Oxford engineering works July 2018

[whole diary]

[jmc85]

I’ve seen a brief mention of this, but very few details from 1 - 22 July.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) site just says buses will replace trains on separate days - no idea what that means!

Cross Countty do list a bit more detail - but again not that helpful.

Seems closures between Banbury/hanborough and Oxford/Didcot.

Just trying to plan ahead and the thought of no direct trains from Charlbury to Paddington for three weeks isn’t sounding great

[didcotdean]

From the Crosscountry site on this, for 7-15 July, plus 21-22 July the closure is between Banbury and Didcot and for 16-20 July it is 'only' Banbury to Oxford. What might happen between 1-6 July in detail remains a mystery. Network rail suggests Banbury to Oxford closed on 1 July, and late night / early morning disruption 2-6 July.

[ChrisB]

I have a meeting about the PR^▸ (Public Relations) on these works next Wednesday with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway). I'll know all the details then, and can post here.

The three weeks will all be different. There is definitely at least one week where all lines are blocked through Oxford, and others where the down platform will become reversible, but whether through trains will be possible, or whether it will be a start/terminate on one platform, not yet known.

[Richard Fairhurst]

That's curious - I'd have expected it to be listed at the https://www.gwr.com/cotswolds2018 address which is currently being publicised.

[Adelante_CCT]

and the thought of no direct trains from Charlbury to Paddington for three weeks isn’t sounding great

No different from the other 49 weeks a year then!

[ChrisB]

That's curious - I'd have expected it to be listed at the https://www.gwr.com/cotswolds2018 address which is currently being publicised.

There's a brief mention Under Oxford for July. No details yet - I'll try & get these added & listed under Cotswold Line as well at the meeting.

[didcotdean]

This chart has now appeared at https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/planned-engineering

[ChrisB]

They've managed to restrict this works to two full weeks and 4.5 weekends, saving one week of workdays originally planned

[YouKnowNothing]

Until it over runs..... right? The weather is getting warmer and we all know there could be some hot rails about (cough....Slough)

[didcotdean]

Dedicated page now at https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/planned-engineering/oxford2018

Interesting to see ticket acceptance on a number of local bus services, not just the rail replacement ones and acceptance of certain railway station car park permits at the Oxford P&R^▸ (Park and Ride).

[ray951]

Can anyone explain to me why the Didcot Parkway to Oxford line is shown as open on 1st and 16th-20th July? When you go to the 'yellow' symbol it says that there are no trains between Didcot Parkway and Oxford. As a passenger that line is not open and should therefore be displayed red. If there are trains between Paddington/Reading and Oxford then that should be shown on separate rows.

If on those dates services are able to run between Reading and Oxford is there any good reason why they can't also stop at Didcot Parkway? Unless of course there is work going on between Didcot North Junction and Didcot Parkway, and there is currently no evidence of that on the ground.

 

[didcotdean]

There seems no concern that the Oxford-Didcot flow is being dented already by the poor quality shuttle service, and this directly puts them potentially into the arms of Thames Travel. Go-Ahead's revenge perhaps. Interesting that there will be a night bus service between Oxford-Didcot on Fridays and Saturdays from June.

[ellendune]

There seems no concern that the Oxford-Didcot flow is being dented already by the poor quality shuttle service, and this directly puts them potentially into the arms of Thames Travel. Go-Ahead's revenge perhaps.

How do you determine whether there is concern or not?

[didcotdean]

Of course I can't know with any certainty, but any business ought to be aware that perceptions, even if incorrect can be damaging.

[ellendune]

Of course I can't know with any certainty, but any business ought to be aware that perceptions, even if incorrect can be damaging.

Of course there ought to be such concerns, but what can they do about it. Their biggest customer* (DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)) who calls all the shots and without whom they have no business at all tells them to do it. They have no choice. There is not point making a fuss and upsetting the customer.

* Of course we ought to be the customer but we are just pawns in DfT's games