In his response to the government’s consultation document on the future of the Great Western franchise, Mid Worcestershire MP Peter Luff challenges an assertion that “the current weekday off-peak service pattern is broadly …. Hourly”.
He argues for three things to be a condition of the new franchise, which will start in April 2013 and is currently operated by First Great Western:
· An hourly service on the route, building to a half-hourly service,
· a faster service, and
· the construction of Worcestershire Parkway Station
In his response, Peter highlights the large and irregular gaps in current services between Evesham and London with gaps after the 09.04 service of:
o 1 hour 27 mins,
o 2 hours,
o 1 hour 59 mins,
o 36 mins,
o 1 hour 15 mins,
o 1 hour 27 mins, and
o 1 hour 24 mins.
He says,
“The full potential of the Cotswold Line is not being achieved because of long journey times, an irregular and infrequent service pattern and inadequate car parking. Many potential passengers choose either to drive or to make their journeys to London via Warwick Parkway or Birmingham International because of these inadequacies.
“[There] is emphatically not an hourly service. Moving to a true hourly service in both directions, with something much closer to the same minutes past each hour for departures, would greatly enhance passenger confidence in and use of the service. The medium-term ambition should be for a half-hourly service in the morning and evening peaks, building to a full half-hourly service at all times of day in the longer term.
“Furthermore, at the time of privatisation there were at least two trains a day in each direction that completed the journey between London and Worcester Shrub Hill in less than two hours. Now the fastest train to London is, I calculate, 2 hours 13 minutes with many taking much longer. From London to Worcester the fastest is 2 hours 12 minutes, again with several taking much longer.
“I emphasise the need to continue to serve Evesham, Pershore and Honeybourne stations, but it must be possible to offer more trains running at the fastest times and subsequently possible, after electrification from Oxford to London, to complete the journey between Worcester and London in around two hours.
“There is the final problem of inadequately secure and reliable car parking availability at all Worcestershire’s rail stations. Fortunately a solution is at hand and this should feature in the franchise award.
“The new franchisee should be expected to cooperate in the creation of a new Worcestershire Parkway station at Norton in my constituency, serving all of south Worcestershire, with adequate car parking and enabling interchange with Cross-country trains to Bristol and Birmingham. This would greatly assist the economic development strategy of the county and play a major part in reducing long distance car journeys. It is likely to be highly profitable for the train companies.”