handful anyway, and they can change at New Street and it would probably still be faster. Such a proposal should be blocked as wasteful and a bit silly, just like the old North West Trains service from Manchester to Waterloo!