News
26th October 2023
SERUG's Annual General Meeting was held on Wednesday 25th October at Raleigh Hall in Sherborne and was well attended.
Chairman Bruce Duncan reviewed our recent activity, the likely political landscape, and our need to define an appropriate vision.
Secretary Nick Hurrell showed performance data highlighting the continued problems caused by the lack of passing places on the route, and contrasted this with the Cotswold line, on which the necessary investment had been made.
Our guest speaker was Matt Barnes, Head of Strategic Service Development, Great Western Railway, who focussed on the vision for the Devon Metro and the need to identify specific steps which will bring benefits and bring the vision to reality.
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12th October 2023
Improved West of England Line Timetable from 10th December
SWR have confirmed the improvements to the West of England line timetable from December. This will effectively take it back to the pre-pandemic levels of service. The main changes will be:
The extension of the two a.m. peak services from Exeter St Davids and Honiton that currently terminate at Basingstoke through to Waterloo
The extension of the off-peak Salisbury – Basingstoke services through to Waterloo
Additional evening services between Waterloo and Salisbury including the current missing gap at 22.50
SWR has been able to make a successful business case for the improvements to the DfT and Treasury on the basis of recent patronage growth on the route.
The additional trains will have a number of benefits for both the stations directly served but also capacity pressure on existing services. This includes the resulting increase in frequency between Basingstoke and Waterloo which will reduce both the gaps in services and increase the number of seats available on existing Exeter and Weymouth services.
Other benefits include enhanced connections at Salisbury between GWR services on the Bristol route and Clapham Junction and Waterloo including the recent uplift in frequency from May this year.
See the SWR announcement here.
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19th July 2023
Proposed closure of most Ticket Offices.
The proposals for major changes to the operation of ticket offices and platform staff has raised much debate. SERUG's response to this can be found here.
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28th May 2023
Following a series of service failures SERUG Chair sends letter to SWR CEO requesting clarification of where responsibility lies. His letter can be seen here.
23rd January 2023
Hourly service to Waterloo resumed after Network Rail deliver track changes using the remaining 2 "up" lines only. Engineering work on the landslip tracks will be ongoing.
14th January 2023
Major landslip at Hook - affects trains which then start and terminate at Basingstoke only - running to and from Exeter St Davids.
26th October 2022
'Normal' timetable to return on Monday 14th November.
NETWORK RAIL SOUTHERN REGION WEST OF ENGLAND LINE
Dear Stakeholders,
Lifting speed restrictions on the West of England line.
As you will be aware, speed restrictions of 40mph were brought in this summer at locations near Tisbury, Gillingham and Axminster, as the clay-based track bed shrank in the record-breaking hot and dry summer, leaving the rails uneven and too bumpy for trains to run at full speed. This caused significant disruption to services in August and required the introduction of a new temporary timetable between Salisbury and Exeter from early September.
The cause of the speed restrictions on the line is known as Soil Moisture Deficit and is caused by largely clay-based soils shrinking in hot and dry conditions as trees and other vegetation soaks the water from them. They shrink unevenly, meaning track laid on top loses its level profile.
Engineers have made good progress in restoring the track levels, helped by cooler temperatures and regular rain which has stopped the track bed shrinking. We are now in a position to lift the majority of the speed restrictions which were imposed, and as a result, South Western Railway (SWR) plans to restore the regular timetable on the West of England line from Monday 14 November.
We would like to thank all our stakeholders and passengers for their patience throughout this period.
Looking Ahead
We wanted to take this opportunity to give you advance notice of a series of upcoming engineering works within the next 18 months to
improve the railway on the West of England line. Firstly, a nine-day closure between Salisbury and Yeovil Junction between 10th and 18th December will allow us to replace track in the Gillingham area.
Making the most of the closure, our engineers will also carry out station improvements at Gillingham and Sherborne; improve drainage in the Sherborne, Templecombe and Gillingham areas; perform track maintenance in the Gillingham and Sherborne areas; and remove graffiti and clear litter from the line at Salisbury.
Further closures are planned in November/December 2023 and March 2024, with the Axminster, Crewkerne, Templecombe and Gillingham areas all set to see improvement works.
We will continue keep stakeholders updated on these works, along with the associated journey information together with our colleagues at SWR.
Kind regards,
Southern Region Stakeholder Team
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27th September 2022
Our AGM meeting on 22nd September was well attended and proved to be a constructive forum for SERUG, South Western Railway and Network Rail to discuss their views and plans.
Claire Mann, Managing Director of South Western Railway and Mark Killick, Network Rail's Route Manager for Wessex lines were guest speakers.
SERUG's Briefing covering recent performance of the line and our priorities can be found here.
Our summary of the presentations and discussions can be found here.
5th September 2022
Line closure 19 - 23rd September
The line will be closed between Axminster and Pinhoe for major infrastructure work around the Honiton tunnel between 19 - 23rd September. Bus replacement services will operate. Full details here.
29th August 2022
SWT has announced that geological problems between Tisbury and Gillingham have caused delays along the route. From 5th September they propose to run an hourly service from Waterloo to Yeovil Junction and only a two-hourly service on to Exeter. The temporary timetable has yet to be published. Here is the SWT announcement.
28th March. SERUG question SWR interest in West of England line. Nick Hurrell addressed the All-party Parliamentary Group for South Western Railway on 23rd March. You can download his presentation here. If you'd like a more detailed explanation to the bullet points in the presentation please email us at contact@serug.co.uk and we’ll provide the speakers notes.
30th December. SERUG Secretary Nick Hurrell talks to RAIL magazine writer Paul Clifton in the 29th December edition. You can see the two page article here and here.
2021
15th November. 2021 - Through services to London resumed after the Salisbury disruption, and SWR published new timetables which can be found on the Timetable page.
4th November. A link to an article in today's edition of Railway Gazette, and the text of the article, with a very downbeat assessment of HM Treasury's view of railway investment. Click here.
8th October. SWR has announced service reductions on Saturdays (only) from 9th October. Services between Waterloo and Exeter are not directly affected, however services from Waterloo to Salisbury will start from Basingstoke and there will be no SWR trains between Salisbury and Bristol. There are more details here.
2nd October. The Friends of Honiton Station have published their September Newsletter which can be downloaded here.
11th September. SERUG submit their response to SWR Consultation for December 2022 Timetable. See our response here.
3rd September. The Friends of Honiton Station have published their September Newsletter which can be downloaded here.
13th August. SWR have published a consultation document outlining its 2022 timetable specification. SERUG will study the proposals and responding in full to SWR. Our initial reaction is that this plan turns the clock back to 2018 and strips out subsequent attempts to improve the service between Salisbury and Yeovil, with no mention of the CMSP which was published last year by Network Rail, apart from a brief reference to GWR's well in the future plan to run services between Exeter and Honiton as part of Devon Metro. It shows little ambition to improve the route's service, or improve the passenger experience .
21st July. The Blackmore Vale Community Rail Partnership have published a guide to summer trips on the Blackmore Vale line. You can download it here.
Good news for travellers at Axminster. The station rooms which were formerly an office are now a pub called The Ale Way. However, the café on the platform is currently closed, awaiting a new operator.
SWR to ramp up services from 17th May. SWR have announced that from 17th May hourly weekday services from Waterloo to Exeter will resume, and there will be additional services between Salisbury and Yeovil. The pocket timetable can be downloaded here.
Chris Loder, MP for West Dorset, talking in Parliament about our local railways. Link here. (11th March 2021)
2020
Network Rail has published its November 2020 Stakeholder Newsletter for the Wessex route, which includes details of Christmas period engineering works. It can be viewed or downloaded here.
SERUG AGM
Bruce Duncan, Chair of SERUG introduces Claire Mann, Managing Director of South Western Railway and Mark Killick, Network Rail's Route Manager for Wessex lines
A letter from our Chairman has been published in the February 2020 edition of Modern Railways magazine.
Network Rail Study The Continuous Modular Strategic Plan (CMSP) is Published
Network Rail have published a strategic document for the future of the Salisbury to Exeter route. SERUG strongly supports this initiative. It's a long document some of which is highly technical, however the Executive Summary provides a good overview.
Emergency Measures Agreement
The Department for Transport has announced that the South Western Railway franchise has been replaced by an Emergency Measures Agreement due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Their release can be seen here.
SERUG statement on SWR performance. 14th January 2020
South Western Railway Performance shows no sign of improving
The speculation regarding the possible termination of the South Western Railway (SWR) franchise comes as no surprise. It follows another poor year of performance for the train operator, which operates many of the services in our area, including the West of England Line from London Waterloo to Salisbury, Yeovil and Exeter.
Bruce Duncan, Chair of the Salisbury to Exeter Rail Users Group (SERUG) paints a sorry picture: “The previous operator, South West Trains (SWT), certainly wasn’t perfect, but it’s clear that services have deteriorated since SWR took over in 2017. Given that the majority of the existing SWT staff transferred to SWR, with the timetables, rolling stock and maintenance depots remaining the same, the only real change was the senior management and the franchise agreement with the DfT which specifies the way the franchise is run – that is where the blame must lie. Staff morale is at an all-time low”.
Mr Duncan is quick to point out that not all the problems are the responsibility of the train operator. Network Rail, who control the track and signalling have also suffered numerous issues. “Even without the lengthy December strike, performance throughout 2019 was woeful”, he continues, “Analysis of on-time performance on the Exeter route shows SWR missed their on-time arrival target (89% of trains to run on time) on 271 days last year. Effectively, this means that there’s a 75% chance that you’ll travel on a day when SWR fail to meet their punctuality target!”
Although the much-publicised strikes and staff shortages have monopolised the recent headlines, Mr Duncan believes that the real issue on the Exeter route is the lack of investment in infrastructure and modern trains. Most of the line between Salisbury and Exeter is single track, so trains can only pass one another at the few “passing loops”. One late running train is likely to cause delays to many others.
He continues, “Since 2016, SERUG has lobbied Government and Network Rail as well as the train operator to make the necessary improvements. If just four new (or longer) passing loops with double track were to be installed at Whimple, Yeovil, Gillingham and Tisbury, a step change in performance would be achieved, offering better timetable resilience and faster journey times”.
Mr Duncan also believes that the current rolling stock is now the oldest in mainline service in the country, but there are still no plans whatsoever to replace these 30 year old trains. He advises that SERUG intends to draw up a train specification and lobby to enable cleaner and more reliable “bi-mode” trains to replace the 30 year old diesel units. He is seeking passenger input for the specification.
SERUG’s lobbying has not been without success. The group have been asked to join a study team, chaired by Network Rail, to research investment opportunities. However, Mr Duncan knows that the pipeline for infrastructure improvements is a slow one and believes it will be at least 12 months before any decisions on the Study Group’s work are made. (More details of SERUG’s plans can be found on their website at www.serug.co.uk and on Facebook).
Meanwhile, can rail users expect any improvements in 2020? “That’s very unlikely”, says Mr Duncan, “SWR have recently announced a new and experienced MD , Mark Hopwood. Clearly, his role is to turn the franchise into an efficient passenger focussed railway. I wish him every success but one can understand a degree of scepticism! Network Rail will also have to improve their performance. Fares rose again at the beginning of January and the RMT union is now considering further strike action in February or March over who closes the doors. Given that drivers control doors on many other routes across the country there is no justification in claiming that this is a safety issue. It seems that the hapless passengers continue to be the RMT’s pawn and will remain at the bottom of their priority list”.
Bruce Duncan
Chair, Salisbury to Exeter Rail User Group (SERUG)
Passenger Usage 2018 - 2019
Given the degree of disruption to the line it's not surprising to find that passenger numbers between Salisbury and Exeter have fallen between 2017 - 2018 and 2018 - 2019, using April to March data.
With the exceptions of the newish station at Cranbrook and Pinhoe, every station has lost passengers, over 200,000 in total. That's around 550 passengers per day.
This data includes Exeter Central and Salisbury at which some passengers are not using the West of England route, however it's a serious step back from many years of steady growth.
The October 2020 edition of Modern Railways magazine carries a report on plans to improve the line.
PPM data for January to November 2019. Report by Nick Hurrell
Once again the PPM timekeeping report makes very unhappy reading. November (at 55.6%) was by far the worst month of the year, with the target being achieved on just one day. The data is in PDF format here.
The PPM (Public Performance Measure) is just one of the measures used to evaluate Train Operator performance – but it is probably the most widely used and understood. For South Western Railway (West of England line) the target is for 89.2% of all trains to arrive at their final destination within 5 minutes of schedule – it’s normally measured monthly.
Sadly, the monthly target has not been achieved for over two years now. The average so far this year sits at 77.2%, well below the National Average of 87.7% - which, let’s face it, isn’t great either! One might think that the December Strikes, for which SWR have an agreement that they will be measured against their reduced timetable, might meet the target, given that there’s less to go wrong. But no, the average so far this month (1-11 December) is still only 77%.
Christian Wolmar at Yeovil Railway Centre, 26th September.
Nick Hurrell reports:
Over 40 members and SERUG supporters attended a talk by Christian Wolmar about the current state of Britain’s Railways on Thursday 26 September. Although he may think of himself as “just another hack” (his own words), he is far more than that…a renowned railway journalist, historian, political commentator and also a very entertaining speaker.
The event started with brief updates from Bruce Duncan (SERUG Chair) and Andrew Ardley (SWR Business Development manager) on matters relating to the West of England line. It is pleasing to see that SERUG is now a recognised lobbying voice, with our views passenger improvements widely recognised and understood. SWR and Network Rail are now working with us, local councils and TravelWatch Southwest to design an improved timetable, with faster and more resilient journey times, which will identify where additional infrastructure improvements, such as passing loops, are required. Investment isn’t guaranteed, but we are moving forward.
Christian Wolmar’s talk concentrated initially on the history and development of the current CrossRail project – unsurprising as he has just written and published a book on the subject. He described the history of east/west travel across London, from the original Turnpikes to development of London Undergound’s original Central Line, right up to the present day, with the eagerly awaited opening of CrossRail.
He strongly believes that CrossRail will transform east/west travel across the capital, stressing that the “Elizabeth Line” is not an underground line, rather a mainline railway running underneath London, built to mainline loading gauge (not the narrower 12ft loading gauge of the deep tube lines).
He also highlighted that CrossRail is a good example of everything that is both right and wrong with our railways. The delays in its opening are (in his view) simply down to a major under-estimation of the time and costs required for the fit-out process. With the tunnelling completed virtually on time, it was thought that the fit-out of stations, signalling, etc, would be simple task. It clearly hasn’t been. Christian is also frustrated that his book on CrossRail isn’t really finished – it will need to be edited when the line finally opens!
The discussion turned to wider issues, such as the need for better integration of our rail bodies, where Network Rail needs to be (he’s a strong supporter of new NWR chief Andrew Haines) and of course HS2 (cynical and would rather the money is spent on better local tram networks, but doesn’t believe it will be cancelled).
Christian Wolmar doesn’t mince his words – and they are words well researched. The rousing round of applause at the end of his talk was well deserved.
Nick Hurrell, Secretary.
The 9th September 2020 edition of Rail Magazine featured a two-page analysis of the CMSP study.
5th July 2019: Notes from the Chair
It’s time to consider our achievements over the first four years of SERUG’s existence, and to thank our members for their support.
After many months of analysis and research, our proposals for the future of the line were made in 2018 at the House of Commons. Our 8 MP’s, with constituencies adjoining the line, supported the phased incremental plan of delivering long term service improvements and passenger benefits. Our proposals can be seen in the Archive page of this new website. Feel free to share the link with your friends and colleagues.
Joining the West of England line Strategy Group (WESG) in 2018, as one of the two passenger groups (the other is Travel Watch South West), allows us formal input to the line’s long-term future, i.e. to 2043, assisting the County and District Councils, LEP’s, Network Rail and SWR (the TOC), to agree the way forward. There has to be an application to the DfT before anything moves, so there is much work yet to be done.
Our primary proposal is the provision of double track sections and signalling to improve resilience, capacity and journey times. Pending such investments current passenger services have been helped by our work with SWR, for example the May 2019 timetable’s additional services between Salisbury and Yeovil Junction.
We are concerned about the efficiency of the current 30+ year old rolling stock, and will soon be involved in considering their replacement, although new coaches will not arrive until after the end of this SWR franchise in 2024. Also under consideration is extension of the 3rd rail electrification from Basingstoke to Salisbury / Yeovil Junction together with bi-mode trains, reducing diesel usage and offering faster acceleration and more efficient stock use.
The Vision is for a 100 mph railway (currently 85 mph max west of Salisbury), with double track (ideally throughout), capacity for Devon Metro services and also paths for a GWR diversion service without alteration to SWR services. Also, improved car parking, and stations with integrated transport (e.g. connecting bus services).
Our AGM’s, with well-known speakers, have become very well attended and brought us valuable opinions and experience. Newsletters and brochures help the message, but we need continuous passenger input to provide evidential support to our Proposals. This will support our goals which are to influence the parties in the railway industry and lobby the DfT and Government to deliver a better railway and passenger benefits for the West of England Line. The Axminster doubling and platform works took 20 years to reach fruition – we need to do it faster.
Passenger support is required and we hope to undertake passenger surveys this year.
I have no doubt that we will be seeing the MP’s early next year – whatever the political landscape looks like then. In summary, we have set the ball rolling however there is much work to be done to realise our goals. Thank you for your support.
Please tell your friends about us too!
Best wishes,
Bruce Duncan
Chair, SERUG
9th March 2019 – Southern Western Railway announces May 2019 timetable changes.
SWR have announced the timetable changes which will come into effect on 19th May 2019. These include some modest improvements for services west of Salisbury. The changes affecting the West of England line can be seen on our Timetable page, together with the new timetable.
Follow this link for full details: SWR May updates
David Tozer visited Cranbrook station for its opening in December 2015 to record the first train to stop on the Sunday morning. Numerous signs were on display and one caught his attention. You would need a pretty long arm as the nearest third rail is Weymouth (if you’re a crow) or Worting Junction if you’re travelling by train. Needless to say the sign has long gone.
5th July 2019: Update on Train Punctuality: January to June 2019, by Nick Hurrell
Train punctuality is measured on a daily basis. For the Waterloo/Exeter line, a train is considered “On time” if its arrival is with 10 minutes of timetabled arrival at its destination. The PPM target is 89.2% of trains to arrive at their destination with 10 mins of advertised time. Sadly, actual performance has been below target every month so far this year:
January: 88.3%
February: 73.3% (GWR service diversions contributed to disruption)
March: 76.9% (GWR service diversions contributed to disruption)
April: 83.3%
May: 84%
June: 81% SWR Strikes and Glastonbury services skewed the figures – see below)
Interestingly, the June figures were affected both positively and negatively by the strikes and Glastonbury!
The averages for the strike days were good (89.3%), but of course SWR ran a very different and sparse timetable (and PPM is based on the timetable!), So on the 20th June, when the first train from Exeter to Waterloo was cancelled (it started from Salisbury), the rest of the day ran well, so a PPM of 90.7% was reported! Not much solace for passengers west of Yeovil, whose earliest possible arrival into Waterloo was 12.52!
Conversely, the additional services to/from Castle Cary for Glastonbury caused havoc with the timetable (PPM of 56.1% over that period). Trying to run up 20 services to/from Castle Cary per day rather than the usual 6 was bound to be risky, but credit must be given to SWR - at least they tried – and the prices on SWR to London are generally cheaper than GWR, which would surely have attracted a larger share of passengers. There were also delays/cancellations caused by staff shortages, at the same time.