Project Wareham

To add further to my earlier post. It would also be very interesting to see the Go South Coast Purbeck Breezer data for the 40, 50 and summer extra services. Given that to all intents and purposes the Govt (well actually the tax payer) is funding both bus and rail, why cant we have true road and rail integration on the Isle of Purbeck? Harmonised timetables, joint ticketing, joint promotion. This all comes back to the concept of having TfIP (Transport for Isle of Purbeck) or TfED (Transport for East Dorset ) to deliver quality bus and rail services that meets the needs of the community, encourages tourism, reduces congestion and reduces emissions.

 

That sounds far to sensible.

 

You might well ask. But given the issues that TfL or TfGM have making that work in London and Manchester, I'm not holding my breath for a working TfIP or TfED (or even TfD) any time soon.

 

Integration of transport modes, a rather radical suggestion this days I venture.
Most of the days of the week as an example the down trains arrive at Wareham at 28 & 49 and the 40 bus to Swanage leaves at 12 past the hour. Of course with many trains seeming to loose time west of Southampton (for reasons totally lost on me) maybe that is a good cushion.
Sunday is a little different but still has a cushion which two of the trains in the middle of the day managed to exceed greatly last Sunday as an example. With less 35 buses running this year even in the summer sometimes the bus gap is one hour.
Connections in the up direction are tighter (quite tight when the schools are coming out) especially if you need to purchase a ticket.
Government certainly funding bus travel via the £2 cap currently, but Freedom passes and I thought bus subsidies came from councils, ass they are the ones on the local news held responsible for service removal when the funding has been removed.
The other unsaid and perhaps quantifiable issue is public confidence in rail. Forget strikes the last 2 Saturday's SWR had had a melt down with many trains over 100 minutes late or terminated at Bournemouth. Mainly due to infrastructure issues but to a passenger no difference, in the same way airlines get the blame for an ATC delay.
I am running a spreadsheet of how the Wareham service may have been impacted by SWR delays so at the end of the 90 days will be interesting to see if any real impact in number of operating days with network delays.
Not the Weymouth line but a train that should take less than two hours but ends up over 5 hours late, due to 3 different infrastructure issues, sure makes you think twice about "letting the train take the strain" especially as later ones were short turned.
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:L22705/2023-06-10/detailed#allox_id=0

 

Although it can also be said, if a motorway has a major accident, or other event, it and surrounding roads can be closed and gridlocked for several hours, so could be said public confidence in roads is declining.

I notice that on the SR Roads to Rail event on Friday 23rd June, the Wareham to Swanage DMU service will be running as a one off for the only time on a Friday during the 2023 trial!

 

True but in 52 years of driving I have only been stuck on a motorway for more than 1 hour once (all afternoon on the M25 due to a lorry fire).
Since Covid I have not used many trains but of those I have at least half have been delayed a couple seriously (plus last two years End Of Southern Steam Tours)
Interestingly today a car rolled off the ramp at the Sandbanks Ferry into the water suspending the service. Buses on diversion, yet coming back from Norden and at Swanage I saw three 50 buses, two showing bus full signs. Yet amazingly I also saw the 16:19 DMU pull out of Swanage with less passengers than normal it seemed to me.
Also the last train from Wareham was late buy a couple of minutes as the connecting SWR service was 29 late at Wareham!
Not sure your argument cuts it with me.

 

How apt we are discussing the DMU service on page 117.
Chatting to the Porters at Corfe yesterday (I was working the steam set) they had noted a trend , whereby passengers were alighting off the DMU at Corfe and catching the steam back to Norden, before onward travel back to Wareham.
I personally feel that marketing Corfe (£10 return) is far easier on the pocket.
With the mining museum at Norden and railways museum at Corfe along with the buffet its a far more appealing sell and great value for money.

 

Maybe one to have a chat with those in charge?

 

The problem is that too many of the SRC SRT hierarchy have seen the Kevin Costner Movie "Field of Dreams".

 

I may be tempting providence, but our Canadian correspondent has been very quiet on this thread! Hope he's OK.

 

?

 

"If you build it they will come" is a slight misquote from the Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams which suggests that all that had to be done was to build the Baseball Diamond and they - the ghosts of the players past - would appear with thousands of supporters (followers) to watch them. It also is suggestive of faith, belief and sacrifice.

In the context of Project Wareham, I doubt that faith and belief (if you run the service, passengers will come) is enough to generate the patronage required. A far more aggressive approach to marketing is required.

 

Agree more can be done with together with SWR, A bit more than mentions on the BBC, Newpapers and social media?
GWR have a good Famous 5 TV promotion during 2023, the Famous 5 have connections to Purbeck, but GWR and SWR are
technically separate companies.
https://news.gwr.com/news/famous-five-back-on-board-for-another-great-western-railway-adventure.
"A new TV ad, ‘Five Get There First’, promotes travelling by train and how it can deliver a level of comfort, speed, sustainability and ability to socialise you just don’t get by taking the car."
Although as Gladiator says SWR have had recent running issues.

Like I said earlier SR and SWR could do a joint promotion for when the LSWR 563 gets back into steam, (might be soon, but no firm date?) which might also be interesting for non train enthusiasts?

There is currently no T and Cs for the trial tickets,
https://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/wareham-services
so guess a short part ride on a steam train may be interpreted as part of the £10 ticket? (as long as they buy something from the Buffet and make a donation to the museums before the trip back on SWR?)

A heritage DMU service is perhaps harder to market than steam trains, although the 117 and 121 have panoramic views of Purbeck which could be used as a USP.
Yesterday watched the Japan Railway Journal TV programme in English
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/japanrailway/
This week it featured the Choshi Railway which runs old EMUs and has been on the brink of closing, but ventured into food and other activities to promote itself and get back in Profit.

 

Broadly speaking operating the service to / from Wareham with the DMU offers four selling points to promote:
1). To those on the heritage part of the line the opportunity to visit Wareham.
2). To those within walking distance of Wareham the opportunity to visit the heritage part of the line (Corfe Castle, Swanage etc etc
3) The opportunity to travel on the DMU
4) The network rail connectivity at Wareham.

I think it would be fair to say that (1) and (2) are and have been available by Purbeck Breezer and thus whilst useful is unlikely to add a great deal of patronage.
(3) The DMU, whilst the panoramic windows do offer a better view, is again a niche opportunity. It is generally accepted that for the public steam is the attraction.
(4) Connectivity is the key and this is the USP that should be focused upon, harnessing the marketing reach of SWR. Sadly I get the impression that SWR is not truly on board and thus little has happened so far or is likely to be in place for the peak season.

 

Out of interest, was there a Wareham Project Manager this year?

Who, (job title wise, not individuals) was championing the project this year, making sure all the loose ends were tied up?

 

Under the current contractual arrangements with the government, is there any substantive financial incentive for SWR to be interested in promoting this?

 

A valid question to which the answer I believe would be no.

 

Previous plans showed an increase in leisure travel. Not in the current business plan, but does say.
https://www.southwesternrailway.com/other/about-us/our-plan
"We will maximise our wider contribution to the communities we serve. To deliver and increase social value, we will
continue to support customer and community improvement projects and provide additional funding to Community Rail Partnerships. We will continue to conduct an annual stakeholder survey to inform our plans and will report on our findings"

Speaking to someone today who took the SWR and SR DMU the journey was good, and the SWR guard knew quite a bit about the SR DMU service.

 

SWR is a member of the Purbeck Community Rail Partnership. Given that supporting the trial service is one of the, if not the, most important objectives of the PCRP then one would like to think that SWR pay more than just lip service to Project Wareham.

 

Had one of my former railtour steward friends come down for lunch from London yesterday.
His train arrived at Wareham on time (nobody more amazed than me) at 10:49. Gents toilet locked at Wareham and apparently wives standing guard on the door of the Ladies so their husbands could use those facilities. Toilet also out of service on DMU apparently. SR trains on time both ways.
Going back he was booked on the 17:53 to Waterloo (I think that was the cheaper ticket). He asked the guard if if could travel on the 17:28 who rightly said no.
17:53 gets to Bournemouth and is unable to couple to the other unit, and of course the doors will not open on the rear set until each one is opened manually. Train terminated.
Ended up on next train back at London over 30 late.
So SWR managed to impact his journey twice and I expect an appeal will be needed to get DR as I suspect the system will say his train was cancelled.