The passengers on the 16:49 from Oxford were squeezed onto the 17:06 XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) service to Birmingham.

There were a lot of people on platform 1 at Oxford and I can't be certain they all got on the XC service as it was only a 4 car (3- standard, 1-first) Voyager and is already quite busy at that time of day. I am glad I wasn't on it.

I haven't been keeping a log but I can say that last week the 4 services that I caught that were supposed to be operated by 180's were and that is the fisrt time I have got 100% availability since they have been reintroduced. Obviously the christmas break did them some good

This week of the 3 services that I have caught that should have been operated by 180's (4th will be tonight) all have been operated by 165/166. Maybe its the cold or snow they don't like.

The 4th wasn't operated by a 180 either so 0% for this week for me.

Edit note: A minor correction to quote marks, for clarity. CfN.

I am a bit confused about this, most mornings while awaiting the train from Didcot to Oxford I hear the announcement for the 08:29 Didcot to Paddington train (06:48 from Weston Super Mare) and it is always announced as the 'Bristolian', yet in the leaflet the Bristolian is supposed to be the 09:46 from Weston Super Mare.

Having said that I don't really see the point of named trains today. I can understand that in the past it would be used to denote the fastest/ most prestigious service of the day etc. but with today's services I fail to see any difference between the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) used on the Bristolian and any other service.
Is it even the fastest train between London and Bristol today, the 06:48 from Weston Super Mare certainly isn't ?

I see there is a new Railway series starting on BBC2 and BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) HD next week.
Locomotion  - Dan Snow's History of railways.
Tuesday 15th January at 21:00
Further details can be found here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01q16wj/broadcasts/upcoming

Maybe it's when they started talking about it
or NR^» (Network Rail - home page) don't know their North from their South and are confusing it with the bays for the Chiltern service to Oxford.  (although they haven't physically started that either)



Edit note: Quote marks fixed. CfN.

Delays now expected until Friday midday - oh joy

I agree the large signs were gone this morning but they still had some A4 size notices on the actual gate itself stating that it was going to be closed from 1st January.

I say scrap it, as isn't the compensation scheme a 'hidden' subsidy to TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s from Network Rail?
ie the compensation paid is more than the cost to the TOC of any delay.

Or if not scarpped ensure that TOC's only get compensated for monies paid in compensation to customers, and that all other costs are just the cost of doing business.

Don't know about crisis over but I can state that at least 2 of the diagrams were still covered by class 180 tonight namely the diagrams including the 17:06 Oxford - London and 17:15 Didcot to Worcester.
Lets see how long it lasts:-)

Thanks for the update, didn't get off too a good start today as the 17:06 was a 165 today and the 17:32 Oxford to Great Malvern (which I assume is the 17:15 off Didcot) was only a 2 car 165;-)

I don^t think it^s a good idea to close this gate as the entrance/exit on platform 1 is not very well designed and is already very busy and when this gate is closed then more bicycles/people will  need to use it and cause more and longer queues. For those not familiar with Oxford there is a set of sliding doors directly in front of the ticket gates and this causes 2 issues:
1)   There is always a long queue of people either waiting to buy tickets or with bicycles/cases/pushchairs waiting to use the wide gate that causes the entrance doors to be blocked meaning that people have to use the exit doors OR
2)   As the doors are close to the gates, the gates in the middle don^t get used as people wait to use the gates nearest the doors and again cause the doors to be blocked. This is an obvious flow issue and could be resolved by removing the doors , widening the doors or moving the gates further away from the doors.

I can understand why they would want to close the gate but why can^t they just have someone stood on this gate checking tickets and/or more people selling tickets on platform 1 , if 20% of people don^t currently have tickets then it would soon pay for itself and more.
Mind you I don^t actually believe that train companies are serious about fare evasion given the amount of times that the ticket gates are unmanned (evenings and weekends) and the number of times I have had my ticket checked on a train. They seem a bit like HMRC and only interested in  tackling the easy cases to make it look like they are doing something.

Has there been a change to the 180 diagrams with the new December timetable?
Just that I note that the 15:22 Great Malvern to Oxford that then formed the 17:06 Oxford ^ Paddington, after a layover at Oxford, now continues to Didcot.
So assuming that the 15:22 is still operated by an 180 then presumably the 17:06 will go back to a 165/166, which makes a lot of sense, not that 180^s have been seen very often on this service anyway

And one of those running on Monday had a problem according to the train manager when I got on it due to it running late, and this was the 06:48 from Paddington to Great Malvern.

And I should add that the service I usually catch home from work is diagrammed for a 180 but over the last couple of months I think I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times that has happened. They have not exactly been a success:-)

I have just been though there and we certainly weren't at line speed on the down, although that may of course been because of congestion:-)

I saw this on Twitter earlier from Modern Railways:

"With 319s overcommitted, Southern is ordering more EMUs^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) and now we hear DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) to order 125mph EMUs for Oxford - double-price Desiros, anyone?"

Anyone know any more and given how long it is taking to sign the Thameslink train contract with Siemens there is a good chance that the infrastructure will be ready but we will have no electric trains available:-)