New Oxford - Bristol direct service, ongoing developments and discussion

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

Ollie - are you saying that the same PAD^▸ (Paddington (London) station) non-HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) drivers drive 166s AND 800s? And the HSS drivers also drive just 800s?

To answer on behalf of Ollie, yes that’s correct.  Non-HSS drivers sign Turbos^▸ (Class 165 and 166 trains used on Thames Valley services), IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)), and 387s.

[Ollie]

Ollie - are you saying that the same PAD^▸ (Paddington (London) station) non-HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) drivers drive 166s AND 800s? And the HSS drivers also drive just 800s?

To answer on behalf of Ollie, yes that’s correct.  Non-HSS drivers sign Turbos^▸ (Class 165 and 166 trains used on Thames Valley services), IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)), and 387s.

Thank you II^▸ (IndustryInsider - a respected member of this forum).

Some also sign the Class 230.

[TaplowGreen]

Correct. Talk to your MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context).

Sympathy for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway). Their budget is still shrinking year-on-year

..............not too much sympathy though 

https://www.firstgroupplc.com/investors/results-centre.aspx

[IndustryInsider]

Correct. Talk to your MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context).

Sympathy for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway). Their budget is still shrinking year-on-year

..............not too much sympathy though 

https://www.firstgroupplc.com/investors/results-centre.aspx

Shares currently down 12.5% today.

[Richard Fairhurst]

The latest Oxford Clarion newsletter reports that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have applied to the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road, formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) to introduce a full Oxford–Bristol service. Every two hours from May 2026, increasing to every hour from May 2027.

[IndustryInsider]

The latest Oxford Clarion newsletter reports that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have applied to the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road, formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) to introduce a full Oxford–Bristol service. Every two hours from May 2026, increasing to every hour from May 2027.

More details here:

https://www.orr.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2025-11/gwr-ltd-s22a-301st-sa-network-rail-representations.pdf

[Richard Fairhurst]

A rather peevish response from the Bedwyn folks to the Oxford–Bristol plans:

https://www.railmagazine.com/news/passenger-group-concern-over-gwr-oxford-bristol-plans

As Rail points out, the Government expressly asked GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) for a Bristol–Oxford plan in 2023 (following up many years' lobbying by Oxfordshire County Council and others), so the assertion that "The Oxford-Bristol plan is seen as an attempt to offset a potential threat from SLC^▸ (Service Level Commitment, or possibly SLC Rail (a consultancy firm), depending on context) Rail’s proposed Nottingham-Bristol via Oxford open access service" doesn't really hold water IMO^▸ ('in my opinion').

[bobm]

Problems with the service today.

The first round trip arrived back at Bristol Temple Meads nearly 25 minutes late.  The second round trip was then cancelled due to "a fault on this train".

[anthony215]

Local councillors in Swindon saying lord Hendy has approved a 2 hourly Swindon to Oxford service

[ChrisB]

With what stock, I wonder?

[Richard Fairhurst]

It's not up to Hendy to approve it, it's up to the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road, formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about). As far as I can see from the Swindon press release, Hendy has just written a letter saying "that sounds like a nice idea".

That said, apparently Network Rail are broadly supportive, so there's probably not much standing in its way. Assuming enough 175s can be crank-started so some IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) can be released...

[ChrisB]

Interesting coz one of the reasons for turning down additional services on that stretch between Swindon & Didcot West was lack of pathing. They've already to find room for the West Wales - Paddington open access

[bobm]

With what stock, I wonder?

Those in Bedwyn believe it will use stock being released from elsewhere that was earmarked to restore their through services to London Paddington.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Interesting coz one of the reasons for turning down additional services on that stretch between Swindon & Didcot West was lack of pathing. They've already to find room for the West Wales - Paddington open access

Network Rail looked at four applications together: GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Oxford-Bristol, Midland Central Western Railway (aka SLC^▸ (Service Level Commitment, or possibly SLC Rail (a consultancy firm), depending on context) Rail) Nottingham-Bristol, Lumo Paddington-Hereford, Lumo Paddington-Paignton.

They said GWR Oxford-Bristol would fit, although they might need to send a couple of services via Bristol Parkway rather than Bath. Lumo Paignton and Lumo Hereford would partly work on weekdays but not really at weekends. Their opinion on MCWR is perhaps best summed up with the phrase "lol nope".

[IndustryInsider]

With what stock, I wonder?

Based on the 70-minute journey time, two 5-car IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan))'s would be required for a service every two hours.  Only the one extra for the hourly service, with around 40 minutes total turnaround time at Bristol and Oxford each cycle.