Still worth requesting a later evening train from London?

Tue 17 Sep 2013, 19:31

Taxi from Oxford rail station is usually 35-40 pounds, the taxi driver usually wants to fix a price. The few times I have used the meter it has been 37pounds. I would love a later train, I use a taxi 506 ties a year and there is usually a stream of taxis towards Charlbury and Stonesfield, have shared a taxi a few times as well. I usually finish in London around 2230-2240 so get to Paddington around 2300, so the trains mentioned above are not late enough for me.

Tue 17 Sep 2013, 17:52

I would love a later train! At the moment, I often drive to Banbury if I need to come back late (last train 0.05, arrives 01.25), but I do try to avoid this as parking at Banbury can take ages (& I don't much like some of the parking areas late at night).

I would expect that when the new station eventually opens at Water Eaton, the Cotswold Line will lose passengers unless the need for a late train is addressed.

The 22.18 train/bus connection via Oxford strikes me as too unreliable to be much of a stop-gap as trains are so often delayed, and then the bus connection would be missed.

How much does a taxi from Oxford cost? I would be interested in comparing this with the Banbury costs -- train often cheaper, but petrol & parking costs to add in.

Tue 17 Sep 2013, 09:05 (last edited on Tue 17 Sep 2013, 09:08)

Or when the line is doubled - at the last district council meeting the Lib Dems put forward a motion requesting that the council presses the Government to speed up the doubling of this line, by including a budget for this in its recently announced capital investment plan. The full council approved this motion (unusually for one put up by an opposition party!) so it is now bound to take that forward. We can but hope, but at least the council is now formally committed.

Mon 16 Sep 2013, 11:45 (last edited on Mon 16 Sep 2013, 11:47)

The last Stagecoach bus of the day (2345 from Gloucester Green - Mondays to Saturdays) already comes via Charlbury (Wychwood Close, 0027). If this started from Oxford Rail Station, it would make a better connection with the, weekdays, 2218 from London Paddington, which arrives at Oxford at 2332. On Saturdays, the train leaves Paddington at 2215 and arrives at Oxford at 2320. The next trains from Paddington do not arrive at Oxford until after midnight.
Officially, the rail line between Wolvercot Junction (Oxford) and Norton Junction (Worcester) shuts down at about 2355 each evening. This is to avoid Network Rail having to keep the signal boxes at Ascott-u-Wychwood, Moreton-in-Marsh and Evesham open 24 hours a day. The cost of an extra shift for signalling staff is probably the main obstacle to providing a train later than that provided by the current service. The possibility for change may come at some time in the future when the Cotswold Line is transferred to the new signalling centre at Didcot and the Great Western franchise comes up for renewal in 2016.

Mon 16 Sep 2013, 10:56

Richard, that's an excellent idea regarding the S3. At least then commuters can get back to Charlbury/ Chipping Norton without having to fork out a ridiculous amount of money for a taxi.

Do let us know what Stagecoach say.

Mon 16 Sep 2013, 10:54

It's a shame as most concerts, plays etc don't finish until 10.30/11pm in London, and you either have to make arrangements to stay over and come back the following day, or go as far as Oxford and then taxi it home, which is expensive.

I think there would be a demand for the service but as FGW said it is out of their control and down to Network Rail taking control of the line.

Mon 16 Sep 2013, 09:27

Excellent - thanks for that update, Richard.

Sun 15 Sep 2013, 18:20

I approached FGW a few months back about this via Oxfordshire County Council's Rail Development Officer. Their response was, again, that they don't believe there would be anywhere near the demand required to run such a service. Personally I think there would be, but in rail politics terms, it's probably the wrong time to ask - FGW are renegotiating their contract with Government at the moment and are very unlikely to commit to anything over and above the basics.

Please do tell FGW that you'd like such a service, and it would be good to collect support here, too, so that we have a record of the demand. I think the 07.12 train has set a precedent that service extensions to Charlbury alone can be commercially viable. But I suspect it's something that's more likely to come to fruition in five years' time than now.

In the meantime, I've made the suggestion to Stagecoach (as the Public Transport Representative for the Town Council) that their last S3 bus of the evening should run very slightly later, start from Oxford station (rather than Gloucester Green), and run via Charlbury on the way to Chipping Norton. This would mean the a 10.45-ish train departure from London to Oxford would connect into the bus. It's not as good as a direct train, of course, but better than nothing.

Sun 15 Sep 2013, 18:06

Hello.

I realise this may be a subject that has been explored in detail before; apologies if I'm restarting/restating a well-worn subject but before I give up hope of First Great Western ever being persuaded to give the Cotswolds Line a later train out of London than 21.48, I wanted…

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