Chiltern Evergreen 3 project - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

A very successful first day with, so far, no delays of more than a few minutes to any of the trains with some arriving at their destinations early.  I believe the advertised connection from Islip into the 07:24 from Oxford Parkway to Marylebone was not made (it arrived at 07:23 according to RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website), and the 07:24 wasn't held a minute or so for it), so that was one minor cock-up, but otherwise pretty impressive:

New reports/press releases include:

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/news/2015/oct/Oxford-to-London-line-opens/
http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/story/2015-10-26/new-rail-line-links-oxford-with-london/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/11953953/Chiltern-Railways-launches-rival-London-to-Oxford-service.html

[ChrisB]

And david Cameron opened it at 1300, catching the 1317 to London afterwards.

Thanks to Chiltern for drinks & Dinner tonight. Very enjoyable.

[Btline]

I wish Chiltern would stop with the "first new rail line from a city to London in 100 years" spin.
We're talking about 100 yds of railway, not 100 miles!

From the TV reports, it looks as if hundreds of frustrated commuters have already switched to Chiltern - and after today, do not intend to return.

I intend to trial the service soon, and will definitely use the railway for my frequent trips to Water Eaton car park.

[John R]

From the TV reports, it looks as if hundreds of frustrated commuters have already switched to Chiltern - and after today, do not intend to return.

If you happen to live in the immediate locality then the service may well be more convenient for London commuters than driving into Oxford, so maybe some of the commuters weren't frustrated, but have just made a sensible choice.   

Though I am very sceptical as to how many will use it instead of, say, Hanborough or stations further along the Cotswold Line, given the notorious Oxford rush hour traffic.

[ellendune]

From the TV reports, it looks as if hundreds of frustrated commuters have already switched to Chiltern - and after today, do not intend to return.

If you happen to live in the immediate locality then the service may well be more convenient for London commuters than driving into Oxford, so maybe some of the commuters weren't frustrated, but have just made a sensible choice.   

Though I am very sceptical as to how many will use it instead of, say, Hanborough or stations further along the Cotswold Line, given the notorious Oxford rush hour traffic.

The other point to consider is where your ultimate destination is in London.  Although Paddington and Marylebone are not far apart it can still take a while in the peak. 

[ChrisB]

I wish Chiltern would stop with the "first new rail line from a city to London in 100 years" spin.
We're talking about 100 yds of railway, not 100 miles!

From the TV reports, it looks as if hundreds of frustrated commuters have already switched to Chiltern - and after today, do not intend to return.

How on earth did you deduce that from the TV reports. Were pax interviewed and said so? Not that I saw. So you inject your hope into fact?....stop exaggerating, or we'll all start laughing at you.

I intend to trial the service soon, and will definitely use the railway for my frequent trips to Water Eaton car park.

tongue-in-check, one assumes?!

[TonyK]

I wish Chiltern would stop with the "first new rail line from a city to London in 100 years" spin.
We're talking about 100 yds of railway, not 100 miles!

From the TV reports, it looks as if hundreds of frustrated commuters have already switched to Chiltern - and after today, do not intend to return.

I intend to trial the service soon, and will definitely use the railway for my frequent trips to Water Eaton car park.

Better hurry with the trial - I can't see it lasting long with so few passengers.

[IndustryInsider]

I spent a very enjoyable day having a good old gander at the newly opened link.

Started off by getting the 500 P&R^▸ (Park and Ride) link from Oxford station to Oxford Parkway at around 9am this morning.  Ran to time and I was pretty much the only one on it.

Oxford Parkway still had plenty of orange jackets milling about, but the main area of the station seemed pretty much complete.  The station isn't going to win any awards, but is perfectly functional and built to a reasonably high standard.  Staff were on hand to answer questions, though one of the urinals in the gents was blocked off much to the annoyance of one bloke.  Station announcements were a little difficult to hear due to the noise - not of the trains, but of the adjacent A34!

I caught the train to Haddenham & Thame Parkway, first stop Bicester Town Village.  My GPS app confirmed the Class 172 reached the linespeed of 100mph comfortably before braking for Bicester Village.  We did the distance of just over 8 miles in 7m 25s at an average speed of 66mph.  A brief stop and it was on to Haddenham & Thame Parkway with squealing wheels as we took the newly constructed chord before joining the familiar Chiltern Line route at Bicester South Junction.

Returning back from Haddenham, I alighted at Bicester Village to be greeted by very similar scenes to Parkway with the orange army everywhere!  Most of the station looked complete and the new station building looked nice and modern with its dark blue bricks glinting in the autumn sunshine.  There's a total of three exits, one to the town, one to the shopping centre and a third leading from the up platform.  All were open, but with finishing touches being applied wherever you looked.

I left the station and walked up past the London Road level crossing where queues quickly formed whenever the barriers lowered.  They cleared again quickly after, but I'd like to see how the traffic flows during the rush hour.  I walked through to where the new chord is located and the two new footbridges near Gavray Junction, especially the second one located on the chord itself, provide fantastic views of the new line and are a photographers dream.

Returning to the station I headed off to Islip station.  The train covered the 6 miles to Islip in 6m 20s at an average speed of 56mph.  That could've been a little quicker as the driver approached Islip quite cautiously - either fearing leaf contamination, still fine tuning his braking point, or a bit of both!  Still 4 minutes quicker than it used to be when the linespeed was 40mph!

Islip is really where it hits home just how much civil engineering has taken place.  A leafy 2-car single platform replaced with two 8-car length platforms linked by a footbridge.  Much fine tuning still to be done with fencing and lighting still to be completed in some areas.  A walk through the village meant I crossed the line three times with the area around Mill Lane virtually unrecognisable from what used to be there.

Finally, it was back to Oxford Parkway and another trip on the 500 bus which was waiting.  About 20 other people shared the bus back with me which was on time.  In fact everything I used all day was on time to the minute, and had ample seating available - except my local bus home which was full and standing and 20 minutes late!

So, overall, I was very impressed.  It was hard to remember how some of the old locations used to look given the complete transformation of the route, and it was almost surreal to sit on Islip station watching trains roar past at 100mph.  I saw several other people with GPS systems and camcorders, no doubt out on a similar fact finding mission.  The ride quality was very impressive as you'd expect from brand new infrastructure and it was interesting to see trains running in the 'wrong' direction on the bi-di signalled route on several occasions working various ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) moves whilst they complete the driver training program.  Currently, anything heading out of the relocated Banbury Road stone sidings has to travel on the wrong road as far as Bicester Village as well.

I have no doubt this will quickly become a very useful transport link, especially when the line to Oxford proper opens (hopefully) next year.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Many thanks for your articulate, detailed and fact-filled travelogue, IndustryInsider. 

[ellendune]

Did you see 100's of commuters who had switched from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)?

[John R]

Did you see 100's of commuters who had switched from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)?

Not just any commuters, but frustrated commuters 

[Chris from Nailsea]

And, not just during the winter, they are also apparently 'fleeced commuters'. 

[IndustryInsider]

A few delays leading to short turnbacks at Bicester Village currently.  I can see those frustrated commuters rushing back to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) at this rate... 

[ChrisB]

Owing to a broken down train at West Ruislip.

I understand the need to recover the timetable on occasions like this, but Chiltern's horrible habit of turning round short the actual trains that suffer the initial (usually longest!) delays is a real no-no for me. How do they think pax on these trains feel to suffer the initial delay & them find themselves turfed off short of their destination to await the following train - usually at least another 30 minute delay (as is this case?).

No, the need us to get those initially delayed pax to their destinations as quickly as possible & turn around following trains (or even canx one altogether) subsequently. May delay more pax but with valid undersrable reasons, you might retain your customers. To chuck geavily delayed pax of short is simply insulting

[ChrisB]

Here's a tweet & pic....

Dean (@deanvictorr)

29/10/2015 10:22

@chilternrailway yeah, we've been stranded in West Ruislip and no one knows what's happening

The 0940 MYB^▸ (London (Marylebone))-Birmingham....