North Cotswold line delays and cancellations - 2025

[whole diary]

[Witham Bobby]

Just a minor part-cancellation

12:52 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 15:00 will be terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill.
It will no longer call at Worcester Foregate Street.
It has been delayed between London Paddington and Oxford and is now 14 minutes late.
This is due to failure of the electricity supply

Last Updated:04/11/2025 14:40

No electricity somewhere in the area of West Drayton, to judge from the delay there shown on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website).  A delay that got compounded later in the journey

It prompts the questions "how long does it take to make an out-of-course change from electric traction to diesel?"  And "would that happen if there was a loss of electrical power supply, or does the train just wait until power is back on the overheads?"

[Witham Bobby]

RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) reports 1W27 1530 Paddington to Great Malvern was caped after Worcester Shrub Hill

Running was okay-ish until arriving at Evesham 6 minutes late, and departing westwards 23 minutes late, having waited there for the late running 1P34 1518 Foregate Street to Paddington (which was started from Shrub Hill)

No escape from disorderly running while significant parts of this route remain as single lines

[Worcester_Passenger]

1P34 15:18 Foregate St to London Paddington (17:29) : started from Shrub Hill (+21), arrived +32.
1P38 16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington (19:29) : started from Shrub Hill.
1P40 18:02 Foregate Street to London Paddington (20:29) : held Charlbury for 1W34 (+16), arrived +6.
1P42 19:02 Great Malvern to London Paddington (21:26) : held Malvern Link (+21), arrived +24.
1P44 19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington (22:24) : departed +14, Oxford +9, arrived +17.

1W25 12:52 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (15:00) : delayed by OHLE^▸ (Over-Head Line Equipment (electrification via catenary)) problems, Oxford +14, held outside Shrub Hill, arrived Shrub Hill +27 and cancelled thereafter.
1W27 13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (16:15) : held Evesham for 1P34 (+23), arrived Shrub Hill +27 and cancelled thereafter.
1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) : delayed after Foregate Street, arrived +15.
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford (20:25) : held Shrub Hill for 1P42 (+16), Malvern Wells (+28), arrived +28.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) : departed +11, arrived Shrub Hill +23, Foregate Street +35.

[Worcester_Passenger]

Wednesday November 5

17:04 Didcot Parkway to Evesham due 18:23 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Last Updated:05/11/2025 14:52

18:51 Evesham to Oxford due 19:50 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Last Updated:05/11/2025 14:52

Later:
1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:26) : departed +15 (+30 late from depot), Oxford +19, saved 10 at Evesham, arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +13 and cancelled thereafter.
1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) : stopped at the halts, arrived +19.

19:02 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 21:26 will be started from Worcester Shrub Hill.
This is due to this train being late from the depot.
Last Updated:05/11/2025 18:12

Held Norton (+10), arrived +19.

1P44 19:45 Great Malvern to Paddington (22:24) : delayed Malvern Link (+27) and before Foregate St (+43), held Norton (+60), arrived Reading +50 and cancelled thereafter.

20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 23:36 has been previously delayed, is being further delayed between Oxford and Reading and is now expected to be 25 minutes late.
This is due to the police dealing with an incident.
Last Updated:05/11/2025 22:55

Held Shrub Hill (+18), arrived +25.

[Witham Bobby]

It's not found it's way onto GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) JourneyCheck, but

1W21 1053 Paddington to Shrub Hill lost time all the way from Didcot, and arrived at Shrub Hill 23 minutes late

so

1P30 1316 Shrub Hill to Paddington return working was 28 minutes late off Shrub Hill

[Worcester_Passenger]

Friday November 7

Delays to services between Worcestershire Parkway Hl and Evesham
Due to a speed restriction between Worcestershire Parkway Hl and Evesham trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines.
Train services running through these stations may be delayed by up to 20 minutes. Disruption is expected until 10:30 07/11.
Customer Advice
-
What has happened?
-
One of our train services have reported an issue in this area that will need to be investigated.
-
What are we doing about it?
-
Engineers are being mobilised to go to site. Until the issue is looked into trains in this area will need to run at a reduced speed.
-
What are my options?
-
We are sorry for the delay to your journey today. Below are the current options available to you:
-
Option 1: Use the National Rail Enquiries real-time journey planner to check if a journey by rail is currently possible. If you are at a station please check the Live Departure Boards or speak to a member of our station team.
-
Option 2: Replacement transport provided by us such as a buses, coaches or taxis, have not been requested at this time. We will continue to monitor the need for this as the situation develops and provide updates here.
-
Option 3: Travel at a later time. You might want to consider postponing your journey until our service returns to normal.
-
Last Updated:07/11/2025 07:33

I do like "trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines".


Unreported on JourneyCheck, 1P02 05:23 Hereford to London Paddington (08:24) is only five cars today.

[Witham Bobby]

Friday November 7


I do like "trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines".

To be fair, there is a length of double track from Evesham to Evesham West Jcn that lies between Evesham and Worcestershire Parkway HL

[Worcester_Passenger]

Meanwhile, disruption now "expected until the end of the day".

[ChrisB]

Friday November 7

Unreported on JourneyCheck, 1P02 05:23 Hereford to London Paddington (08:24) is only five cars today.

It certainly was reported as that from Oxford at least, as I got a text warning earlier.

[charles_uk]

Nothing on JourneyCheck less than 20 minutes from departure but Realtime Trains is reporting 1W29 1453 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street as cancelled due to unknown cause (ZW).

[Witham Bobby]

Nothing on JourneyCheck less than 20 minutes from departure but Realtime Trains is reporting 1W29 1453 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street as cancelled due to unknown cause (ZW).

It's there now:

14:53 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 17:04 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Last Updated:07/11/2025 14:51

17:26 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 19:52 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Last Updated:07/11/2025 14:51

You'd wonder if it really was a Friday if there weren't a few OWW^▸ (Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton) line cancellations

[Worcester_Passenger]

Is a JourneyCheck listing two minutes before departure a new record?

[Worcester_Passenger]

We should also record that the problem between Parkway and Evesham has now disappeared from the 'Line Update' section of JourneyCheck.

[Worcester_Passenger]

Monday November 10

13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 16:15 will be terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Last Updated:10/11/2025 15:08

16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 19:29 will be started from Worcester Shrub Hill.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Last Updated:10/11/2025 15:08

[charles_uk]

Not mentioned on JourneyCheck but this evening's 1953 Paddington to Hereford train is a five car short-formation which, presumably, means tomorrow's 0523 Hereford to Paddington service will also be a short-form.