Cotswold Line redoubling: 2008 - 2011

[whole diary]

[johoare]

Welcome to the forum bleeder4.. Hopefully someone here will be able to answer your question 

[Btline]

I would say drive to Warwick Parkway, and take the regular, RELIABLE, Chiltern Railways service.

This could be rather far for a taxi, but so is Cheltenham.

[Steve Bray]

Stratford is closer (16 miles); Cheltenham, 19.7 miles and Warwick Parkway 24 miles. Frequency of service from Warwick Parkway, and Marylebone being closer to St Pancras, makes Warwick Parkway the best bet.

[Btline]

I forgot about Stratford, but the service is once per two hours.

I would definitely pay the extra taxi fare to use Chiltern instead of FGW^▸ (First Great Western) though, even if it is 4 miles further to W P'way.

[willc]

I'm not entirely sure, but have a feeling that there could well be some FGW^▸ (First Great Western) replacement buses running direct between Evesham and Cheltenham Spa station during the closure, so I would keep an eye out for the details of what will be happening over the summer, which are due to be issued shortly. If that's the case, then you would only need to pay for a rail ticket from Evesham, rather than forking out for a cab, plus a train fare.

[James_H]

For anyone who's not aware, it's now possible to check the times of the replacement buses (at least for the early phase of this summer's closures) by checking on nationalrail.co.uk...

[willc]

Preparations continuing, with lots of new rails dropped over the weekend west of Moreton-in-Marsh station - can be seen under the bridge carrying the Fosse Way over the line.

Also had been wondering who the old goods shed had been refurbished for and have realised Network Rail have done it themselves as a new home for the Moreton permanent way gang, though I assume it will also be serving as site offices for the next couple of years. The modern 'Moreton-in-Marsh depot' sign which used to be fixed to the rather tatty old wooden hut across the tracks is propped up next to the steps into the goods shed.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Evesham Journal:

With work on the Cotswold Line looming, rail users can get an update on how plans are progressing on Saturday.

The project will see the majority of track between Worcester and Oxford redoubled and the Cotswold Line Promotion Group is holding its annual meeting to pass on the latest news. The meeting is being held at the WI Hall, Moreton, on Saturday at 10.30am.

Guest speaker will be Mike Gallop, route director for Network Rail, which is spearheading the project.

Rail users will also have a chance to quiz representatives of First Great Western and London Midland on their roles in the project.

[Don]

From Evesham there will a rail replacement bus to Worcester and/or Cheltenham to connect with Paddington trains running from Worcester via Cheltenham.

The other option might be to stop overnight in a hotel, some Travel Lodge type hotels can be cheap (^20-40) if you book this far ahead.

[bleeder4]

The buses only run during the week though and I was going on the Saturday morning. I opted for Cheltenham in the end though as I'd rather go on an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) than a Turbo and Chiltern use Turbos. Interestingly, I've just noticed on the nationalrail website that the 0927 from Evesham to Paddington on 18th July is running as normal on the Saturday morning and every train after that and before that is a replacement bus, but I'm not sure how reliable that is.

[willc]

Conductor on my train back from Oxford this afternoon made an announcement about the redoubling work coming up as we set off from Oxford and advised people to get the timetables from stations or go online, so top marks for that - though since it was a (booked) Turbo service, I expect it won't matter as none of the passengers will be coming back after being traumatised a la btline by the experience.

Not sure whether it is an initiative by the Worcester staff, as I haven't heard a dicky-bird on services in the past couple of days operated by Bristol or London crews.

[devon_metro]

I expect it won't matter as none of the passengers will be coming back after being traumatised a la btline by the experience.

Priceless 

[willc]

Some more meet the manager events now scheduled along the line ahead of the redoubling closure, as follows:

24th June, 2009   16.00 to 19.00   Oxford
6th July 2009   18.30 to 20.00   Evesham
7th July 2009   07.00 to 08.30   Kingham
7th July 2009   19.00 to 20.30   Moreton-in-Marsh
8th July 2009   07.00 to 08.30   Charlbury
8th July 2009   18.30 to 20.00   Worcester Shrub Hill

[IanL]

Did anyone else sign up for the email information on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website. After registering I go the confirmation email immediately, but since then not a thing, not a single email. Has anyone else received any updates at all from this system?

cheers

IanL

[bleeder4]

I signed up a few months back and got an update about 3 weeks ago saying they were still working on the replacement timetable and hoped to publish it start of July - despite the fact it had been available on their own website and the nationalrail.co.uk website for at least 2 weeks.