Some (perhaps belated?) publicity for the revised timetable, from the
Worcester News:
Check train times during summer of rail disruption
Worcestershire rail passengers travelling to Oxford, Reading and London Paddington are being urged to look at a temporary timetable with six weeks of engineering works looming.
From Monday, July 20, passengers using Worcester Shrub Hill, Pershore and Evesham stations will be affected by major works to the Cotswolds rail line. The works, scheduled to continue until Friday, August 28, are the first stage of a plan to dual-track the 21-mile stretch of single line between Evesham and Charlbury, in Oxfordshire, and install modern signals.
First Great Western, which operates passenger traffic on the route, and Network Rail, which is carrying out the ^72 million project, have carried out a public information campaign to warn passengers of changes to timetables and tell them about the alternative routes then can take.
Dan Panes, spokesman for Great Western, said: ^We^re trying to get to as many customers as we can before the work starts. We^ve got announcements on trains, we^re putting notices up at stations and we^re letting people know face-to-face. We^re asking people to plan their journeys ahead.^ He said some journeys would be longer than usual but this was unavoidable.
Great Western has produced a booklet, available from train stations, containing timetable changes and other travel information.
Tickets will be valid on alternative routes and certain routes will have easements, allowing passengers to get around diversions without paying more.
For all monthly and annual season ticket holders there is a pair of free tickets for use anywhere on the company^s train network.
The project is backed by Cotswold Line Promotions Group campaigners, who said the works, though disruptive, would improve rail travel. Group member Allen Deney said: ^It^s all for the greater good. In the past you^ve had people at Ledbury railway station, occasionally Evesham, being tipped off the train because the trains coming up from London always take priority [on a single track route].^
The scheme is due to finish in early 2011 and should cut delays on the line.
David Northey, of Network Rail, said: ^The performance for trains had been extremely poor on the Cotswolds route and affected massive parts of the rail network. A train from London to Worcester breaking down would affect trains in Birmingham New Street and Moor Street and then knock-on to those in Leamington Spa.^ He said the work would mean the number of trains running on time would fall in line with the Government-set target of 92.6 per cent.
For timetables call National Rail Enquiries on 08457 484950 or Great Western on 08457 000125. Alternatively visit firstgreatwestern.co.uk/ printtimetable.
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