An update on the West to Oxford

[whole diary]

[grahame]

"To Oxford from the West" has been noticed as being one of the quietest line-based boards on this forum - probably because the through services were withdrawn during the previous franchise, and the alternative - which involves a double back at Didcot, often means a long wait (good connections for this journey have not been a priority in timetabling).  And at times of un-reliability there are two services to go wrong if you have a connection to make ...

However, there are definite travel flows to Oxford from Swindon and beyond - the old service was popular and was not withdrawn because it was a set of empty trains.   Indeed, I've been quite a regular Melksham to Oxford traveller, but that's become a so-and-so of a journey by train, progressively harder rather than better over the last 10 years.

As part of the next franchise consultation, the matter of this service was raised / mentioned in a parliamentary debate just before Christmas:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2011-12-20a.389.0&s=hames+transport#g397.2

Connections and interlinking are important - so the whole things looks like a sane package to me (but I am not an expert on many of the other aspects raised by Duncan Hames).   I would certainly switch back to rail for Oxford journeys if I could do it with a single change with a reasonable wait time to make the journey.  Better (selfishly) a through service, but that would cause issues for Corsham aspirations and probably not be possible "clock face" due to single line issues south of Thingley.

Question - do electrification plans include the wiring of the west to north curve at Didcot?

[eightf48544]

10 years.
Question - do electrification plans include the wiring of the west to north curve at Didcot?

I would be surpried if it didn't as it's only a short length 32 chains from Foxhall to Didcot West Curve Junction so the overlap wiring normally provided from an electrified line to non electrified line  would probably meet in the middle. So common sense would suggest it should be through wired.

I have also heard of it being used as a diversion for an Oxford London train (with reversal) when thrre problems with the regular route.   

Probably coundn't get the overlap to do Slough -Windsor though.

[IndustryInsider]

Question - do electrification plans include the wiring of the west to north curve at Didcot?

I would be amazed if they didn't.  Diversions via Foxhall are fairly common due to engineering work, so not being able to divert all these local electric services via there would be very restrictive.

My own view on the Oxford to Bristol service, is that there's an ideal chance to link it in with the Oxford to Milton Keynes/Bedford service when that starts (hopefully in 2017 - around the same time as the new IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) services commence).  Here's what my own submission on the franchise consultation says (in draft form).

Talk of East-West Rail running from Reading to Milton Keynes/Bedford is, in my mind, a bit of a waste.  Why would you want to clog up Reading and its abundance of new through platforms with more terminating services when Reading to Milton Keynes and Bedford would be just as quick via London (especially to Bedford when Crossrail opens with a simple change at Farringdon). 

It's an ideal opportunity to provide a true east-west link and I would suggest the following:

1tph running from Bristol to Bedford, calling at Bath Spa, Corsham*, Chippenham, Wooton Bassett*, Swindon, Wantage Road*, Oxford, Water Eaton Parkway, Bicester Town, Winsford, Bletchley, Woburn Sands, Lidlington and Bedford.  Stations marked with a * are new/reopened and an hourly link would provide them with a reasonable service without having to stop any of the long distance services that currently exclusively use the route.

1tph running from Didcot Parkway to Milton Keynes, calling at Oxford, Water Eaton Parkway, Bicester Town, Winsford, Bletchley, and Milton Keynes Central.

These trains would be operated by high-performance 100mph modern 3-car diesel units (Class 172, or possibly displaced Class 185s from the Transpennine route?).  They would provide a much better east-west link, building on the 'desirable and just about viable' Bristol to Oxford' direct link with additional through passengers.  The lack of a stop (and time consuming reversal) at Didcot Parkway on the Bristol to Bedford service would reduce journey times on that of the old link.  The Didcot Parkway to Milton Keynes service would provide a 3rd tph between Didcot and Oxford - and it's possible that this service could start back from Reading if that is really necessary.

These hourly extra services on the Bristol to Swindon leg, along with the additional proposed IEP services from Bristol to London, would then have the potential to remove some of the stops on the hourly Swansea to Paddington services (possibly just calling at Reading after leaving Cardiff) and also one (or two) of the four proposed Bristol to London services could stop only at Bristol Parkway and Reading.

Combine that with a 2tph semi-fast service using 100mph 4-car electric units from Oxford-Paddington calling at Radley, Culham (selected trains), Appleford (selected trains), Didcot Parkway, Cholsey, Goring, Pangbourne, Tilehurst, Reading, Twyford (alternate trains), Maidenhead (alternate trains), Slough and Paddington and you have the added benefit of a faster service from the Thames Valley stations, an hourly fast train from Twyford and Maidenhead to Paddington (ideally connecting in with the branches), and the 2tph fast service from Slough to Paddington would enable this stop to be removed from the current Cotswold Line/Oxford to Paddington services creating more capacity and the potential for quicker journey times.

Thoughts?

[anthony215]

I too wouldnt mind seing a direct train service between Oxford and Swindon possibly extending to Bristol or perhaps  if possible running to Westbury/Salisbury if the rolling stock and paths are available(Thats if dmu's are used)

[Phil]

Good to see Corsham getting a namecheck up there. Campaigners for the reopening of Corsham Station have been quiet of late as far as I can tell (admittedly though, Google Alerts never tell the whole story) which is a shame, as it's a worthy cause.

[Lee]

Would Islip be Chiltern-only under your proposal?   

[IndustryInsider]

Yes I think so, Lee.  End-to-end journey times on regional services are still important, and Islip is only a medium sized village.  It would logically fall on the incumbent operator, Chiltern Railways, to provide Islip's service from the Evergreen 3 link opening, to an equivalent or slightly better level than today I would hope.  That service would/should be already established prior to East-West Rail services starting.

[eightf48544]

Ideally of course East West needs wires. One point how do you get a Blectchley stop on the Bedfords. The West Coast franchisee is not going to be too happy with even 1tph crossing all four tracks at Blechley on the level plus would require and awful lot of new  points as well.

One of the silly things about the flyover was that no platforms were built on it connecting to Blechley station below. Presuambaly it was only ever intended to be freight only.

Are East West proposing platforms?

 

[Btline]

No point in trains stopping at Islip as Water Eaton Parkway is so near by.

[IndustryInsider]

Are East West proposing platforms?

They must be.  Their prospectus quite clearly states all trains will call at Bletchley.

http://eastwestrail.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/EWR-prospectus-web-2.pdf

Though I will be interested to see the plans - it's elevated, and there's not much room to play with before the two tracks over the flyover become four tracks as the line splits in two to connect with the WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) and the line to Bedford.  In fact it looks practically impossible without throwing many millions at it, unless it has platforms quite a long way from the current station?  The cement works gets in the way of that idea, too!  Anyone got any clues?

[paul7575]

I think only one platform on the side towards the existing station.  There was a quite detailed plan of it in one of the earlier reports on the E/W rail site, but many of their links are broken, and just divert to the news pages at the moment...

Paul

[IndustryInsider]

Does that mean the platform will be on the viaduct with a link bridge and therefore it will be single track at that point?  If so, it might be a bit of a squeeze timetabling wise if 6 passenger trains an hour are booked to call - plus the prospect of Cross Country services passing by as well as freight.

[IndustryInsider]

I think only one platform on the side towards the existing station.  There was a quite detailed plan of it in one of the earlier reports on the E/W rail site, but many of their links are broken, and just divert to the news pages at the moment...

I've done a bit of digging and according to the GRIP^▸ (Guide to Railway Investment Projects) 4 Business Case, from July 2010, there will be two platforms at Bletchley located on a high level starting at a point just after the two tracks split into four on the end of the flyover.  They are to be 120 metres long (5-car), and bi-directionally signalled, so I presume the western of the two platforms will be for trains to/from Milton Keynes, and the eastern for trains to/from Bedford.  This would provide a reasonably flexible layout, although the current track layout would be rationalised a bit.  This is a change from the GRIP 3 report which was strongly suggesting an island platform.

There's more details in the GRIP 4 report, downloadable from the following link, see the plan and overhead view on page 79 especially.

http://eastwestrail.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/East-West-Rail-GRIP4-Business-Case-Report-Jul-2010.pdf

[paul7575]

Well done.  None of those links were working properly a week or two ago, when I last checked they were being diverted to the news pages for the relevant year. 

Good thing it's fixed, as there's far more info available again.

Paul

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

Further to the Swindon/Oxford traffic flows, I was last wednesday travelling back from Didcot to Oxford on the 10.25 Turbo ex Didcot. It had arrived 7 or 8 minutes before departure time and I thought there's slack there. No more than half a dozen people boarded the train and I don't think there could have been many more than 20 on the train in total. However a few minutes later, the extended wait at Didcot was explained when an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) from Swansea arrived and a flood of people exited the HST onto the Turbo and must have at least doubled the load. This was just before 10.25 well outside peak travel time so I think there must be a significant flow of rail travellers from Swindon and the west travelling to Oxford. It would be interesting to know what the total flows are as it could add support for at least some of the East/West trains starting back from Bristol.