Hertford North to Stevenage Consultation

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JohnSmith
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Re: Hertford North to Stevenage Consultation

Post by JohnSmith » Tue 27 Sep, 2016 10:17 pm

New trains - excellent news
More services - excellent news

But, if they are running more services they will have to recruit many more drivers. They can't cope with the service that they are currently running.

Kateg28
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Re: Hertford North to Stevenage Consultation

Post by Kateg28 » Wed 28 Sep, 2016 8:09 am

They will have to recruit but they do have the time to do this.

JohnSmith
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Re: Hertford North to Stevenage Consultation

Post by JohnSmith » Thu 29 Sep, 2016 12:36 pm

They've had the Thameslink Great Northern franchise for two years and are currently suffering with a lack of drivers. They need to sort out the current shortfall AND recruit more for the new services.

indiekid
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Re: Hertford North to Stevenage Consultation

Post by indiekid » Sun 30 Oct, 2016 7:42 pm

The new trains and increased frequency to Stevenage are great, but hidden in page 70 of 71 is the bombshell that from May 2018 the Hertford to Stevenage services will be axed Mondays to Saturdays except for a couple of trains in the small hours of the night. The reason is lack of track capacity at Stevenage once they introduce 2 new trains an hour off-peak from Cambridge to London. The proposed solution is the most profitable one for the company as Hertford to Stevenage tickets are much cheaper than Cambridge to London. But only increasing the Cambridge trains from 4 to 5 (instead of 6) an hour would have much less impact on the public than closing the Hertford service altogether. This will make it harder to get to our hospital, cinema, and shops - and traffic will get worse with people driving to Stevenage rather than taking a 30+ minute bus journey.
The consultation document and response survey is at http://www.thameslinkrailway.com/downlo ... sultation/. If you want to keep trains to Stevenage please take the time to respond

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Steve
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Re: Hertford North to Stevenage Consultation

Post by Steve » Sun 30 Oct, 2016 7:52 pm

indiekid wrote:The new trains and increased frequency to Stevenage are great, but hidden in page 70 of 71 is the bombshell that from May 2018 the Hertford to Stevenage services will be axed
This is what the OP is referring to by linking to the Comet story that reports this.

Great Northern 2018 timetable consultation: Buses to replace Stevenage link to Hertford North in ‘bombshell’, while Baldock could lose semi-fast services
http://www.thecomet.net/motoring/great_ ... _1_4713741

JohnSmith
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Re: Hertford North to Stevenage Consultation

Post by JohnSmith » Mon 31 Oct, 2016 8:24 pm

"Apart from a few early morning and late evening trains, there will be rail replacement buses on a permanent basis from Stevenage to both Hertford North and Watton-at-Stone until further notice."

Surely this isn't a replacement service, it is just a bus service?

“We have undertaken a passenger demand review and this clearly shows that the level of demand between Hertford North and Stevenage, whilst important for people who use the service regularly, is lower in comparison with the number of people who would benefit from improved Great Northern and Thameslink services which otherwise would not be able to be provided.”

So, a few extra people will benefit but those that lose out will have to double their journey time (or more).

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Steve
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Re: Hertford North to Stevenage Consultation

Post by Steve » Mon 31 Oct, 2016 9:13 pm

JohnSmith wrote:"Apart from a few early morning and late evening trains, there will be rail replacement buses on a permanent basis from Stevenage to both Hertford North and Watton-at-Stone until further notice."

Surely this isn't a replacement service, it is just a bus service?
I believe that the replacement bus service is only until the new platform is built at Stevenage. Their use of the words "permanent" and "until further notice" could be a little confusing, but reflects the fact that the platform was supposed to be delivered in 2018 but now looks like 2020, or possibly - a cynic might suggest - even later. Such is the nature of infrastructure projects in this country!

Falstaff
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Re: Hertford North to Stevenage Consultation

Post by Falstaff » Wed 02 Nov, 2016 1:01 pm

I don't think so. If the platform at Stevenage is built, Govia will justify the permanent suspension of the Hertford train service due to derisory numbers of people using their replacement bus.

Tom S
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Re: Hertford North to Stevenage Consultation

Post by Tom S » Fri 18 Nov, 2016 2:07 pm

Hertfordshire County Council has this week launched a petition calling on the Government to take action to accelerate the infrastructure works at Stevenage station and enable Govia Thameslink Railway to run trains between Watton-at-Stone and Stevenage after 2018.

Cabinet Member for Transport, Derrick Ashley, has also written to the Rail Minister, Paul Maynard MP, this week to express the council's "dismay" over these "totally unacceptable" proposals.

If you share our concerns please sign the council's petition, which calls on the Department for Transport to work with Network Rail to bring forward the implementation of the fifth platform and keep this important rail link in operation.

The petition is here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/172054

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