So as from May we have a Westbury - Warminster train, then a Warminster - Westbury? Neither going any further?
How far ahead or behind is the closest other service (yes, not stopping at Dilton Marsh)? What proportion of Dilton Marsh passengers want to travel just to Westbury or Warminster? What are ongoing connections to Bath / Bristol, and to Salisbury, like?
This does look to me like a bit of timetabling just to meet the spec, rather than giving considration to the Dilton Marsh customers; I know the argument has been had before but the odd middle of the day stop at Dilton Marsh doesn't seem such a crazy idea to me.
Basically, in order to accomodate a better morning peak arrival at Weymouth (and consequent later departure of the return), the following Warminster/Dilton Marsh links have been realigned :
0824 Southampton Central-Westbury becomes the 0823 Southampton Central-Great Malvern.
1028 Warminster to Gloucester becomes the 1025 Warminster-Westbury. A 5 minute connection into the Gloucester service will be available at Westbury.
Also, Dilton Marsh loses its 0746 stop in the 0600 Portsmouth-Cardiff service, but gains an 0845 stop in the 0651 Portsmouth-Cardiff service, which means that Dilton Marsh will have a near-hourly northbound service from 0630-1030.
The May 2008 timetable can be found in the link below.
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Documents/Custom/DC%20MAY%202008%20TIMETABLE/Bristol%20area.pdfChanges to Weymouth/Frome services and Warminster/Dilton Marsh links.
- Weymouth morning/evening peak retimings are due to stakeholder request.
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