Great Western Coffee Shop

...just download and complete the voucher at

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=3917 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=3917)

This weekend marks the official launch of the new Bicester Link, which takes place at Bicester Town station at 10.30am on Saturday.

Bicester Link is a partnership between First Great Western and Oxfordshire County Council, who are funding 85% more trains fon the line for the next five years. There are now 11 trains throughout the day Mondays to Thursdays (12 on a Friday as there's an extra late-night train), 13 trains on a Saturday and a new all-year round Sunday service of 9 trains - a train every 90 minutes.

The enhanced service contrasts with the 7 trains specified for the franchise and a massive step up from the paltry two trains that DfT wanted to run back in 2005!

The new services will be celebrated with unlimited free travel over the weekend, and on Saturday there will be various activities on the trains, including a saxophone quartet, children's entertainer and facepainting plus free refreshments and special giveaways. A radio and newspaper advertising campaign is also underway and leaflets are being delivered to thousands of local houses to promote the line and the excellent fares available - just ^2 off-peak return.

Oxfordshire County Council and First Great Western have also worked together over the past few years to make improvements to both of the stations. This has included improved station car parking, improved waiting shelters, brighter lighting, repainting, new signage, new footpaths, more cycle parking, better information posters, noticeboards for the rail user group and renovation of the platform at Bicester Town.

More information can be found at the new Bicester Link website - www.bicesterlink.info (http://www.bicesterlink.info)

All very good of course, and great to see the potentially dark days of 2005 behind us, but it should be pointed out that the weekday service (Friday's excepted) is still inferior to that which operated this time 10 years ago.

That may be the case but the new timetable should optimise use of the line by providing trains when they are most likely to be used...and with relaibility above 98% they're vey reliable too, I'm not sure that was always the case!  Also comparing the old and new, there are two more trains on a Saturday than there was 6 years ago and an all day Sunday service which never existed before.

I will stick with my original comments regarding the service not being as good as 10 years ago. Please don't get me wrong, the improvements this timetable are most welcome and the weekend service is now the best it's ever been. But another evening service leaving Oxford before 7pm would be better - trains after the main peak hours service used to leave at 18:54 and 20:10, now it's 19:23 and 20:59.

Make a small change like bringing the 19:23 forward to 18:58 (still keeping a good connection from London and Reading, and not requiring any extra units) and bring the 20:59 forward to 20:29, and you have an improved service operating for the commuter - after all, the Bicester Village traffic has died down by then. That (given the infrastructure) would be optimising usage of the line in my opinion.

Everything will improve once Chiltern take the helm.

What is your obsession with Chiltern? I doubt it will improve.

2 tph?

Direct and faster to London? Greater choice of destinations?

Better rolling stock?

Better reliability/punctuality?

... ???

Doesn't make Chiltern gods gift to the earth ;)

Once again, it will be 165s, so thats the same not better rolling stock.
And reliability and punctuality aren't much better on Chiltern than FGW.

No it won't. It'll be Clubmans: http://www.chiltern-evergreen3.co.uk/index.php/project-overview

And taking away the punctuality, it'll still be a quicker journey time for the likes of Islip (who, admittedly, won't have 2 tph, but near it in the peaks) and Water Eaton. Plus a link to the important centre of High Wycombe.

If Reggie Perin is anything to go by Chiltern look horrendous ;)

There's quite a big difference between making best use of what is already there and a ^200 million rebuilding scheme (assuming the latter  gets the funding agreed with DfT!)


I wouldn't put money on it being Clubmans just yet - not now other parts of Evergreen 3 have been shelved and rolling stock is still up in the air.

:P


When did this happen? On their website, it says nothing about this. ???

Chiltern have already ordered 172 units for extra capacity. One assumes that they'll just boost the order quantity if the work is given the go ahead. The rest of the 168 fleet are getting power upgrades to match the acceleration of the 172s anyway.

And you're missing a key point - all the Turbos are used! (and the FGW ones) So unless Chiltern get other old stock from elsewhere (unlikely, as it'll need ATP etc.) it will be new build - i.e. 172s = Clubmans.

PS: Chiltern Evergreen is fully funded (according to the FAQs on their website).

So unless costs spiral out of control, I can't see any plans being shelved. Chiltern have completed 2 such projects on time and on budget already.

Evergreen 3 consisted of three parts but the new engines and gearboxes in the 168 fleet are not going to happen now as the return on the investment was found to be too low.  It means they will probably stay on the main line Marylebone-Birmingham services where they can accelerate and then use their top speed for the longer non-stop distances.

The new Oxford service will be using existing rolling stock and Chiltern said at the recent exhibitions that they will not be buying new trains to use on it. So, lets assume the 100mph top speed of the 168s will be needed on the main line. After all, Evergreen 3 is mainly about reducing the journey time to Birmingham. That means 165's or something else for the Oxford trains...plenty of rumours going around about top'n'tailed coaches at the moment but that will destroy the planned journey times making the route much less attractive than going to Paddington.

Actually not.  Evergreen 3 will be funded by Network Rail (as they did the ^60 million for Evergreen 1) and Chiltern have said they will repay the investment through higher track access charges (as they did for Evergreen 1) but, of course, that only applies for so long as they have the franchise. If they deliver Evergreen 3 the franchise will expire in 2022 (i.e. after 20-years) but the repayments will need to continue for much longer than that.

That means the Department for Transport has to underwrite the cost of Evergreen 3 as the subsequent franchise will be expected to continue paying back Network Rail, and that could mean a need for a higher subsidy or a lower premium payment - both of which would concern DfT. Chiltern have to convince Network Rail and DfT and get agreement on funding by 1st December this year.  Whilst Chiltern can say they have the funding for the scheme what they actually mean is the repayments for the rest of the franchise.

Interesting...

But I can't see their current fleet being able to cope with 2 tph to Oxford. Even with the new 172 order displacing some units around London. ???

Hmm, I think Chiltern will need LM's magic wand... ;D

There is one major difference with the way Evergreen is/has been funded though, compared to normal NR projects. It is a Design Build Finance and Transfer (DBFT) financing model, so NR effectively buy the completed improvements from the contractor, at a price confirmed before the project starts.

This means that although NR (with DfT's approval) agree to pay for the project, this doesn't happen until after it is finished, so any overruns and expensive variations are Chiltern's contracted builder's problem, not NR's.

Paul