First of all (or should that be, Third of all) let's start with some basic facts and figures. It normally takes around 25 minutes to get from Chippenham to Bristol (or vice versa) via Third Rate Western. Bath Spa is between the two, roughly 12 minutes journey time from either starting point.
Between Chippenham and Bath is Bathampton Junction, where the line branches off to Westbury and beyond.
The 7:46 to Bristol used to be the 7:41 to Bristol. Now you're thinking, is this guy just pissy because they moved his train by 5 minutes? Not at all, but of course there's more to it than that.
The old 7:41 to Bristol would get in to Bristol at about 8:10 which is ideal for those of use who want to be at work on time. The 8:15 service is woefully unreliable and even if it's on time, it barely gets me to work for 9:00. And the next earlier train is 6:41 which is nasty. So, 7:41 it is.
Or, in fact, it isn't, not any more. Now it's the 7:46.
Since the demise of Wessex Trains, Third Rate Western have taken over the little stopping services that go from Southampton to Cardiff, via Bath and Bristol. There's one in the morning that gets to Bath at 7:59. Then it stops at Oldfield Park and Keynsham, before arriving in Bristol about 21 minutes later.
So, I hear you say, the 7:46 from Chippenham takes 12 minutes to get to Bath, so it gets to Bath at 7:58 ahead of the stopping service from Westbury and beyond. Sadly not. In an epic masterpiece of timetable idiocy, the 7:46 stops at Bathampton Juntion for 5 minutes to let the (usually delayed) service from Westbury go ahead of it. Then it follows it to Bristol, having to wait for it to stop at Oldfield Park and Keynsham.
So it now takes a full 36 minutes to get from Chippenham to Bristol, instead of the usual 25. Doesn't sound like much but that's actually more than 40% longer than normal. This assumes, of course, that the stopping train is on time, which invariably it isn't. Average journey time on the 7:46 to Bristol is now 45 minutes.
Surely even an idiot wouldn't delay several hundred commuters paying anywhere up to £125 each to let a tiny stopping service out in front of it? Well it looks like Third Rate Western have invented a new, super-idiot to do their timetables.
In the next gripping installment, we'll look at just how many people are being fucked over using some nice pictures.
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1 comment:
You seem to be thinking solely about the one express train and the one stopper train and forgetting that many other trains have to use the same line aswell. This is why timetables and paths are worked out months in advance so that all trains have their scheduled times. There are no idiots doing timetables and I'm sure that they are fitting the many many many trains in wherever they possibly can (especially on two track sections of lines) amongst all the other services including those operated by CrossCountry and not forgetting the freight trains too! The 0741 was clearly moved to 0746 as that was the next available path and I'm sure that there is likely a perfectly valid reason why it was moved to five minutes later.
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