2008

The End is nigh!

Page last updated 02/01/2009

INTRODUCTION:

December will see the end of through services from the Sussex Coast to Birmingham and beyond after nearly 30 years. The current service is very imbalanced to early morning departures northbound. On Sundays there even some ECS moves between Three Bridges depot and Bournemouth and v/v!  All services are substantially slower than 30 years earlier largely due to poor pathways on the Brighton line and the Great Western mainline. The promised speed up of services failed to materialise.

Update 15/9/08 In theory engineering works permitting the last northbound service would have been the 1422 Brighton to Manchester Piccadilly on Saturday 13th December and the last southbound service would have been the 1754 Manchester Piccadilly to Gatwick. Cross Country introduced a revised timetable on the 8th of September which has affected the Brighton services.....yes there's less. On Saturday 13th December the last northbound service will be the 1422 departure from Brighton which now only goes as far as New Street. The last southbound service will now be the 1833 New Street to Gatwick. Both are of course subject to engineering work alterations.

There is now no southbound service on a Sunday and most trains on Saturday have been cut back to New Street. The 1754 departure from Manchester has been withdrawn completely on Saturdays.

Update 6/12/08. LAST DAY OF SERVICES 13th December 2008.

XC have done it again. The last day trains to Brighton have been altered....for the worse.

Northbound:- normal Saturday service runs.

Southbound:-

0933 New Street to Brighton runs as booked.

1633 New Street to Brighton terminates at Reading stock then ECS to Eastleigh.

1833 New Street to Gatwick cancelled.

Back in October I booked seats on the 1633 departure through to Brighton so this is not a good move as far as any fare paying passengers are concerned.

But there is a final fling.............well sort of!

This was copied from the Southern Electric Yahoo Group.

Following the cessation of the Arriva Cross Country train service from the 14 December timetable on the route up from Reading through Kensington Olympia to Brighton has I am told caused a problem with three sections of line no longer directly used by passenger trains. ( Factory Jct to Latchmere Jct, Mitre Bridge to Acton Wells Jct and Acton Wells Jct to Acton Mainline )

Thus, to keep the "track rights" active, a "parliamentiary train" or to be more precise a rail replacement bus service,is apparently being run by Arriva XC. All vaild National Rail tickets accepted. As XC trains no longer go east of Reading. I can only presume that the bus will run empty for many years. I can't see much call for XC passengers.

Tuesdays only:-
Ealing Broadway 09.45 via Olympia 10.25 to Wandsworth Road 10.55
Wandsworth Road 13.15 via Olympia 13.45 to Ealing Broadway 14.25

The service does not appear in any timetable paper or on line it is alos not in TRUST or the TSDB and is operated by Tellings Golden Miller. The double deck coach seen on the service has a window board showing the bus operating on behalf of Arriva XC although I believe the DfT are actually paying for it.
Also see the bottom of this page for questions in the House of Commons.

TIMETABLE and ROUTE:

Northbound The first two departures from Gatwick are routed via Redhill and Guildford as is the sole Sunday service. The other two trains run via Clapham Junction, Latchmere Junction, Mitre Bridge Junction, West London Junction, Acton Wells Junction and then a slow trundle down the West of England mainline to Reading. The route after Leamington is as per 1979, via Solihull, Bordesley Junction, St Andrews Junction, Proof House Junction and into Birmingham New Street. From Sunday 14th September the 0940 Brighton to Birmingham New Street is now routed via Coventry and Birmingham International.

Southbound routing has no surprises apart from 1O23 which after Latchmere Junction is routed via Longhedge Junction, Factory Junction, Brixton, Herne Hill, Tulse Hill, Streatham and Streatham Common before regaining the Brighton mainline. This is for route knowledge purposes but as there is no northbound equivalent it must be of little use. What happens more often than not is that if the train is late it is routed via Clapham junction to regain time by East Croydon.