Great Western Railway Restores Direct Bristol to Oxford Services
Hopes for a new railway station for Corsham have suffered a setback due to the government’s cancellation of the Restoring Your Railways Fund as part of its Spending Review. However, Great Western Railway is currently running a new direct service between Bristol Temple Meads and Oxford for a trial period until December, and if the trial is successful, and becomes permanent, it could lend more weight to the case for a new station at Corsham. There is still an opportunity for the Transport Secretary to review individual schemes as part of the Spending Review, so we await the outcome of this for the Strategic Outline Business Case for a new station at Corsham. In the meantime, Wiltshire Council has reaffirmed its commitment to the rail projects in the county and Sarah Gibson MP has agreed to be the sponsoring MP for the Corsham Bid.
Great Western Railway is running a restored direct service between Bristol Temple Meads and Oxford, the first in more than 20 years.
In response to growth in demand for leisure travel by train, GWR will operate two return Saturday services between the cities from Saturday 14 September.
A direct service last ran in 2003.
Customers will be able to take in the iconic sights of these two popular destinations, with quickest direct journey times between the two cities starting from one hour 11 minutes.
GWR has requested to run the following services from September 14, including stops at Bath Spa, Chippenham and Swindon:
1018 Bristol Temple Meads-Oxford
- Calling at Bath Spa (1031); Chippenham (1044); Swindon 1058) and Oxford (1129)
1203 Oxford-Bristol Temple Meads
- Calling at Swindon (1234); Chippenham (1245); Bath Spa (1300) and Bristol Temple Meads (1312)
1518 Bristol Temple Meads-Oxford
- Calling at Bath Spa (1531); Chippenham (1545); Swindon (1600) and Oxford (1631)
1712 Oxford-Bristol Temple Meads
- Calling at Swindon (1746); Chippenham (1758); Bath Spa (1811) and Bristol Temple Meads (1823)
The new services are part of a trial to assess demand and will run until December, running throughout the period of the Bath and Oxford Christmas markets.
Further information is available at –
https://news.gwr.com/news/great-western-railway-restores-direct-bristol-to-oxford-services
