Great Malvern to Dorking on Sundays from the December 12 timetable

I have been travelling on and off for over 25 years from family weekends in Malvern to Dorking, usually travelling on a Sunday afternoon at about 5pm. From this December, if I choose to make this journey, I am faced with the LONGEST travelling time in all those years - 4hrs 15 minutes for a journey of 130 miles with 1 change .

There are 2 reasons for this - the Reading to Gatwick pattern is changing from xx03 to xx18 or 20, and with the majority of Cotswold Line trains arriving into Reading around xx25, then I am faced with a 50 minute or so 'connection'- not ideal given the current state of Reading station.

The other reason for this lengthy journey, is down to the ridiculous ever-increasing journey time of the 1635 from Hereford to Reading (and Paddington). From Hereford to Malvern Link, the journey time is average. From Malvern Link to Worcester Foregate St, an extra 3 minutes is allowed, I guess to cross the allow the 1442 from Paddington to cross at Henwick Jcn, and also offer a connection out of a Snow Hill train at Foregate St. 4 minutes from Foregate St to Shrub Hill is perhaps a little excessive but I don't have a problem with this or the journey to Pershore. However from Pershore to Evesham, Evesham to Honeybourne, Honeybourne to Moreton, Moreton to Kingham and Kingham to Charlbury, a minimum of an extra minute each section is allowed compared to weekday services, not to mention 4 minutes spent at Evesham station (a hangover from the Single line days). That makes a total of 12 additional minutes so far. 20 minutes is allowed for the non-stop run from Charlbury to Oxford. The other 2 non-stop services in the week take 13 and 15 minutes, so if we average those out, the 1635 wastes another 6 minutes (due to a Cross Country service departing Oxford at 1843). Having reached Didcot, the train is then subject to a 6 minute stay there - why? A power car change perhaps? Time for the engines to cool down? (I think it may be to allow a Cheltenham Spa train overtake it) This is then followed by an 18 minute dawdle to Reading when other services are doing this sector in 13 to 15 minutes.

So it is extremely frustrating that my overall journey from Malvern to Dorking will overall take 1 hour longer than it should do, due to the slow Cotswold Line train. There would appear to be no reason why the 1635 could be accelerated to leave Shrub Hill at 1725 (and selected stations) Evesham 1742, Moreton 1800, Charlbury 1820, Oxford 1835, Didcot around 1850 and make Reading around 1905, instead of the current timings. I appreciate that the timetabling is very complex, and that between Didcot and London some lines can be closed on Sundays, but the timings of this service gives me a perception that First is not interested in improving some journey times.