Will there be any replacement buses though?  I read that statement as if the service is being removed from Appleford on Sunday's?

In terms of the Reading to Didcot section I'd estimate that over 95% of trenches have been dug, about 75% of steel support piles in the ground (some not in fully yet) and there's about 150 support masts now installed.

I expect we'll find out when the official announcement is made!

Major disruption expected this morning due to signalling problems near Slough.

I think that 6-car provision is being provided where possible during the 5-car extension works, so perhaps that'll be in the offing in a few years.

A large gantry, complete with three signals, has appeared on the viaduct towards the eastern end.

Agreed that the Stagecoach service is pretty good, and the buses are very comfortable, but the A420 can be a bit of a menace on its long single carriageway sections.  If you're commuting on a 9-5 then the journey times are nearer the 85-90 minute mark which is probably enough to put most folks off and compares very poorly with the potential under 30 minute journey time via a direct non-stop train, or 35 minutes with a stop at Didcot.  That said, the current situation, where a missed connection at Didcot can easily mean an extra 30 minutes on your journey, is also very off-putting for potential commuters, hence why a return to direct trains would be very desirable.

Not the same train, but here's an example of just what damage a pheasant can do when it collides with a speeding Turbo in just the right place!

The outer skin was smashed and the inner skin partly smashed - enough that the driver was carefully brushing shards of glass off his lap!  Needless to say, the train was cancelled!

Yes, I'm with John R on this one.  No stops between Bristol and Bath, except perhaps the odd peak call as used to occur with the odd Bristol<>Oxford service back in the day.  I'm not so sure about skipping Didcot Parkway though, for three reasons: Grove/Wantage to Reading/London would then become a bit of a trek if you have to change at Oxford; Didcot to Oxford probably deserves at least three trains an hour and that would be one way of providing it; and a  Didcot call might mean one less of the Bristol<>London trains needed to call there (assuming all of the additional Cheltenham<>Paddington trains do).  However to weigh against that there's the time penalty of at least 5 minutes and the layout at Didcot is far from ideal as a train heading from Oxford to Bristol can only use Platform 4 (coming the other way, Platform 3 is also available) - however I'm not sure how much the layout is likely to be altered as I'm still intrigued on how a 10-car SET^▸ (Super Express Train (now IET)) will be accommodated on Platforms 3/4/5.

With the stops I mentioned in the post above, then Bristol to Oxford in 1h 20m would be achievable using 110/125MPH stock.  Bristol to Bedford would be well under 2h 30m - quicker than the fairly torturous route by road.

The number of XC cancellations at weekends has been very high for months now.  I'm surprised more hasn't been made of it.

I quite agree, Paul.  An hourly Bristol to Bedford service and an hourly Reading to Milton Keynes service would be a nice compromise I think - even more so if it came from Paddington via Heathrow when that new link opens.  Two trains per hour to/from Reading would not maximise the potential though.

So, a two-page newsletter, one page of which is devoted to the town of Swindon, and the other with a couple of short articles blaming a whole host of things for there being very little progress on their intended open access franchise and a promise of things moving forward in the next year - but very little detail and certainly no clearly defined targets.  I wonder how the Annual General Meeting (AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting)) went?

I'd still rate the chances of this coming to anything as somewhere between 0 and 5%.   

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronym

It's probably the only sensible way stations stations at Grove (for Wantage), Wootton Bassett and Corsham could ever be provided and, to me at least, it makes more sense running a Bristol to Bedford (and ultimately Cambridge) service using a 110/125mph EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) of some description.  The market is there for direct journeys from Bristol/Bath to Oxford.  The market is there for services at those reopened stations, and that would be possible without stopping any of the faster IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) services.  And the market is there for longer journeys through services from stations such as Bristol/Bath/Chippenham/Swindon to Milton Keynes/Bedford (and the links with the WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) and MML^» (Midland Main Line. - about) they afford).  That's three birds killed with one stone!

Running East-West Rail as a stopping service from Reading to Bedford/Milton Keynes seems a missed opportunity to me, particularly with Crossrail opening up easier links from Reading via London, so I would love to see a proper East-West Rail service each hour from Bristol to Bedford (then Cambridge) service calling at Bath, Corsham, Chippenham, Wootton Bassett, Swindon, Grove, Didcot Parkway, Oxford, Bicester Town, Winslow, Bletchley and Bedford.

Some CGI^▸ (Computer-generated imagery) images of the new station, as proposed, are contained within this article:

http://www.eveshamjournal.co.uk/news/11504760._/

Dipping down to the comments at the end of the article, mostly moaning as usual, but Roger5's comment caught my eye and it wouldn't surprise me if his prediction came to fruition.

How about Stratford-Upon-Avon to Worcester at 20 miles and around two hours on the direct trains?