North Cotswold line delays and cancellations - 2026

[whole diary]

[Mark A]

This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

Always thought that that reason is one that's not fit to air in public: railway management needs to think about what it's saying and how revealing it is. I've not travelled very much but it's given me a flashback to an afternoon in East Berlin long long ago, a couple of cool days and then a stinker of a cold rainstorm, at which about one in five little cars in sight broke down and gridlocked the leaden-sky-soaked roads.

Mark

[charles_uk]

And also - and for the same reason...

17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 20:11 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 23:34 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

[John D]

15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 18:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Last Updated:01/06/2026 15:13

"More trains than usual blah blah" Why don't they just admit that they have, for some time now, proposed a timetable to the public for which they have neither sufficient rolling stock nor traincrew?

The "unusual" number of trains needing repair seems to have become quite a regular number of trains needing repair, with nothing "unusual" about it at all

I tend to think this excuse should be just a few days per year, but seems to have become multiple times per month on a regular basis.   

Which rather suggests they are over-scheduling their stock, if cannot repair stock fast enough for number of trains in timetable

[Witham Bobby]

07:13 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 09:43 will be cancelled.
This is due to a problem in the depot.
Last Updated:02/06/2026 04:27

Real Time Trains shows the empty stock for this working, 3G14 0428 from Stoke Gifford, did not run "at the operators request"

[charles_uk]

Outward run truncated due to this morning's signalling issues in the Slough area, and the return:

15:18 Hereford to London Paddington due 18:29 will be started from Great Malvern and terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill.

It will no longer call at Hereford, Ledbury, Colwall, Worcestershire Parkway Hl, Pershore, Evesham, Honeybourne, Moreton-In-Marsh, Kingham, Charlbury, Hanborough, Oxford, Didcot Parkway, Reading and London Paddington.

This is due to a fault on this train.

[charles_uk]

17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 20:11 will be terminated at Oxford.
It will no longer call at Hanborough, Charlbury, Shipton, Kingham, Moreton-In-Marsh, Honeybourne, Evesham, Pershore, Worcestershire Parkway Hl, Worcester Shrub Hill and Worcester Foregate Street.
This is due to a broken down train.

18:57 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 21:18 will be terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill.
It will no longer call at Worcester Foregate Street, Malvern Link and Great Malvern but will call additionally at Shipton.
This is due to the train making extra stops because a train was cancelled.

20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 23:41 will be reinstated.
It will be started from Worcester Shrub Hill.
It will no longer call at Worcester Foregate Street.
This is due to the train for this service having broken down.

[charles_uk]

16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 19:29 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

17:26 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 19:53 will be started from Oxford.
It will no longer call at Worcester Foregate Street, Worcester Shrub Hill, Worcestershire Parkway Hl, Pershore, Evesham, Honeybourne, Moreton-In-Marsh, Kingham, Shipton and Charlbury.
This is due to a points failure.

and earlier 1W29 1453 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street was cancelled due to a points failure (IB).

and from yesterday:

1W15 0750 London Paddington to Great Malvern cancelled due to unknown cause (ZW);
1P22 1059 Great Malvern to London Paddington cancelled due to unknown cause (ZW);
1W27 1350 London Paddington to Great Malvern cancelled due to unknown cause (ZW);
1P34 1632 Great Malvern to London Paddington cancelled due to unknown cause (ZW);
2E14 1704 Didcot Parkway to Evesham cancelled due to unknown cause (ZW);
2E16 1851 Evesham to Oxford cancelled due to unknown cause (ZW);
1W41 2052 London Paddington to Great Malvern cancelled due to unknown cause (ZW).

[charles_uk]

Various issues today due to the weather and other issues, but a big hole in afternoon London bound services:

15:18 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 17:25 will be started from Oxford.
It will no longer call at Worcester Foregate Street, Worcester Shrub Hill, Worcestershire Parkway Hl, Evesham, Moreton-In-Marsh, Kingham, Charlbury and Hanborough.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

15:18 Hereford to London Paddington due 18:29 has been cancelled.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

resulting in a three hour gap between services.

[Witham Bobby]

Various issues today due to the weather and other issues, but a big hole in afternoon London bound services:


resulting in a three hour gap between services.

Back to the 1970s.  Except that everyone knew back then how many trains would run in a day

If the advertised service level can't operate, does that say there are too many services in the schedule for the available resources? Or that the resources are available, but they're not working very reliably?

I think most people would prefer their timetables to be far more reliable, even if there were fewer trains planned to run

[charles_uk]

16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 19:25 has been cancelled.
This is due to the train making extra stops because a train was cancelled.

2E14 1704 Didcot Parkway to Evesham cancelled due to unknown cause (ZW).

17:34 London Paddington to Hereford due 20:23 has been cancelled.
This is due to the train making extra stops because a train was cancelled.

17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 20:11 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

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.

19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 22:24 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 23:29 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

22:00 Hereford to London Paddington due 01:16 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

[Chris from Nailsea]

16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 19:25 has been cancelled.
This is due to the train making extra stops because a train was cancelled.
....

17:34 London Paddington to Hereford due 20:23 has been cancelled.
This is due to the train making extra stops because a train was cancelled.

I'm not sure those two 'reasons for their cancellation' even make sense. 

[charles_uk]

Friday 10 July:

1W21 1053 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill cancelled due to an issue with the train crew (TG^▸ (TaplowGreen - a respected member of this forum - or, possibly, a train cancellation code ("cancelled due to an issue with the train crew"), depending on context)).

1W25 1252 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street cancelled between Oxford and Worcester Foregate Street due to unknown cause (ZW).

1P26 1316 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington cancelled between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford due to unknown cause (ZW).

1W29 1453 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street cancelled due to unknown cause (ZW).

1P30 1518 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington cancelled between Worcester Foregate Street and Oxford due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI).

1P32 1518 Hereford to London Paddington diverted via Swindon

2E14 1704 Didcot Parkway to Evesham cancelled between Oxford and Evesham due to unknown cause (ZW).

1P36 1726 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington cancelled due to the train operator's request (TB).

1W03 1734 London Paddington to Hereford cancelled due to the planned train being replaced with a slower train (MS).

2E16 1851 Evesham to Oxford cancelled due to unknown cause (ZW).

1P46 2200 Hereford to London Paddington cancelled due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI).

Not quite sure about the auto-added info to the TG code above!!!!

[Chris from Nailsea]

1W21 1053 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill cancelled due to an issue with the train crew (TG^▸ (TaplowGreen - a respected member of this forum - or, possibly, a train cancellation code ("cancelled due to an issue with the train crew"), depending on context)).

Not quite sure about the auto-added info to the TG code above!!!!

I agree, charles_uk, but that's due to limitations of the software. It can be switched off completely, or it's on - for everything.  I am constantly adding / revising such abbreviations / acronyms, and their definitions, qualifying them where necessary, without making them distractingly detailed.

CfN^▸ (Chris from Nailsea, an administrator on this forum). 

[Chris from Nailsea]

In this context, I have expanded the text for TG^▸ (TaplowGreen - a respected member of this forum - or, possibly, a train cancellation code ("cancelled due to an issue with the train crew"), depending on context), lest he be blamed for the cancellation.

CfN^▸ (Chris from Nailsea, an administrator on this forum). 

[Witham Bobby]

Tuesday 21/07/2026

Cancelled today, according to RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website):

1W11 0553 Paddington to Great Malvern cancelled from Oxford because of a fault with the traction equipment

so

1P18 0856 Great Malvern to Paddington did not run

and, from GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about) JourneyCheck:

16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 19:25 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Last Updated:21/07/2026 07:29

19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 22:24 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Last Updated:21/07/2026 07:29