8 replies to this topic

[Matthew (MPJ/Admin)]

Chiltern railways have released their May timetable for consultation.

See here

There appear to be a few timings changes for Amersham services and I think an extra train in the morning late peak

The major changes for Chiltern are on their services via High Wycombe to Birmingham. They have invested in upgrading the line to provide faster trains.

I wonder how this will impact on Amersham line services. With faster trains going via High Wycombe and more trains on that line, there could be a bottle neck getting in and out of Marylebone which only has two tracks to cope with a tight timetable, so will Amersham services be held / delayed allowing Wycombe services to catch up?

[Eaton]

If I read this right, they are aiming to provide a 90 min service between Birmingham and London, so what is the point of HS2?

Having just re-read the information they are only providing two am and two pm fast trains, so I've answered my own question!

Edited by Eaton, 13 February 2011 - 02:14 PM.
I read the info again...

[ianbartlett]

If I read this right, they are aiming to provide a 90 min service between Birmingham and London, so what is the point of HS2?

Having just re-read the information they are only providing two am and two pm fast trains, so I've answered my own question!

Also, Chiltern won't be running to Manchester, Leeds and points further north, whereas HS2 services will.

[Mark]

The one change I can see in the morning on the Amersham line seems to be the train that used to stop at Missenden then Marylebone now stops at Amersham (at 07.07)

[PeterC]

There isn't much scope to play with the Aylesbury timetable as TfL dictate a minimum stopping service and only have limited capacity for additional trains between Amersham and Harrow.

[echinosum]

Chiltern railways have released their May timetable for consultation.

See here

Seems to have gone. But they have now postponed some engineering work from March till August, without which they can't launch the faster Brum timetable, so they probably had to can the May timetable change for now.

90 mins London -Brum, what's HS2 for? One could answer "to reduce it to 50 mins". 90 mins won't actually be as fast as it is currently done by Virgin, though it's close enough that which is better will depend precisely where in London/Brum you are wanting to get to.

But actually, as I've said before, HS2 was never justifiable on the basis of the London-Brum journey - it is only when you start going far enough to get people out of aeroplanes that there is a sniff of a case for it.

[Matthew (Admin/MPJ)]

The Chiltern upgrade of the London Birmingham service has been delayed until late summer to avoid any problems with late finishing of the upgrade work.

[Danny Boy]

Seems to have gone. But they have now postponed some engineering work from March till August, without which they can't launch the faster Brum timetable, so they probably had to can the May timetable change for now.

90 mins London -Brum, what's HS2 for? One could answer "to reduce it to 50 mins". 90 mins won't actually be as fast as it is currently done by Virgin, though it's close enough that which is better will depend precisely where in London/Brum you are wanting to get to.

But actually, as I've said before, HS2 was never justifiable on the basis of the London-Brum journey - it is only when you start going far enough to get people out of aeroplanes that there is a sniff of a case for it.

There are no flights between London and Birmingham. The solution is to expand our under-used regional airports. HS2 will reduce the journey by 20-25 mins, but will only go to a new station on the outskirts of the city.

[David P]

, but will only go to a new station on the outskirts of the city.

It is not on the outskirts of the city - the main entrance is just over the road from the Bull Ring, long considered THE centre of Birmingham.
It's the airport that is on the outskirts, some 7 miles from the centre. However, HS2 will have a station connected to the airport by a 'people mover' (a fancy name for a bus? I've no idea).