I would totally agree that Adelantes running an accelerated timetable including all the current stops is an excellent solution off-peak. I would also agree that the Reading stops should remain for connections and that most Slough stops could be avoided.

Though I would like to see Worcester-London under 2 hours, a reliable 2hrs 10min and 2hrs 30 to Malvern is likely to be the best we can hope for and would be acceptable to most. Replace Turbos by Adelantes on most diagrams, and I would be happy.

I find the tone of the debate on here recently rather confrontational . Can I just summarise where I think we are?

Firstly, no-one from the western end of the line should be advocating reductions in the level of service at stations such as Kingham, Charlbury and Hanborough. It is obvious that there is huge demand from these stations and many are regular commuters paying huge sums of money fopr their season tickets which helps to keep services running. They actually deserve a better service, with more seats and more parking, in particular.

Equally, it is also true that there is significant supressed demand at the western end of the line, not just for services to London, by the way. That's not just my opinion as a local from that area, but it was also stated in the West Midlands RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy). The problem is inconvenient stations, expensive and limited parking, slow services and poor connections. Frequency of services used to be an issue but that has largely been addressed with the exception of services to Cheltenham and Gloucester.

In terms travel to London, yes, people are put off living in the area and commuting precisely because of this and faster services would generate more demand. Some people do drive to Warwick Parkway, especially from the Evesham area. The A46 now makes that possible and is much more reliable than it was now that the M40 junction has its bypass. Very few, except possibly from north of Worcester would travel to Birmingham International due to traffic and the level of fares. Quite a few from Malvern and Ledbury drive to Cheltenham or Gloucester. Almost everyone from Hereford uses the connecting service via Newport, which is generally quicker, and more frequent. No doubt some will use the direct services via Chiltern Trains from Kidderminster. Worcester may be a relatively small city but has circa 100,000 inhabitants now, and the Malvern area has something like 35,000. Add to that Pershore Evesham and Droitwich and you have a significant catchment.

What the western end of the line needs is a more varied stopping pattern, particularly at peak hours, to bring the journey times down to around 2 hours or less from Worcester to Paddington, for an example. To compensate, I recognise that additional services would have to run at the eastern end of the line. An example of this would be all stations to Moreton-in Marsh, then non-stop to Oxford, Reading then Paddington. Connect this into a Moreton-Paddington service serving places like Kingham, Charlbury and Hanborough.

Unfortunately the recently completed redoubling scheme will not allow this to happen, as we have been left with a short, but significant single line from Charlbury to Wolvercote Junction. I regret that this will limit us to the current pattern of service for the foreseeable future, with just minor improvements to times. But lets just agree that we would all like to see more trains, faster trains and better car parking and stp sniping at each othere legicitomate arguments!

As far as the comments about Water Eaton Parkway are concerned, I am less able to comment about the local issues. However I would observe that Chiltern have been very smart in understanding the needs of regular commuters in needing parkway facilities (Warwick Parkway, Aylesbury Vale Parkway and other stations developed along the route). They have also successfully used infrastruture development as a lever to achieve advantage in the franchise negotiations. So, good luck to them! I have no doubt that Water Eaton Parkway will be very successful and it may have a negative impact on the Cotswold line as there will be some commuters that will put up with some traffic delays if the fares are lower and parking plentiful. So, why don't FGW^▸ (First Great Western) play the same game? They will be bidding for a new franchise soon. What if they were to offer to develop their own parkway scheme, west of Oxford. Would there be a suitable site for this (someone with local knowledge please comment) perhaps between Wolvercote Jc and Hanborough with good access to the A44? Maybe combine that with full or partial doubling to Charlbury, and use this as the natural terminus for Paddington-Oxford fast trains.

The delays seem shorter this morning, must be a good sign. Have they perhaps got the automatic barriers working?

Can anyone confirm the method of pilotman working? I would assume that, on the single line, a pilotman woudl shuttle back and forth on alternate up and down trains. Presumably on the new dual track the pilotman would have to arrive at MIM box (or EVE) before another train is allowed on the same line?

I am new to this forum though I have been reading it for a while!

My name is John and I live in Malvern, but a native of Worcester. Looking for new opportunities I am about to complete an MSc course at Cranfield University.

I love trains of all types and generally don't need an excuse to go anywhere. I have not yet have had the need to commute, but my job took me to London quite often so I have been regular if infrequent user of the Costwold Line. I have an interest in industrial archaeology so have a keen interest in the history of the railways, their impact on the community, and the industries that depended on them.

I can just remember the line being singled in 1971, but I was very small and did not really appreciate the significance at the time, but its really satisfying to see the new track going in. I never thought it would happen, at one stage it seemed as if the line might close altogether!

I look forward to taking a more active part in discussions going forward!

John

Hi - this is my first post, and its a privilege! I have been following the thread and thank Will for his great photos!

I was at Honeybourne on Sunday evening and the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) chaps seemed confident all would be working on time. The signalling at Honeybourne had been worked on all day and we had seen coloured lights on them all. I can only assume something went seriously wrong overnight Sunday. By Monday morning the Down signal at Honeybourne was no longer lit and had gained a white cross!

Whilst it appears shambolic we must remember that ther was a lot of civil engineering to do and if there were any delays it would have severely constrained the time the signalling team had to get everything working. The fact that it is now taking several days to sort is probably a symptom of not being able to do very much whilst trains are operating.

The other reason why trains are being delayed is due to speed restrictions, many of which are due to new track. I think there would always have been some delays even if everything had gone to plan.

I look forward to everything working well, maybe the weekend, perhaps??