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Title: 'Warning to allow extra time for rail journeys between Christmas and New Year' Post by: Chris from Nailsea on December 01, 2013, 16:52:29 From the Oxford Mail (http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/10845962.Engineering_works_to_cause_festive_rail_journey_delays/?ref=nt):
Quote Warning to allow extra time for rail journeys between Christmas and New Year (http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/resources/images/2754794/?type=articleLandscape) Work on the line at Wolvercote Rail passengers are being warned to plan ahead if they are travelling between Christmas and New Year due to major engineering work in Oxford and on routes serving the city. Work to install points to re-instate a loop line between Oxford and Wolvercote will begin during the shutdown of the rail network on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and continue for the next few days. As a result of this, CrossCountry and First Great Western trains between Oxford and Banbury will be suspended all day on Friday, December 27, and until 2pm on Saturday, December 28, with buses standing in. A reduced train service, with slightly extended journey times, will be in operation on the Cotswold Line between Oxford and Worcester from December 27 until New Year^s Day, due to limits on trains able to pass the site of the work between Oxford and Wolvercote and changes of rolling stock. Buses will replace trains at Combe and Finstock halts on the Friday. Ascott-under-Wychwood and Shipton will have some trains but other stops at Shipton will be replaced by buses and again the following day. Similar alterations at these four stations will apply from Monday, December 30, until New Year^s Day. The loop line will not be brought into use until May 2015, when resignalling of the Oxford area is due to be finished. First Great Western^s Oxford station manager Dave Martin said: ^The upgrade work is vitally important to improve journeys in future and will help to ease congestion through Oxford. To minimise inconvenience the work is being done at the least busy time of the year.^ Other engineering work linked to the Crossrail project to create a new east-west rail link under London will close some lines between London Paddington and Slough, meaning that services between Oxford, Didcot and London will run to modified timetables from Friday, December 27, until Friday, January 3, with fewer trains calling at Radley, Culham and Appleford. CrossCountry trains between Oxford and the south coast will be replaced by buses operating to and from Winchester from Friday, December 27, until Sunday, December 29, due to the closure of the line between Reading and Basingstoke, while on Monday, December 30, trains will divert via Guildford, adding up to 60 minutes to journey times between Oxford, Southampton and Bournemouth. Patrick Hallgate, Network Rail^s Western route director, said: ^The railway continues to experience tremendous growth and we are responding to that through the biggest sustained investment programme since Victorian times." Passengers can go to website and select the date of travel and the relevant train operator. Log on to nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/currentAndFuture.aspx Title: Re: 'Warning to allow extra time for rail journeys between Christmas and New Year' Post by: Steve Bray on December 29, 2013, 20:27:36 Yesterday I travelled from Worcester to Reading on the 1412 ex Foregate Street. I wasn't quite sure why the journey time had been extended so much. We sat at Shrub Hill for 5 minutes, Charlbury for 10 minutes and Oxford for 12; this had been preceded by a 5 minute signal stop outside Oxford. There didn't appear to be much work going on or have the wet conditions set this back?
At the time I travelled, the service interval was every 90 minutes and it seemed slightly ironic that services passed each other at either end of the single track - Evesham and Charlbury stations, with no services at that time scheduled to cross on the 30 miles of double track between those places. Title: Re: 'Warning to allow extra time for rail journeys between Christmas and New Year' Post by: Worcester_Passenger on December 29, 2013, 23:51:05 On Friday Dec 27, I travelled from Paddington on the 12:07 to Foregate Street. The two previous trains to Oxford (11:07 and 11:37) had both been cancelled due to the over-running engineering works that are discussed elsewhere. The 12:07 was a 6-car Turbo, with only 3 cars continuing past Oxford (why can't the Paddington displays tell us this?).
We were delayed between Padd'n and Slough, running slowly on the As we came into Oxford, we crossed over all of the tracks and came in to platform 1. Still 18 late at that stage. I'm not sure why we did that, because when we left we crossed all the way back again. And then a bit later, crossed all the way back again, as if we were going to go to Bicester. Stopped at a signal, then crawled past the engineering work, eventually crossing back for a fourth time and turning off as normal at Wolvercote. Stopped at another signal, so I assume that there was single line working in force with a pilotman (more likely than the idea that the train was weaving on account of over-indulging). Crossed trains going the other way at Charlbury and at Evesham. Into Shrub Hill only 2 late. And I assume that all of that is why the schedule was so slowed down, and why we were on the odd (but utterly regular) 90-minute headway. More obvious when travelling from London. Title: Re: 'Warning to allow extra time for rail journeys between Christmas and New Year' Post by: Network SouthEast on December 30, 2013, 11:14:50 There's only one line open between Oxford and Wolvercote Junction. Furthermore, Pilotman Working is in operation over that section of line too, hence the slow progress.
Not sure about the departure boards at Paddington, but announcements on the PA at the station were mentioning the front half of Turbo services for stations beyond Oxford. Title: Re: 'Warning to allow extra time for rail journeys between Christmas and New Year' Post by: IndustryInsider on December 30, 2013, 12:28:47 As we came into Oxford, we crossed over all of the tracks and came in to platform 1. Still 18 late at that stage. I'm not sure why we did that, because when we left we crossed all the way back again. If engineering work restricts the number of trains to a mere trickle then Oxford's platform 2 is usually closed and barriered off, simply to save staffing it and reduce the distance for people to travel for replacement buses. Title: Re: 'Warning to allow extra time for rail journeys between Christmas and New Year' Post by: Chris from Nailsea on December 30, 2013, 17:48:11 Thanks for that useful and informative explanation, IndustryInsider. :)
Title: Re: 'Warning to allow extra time for rail journeys between Christmas and New Year' Post by: Worcester_Passenger on December 30, 2013, 20:37:19 If engineering work restricts the number of trains to a mere trickle then Oxford's platform 2 is usually closed and barriered off, simply to save staffing it and reduce the distance for people to travel for replacement buses. Makes sound sense. Makes more sense than what was happening at Evesham during the double-tracking : the bus would arrive from Moreton-in-Marsh at the front of the station, and then all the passengers would have to go across the footbridge to the far platform in order to board the train for Worcester. This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net |