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Submission

We submitted the following submission to the consultation:

bullet Bedwyn, Hungerford, Kintbury, Newbury and Thatcham towards London

  1. 06:23 which replaces the 06:42 for people in Bedwyn and Kintbury, but does not go as far as Paddington.  This means that commuters will either have to get to the station 19 minutes earlier than before and change at Reading or get the later 7.21 and arrive in London 21 minutes later than they do at the moment.  This would seem an unreasonable addition to their working day.  It would be more sensible to add the stop back in on the Westbury train which leaves Hungerford at 06.48 and goes as far as Paddington.  This would also space the trains stopping at Kintbury better.

  2. The 08.04 from Hungerford calling at Kintbury at 08.08 which is a train used by children attending secondary schools in Newbury is to be moved to 7.51 at Hungerford and 7.55 at Kintbury.  This means that children will have to be at the station 13 minutes earlier than now.  This seems an unreasonable change and should be looked at again. 

  3. In addition this same train used to go direct to Paddington, but commuters will now have to change at Reading. This would seem an unreasonable addition to their working day. 

  4. 0707 from Bedywn will arrive in Newbury approx 7.30 – far too early for a 8.45 school day start and the 8.23 from Bedywn will arrive in Newbury at 8.50 too late for a 8.45 school start. These services need to be looked at again to make travelling to school and college by train possible.

  5. The number of trains during the day which do not stop at Kintbury is being half with the loss of 4 services. These would have stopped at Kintbury on the new timetable at 10.49, 12.49, 14.49 & 16.49. We request this is reconsidered as it will cause problems for commuters who should be more likely to use their cars as a result

  6. There will be no evening service between Hungerford, Kintbury and Newbury between 21.00 and 23.07.  This is a loss of 2 services from Hungerford and 1 from Kintbury.  This will make going out for the evening more difficult and will result in people hanging around for long periods of time waiting for a train, increasing the risk of Anti-social behaviour or crime.  It should be reconsidered.

  7. Trains from Newbury to Reading/Paddington currently run at approx 30 minute intervals.  However the new timetable will only have trains leaving Newbury to Reading and Paddington at 4 minutes to the hour and 15 minutes past.  This means that no trains will run towards London for approx 45 minutes.  This appears to be a retrograde step in the service and should be looked at again.

bullet London to Bedwyn/ West Country line

  1. There is no direct train to Newbury  between 7.18 am and 8.18 am from Paddington.  This is a reduction in service and needs to be reconsidered

  2. The number of trains during the day which do not stop at Kintbury is being half with the loss of 3 services. These would have stopped at Kintbury on the new timetable at 11.14, 13.14,  & 15.14. We request this is reconsidered as it will cause problems for commuters who should be more likely to use their cars as a result

  3. Children who have after school activities or people who work in Newbury and live in Kintbury who now get the 17.31 from Newbury to Kintbury will have to wait until 17.58 putting 27 minutes onto their working/school day.  It would be sensible if the 17.17 from Newbury was also to stop at Kintbury as well as Hungerford and this needs to be reconsidered.

  4. The 1703 from London Paddington which is now not going to stop at Newbury is a loss of service.  The 1706 is always full and this will just crowd this train and the 17.33 which is also always full even more.  This seems a retrograde step in the service and should be reconsidered.

  5. There will be no evening services between Newbury, Kintbury and Hungerford between 20.10 and 22.30.  This is a loss of 1 service to Kintbury and 1 service to Hungerford.  This makes a gap of two hours for people to wait in Newbury if they have missed the 20.10. This will make going out for the evening more difficult and will result in people hanging around for long periods of time waiting for a train, increasing the risk of Anti-social behaviour or crime.  It should be reconsidered.

  6. Last trains from London were 23.35 to get a connection from Reading to Newbury to get in at 00:46.  New timetable would only allow a departure from London at 22:30 at the latest.  Therefore not allowing anyone to travel to London for shows, events or meetings  by train as they would have to leave before the end to get a train home. This should be reconsidered

  7. Similarly trains from Reading leaving at 23:00 instead of 0:15 will cause the same problems for people travelling to Newbury.  This should be reconsidered.

  8. Similarly the last train from Newbury to Kintbury is 23 minutes earlier than before again causing problems for people out for the evening. This should be reconsidered.

  9. The 18.33 from Paddington will no longer stop at Theale or Thatcham.  This will cause an extension to the working day for many commuters who will have to change at Reading or get on the 18.06 slow train from Paddington which is likely to me more crowded than ever. This is unreasonable and should be looked at again.

bullet Reading to Midgham/Aldermaston section.

  1. A  removal  of 2 trains from Reading to Migham/Aldermaston and a removal of 2 from Newbury to Midgham/Aldermaston. This is a further reduction in services and should be reconsidered.

  2. The  removal of 15.48 from Reading may affect school pupils. Office workers finishing at 5pm will struggle to make the 17.10 and will then have to wait until the 18.10 under the new timetable. Similarly from Newbury removal of 15.55 affects school pupils and removal of 17.57 means a possible hour wait for commuters unable to make the 17.15. This needs to be reconsidered.

bullet Other Services

6am Reading to London train (5am from Bristol Parkway).  Whilst this train is not covered in our research, we have been approached by constituents who use this service and who are not happy about its possible cancellation.  By removing this train they would have to arrive a full 20 minutes earlier at the station to get a slow train into London.  This seems an unreasonable addition to their working day and should be reconsidered.