Timetable review will look at the big picture

By the time this appears in print, the National Rail Timetable files should have just been released. And unless the files are significantly late, my review of the May timetable will appear in RAIL 855.

Many people have complained about sketchy information currently available online for the summer, and some are complaining about what they perceive will be cuts to their service.

I have had numerous emails, but most have been impossible to deal with in depth because they are entirely local issues beyond my expertise. I cannot speak for individual stations, and my task in examining the NRT can only generally cover routes overall.

As an example, I gather commuters at Harpenden are angry over what they see as a large cut to their service in May, all tied up with some Thameslink services omitting the stop in order to provide faster services from Bedford and Luton, owing to East Midlands Trains not calling in the peak.

All I could see from the advance timetable was a cut from about ten trains per hour to nine per hour in the morning peak. OK, that matters if you live there, but try explaining its importance to Thurso residents!

I asked Thameslink, which replied that as many of the trains will be longer than now, there will be an overall increase in seats over the peak despite a 10% cut in the number of trains. I have no access to stock diagrams, so can’t comment.

I don’t wish to play down local issues, but my review can only look at the big picture.