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I've posted these on the Charlbury website: http://www.charlbury.info/news/1407

(The full PDF is linked from the end, for those not in Charlbury.)

From this end of the line, it's not a particularly dramatic change, but the HST swap in the morning should at least mean the 07.12 is cancelled less often. The extra train on Saturday is nice, though there's still a two-hour gap in the afternoon.

Disappointing to see the 15.52 is still a 180, and that a weekday Hereford service has been Turbotised. I presume the six-coach Turbo (08.22 from Paddington) will run with the rear unit locked out of use between Oxford and Worcester.

Thats the idea. Will produce an extra return journey when the sets are split in Worcester for their return journey(s)

Thanks for posting the link, Richard.

Most of the changes are indeed for the better.  Nice to see the huge amount of slack in the second Hereford to Paddington service removed, though the 21 minutes saved is largely due to eliminating the current 13 minute dwell at Shrub Hill, so passengers from stations east of there see less of an improvement, but still a worthwhile amount.  There are negatives to the changes to this service though, in that Kingham passengers can no longer use it, but the overall number of trains from Kingham remains the same.  It will also not go down too well with the Oxford commuters as it replaces the Charlbury to Paddington train at 07:34 which a lot of them catch, and coming through from Hereford it will now be a lot busier.  However, commuter numbers from Oxford are likely to drop fairly significantly around the same time when the Oxford Parkway to Marylebone service starts.

In other areas, it's good to see some of the gaps cut at the western end of the line, in particular the new 11:23 from Worcester Shrub Hill (shame it isn't Foregate Street, presumably for signalling reasons) to Paddington, albeit Turbo operated.  The extra early afternoon train through to Foregate Street is also most welcome, as are a few minutes of slack being removed from a few other services.

The 08:22 Paddington-Hereford HST service being replaced by a Turbo is a little disappointing as they are not suitable for journeys in excess of three hours, but at least it is a 6-Car on the busty stretch from Paddington to Oxford, which makes it a popular train for Paddington to Slough commuters and Paddington to Oxford tourists.

Finally, the loss of stops at Pershore is disappointing, especially the call in the 09:22 Paddington to Foregate Street which has provided a useful late morning service to Worcester for the past couple of years.  This gives Pershore post morning peak trains to Worcester at 09:04 and 10:33 followed by a two hour gap until afternoon trains at 12:33, 13:33 and 14:23.  In other words the service is nice and frequent in the early afternoon when hardly anyone wants to travel, but has large gaps mid/late morning when they do!

Overall though, many changes for the better and probably the best that can be done until the IEP timetable comes along in three years time.

Do please all note that these changes were suggested in the consultation and they may change as a result of said consultation - they are by no means definite, until the DfT and NR validate the PSR change.

With the Turbos finally getting there C6 treatment at Wolverton I.e 166221 which was in the West Yard at Reading the 08:22 shouldn't be too bad. But these are provisional. Although I'm quite surprised to see that 180s haven't been implemented on Weekend work.

Aren't the 180s off lease once the IEPs are in service?

Quite possibly.  Though your point is?

Ok, misread....

The 180s will likely never do weekends...to much maintenance required after a weeks work

I'd say the lack of Weekend work for 180s is probably more capacity related. Most services between London and Oxford are 5 or 6 carriage Turbos at Weekends. A single 180 would struggle to provide enough capacity.

I have it from FGW management that it's maintenance related.

If I can blow my trumpet for a moment, I wrote on here in Dec 2011 that the 0712 ex Charlbury should start back at Hereford and this would allow the stock for the current 0712 to start from Moreton. Good improvements.

Yes, it's maintenance related.  And also cost related as they are more expensive to operate than Turbos, and Turbos are available over the weekend when they're not during the week.  The 180s, when they were leased to Northern, were kept in the sheds at weekends for similar reasons.  Southern Stag's point is equally valid though as there are very few (one, maybe two) weekend Cotswold Line services that would be suited to a Class 180 due to the loadings that are seen on the Paddington to Oxford section of the route - even during Winter.  The majority of the Saturday Turbo services run as 5/6 Cars on that busy section over which the passenger numbers really would swamp a 180.

Strange how we are discussing 180 use at weekends when due to disruption on Friday 25th 180106 formed 1W75 from Oxford and STABLED at Worcester then formed 1P26 from S.Hill through to Paddington on the Saturday.

Emergency use after all the disruption Friday.

Expect some non-availability next week. Otherwise overtime will have been worked

I still believe that many improvements could be made to this timetable.

If I have read the propsed timetable correctly, there will now be an hourly off-peak service from Paddington to Worcester from 0822 to 1422. Then, when demand starts to pick-up - people leaving work early, shoppers going home, schools/colleges finishing - the service from Paddington to Worcester reverts to a 90 minute frequency (1552/1722). Surely this does not make sense?

Then in the opposite direction, there will be trains from Worcester departing at around 1440, 1520, 1550 AND 1605! (1550 only as far as Didcot). Even the most enthusiastic supporter of the line would admit that this is 1 (or possibly 2 trains too many).

Thirdly, as I have mentioned previously on here, I believe that the provision of a 180 on the evening Oxfordshire halts service from Oxford at 1732, is a luxury for the majority of its turn.

So as far as the afternoon services are concerned this is what I would do....

The 1322 and 1422 services from Paddington to Worcester, would terminate at Oxford.

The 1352 from Paddington to Oxford would be extended to Worcester (and even Gt Malvern) as was the case before the re-doubling.

The 1522 from Paddington would be extended beyond Oxford to Hereford (arriving Shrub Hill around 1735, Foregate St around 1745; Great Malvern around 1805 and Hereford around 1840.)

The 1552 Paddington to Worcester would terminate at Oxford.

The 1622 Paddington to Oxford would be extended to Worcester Foregate Street (arriving around 1840)

Now as I believe that the extension of the 1622 from Paddington would sweep up a lot of Hanborough and Charlbury passengers, the 1732 from Oxford - retimed to depart around 1740/45 - could then be formed of a 2 car turbo instead of the 180 which could be better used where demand is greater for longer. Incidentally, the halts service would only run initially to Moreton, then go into the siding and run to Worcester behind the 1722 Paddington to Hereford service.

In the opposite direction....

The 1547 from Worcester Foregate St to Didcot would not run.

The 1728 from Worcester Foregate St to Paddington could start back from Gt Malvern at around 1725, Foregate St at 1740 and run 10 or so minutes later than currently as far as Charlbury (where the existing service stands for around 10 minutes anyway) before picking up its existing schedule

The 1849 from Worcester Foregate St would operate more or less unchanged; formed by the return working of the 1622 ex Paddington.

The 1944 from Gt Malvern would be started back from Hereford around 1915/20 formed by the return working of the 1522 ex Paddington.

The 2151 from Hereford to Paddington would operate between Worcester Foregate St and Oxford only, formed by the 2 car turbo that had worked the evening Oxfordshire halts service.

A few LM services in the Worcester area would have to be retimed but by no more than a few minutes.

With the 1522 and 1622 from Paddington running beyond Oxford, the 1552 and 1649 from Paddington to Oxford would have a short (but not impossible) turn around at Oxford to form the 1701 and 1801 back to London. (Although by only operating a 1352 from Paddington to Worcester instead of a 1322 and 1422 AND changing the Oxfordshire Halts service from a 180 to a 2-car turbo, I think that the correct stock would be available)

The advantages of these changes to my mind would be:
- Services that better match supply and demand - the 90 minute service interval from Paddington to Worcester would shift to the early afternoon with an hourly frequency from 1522 to 2022 (+ the 1749)
- An excellent mid-afternoon service from Paddington to Hereford (in the 60's, 70's and 80's there generally was a service around 1500 from Paddington to Hereford) 
- Great Malvern passengers would gain 2 new afternoon services from London and have a tea-time service re-instated back to Paddington
- Hereford passengers would have a better timed evening service at around 1915/20 to London, rather than the current ridiculous 2151 service
- FGW could make better use of their rolling stock
 





   

From the Evesham Journal (http://www.eveshamjournal.co.uk/news/11506685.Train_group_hits_out_at_changes_and_impact_on_Pershore/):

Looking at the proposed changes again, I spotted that Worcester gets its first sub-1hr service to Oxford for many years.

Before btline gets too excited, it's only the 15.50 (SH) to Didcot Krapway, a 180 which won't stop at Pershore, Honeybourne, Kingham or Hanborough. It's timetabled to do it in 58 minutes.

Still, it shows it can be done...

Well, the revised timetable, with no obvious changes from the original proposals, has now come into force.  Many improvements and the odd negative change.  Let's see how it is received, along with the controversial fares alterations!

One very welcome change that I hadn't picked up on is a new Sunday morning service at 10:23 from Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington (3-car Turbo, 6-car from Oxford) that plugs the 2-hour gap on Sunday mornings which has been a problem for many years.  Now, if only there was an earlier service to London, starting at least as far back as Moreton at around 09:10, then the Sunday service would be pretty comprehensive.