I've just had a look through the timetable, and - what a surprise - journey times extended for Worcester again!

The 16.22 now takes a whopping 2 hours 49 minutes (arr 19.11). Is that a record? For a journey that should take no longer than 2 hours?

I mean you could get the 16.15 Chiltern to Warwick Parkway (arr 17.31), drive home (45 - 60 mins) and cook your tea before the even limbs into Shrub Hill at 18.57, let alone you get home.

I know it's the halts train, but do they seriously think this is going to increase usage of the line?

This is my part of the world (well, sort of), and I can confirm that there is zero demand to London in the Tenbury area.
This is just a desperate attempt by the MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) to get a journey time saving.

Frankly, the existence of Hereford and Worcester is enough to get the journey time down - but we have had those arguments plenty of times before, so I won't re-open that can. 

Trying to suggest there are hundreds of would be commuters living in Tenbury (~45 mins drive from Malvern link!!!) is crazy!

And don't get me started on Worcester Parkway.

I wish Chiltern would stop with the "first new rail line from a city to London in 100 years" spin.
We're talking about 100 yds of railway, not 100 miles!

From the TV reports, it looks as if hundreds of frustrated commuters have already switched to Chiltern - and after today, do not intend to return.

I intend to trial the service soon, and will definitely use the railway for my frequent trips to Water Eaton car park.

Firstly I was travelling to Torquay, which is unbarriered. Plus the Paddington bridge barriers were wide open.
There really is no excuse for no ticket checks on the long and slow 90 mins to Exeter.

As far as I have read, the new Hitachi trains will have the driver operating the doors (i.e. DOO^▸ (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard))). This will free up the guard to check tickets.
There are several DOO services in Glasgow with a guard who solely checks tickets.

The train needs to be significantly faster to compete effectively. By the time you add on door to door travel, car will generally win - although I agree the M5 can be a nightmare. Bham and Bristol are not like London, the vast majority of commuters drive in.

The aim should be to raise line speeds and electrify to get journey times closer to an hour. Then rail will be significantly faster and modal shift will occur.

Got there and back ok. In the end nobody bothered to check tickets!

It seems as if the guard was too busy to check tickets on a half full service which ran non stop Reading to Exeter.

Good job that the new trains will be DOO^▸ (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard)) to free up time for guards to check tickets...

I suspect the Northbound fares will be set higher for Parkway than the city centre to prevent everyone driving there in the morning peak and swamping the Cardiff to Nottinghams.

I doubt that XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) will stop anything else there as it would screw up the journey times. Bristol to Bham is already almost 90 mins which isn't acceptable. These journey times need to be cut to be competitive against the M5.

One thing in its favour is that the XC Bromsgrove stops will probably be removed once the station is rebuilt*, easing the congestion on Cardiff to Nottinghams.

*XC call as LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise)'s peak services are too long for the short platforms.

This station will be a complete waste of money. I am horrified that Network Rail are letting it proceed (they must be furious).

The only XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) services that will stop are the Cardiff to Nottinghams, which are already overcrowded. But as the journey time to Bham will be quicker, I expect Malvern and South Worcester folks to cram onto the gridlocked A4440 to Parkway. Hardly a green station.

Even if they extend LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) services to Parkway (not possible due to the single track) people from North Worcestershire (Stourbridge, Kidderminster) travelling to Bristol will have to change TWICE. At Parkway and Cheltenham!
As it happens, it will be THREE times. Perhaps people will just drive to the station or go via Bham....

The Cotswold line is too infrequent and unreliable to provide East to South connections.

The best solution as I've said before is to extend a Snow Hill service from Shrub Hill to Gloucester every hour. Same platform interchange at Cheltenham = job done. It would probably just require a couple of extra units.

That's what I thought, although it appears to contradict further down where it says tickets are valid on the train before or after.

I wonder what defines as "close"? If this cannot be defined or enforced, then effectively all tickets become anytimes.

Good to know I've got some flexibility if services look busy, a pretty good service is going to run anyway.

In a piece of excellent timing several months ago, Btline booked FGW^▸ (First Great Western) tickets for travel over the bank holiday weekend.

They are FGW advances from Paddington to Torquay. I'm not sure whether they will say FGW only.

Do I understand correctly that I can travel any date/time during the weekend with my tickets? The website is not 100% clear - they are now effectively anytimes are they not?

Also - can I use XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) if necessary from Newton Abbot?

They obviously did the testing wrong.
I suspect they picked the cheapest option.

Took the Cotswold line for the first time in ages recently, wanting a change of route. Will not do again in a hurry.
I've forgotten how slow the journey is, with pointless stops to allow few, if any, passengers to board/alight.

But my main gripe were the slack operations and delays. Nothing has changed.

1) Fair enough, due to LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) delays at Worcester, the empty train did not arrive until 2 mins before departure. But we left 5 mins late, with no urgency to get the train off. Why bother I suppose, when there is so much slack in the timetable?

2) Between Worcester and Charlbury we picked up an extra 5 minutes delay for no real reason. Slow deceleration/ acceleration at stations (despite being a 180 and no rain). A wait of a minute before the doors were released at Pershore. Long dwell times at all stations despite there being no SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) and few passengers.

3) As a result, we delayed a Northbound service at Evesham.

4) At Charlbury, we were delayed further by the next northbound service, although didn't get off until the other train had arrived (despite the double track starting a few miles away).

5) Further delays at Oxford, Didcot, etc as we had lost our path. No doubt we caused a queue behind us when we called at Slough on the fast lines. We also delayed a Heathrow Express, which was stuck on the flyover.

Had they doubled Honeybourne - Pershore and South of Hanborough to Charlbury as I have suggested many times, BOTH of these delays would have been avoided. Trains cross at the ends of the double track, which means they are still getting delayed! There seems no way around this timetable wise.

I want this line to improve!

Well well well, that Silver train in the morning peak will be very popular!
Almost all seats at tables, good views from all seats, seats actually comfortable...

With this timetable, I suspect there will be a notable drop in passengers at Hanborough and Oxford stations (and Charlbury? - only a 30 minute drive).

Glad that Islip has not seen too many extra services - the overall journey time is very important!

Bring it on - if passengers on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) fall, they only have themselves to blame...

These scandalous rises will just result in more frustrated commuters switching to Warwick Parkway. Chiltern did a survey of usage and were shocked at the distances people drive: Worcester, Wychavon, Bromsgrove, Redditch and even parts of SHROPSHIRE. All these people could be using Worcester or Evesham.

I bet Chiltern are rubbing their hands with glee with Oxford Parkway soon to open! Are FGW^▸ (First Great Western) stupid, or haven't they got the memo?

I don't use the line anyone; this is yet another development that will decrease the likelihood of me using it again. Chiltern offer good value, simple walk up tickets that are valid on a lot of trains. Why would I risk being crammed into a Thames Turbo with broken air con waiting at Evesham for the single line to clear?

Much of the country is now a "free" railway as there are either no guards, or they simply do not bother checking tickets.

Central Trains / London Midland rarely check tickets on the Snow Hill route.
I now live in London, and the DLR^▸ (Docklands Light Railway) is effectively a free railway for the dishonest - I see it daily.

Same with South Eastern trains - I mean the Stonegate passenger had a journey of well over an hour - the fact that there were no checks in 5 years is a disgrace.

Chiltern should learn - if the commuter had bought a Wembley to London season ticket, he would have not been caught! Just having barriers at London will not stop evaders...