Charlbury station - facilities, services, improvements and incidents - merged posts

[whole diary]

[stuving]

Yep - and others too, before Dec18

The plan (as of December) said this about milestones: GRIP^▸ (Guide to Railway Investment Projects) 3 completed, GRIP 6 TBC. So don't bet any money on completion by that (or any?) date.

The full list of stretch platforms is:

     6 car (26m Vehicle)
Kingham up platform
     7 car (26m Vehicle)
Hanborough (Single)
Charlbury up and down platforms
Moreton In Marsh up and down platforms
Honeybourne up and down platforms
Evesham up and down platforms
Pershore (single)

[philipbourton]

Just need buffet facilities at Kingham again now as very frustrating if trains delayed and worse if station closed so no toilets.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Contract awarded for completion by December: https://www.railbusinessdaily.com/dyer-butler-awarded-cotswolds-platform-extension-programme-by-network-rail/

[CMRail]

Contract awarded for completion by December: https://www.railbusinessdaily.com/dyer-butler-awarded-cotswolds-platform-extension-programme-by-network-rail/

There is a planned North Cotswolds closure in November I believe for some of the works to take place.

[ChrisB]

yep, I think a full 9 days

[charles_uk]

Judging by comments on Twitter this morning it seems the closure and changes were not as well publicised as they could have been:

@GWRHelp In at HND Station right now. 1poster by ticket machine (I have a season ticket so won't see that) which says problems between MinM and Worcs. Nothing to alert me to problem at #HanboroughStation

@GWRHelp are you not running the 7.21 Hanborough to Paddington service?

This change isn’t specifically mentioned. Is it cancelled all this week?

Morning gang @GWRHelp What has happened to the 7:12 from Charlbury to Paddington this week? It's vanished from the timetable

.@GWRHelp #Hanborough passengers wondering this morning what happened to the 0721 Hanborough - Oxford service ...mysteriously didn't appear on departure boards?...

As far as I could tell, there is no published timetable for services this week. Customers were expected to use the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website to plan their journey and see if their service was still running.

[Richard Fairhurst]

The 07.12 from Charlbury seems to have gone entirely; there's some changes in the late afternoon; and the last down train of the evening appears to be bustituted. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s only concession to this is saying "trains continue to run, but at slightly different times to normal" on the engineering works page of their website. This is a bit "Beware of the Leopard", frankly.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Up platform extension now in use; down not yet.

[Richard Fairhurst]

...though the IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) platform length databases don’t appear to have been updated, so you can’t actually board/alight on the extended platforms yet - unless it’s an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) service with a switched-on conductor!

[IndustryInsider]

...though the IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) platform length databases don’t appear to have been updated, so you can’t actually board/alight on the extended platforms yet - unless it’s an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) service with a switched-on conductor!

I would imagine the SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) database will be updated in one big hit when all the platforms are ready and open, rather than on an incremental basis which is confusing to staff and increases the risk of errors.  Hopefully that won't take too long.

[ChrisB]

Yup - there is a cost in updating the SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening) database & uploading to the IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train).

[charles_uk]

Well, we're well into March and those platform extensions look lovely and pristine. However, as a nine coach IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) pulled into Hanborough this morning it reminded me why the opening of these extensions can't come too soon.

The 07:10 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington was started from Oxford this morning due to a problem under investigation. That meant those who had picked up on this went for the 05:28 Hereford to Paddington instead. As always at Hanborough, passengers were spread out over the whole platform. The train turns up with first class at the front, leaving just three standard class doors available and a rush of passengers down the platform to the first standard class coach. A minor irritation but it does delay the service by a couple more minutes whilst the queue to board slowly progresses.

[ChrisB]

In the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) days, people piled in via 1st class and walked through. Has that changed with the IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train)?

[charles_uk]

In the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) days, people piled in via 1st class and walked through. Has that changed with the IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train)?

At Hanborough the first class coaches on an HST were never platformed. Some do board via the first class coach on the IETs but most gravitate towards the standard class doors. Once the platform extensions are open it won't be an issue.

[IndustryInsider]

Not at Charlbury, but good to see the new modern looking waiting room open at Moreton-In-Marsh, though it does look a bit out of place with the character of the rest of the station!  A new waiting looks to be under construction at Kingham, and an additional shelter is being provided at Hanborough (about time too!), so more is going on than just platform extensions.