Calls to revive direct rail link from Oxford - Bristol backed by Oxfordshire MPs

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Oxford Times:

Calls to revive direct rail link from Oxford to Bristol backed by Oxfordshire MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament)

Direct rail services from Oxford to Bristol should be brought back to boost tourism and open new commuter routes, Oxfordshire County Council and two MPs said.

A high-speed train service would bring tourists into city pubs, restaurants and hotels, it has been claimed.

Bewteen 1999 and 2003 a direct service ran between the cities, but the link was scrapped by the Stategic Rail Authority because it was under-used and to make way for other services on the line between Didcot and Swindon.

First Great Western^s (FGW^▸ (First Great Western)) franchise for running trains on the Great Western mainline ends in 2019. When the Department for Transport awards the new contract to FGW or another firm, it would provide the opportunity to re-open the service.

County councillor for Kennington Bob Johnston said: ^Reopening railway stations elsewhere has proved hugely beneficial to business. We would see an awful lot of people, tourists for example, come into town. The Japanese in particular visit Bristol, Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon, so it could be very good for anything relating remotely to tourists ^ cafes, pubs, hotels.^

The county council unanimously voted to support the proposed service, which would call at Swindon, Didcot and Oxford, in December.

Travellers wanting to go between Oxford and Bristol on the train currently need to change at Didcot.

Mr Johnston said it would also boost the case for reopening Wantage Road station, north of Grove. Plans to reopen the station, which closed in 1964, date back at least 10 years.

Mr Johnston said: ^We have been told by Network Rail that such a service would hugely increase the business case for reopening Wantage Road station. There is set to be huge housing development in Wantage and Grove and there is little employment, so having a station there would open up Didcot, Oxford and Bristol to commuters.^

Wantage MP Ed Vaizey and Abingdon MP Nicola Blackwood have also called for an Oxford to Bristol service for that reason. They have written to Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin calling for the service to be included in the next Great Western franchise.

Mr Vaizey said: ^I am looking to businesses and major employers to make clear their support for the economic benefits of better connecting towns and cities along this route.^

FGW said it would be happy to look at the business case for the service.

Network Rail said such a service was among suggestions in its draft Western Route Study, but was just one of many possiblilities.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: ^It is now for the local authorities and the rail industry to work together to look at the feasibility and costs of bringing these new services into use, without jeopardising existing services. We look forward to hearing more about these proposals.^

[ellendune]

I was not aware that the old Oxford Bristol service was underused.  It always seemed well used when I used it. I thought it was essentially a capacity/reliability issue. 

There were serious moves to reopen Wantage Road as far back as 1978 which were supported by Oxfordshire County Council.

[grahame]

I was not aware that the old Oxford Bristol service was underused.  It always seemed well used when I used it. I thought it was essentially a capacity/reliability issue. 

And it was well used when I used it too ... but that's in terms of my passenger visibility rather than seeing all services through the day.   If you look at number of passengers carried per PATH you might come up with stats which are less in favour of the services, especially if it occupied multiple paths in accountancy terms because it was a 90 mph train on a 125 mph section.  There's also the point that withdrawing the service might not have been expected to have lost the railway a lot of business as it "just" added a change at Didcot, so the train was using up capacity for "no good reason".  ((quoted words show an opinion which few here are likely to share!))

One possibly for the rumour mill (frequent posters, click to go there), but questions are said to going around at the moment about the "most profit" that can be made from trains, and whether changes would result in a lower subsidy requirement in the future. 

[trainer]

Anecdote is not a way to run a business, but I recall using the an Oxford-Bristol train one evening in the peak and this train used the North to West curve by-passing Didcot Parkway.  It was full to standing to Swindon and I have wondered whether all those good folk clearly commuting went on to use other trains (presumably also crowded) and changed, or whether they found it just as quick to use the bus or (horror) their cars. I always found it a useful train, but it would not have made any money relying on my infrequent leisure trips.