Subscribe to RSSWestern Line Issues Trigger Timetable Tweak
Timetables for Western Line train services are being tweaked from Sunday April 11 so that we have a better idea of the real ETA of our destination or when a train might arrive.
Most Western Line stations en route will have their times amended by a minute or two but most departure and arrival times at Britomart will remain unchanged.
ARTA’s General Manager, Customer Services, Mark Lambert says, says that “to assist with our passenger’s journey planning” the timetables will include an ‘arrival’ and ‘departure’ time in the timetable for Western Line services running through Newmarket.
“We have included this in response to customer feedback in relation to transfer times to other services at Newmarket.”
The official explanation is: “Changes to the Western Line timetable are in response to a number of factors. These include the opening of ARTA’s new station at Grafton in April, completion of double tracking between Newmarket and Boston Road stations and a general tightening up of service times. Along with further improvements in service delivery in June on completion of the final section of double tracking between Avondale and New Lynn, these improvements will assist in giving greater resilience to service performance on the western line.”
Changes will be found on Maxx
5 Comments
As I expected they will just add time to the schedule so they are magically on time and their performance results all of a sudden look better rather than actually address the issues. It is not going result in my train getting to town as quick as it did last yesr.
Citybound trains are usually running late before getting to Newmarket using what seems to be the same track conditions that existed before Christmas.
At Newmarket end changes could be improved by using a pilot between there and Britomart, this is something that ARTA had said they would do at the official opening of the new Newmarket station.
From my observation, trains arrive at my favored station (Sturges Rd) on time but fall behind timetable as they proceed into Britomart because they cannot maintain there customary 30 second station stop due to the old, the young and the infirm taking longer to board or alight. Due to the short distances between stations there is no opportunity for the train to make up time. Time tables could be better adhered to if all trains were to run “express” between Sturges Road and Britomart.
Hello from Steved
I’m wondering what effect closing KINGDON Station has on the western line service ie train drives into Newmarket, driver hops out then walks to front of the train to continue the journey. For the life off me Why did they shut down the perfect solution KINGDON STATION ( Short Sighted in my view )
For goodness sake Steved we`ve been all through this. Grafton Station is opening just around the corner from where kingdon was very shortly. If you need the train from west part of Newmarket you`ll be able to get it from there. Both stations are much nicer than kingdon ever was and now you don`t have to walk 10mins to get a transfer to a southern line train either. Sure there should be a pilot for between Britomart and Newmarket so timetable not affected. But on Kingdon street station it`s time to forget and move on…
@Matt Mark Lambert says that arrival and departure times into and from Britomart will not be affected according to the above article. You may well be right but let`s see what happens before pre-judging the outcome.
Why not adjust the time tables altogether. How is South and West bound trains arriving at Newmarket a few minutes apart and arriving from South and West almost simutaneously a good idea?
Off peak there are huge gaps for trains to Britomart and then 2 at once.