Changes ahead for train users in Oxford and Didcot (Witney Gazette 14 May 2014)

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

From the Witney Gazette:

First Great Western will be operating a new weekday 7.34am high-speed train service from Didcot Parkway to London Paddington from Monday.

On the Cotswold Line, a new weekday train will run from Oxford to Worcester, leaving Oxford at 5.14am.

The 6.49pm weekday train from Worcester to London will be speeded up to run 20 minutes earlier east of Moreton-in-Marsh, where it will depart at 7.26pm, calling at Kingham at 7.34pm, Charlbury at 7.43pm and Hanborough at 7.50pm, reaching London at 8.59pm.

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) will also be adding extra coaches to stopping trains between Oxford, Didcot, Reading and London on Sundays.

[DidcotPunter]

From the Witney Gazette:

First Great Western will be operating a new weekday 7.34am high-speed train service from Didcot Parkway to London Paddington from Monday.

Substitutes for the 7.29 from Temple Meads which will no longer stop at Didcot. Good news that it will start from Didcot, so plenty of opportunity to get a seat. Bad news is that it'll be a class 180 so don't be surprised if it's cancelled or breaks down!

Any insiders care to comment on class 180 reliability these days?  I don't often travel on them apart from the few times when I get the 9.15 from Didcot which is scheduled for one.

[ChrisB]

not bad these days!

Misssed a trick on the 0514 to Worcester - its *fast* to Moreton in Marsh.....!

[lordgoata]

Any insiders care to comment on class 180 reliability these days?  I don't often travel on them apart from the few times when I get the 9.15 from Didcot which is scheduled for one.

Although I rarely catch them, the service that departs Goring just before my train has been a 180 for as long as I can recall now, I don't remember seeing it replaced with a Turbo for months and months, so the reliability does seemed to have improved significantly. It's been cancelled a hand full of times in the past 12 months, but whether that is down to the train or issues elsewhere I am not sure.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

A minor achievement for CLPG^» (Cotswold Line Promotion Group - about) in its aim to speed up CL services. However it seems that it is difficult to get CL speed ups because it creates problems on the lines east of Oxford. A few trains are deliberately held at stations like Moreton and Charlbury because if they were speeded up, there wouldn't be a space for them when they reached Oxford. Lets hope that when the Hitachi SETs^▸ (Super Express Train (now IET)) come in and the timetable has a major rewrite across the network a good few of the present problems can be resolved.

[IndustryInsider]

Lets hope that when the Hitachi SETs^▸ (Super Express Train (now IET)) come in and the timetable has a major rewrite across the network a good few of the present problems can be resolved.

Indeed so.  These couple of minor tweaks are welcome though.  I doubt they'll be standing room only on the 05:14 OXF^» (Oxford - next trains)-WOF, but it's a train that has run ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) for many years to Moreton-In-marsh, so why not run it is service just in case anyone needs to head out to the east really early in the morning - in fact, as the ECS comes from Reading, why not start it there and provide an early passenger service from Reading and Didcot to Oxford?  It would also have been useful in providing an early service from Oxford to Birmingham, but that base has been mostly covered by converting another ECS train from Oxford to Banbury a couple of timetable changes ago.

[ChrisB]

Does the ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) come from the depot though using the western access? i.e. not via Reading station? That could add to a tight driver's roster?

The ECS you refer to providing an early train to Banbury also came about from a User Group request....

[BerkshireBugsy]

From the Witney Gazette:

First Great Western will be operating a new weekday 7.34am high-speed train service from Didcot Parkway to London Paddington from Monday.

Substitutes for the 7.29 from Temple Meads which will no longer stop at Didcot. Good news that it will start from Didcot, so plenty of opportunity to get a seat. Bad news is that it'll be a class 180 so don't be surprised if it's cancelled or breaks down!

Any insiders care to comment on class 180 reliability these days?  I don't often travel on them apart from the few times when I get the 9.15 from Didcot which is scheduled for one.

I have spent a month or so using the 180 services from Reading to Oxford and there hasn't been a single occasion (or my journey) where it was replaced by a different type

[IndustryInsider]

Does the ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) come from the depot though using the western access? i.e. not via Reading station? That could add to a tight driver's roster?

The ECS you refer to providing an early train to Banbury also came about from a User Group request....

It has to come via Reading station as there is no western access currently.    That may change in the future though when the western depot connection is installed, but the timings are very slack - it's booked 40 minutes from Reading station to Oxford with a (staff only) call at Didcot for 7 minutes, so I don't think that would get in the way of it starting at Reading.  Of course, there's no guarantee that it will continue to come ECS/Staff from Reading, but it would be useful as a passenger service, and arguably more useful than extending the Moreton start back to Oxford.

The early Banbury service allows passengers to arrive at Birmingham (Moor Street) 50 minutes earlier than the first direct train to New Street, which partly makes up for the loss of the very early morning Liverpool train which called at Oxford around 5:20am back in the pre-Operation Princess days.

[charles_uk]

I have spent a month or so using the 180 services from Reading to Oxford and there hasn't been a single occasion (or my journey) where it was replaced by a different type

The infamous 1552 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains):WOS^» (Worcester Shrub Hill - next trains) has been seeing a number of replacements with a turbo over the last few weeks - most recently Monday and Friday last week.

[ChrisB]

One 180 was involved in a particularly nasty fatality which somewhat damaged the front end - according to FGW^▸ (First Great Western), it's out for at least another week. Not exactly caused by a failing 180 though

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

Matthew Golton advised the CLPG^» (Cotswold Line Promotion Group - about) AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) last Saturday, that as a result of the maintenance changes, 180s have the highest reliability ratings they have ever had and similar to that of Turbos.

[IndustryInsider]

Slight dip in the last few weeks, but they've been pretty reliable for months.  Helped enormously with a combination of hard work by the depot at OOC^▸ (Old Oak Common (depot)) and also the fact they often have the whole weekend to iron out any niggles that have developed throughout the week - the Turbo fleet doesn't have that luxury.

[Busboy W1]

X2 180s were used by Hull Trains over the weekend for FA Cup duties 180103 and 180106. 106 coming back into service after being involved in a fatality as mentioned before. 104 failed today at Reading whilst working 1W29 11:20 Ex Padd not sure on the reason as of yet tho.

[ChrisB]

Interestingly, the one involved in the West Ealing fatality is still out of service awaiting parts & isn't due back until the end of this week at the earliest, the Customer Panel has just been told....