Services to Oxford, Didcot and Reading from Swindon and further west

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Start of my new sticky thread ... remaining subjects listed at the bottom .


Name

To Oxford, Didcot and Reading from West
Journeys from Swindon and West thereof to Oxford, Reading and other stations outside London

Description

Swindon has in many ways been "the first place in The West", with a perception that rail traffic arriving there via Stroud, via Bristol Parkway, via Bath Spa and of late via Melksham and carrying on eastward is headed for London.  Those of us who live in Wiltshire and have been involved with the politics of the area have seen a break between the South West region and the South East and Home Counties region, and what's felt like an assumption that anyone heading east from Swindon on an Intercity HST^▸ (High Speed Train) train or Intercity Express Train (IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)) must be headed for the InterCity destination of London. But thats far from the case - many people from Swindon and west thereof are headed for Reading, or Oxford, or Didcot - a much shorter journey.

Let's see a map of that:



I'll add journeys via Swindon and Didcot to Gatwick and Heathrow airports too, to Bracknell and Wokingham, to Slough, to Basingstoke, and to a second tier of destinations such as Maidenhead, Culham, and Radley (for Abingdon).

Service

From December 2019, two trains per hour from Bristol, Bath, Chippenham and Swindon call at Didcot and Reading on their way to London. In peak hours, these are not evenly spaced at 30 minute intervals.

From December 2019, two trains per hour run from South Wales (one from Cardiff and one from Swansea) calling at Bristol Parkway, Swindon and Reading. Passengers for Didcot usually need to change at Swindon

From December 2019, one trains per hour runs from Cheltenham Spa and Gloucester, Stonehouse, Stroud, Kemble and Swindon to Didcot and Reading.

In December 2019, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) launched "superfast" express trains nonstop from Bristol Parkway and Chippenham into London Paddington during peak hours.  Those were due to be extended to run all day from mid May 2020.  At the time of writing (31.3.2020), these superfast services have been withdrawn but it should be expected that the government will wish to re-introduce them as 'flagship' services in due course.  They do nothing for passengers from Swindon and west thereof headed for Didcot, Reading or Oxford except perhaps relieve crowding on the trains that serve intermediate stations.

Passengers from Westbury, Trowbridge and Melksham to Didcot need to change at Swindon onto trains listed above. From Westbury and Trowbridge to Reading, alternative services are available via Pewsey.

Passengers for Oxford from Swindon and west thereof will usually be required to change at Didcot onto a local train to Oxford; in some instances a faster journey will be available doubling back at Reading, but that will often be at a higher fare.

Current issues

There are no direct trains from Westbury, Trowbridge or Melksham that head east beyond Swindon. A change is always needed.

There are no direct trains headed east from Swindon that carry on to or via Oxford. A change is always needed. Connections at Didcot tend to be poor (we have referred to it as the "Didcot Dance" in the past, in which passengers arriving to change trains see an onward train leaving, meaning they have half an hour (occasionally a bit longer) to wait. 

Main passenger flows

Employment / skilled workforce flow from Swindon and west thereof to Reading (large employment area), Didcot (for bus link to Harwell) and Oxford. Leisure / tourism flows into Oxford from the west too, noting popularity of Oxford for overseas tourists (Bicester Village too - 2 or 3 stops from Oxford on Chiltern) at one "end", and Bath, Salisbury and Wilton for Stonehenge at the other.  Much of the leisure potential is untapped

Aspirations

A direct train service from Swindon to Oxford. Whether such a service makes a passenger call at Didcot, or uses the curve that avoids the station (and carries a "parliamentary" service only) is an option open for discussion.  Substantial numbers of people make the connection as it stands, and frequent but slow Swindon to Oxford buses point to further likely traffic. Swindon has joined Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge in the "England's Economic Heartland" sNTB and the relevance and proportional volume of this flow will increase because of this linkage. See map at


Both GWR / TransWIlts and Go-op are looking at this aspiration, which logically links services from Westbury (and beyond) to Swindon with a Swindon to Oxford service and services beyond Oxford - East / West Rail to Bedford and later Cambridge, and to or via Banbury to Coventry and Nuneaton, or to Birmingham Moor Street, have been mooted. Ongoing Go-op thread at http://www.passenger.chat/11010

There is an aspiration for a new station at Wantage Road / Grove, with the community there having grown from Wantage itself out to the railway.

Fares

"Split tickets"

Didcot is the last station in the old Network South East area and day return tickets to London are not available from further out. From Swindon and beyond, return tickets to London are period returns and are priced at higher "intercity" rates. This means that passengers taking day trips from West of Didcot to east can sometimes save themselves money by breaking their journey at Didcot. Rules and options are complex; check on the "Fares Fair" area - but basically you are allowed to split your journey across two tickets provided that the train you are on calls at the station where you go from one ticket to the next, and each ticket would be valid as a separate journey for that leg.

Reading double-backs

Journey planners to Oxford will sometimes route you via Reading - travelling up and down the line between Didcot and the Reading area.  At certain times of day it is quicker, but note that the fare many be significantly higher

GWR Discoverer tickets

Great West Way Discoverer tickets (East and Global) are valid on Swindon - Didcot - Reading - (London) services but not on trains to Oxford. They are however valid on the bus from Didcot to Oxford (also from Reading and from Swindon). The West pass is also accepted on the Swindon - Oxford bus, but not on the train to the east of Swindon.

Peak difference

If you're headed west from Reading or Didcot, note that most off peak restrictions from Reading apply in both morning and evening peaks, but from Didcot most restrictions are morning peak only.

To be written

Notable Engineering features and architecture
Notable Railway Facilities
Rolling stock used
Catering and facilities
Planned
Station notes and links
Community Groups
History

[anthony215]

In the latest Modern Railways GWRs^▸ (Great Western Railway)  MD himself said he'd be interested in the idea of resurrecting the direct Bristol to OXFORD service as there should be paths available.

I do think it should be looked at

[Mark A]

Not sure, historically, when Bristol to Oxford services ceased to be a thing for the first time, but they were useful and well used when they returned, even the experience of hammering up and down the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) in a Thames Turbo on a warm day and all the hopper windows open didn't deter passengers. At the time *that* service ceased, onward travel options were fewer in number than at present - with further ramping up of the network in the near future.

For the present Bicester is an option, and then stations onward to Marylebone - though there's some sort of through fares discontinuity at Bicester that makes anything beyond there cost £££.

In the near future, with Bletchley, MK^▸ (Milton Keynes), Bedford coming along as well, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) should certainly be taking advantage of the opportunities offered and a change at Didcot and then Oxford is much less thn ideal.

Mark

[ChrisB]

Not sure, historically, when Bristol to Oxford services ceased to be a thing for the first time

I thought they only lasted for one timetable iteration?

but they were useful and well used

I don't think they were *that* well used?

when they returned

When did they 'return'? I think they only had one 'bite of the cherry' & Network Rail didn't want 75mph turbos west of Didcot on the double line?

For the present Bicester is an option, and then stations onward to Marylebone - though there's some sort of through fares discontinuity at Bicester that makes anything beyond there cost £££.

That is a hang-over from before the Chiltern connection to Oxford, with fares beyond the old Bicester Town priced as 'via London'. No longer 'via London' , but not yet repriced.

In the near future, with Bletchley, MK^▸ (Milton Keynes), Bedford coming along as well, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) should certainly be taking advantage of the opportunities offered and a change at Didcot and then Oxford is much less than ideal.

It won't be GWR though - Chiltern have been selected to run services along EWR. Nor will NR^» (Network Rail - home page) allow anymore 75mph units on the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) west of Didcot.

[grahame]

They were only there for a few years, but certainly longer than 1 timetable iteration - I used them a number of times from Chippenham to Oxford and can remember people standing, so backing up MarkA's memories on that.   Pehaps your memory is counter-flow ChrisB; not sure how busy morning westbound and evening eastbound trains were .

[didcotdean]

As I recall, the Oxford to Bristol service seemed to be right at the top of the list to be sacrificed whenever anything went a bit wrong, even if this did not seemingly have much directly to do with it.

It had been used as a reason to cut stops westwards to/from Didcot on the Paddington services quite drastically off-peak yet when the service was operationally cancelled Control was unwilling to add stops back in. I remember being at Swindon when three services to London went through without a Didcot stop being inserted meaning a wait of nearly an hour.

Oxfordshire County Council has aspirations in their transport plans (but only indirect influence) for there to be four trains an hour between Didcot and Oxford, and won't therefore be keen for it to be bypassed again by a new service. For that matter they still moan about the loss of the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) stop at Didcot after 2 decades or so.

[Mark A]

When did they 'return'? I think they only had one 'bite of the cherry' & Network Rail didn't want 75mph turbos west of Didcot on the double line?

Thames Turbos... they were 90mph weren't they? They certainly felt like it with the hopper windows open and a whirlwind of newspaper sheets taking to the air...

I don't know the history of Swindon - Oxford direct services prior to the ones run by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) in the 90s - and can't recall the dates at which that service started/ceased. The direct trains that I'm thinking of that ended in the 1960s(?) were infrequent, and long distance between Bristol or was it Cardiff (or both) and at least Nottingham.

That opens another can of worms, as at the current time there's plenty of latent demand for passenger services between Oxford, Leicester and Nottingham, the introduction of which has been stalled by track capacity issues. (Raises hat to Leamington - Coventry and also a junction conflict at Nuneaton, the latter may have been resolved)

Mark

[grahame]

When did they 'return'? I think they only had one 'bite of the cherry' & Network Rail didn't want 75mph turbos west of Didcot on the double line?

Thames Turbos... they were 90mph weren't they? They certainly felt like it with the hopper windows open and a whirlwind of newspaper sheets taking to the air...

Class 165/0 - 39 units, top speed 75 mph - Chiltern
Class 165/1 - 37 units, top speed 90 mph (36 in service) - GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)
Class 166 - 22 units, top speed 90 mph - GWR

I don't know the history of Swindon - Oxford direct services prior to the ones run by GWR in the 90s - and can't recall the dates at which that service started/ceased. The direct trains that I'm thinking of that ended in the 1960s(?) were infrequent, and long distance between Bristol or was it Cardiff (or both) and at least Nottingham.

The GWR service ran from 1999 to 2003 inclusive-ish; not show in my old 1998 or 2004 timetables.   In 1966 there was a Saturday service between Wolverhampton as I recall - just about the last train service on the Trowbridge to Chippenham.  I would need to check back details.  While the Great Central was open and at its peak, a few trains from th South West headed via Swindon and Oxford onto that line.

That opens another can of worms, as at the current time there's plenty of latent demand for passenger services between Oxford, Leicester and Nottingham, the introduction of which has been stalled by track capacity issues. (Raises hat to Leamington - Coventry and also a junction conflict at Nuneaton, the latter may have been resolved)

Mark

Wasn't Go-op looking at that?

[IndustryInsider]

Thames Turbos... they were 90mph weren't they? They certainly felt like it with the hopper windows open and a whirlwind of newspaper sheets taking to the air...

Class 165/0 - 39 units, top speed 75 mph - Chiltern
Class 165/1 - 37 units, top speed 90 mph (36 in service) - GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)
Class 166 - 22 units, top speed 90 mph - GWR

Thames Trains were borrowing a few 75mph Chiltern units during the period of the TT/First joint venture between Oxford and Bristol, around 5 units IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly). 

They were generally keep off of Bristol diagrams (Greenford’s and the other branches were the usual haunts), but there were the odd occasions when a 75mph unit would be found covering a Bristol service.

[4064ReadingAbbey]

May I congratulate you on starting this thread, it is a subject that really does need closer examination.

I suspect that any changes in the service offered, in both train timetabling and ticketing, will take t i m e if the current political, financial and organisational stasis remains for much longer.

Stamina is called for!

[paul7575]

That opens another can of worms, as at the current time there's plenty of latent demand for passenger services between Oxford, Leicester and Nottingham, the introduction of which has been stalled by track capacity issues. (Raises hat to Leamington - Coventry and also a junction conflict at Nuneaton, the latter may have been resolved)

Mark

The current Nuneaton track layout doesn’t allow for through trains from Coventry to Leicester.  It can only be done by reversing on the Birmingham lines north of the station, and running through the platforms twice. 

Paul

[Mark A]

Thanks for this. I was confused at what *had* been built there.

Mark

[paul7575]

Thanks for this. I was confused at what *had* been built there.

Mark

The two new platforms on the east side of the station are on something of a rising gradient, compared to the original platforms, and they were provided so that trains between Birmingham via Water Orton and  Hinckley/Leicester could operate completely independently over a refurbished existing bridge just north of the station.  There was also a new route provided for freight from the east to head over the same bridge then down a ramp towards the WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) down slow.

I believe there are “local aspirations” to reinstate a direct Coventry to Leicester route, with an underpass south of the station, but then that would probably mean not stopping at Nuneaton.  So that would mean additional services to maintain Nuneaton’s connections.  It’s all a bit unlikely, IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion)…