The new Cross Country Railway timetable from June, will omit stops at Winchester on Saturdays in order to stop passengers using their trains for short-distance local journeys, saying that their trains are meant for long distance travellers to the Midlands and the North.

The last time they missed out stops at Winchester, intending passengers needed to change at Basingstoke. Trains from Winchester to Basingstoke usually arrive at platform 3. 

The Cross Country trains depart from platform 4 which means that passengers need to descend a flight of steps, walk through the subway and ascend more steps. 

I witnessed on one occasion numbers of elderly persons dragging their luggage down and up the stairs. There was a queue to use the lifts. Meanwhile, an announcement urged passengers to hurry as the Cross Country train was about to leave. 

When will Cross Country trains realise that Winchester is an important rail-head with passengers from Portsmouth travelling to the north used to changing at Winchester and leaving from the same platform?

The answer is for Cross Country trains to put their hands in their pockets and buy more carriages to enhance their pitiful four-coach trains. 

On another subject, when one travels by train, the usual announcements are followed by a list of stations where the lifts are out of action.

Rod Youngman,
Cromwell Road,
Stanmore,
Winchester

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