FGW - December 2006 timetable

[AJR]

Ref.: FGW website

Details for services in the area - for the full list see the link below.

Link to online source

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Earlier this year, First Great Western consulted on a draft version of the December 2006 timetable for rail routes in Southern England and South Wales, drawn up to meet the Department for TransportÆs requirements for the Greater Western franchise.

A revised timetable has now been devised and agreed with Network Rail. It incorporates feedback from thousands of customers, rail user groups, councils, business groups and other stakeholders.

The timetable published here may be subject to minor changes for operational reasons.

First Great Western will be writing to those who contributed to the consultation to either confirm that their requests have been granted, or to explain why they could not be accommodated.

We would like to thank everyone who contributed to this consultation. Although we welcome customer feedback, we will now be unable to make further changes to the structure of the timetable until December 2007.

The changes to the draft timetable which was published in February can be seen below.

Greater Bristol, Wiltshire and the South Coast

An early morning service will operate at around 0500 from Bristol Parkway to London Paddington, serving Swindon, Didcot Parkway and Reading.
The two London Paddington to Exeter St Davids semi-fast services in each direction will continue, improving connections to the West of England from Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary.
The proposed London/Westbury off-peak hourly service will not run west of Bedwyn, allowing the reinstatement of broadly hourly services at Kintbury and Bedwyn for most of the day.
Services on the Severn Beach line and the Golden Valley, between Swindon and Cheltenham Spa, will be retimed to better cater for schoolchildren, shoppers and commuters.
Subject to confirmation, some Taunton/Worcester trains will be extended to/from Great Malvern.
High Speed Train services from London Paddington to Weston-super-Mare will be retimed to provide more capacity from Bristol Temple Meads in the evening peak.
Later evening Bristol Temple Meads to Taunton trains re-timed to provide better spread of services.
The last train from Bristol Temple Meads to Bedminster, Parson Street, Weston Milton retimed later, from 2100 to 2255.
Services between Bristol Temple Meads and Weymouth will be retimed to better suit leisure and commuter customers on the line, including the retiming of a morning peak service from Frome to Bristol Temple Meads. Connections at Castle Cary to and from the West of England will be improved as a result.
A shuttle service will be introduced between Westbury and Southampton, including calls at Dean and Dunbridge. This will operate until December 2007, when services are transferred to the new South Western franchise.
A through Bristol - Southampton service in the morning and return in the evening will be retained.

The West of England

The existing London Paddington to Exeter St Davids semi-fast services will continue, allowing the acceleration of longer distance services to Plymouth and Cornwall.
Westbury calls are re-instated in London/West of England trains to provide connections to and from both the West of England and the South Coast.
The last Plymouth to Gunnislake train is re-timed later to connect out of 1803 from Paddington as it does now.
One more return trip has been added to Looe branch, from 8 to 9 each way, and First Great Western will review service levels for summer 2007.
Timings on all Cornish branches are revised to make better connections with main line services, and services on the Falmouth branch has been retimed to better suit the needs of commuters.
Subject to confirmation, services on the St Ives branch line will be half-hourly in the summer and during winter 2006/7. Changes may introduced to ensure the service best meets customer needs.
The number of London Paddington services calling at Totnes and Tiverton Parkway will be increased to a level similar to the current timetable.
Torre, Dawlish Warren, Starcross and Exeter St Thomas will benefit from daily through services to and from London Paddington for the first time, which will also provide extra morning peak capacity between these stations and Exeter St Davids.
An additional peak-time morning service will operate between Newton Abbot and Paignton in each direction.
Additional calls will be made at Saltash and St Germans to provide nine daily services each way, compared with six in the draft timetable. These will include direct High Speed Train services to London Paddington.
The early morning stopping service from Penzance to Plymouth will be retimed to connect with a northbound Virgin Trains service
The 1600 Plymouth to Liskeard service will be extended to Penzance to provide an evening peak service for stations in Mid and West Cornwall.
Most services between Exeter St Davids and Barnstaple will be extended to/from Exeter Central.
The first service from Barnstaple to Exeter Central will arrive at around 0815, rather than 0745 to better meet the needs of commuters, and trains on this route will have additional intermediate stops. The last service from Exeter St Davids to Barnstaple will run around 20 minutes later.
Evening trains on the Exmouth branch are re-timed to provide better spread of services, with the last train in both directions re-timed around 40 minutes later.
An earlier morning service will be provided from Calstock to Plymouth, in line with the current service.
Four additional services in each direction will call at Ivybridge, including services for commuters, schoolchildren and college students in the town.
An additional London Paddington to Penzance service will call at Hayle.
The last train from Paddington to the West of England will depart later, at 20.35 rather than 20.18

South Wales

1715 and 1815 Paddington to Swansea call additionally at Swindon and are re-timed later from Bristol Parkway.
1745 Paddington to Carmarthen does not call at Didcot and Swindon and is re-timed earlier from Bristol Parkway to Neath.
An additional service will operate at 2105 from Cardiff Central to Bristol TM.

[madhattie]

There's a lot of this in there:

'Services between Bristol Temple Meads and Weymouth will be retimed to better suit leisure and commuter customers on the line '

I mean, if they don't suit leisure and commuters then who exactly were they supposed to suit? The Severn Beach statement is equally laughable:

'Services on the Severn Beach line will be retimed to better cater for schoolchildren, shoppers and commuters. '

So, who were the trains timed for previously??

[Roger]

FGW are crafty individuals - the trains to Weymouth most likely to attract day trippers leave at 08.04 and 09.04. Neither would allow passengers to buy cheap day returns which don't start until 09.30

An approximate ú5 increase for each adult - looks like the FGW rail fares will follow their bus fares, onwards and upwards.

[Marc T]

JUst noticed that the previously mentioned Portsmouth-Cardiff/Cardiff-Portsmouth services extended to/from Barry and Rhoose Cardiff Airport won't be going ahead after all. Why has this been dropped? Won't make any difference to me personally as not being based in this region now I don't use that airport anyway. But when travelling to Bristol via Salisbury from Waterloo(when I can't get a cheap fare on the direct route from Paddington) it would make a pleasant change to hear the tannoy announcement saying "the next train to arrive on platform 4 will be the xx:xx First Great Western service to Rhoose Cardiff Airport" instead of the very familiar "......Cardiff Central."

But I expect many people who live in the Bristol and South Wales area would have found these direct services to/from Rhoose Airport very useful. So it's disappointing that they have been axed before they were even due to start.

[Marc T]

JUst noticed that the previously mentioned Portsmouth-Cardiff/Cardiff-Portsmouth services extended to/from Barry and Rhoose Cardiff Airport won't be going ahead after all. Why has this been dropped? Won't make any difference to me personally as not being based in this region now I don't use that airport anyway. But when travelling to Bristol via Salisbury from Waterloo(when I can't get a cheap fare on the direct route from Paddington) it would make a pleasant change to hear the tannoy announcement saying "the next train to arrive on platform 4 will be the xx:xx First Great Western service to Rhoose Cardiff Airport" instead of the VERY familiar announcement of "...... to Cardiff Central."

But I expect many people who live in the Bristol and South Wales area would have found these direct services to/from Rhoose Airport very useful. So it's disappointing that they have been axed before they were even due to start.