I agree in that I think they should do this, but they won't, as letting the ROSCO's buy the trains keeps the cost of purchase off the government balance sheet even though in the long term it would be cheaper for the government/taxpayer/railway.
I would gladly be happy to be provided wrong on this.

From National Rail:
"The emergency services are dealing with an incident between Swindon and Didcot Parkway. So they can safely carry out their work, all lines are closed.
As a result, trains may be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes or revised.
Major disruption is expected until 18:00.
Customer advice:
A very limited rail replacement services is in operation between Bristol Temple Meads / Swindon and Didcot Parkway.
You can use your ticket on Stagecoach Bus route 55 between Swindon and Chippenham, and route S6 between Swindon and Oxford at no extra cost.
You may use your ticket on the following services:
CrossCountry via any reasonable route
Elizabeth line via any reasonable route
Chiltern Railways between Oxford and London Marylebone"

Worryingly this is about the 3rd such incident being dealt with by Emergency Services between Swindon and Didcot in the last week or so.

It is £5.10 extra if you buy a ticket from Bicester Village to Haddenham and T. and I know that wasn't the question.

7 Southampton

As an aside Olly Glover's CV makes interesting reading:

"He has spent all his working life on the railways, having held a range of senior operational management positions in Network Rail and train operating companies. These have involved leading large teams of train drivers, responsibility for major control centres, working in partnership with trade unions, and hands-on roles managing disruption, on the tracks and on station concourses. Olly now works as a consultant, using his knowledge to help railway companies in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) and abroad to improve their operations."

This is from https://www.libdems.org.uk/mps/didcot-and-wantage

I understand he talked about the railways in his first speech in the House of Commons.

18 New Orleans

Aren't those Woolston and Bitterne stations, both in Southampton.

Didcot Parkway lifts are quite often out of action after heavy rain.

13. Portsmouth Harbour.

Bomb threat according to https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2024/07/26/l-aeroport-de-bale-mulhouse-evacue-pour-des-raisons-de-securite_6258719_3234.html but air traffic has now resumed.

Well it looks like my hunch was correct in that the project is running late.

That was just based on, as Stuving has pointed out, no recent updates or PR^▸ (Public Relations) about the new bridge about to be put in place plus having seen the site a couple of weeks ago I couldn't see how it could possibly be ready.

If I was a resident of Oxford, Oxfordshire County Council or Oxford City Council I would be annoyed with NR as this will be the 2nd delay to the project and will presumably increase the cost of the project and there is still no end to the project in sight. To me it looks like poor project management both in terms of the delays and also the communication with stakeholders given they can't actually give a date for when the bridge will be replaced or the project will end.

Will this have an impact on the opening of EWR?

Apologies I got my dates all mixed up, for some reason I thought the 27th was Thursday (which it was in June!!!) and could still see trains running then and on the Friday, which of course is correct.

Anyone good to see the project is still on track (no pun intended).

Could trains be running on the southbound (up) tracks earlier than the northbound (down) tracks because they might be laying the trackwork into what what will be platform 5 and that will be from the down track. Note that the points for access to Platform 5 from south of the station are already in place.

The project to replace Botley Road Bridge seems to have gone very quiet.

According to NR^» (Network Rail - home page) the bridge is due to be replaced between July 27 and July 31st 2024, and that is less than 3 weeks away. https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/western/oxfordshire/botley-road-bridge-replacement/

I have seen no advertising around replacement bus services and GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) seem to be running a normal train service and there is no mention of engineering works between those dates on their website. https://www.gwr.com/travel-information/travel-updates/planned-engineering.

So can we assume that this project is running late? And if it is has anyone seen any mention of alternative dates? 

And what is the impact on the opening of Botley Road which is supposed to happen in October 2024?

Couple of points
1) Showing invalid options which only become valid when I spend £265 instead of £93/£100 would mean I would go by car so no money to the railway. Maybe there could be at least an option to show cheapest, slowest, fewest changes, type options although appreciate this could get complicated.

2) The Southeastern app shows the  £93 fare by default, with no options set. So that isn't the fastest.

I currently appear to have an issue with the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) booking engine:

I am trying to book 3 adults  travelling between Didcot Parkway and Gatwick Airport with a Network Card.

Out date is 2nd July at 13:05 change at Reading.
Return Date is 9th July at about 14:00 (dependent on when the plane lands)

When I use the GWR booking engine for the return journey it is only offering me return journeys via Faringdon and London Paddington and no option to select the change at Reading only option.

The fare via Paddington is £100 whereas via Reading (with one change) it is £93 and the £100 ticket is not valid via Paddington in the evening peak hours (this would cost £265!).

At first I just assumed that the trains from Gatwick to Reading are not running on 9th July, but that isnt the case.

If I enter 'via Guildford' it offers me the £93 change at Reading only ticket.

What I don't understand is why does it not show me the £93 by default? Passengers can't be expected to know that they have to enter 'via Guildford' to get the cheapest fare?
Other ticket retailers do show the £93 ticket without using the via option.

So why does the GWR booking engine expect me to pay £100 or £265 instead of £93 and is this a bug or a feature?