XC HSTs beimg withdrawn in October 2023

[whole diary]

[paul7575]

There are areas where there isn't much option - eg Banbury - Oxford. There are just 8 local services a *day* run by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), while XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) was offering 2 an hour, every hour pre-pandemic. So which do you suspect commuters & others use? Yep.

BUT there are many more areas where you are correct - and should have their stop removed. XC was always designed as a long-distance service provider, but the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)/ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) should be insisting on the relevant operator in their area provide ALL the local service options.

Far too late now, as the current service can't live within the realms of sensible costs, never mind increasing them.

Yes, I think Oxford to Banbury is an excellent example of the issue they’re up against.  Banbury is in an odd position where it’s effectively a junction with Chiltern, but should it also have a regular local stopping service in all three directions? Of course there’s no intermediate station to the north, if there were the west midlands local operator might have extended south of Leamington as well…