Yes, it did reopen today - about 40 minutes late.  Not the railway's fault.  The Queen's helicopter to Edinburgh was delayed by low cloud/fog.

That is not the worst scenario.  Cross Country is responsible for setting several fares in the Worcester/Evesham area where there is no XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) service on which passengers can possibly travel.  For example, fares from Ashchurch to all stations from Worcester to Ledbury (inclusive) are set by Cross Country.  Unbelievably, the fares from Ashchurch to Hereford are set by Arriva Trains Wales, who also do not provide any train services on the route.  The intermediate fares between Worcester and Hereford are controlled by London Midland.  Really, it would make sense if Great Western took over the fares from Ashchurch to the Worcester/Hereford route and brought them into line with London Midland's Worcester/Hereford and Worcester/Birmingham ones.

Getting back onto the topic, I wonder whether the new station will be included in "Worcester Stns".  I understand that it is to be called "Worcestershire Parkway", not "Worcester Parkway".  Fares from there need to be in line with those from surrounding stations, whoever sets them.

For once, I agree with Btline.  If passengers from the Stourbridge/Kidderminster/Droitwich Spa areas are to be persuaded to leave their cars at home and use the train to travel south, rather than drive down the M5 Motorway, then a through service to Gloucester or even Bristol T M is essential.

On another matter - fares - some of those in the Worcester area are a complete mess.  ChrisB asks whether tickets to Worcester cover both stations.  They do, being to "Worcester Stns".  If Parkway is included in this grouping, then a massive anomaly will be created on the North-South route.  The present Off Peak Day Return from Ashchurch for Tewkesbury (about 9 miles south of the Parkway site) to Birmingham is ^24.00.  A similar fare from Worcester Stns, even after the fare increase in September, will only be ^8.90.  The Ashchurch fare is set by Cross Country.  The Worcester fare is set by London Midland.  An OPDR from Pershore to Birmingham costs ^12.30 (LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise) fare). Evesham is a similar distance from Birmingham to Ashchurch and the OPDR from there costs ^14.20 (LM).

There seem to be two different Trolley operations in the Oxford area.  From what I can tell, those on Class 165/166 Turbos are provided by RailGourmet of Oxford, by staff wearing FGW^▸ (First Great Western) uniforms. I cannot see from the on-line timetable that any catering is currently provided on the Gatwick service from Reading, but, if it is, then I assume that it is still provided by them as well.

Trolleys on Class 180s are, I understand, provided by FGW's own staff.

I do not know about other train companies, but I am aware that fares controlled by London Midland usually rise in September.

I see that London Midland fares will rise on Sunday 6th September 2015.  For example, an Off Peak Day Return from Worcester to Birmingham rises from ^8.70 to ^8.90.

Not to mention the Big Feastival at Kingham from 28th-30th August.

YES.  Once an up train has cleared the single line a mile or so from Evesham, the signaller can reset the system to change the signal at  the end of the down platform to green.  Quite often, trains can be seen passing one another between Evesham station and the junction - usually somewhere by the signal box.

I heard the same story as IndustryInsider.  The original intention was to have a similar length of double track east of Charlbury to that which was provided west of Evesham.  This would have allowed trains to depart from Charlbury just before those from the Oxford direction arrive.

There was also a story going around a few years ago that doubling track at Hanborough would be a problem due to a similarly shaped bridge which carries the busy A4095 over the railway at the station.  The bridge at Charlbury just carries the access road to Cornbury Park.

I also believe that it was not considered worth doubling Wolvercote and Norton Junctions, due to future plans for signalling in the two areas.

In addition to the 1022 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-HFD^» (Hereford - next trains), it appears that 1W59 (1749 PAD-WOS^» (Worcester Shrub Hill - next trains)) had some kind of problem yesterday. It was 17 minutes late at Didcot East Junction and 66 minutes late at Didcot North Junction.  It eventually arrived at Worcester 71 minutes late, having been overtaken by the 1822 ex PAD at Didcot.  Presumably, it went into Didcot Parkway station.  Does anyone know why?

A report on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) South Today suggested that some supporters may decide to drive to Didcot Parkway to catch a train. Good luck to them, as most of the normal service will have been diverted away from there.  To be fair, the BBC did report that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) would be laying on road transport between Swindon and Reading.

Whilst not disputing the vast difference between Charlbury-London and Swindon-London fares, it is sometimes not appreciated that Swindon passengers can obtain a 34% discount using, for example, Senior Railcards, at any time of the day.  On the Cotswold Line, they are not available until the current 0831 departure from Charlbury, simply because a journey between Charlbury and London is wholly within the Network Railcard area and Swindon to London is not.

That train was cancelled due to the termination of the 0545 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-WOF at Oxford.  The reason given on Realtimetrains was intriguing:

"This service was cancelled between Oxford and Worcester Foregate Street due to a planning error (TA)".

What could that mean?

Assuming that the 0921 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-WOF was a Class 180 today, this one encountered serious trouble at Twyford.  See

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C20907/2014/12/17/advanced

Credit to FGW^▸ (First Great Western), however, who managed to rustle up a Turbo which ran ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) from Oxford to Worcester to form the 1206 return journey.

Spare a thought for the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, which reports the following on its Bridges to Broadway site.  Restoration of the bridge was only completed a few weeks ago.

"We are heartbroken to have to report that Broadway bridge was hit by a skip lorry at 12.50 on November 26th, while the Broadway gang was at work there. The skip scraped along the underside and damaged the paintwork and bolt ends. The lorry made off in reverse without leaving any details, however, we know the owner and registration number. The police have been informed.

To cap it all, Broadway bridge was hit a second time yesterday evening at 22.30hrs, in a similar way. Again the paintwork underneath was damaged, and one bolt was ripped out. The lorry involved was an articulated curtain sider, and after stopping briefly, again made off without leaving details. It must have suffered some damage, as several pieces of steel were left by the roadside. If anyone can give us more information on this second collision, we would be grateful to hear."

In the Cotswold and Malvern Line league table, Hanborough has now moved ahead of Ledbury as well.