Should a future direct service stop at Didcot, or not?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Before you read the detail .... the current system with irregular trains stopping at Didcot and connections from Swindon (and beyond) to Oxford (and beyond) being hit and miss, causing delays of up to an hour for travellers on what are otherwise half hourly services where some miss the Didcot stop, looks like it could have been designed to discourage traffic from the West. I say "looks like" because I suspect other motives for the odd service pattern.

But the question has been asked "for a future direct service such as the one that was lost a couple of years ago, should a Didcot stop be included?"

First comment.  When I travelled up to Oxford last week from Melksham, nearly everyone who got off at Didcot from the London train walked across the platform to join a near-empty service coming up from Reading.  So the main flow into Oxford on that train was passengers from the west


The train to Oxford arrives at Didcot

Second comment. It would add (I estimate) 10 to 12 minutes into the schedule of the West to Oxford (later to become Bristol / Portsmouth to Cambidge  ) train to stop at Didcot.  For that extra time taken, extra opportunities provided would include a more reasonable service from the West to Didcot itself, and further connections to / from Oxford and the West from Thames Valles stations between Didcot, Reading and London.

Third comment. 10 to 12 minutes is very similar in time to the time taken to change (in a very good case) at the moment, and it's 5 times better than the worst-case scenario of the oft-missed conenctions


Passengers await the train to Oxford arrives at Didcot

Fourth comment.  A through train (provided that a TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) doesn't keep cancelling it - I noticed 16% of services cancelled Swindon to Westbury in the last week - another FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Cinderalla route) doesn't suffer the "double jeopardy" of a connection where cancellations / delays on either service delay both parts of the joureny

[simonw]

Any route from Cambridge to Portsmouth/Bristol will have to stop at a number of key stations, and Didcott is a major station on this route by virture of two major lines joining at this point.

In short, YES.

[Jim]

Didcot however will add a ridiculous amount of time, for destinations that allready have services to/from Didcot, so I am against calling it here

[Lee]

See below for my view on this :

Is it possible for a train to route directly to Oxford via Didcot, from the West, without reversing at Didcot

If you are talking about missing out Didcot completely , then yes , there is a curve that would allow that. However , see quote below.

At "our end" we had endless debates (as did Jacobs) about whether a potential Bristol / Trans Wilts - Oxford & beyond service should call at Didcot. I have always believed that it should , mainly due to the connection opportunities that this would provide.

The key to making this viable is opening the line from Cambridge, via Milton Keynes, to Oxford. Then a train from Cambridge to Bristol could certainly be viable. Travelling on to Cambridge/MK^▸ (Milton Keynes) opens up a lot more of the rail network and makes many more journeys viable.

I totally agree , and this is what our proposals envisage taking place , certainly as far as Bletchley / Milton Keynes , and hopefully beyond. It has been noticeable that the chances of this happening , as well as the level of political support , have risen recently. See link below.
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2007/03/rail_link_is_a_goer.html#more

[Lee]

The Jacobs Consultancy Strategic Rail Authority Greater Western Franchise Replacement Outline Business Case Report (link below) recommended the introduction of a Bristol - Oxford service that called at Didcot , saying that there was a "significantly positive economic case" (Pages 38 - 41)
http://www.dft.gov.uk/foi/responses/2006/september06/swindonwestburytrainsservice/greaterwesternoutlinebusines1103

This was dependent on no additional rolling stock resources being required. Two points of note :

1) The business case would be even stronger if trains ran through to Cambridge / Milton Keynes.

2) If the East West Rail link proposal were to be approved , the package would include new rolling stock.

[Steve44]

How come they stopped the Bicester Town - Bristol Temple Meads Service?
I used it quite regularly from Oxford to Swindon and Bristol and it was never empty.

[Tim]

How come they stopped the Bicester Town - Bristol Temple Meads Service?
I used it quite regularly from Oxford to Swindon and Bristol and it was never empty.

It was removed at the insistance of the then-SRA^» (Strategic Rail Authority - about).  The stated reason was that it was to increase the reliability of the remaining services.  It was fairly lightly used, but that might have been because it was frequently cancelled and was not therefore a service that could be relived on.

As an occasional peaktime traveller between Bath and London, I would perversely like all the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) to stop at Didcot, because it would allow me to save over 50 quid in fares by rebooking at Didcot. 

[Lee]

How come they stopped the Bicester Town - Bristol Temple Meads Service?
I used it quite regularly from Oxford to Swindon and Bristol and it was never empty.

It was removed at the insistance of the then-SRA^» (Strategic Rail Authority - about).  The stated reason was that it was to increase the reliability of the remaining services.  It was fairly lightly used, but that might have been because it was frequently cancelled and was not therefore a service that could be relived on.

The SRA's Bristol-Oxford decision also severely damaged the-then reasonable hopes of opening a station at Corsham, by removing the services that would have called there.

By the way, welcome to the forum Steve44.

[dog box]

how about increasing the stops at Didcot and missing out Chippenham

[eightf48544]

Interesting comments about a West to Oxford /Cambridge service calling at Didcot. any such service would have to reverse in the platform.

From other comments in this forum when I suggested a Bristol Swindon stopping service reversing at Trowbridge it was suggested "THEY" didn't like reversing trains in through platforms.

[Lee]

A good overview of Didcot (which has 5 platforms in use) can be found in the link below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didcot_Parkway_railway_station

[unfarepayingpassenger]

I used the Bristol-Oxford service before it was removed. It saved changing trains at Didcot and Oxford to go to Crewe. This service was often cancelled though for any reason, snow in Inverness would cancel this train.

I'm all for more stops at Didcot because I've got split season tickets.

[grahame]

I used the Bristol-Oxford service before it was removed. ...

It was an extremely useful service ... said to have been canned because of a "lack of capacity between Bath and Bristol". 

This is an old thread, but I'm glad you've brought it back to life.   Because the GWRUS^▸ (Great Western Route Utilisation Strategy), consultation ended at the end of last November, included a proposal for an extra train within the hour from Bristol to Bath, for which it thought the capacity was in place.  Odd one, that ... it kind of confirms my cynical view that once Thames Trains and Great Western came under the same company, the Bristol to Oxford was taken off to save operating costs, since the Bristol to London service is busiest inwards from Reading.

[devon_metro]

Whilst there are 3 car Turbos leaving Paddington at peak hours I can see no justifcation whatsoever for the Bristol - Oxford service to return. Turbos are of much lower quality than HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train), for such a long distance journey!

[Btline]

Any cross-country service that runs needs to be fast to justify its existence (so people travel on it instead of going via London).

Therefore, I'm going to stretch my neck out and say that it should not call at Didcot. People can connect at Swindon or Oxford.

Regarding stock, hopefully if Xrail happens, they'll be a few 165s spare from 2017. Only 7 years.