First Great Western starts work next month on a major refurbishment of Oxford station (link below.)
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/NewsItem.aspx?id=537

 
FGW is holding a Meet the Managers session at Oxford station on Tuesday, January 22, from 4pm to 8pm. Might be an interesting four hours if the RMT strike goes ahead the two previous days. Won't be able to make it myself, as I'm not working that day.

 

More on this and other Meet the Managers sessions in the link below.
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=237

 
Report from the Oxford meeting (link below.)
http://oxfordmail.net/display.var.1989041.0.rail_passengers_not_impressed.php

 
Mulled wine and a slice of cake...very nice 

 
A bit out of season for mulled wine. lol 

 
Like FGW's trains it was running late 

 

 
Oxford could soon have its own low-cost, 24-hour rent-a-bike scheme in an effort to cut traffic congestion, as seen in several European cities (link below.)
http://www.oxfordmail.net/display.var.2067765.0.oxford_may_get_rentabike_scheme.php

Oxfordshire County Council has pledged ^100,000 to pay for a feasibility study.

The scheme could see a network of bike stations set up at key points in the city, including the train station, Westgate Centre, park-and-ride sites and city hospitals.

Although plans are currently at an early stage, council chiefs hope a credit card-payable rent-a-bike scheme would take a significant number of cars off the city's roads. They say they want to make any scheme cheap and convenient.

A rent-a-bike scheme started in Paris last July recorded more than seven million bike trips by the end of the year.

It is believed the county council wants to replicate the French capital's blueprint of providing robust bikes, which weigh about 20kg, to make them unattractive to thieves and sturdy enough to withstand damage from vandals.
 
The council's feasibility study starts in April and, if the scheme is viable, it could be introduced in the city before summer 2009.

 
Newly refurbished men's toilets at Oxford railway station have been vandalised link below.)
http://www.oxfordmail.net/news/headlines/display.var.2067609.0.rail_station_toilets_vandalised.php

Pc Bob Burrowes said: "They smashed up the taps and sink, kicked in the doors and the soap dispenser."

 
Update on the progress of Oxfordshire County Council's ^80m Access to Oxford scheme, which was given the green light by the Government last year, and includes plans to expand Oxford railway station, with a new bay platform built on part of the station car park on the southern side of Botley Road. Network Rail hopes to carry out this work in 2010-11 (link below.)
http://www.oxfordmail.net/display.var.2206361.0.park_to_ride_fees_will_go.php

 
West Oxford residents have criticised Network Rail after it emerged the company will wait until next year to replace a popular footbridge into Oxford (link below.)
http://www.oxfordmail.net/news/headlines/display.var.2213844.0.bridge_delays_annoy_residents.php

The rail firm closed a well-used 60-metre bridge in Osney Lane in August, telling residents that refurbishment work would be completed within a couple of months.

However, Network Rail has now posted a new sign at the closed-off site, saying the bridge, over the tracks south of Oxford station, will have to be replaced and will not be reopened until late February next year.

The news has upset dozens of residents.

Becky Bryan, 28, bar manager of the Kite pub, in Mill Street, said:


Kristian Alexander, community relations manager at Network Rail, said:

 
I've been wondering what the next step to the Oxford rail station re-furb was going to be... looks like M&S web guys are ahead of themselves.  Presuming that the store is going to slot in where the smoothie store and AMT used to be located.

http://www.marksandspencer.com/gp/store-locator/store-locator.html/202-0559640-0756638?ie=UTF8&viewID=details&postcode=&storeID=0120&prevView=listing&client=mands_01&f_id=709&lon=-1.255880&lat=51.752250&db=GB

 
Welcome to the forum, intrigued.

 
OH well, the much lauded new temporary information screens at Oxford have indeed become temporary. The old and unreliable system is still soldiering on but 2 of the 3 new LCD screens on the main concourse have been switched off for days and the solitary screen on platform 2 has had the same incomplete and out of date information showing for 2 days now.

Long live the old system, we are going to need it!

 
There were posters up at the station a few weeks ago (they may still be there, didn't check when I came though tonight) saying that a new CIS (I know it's childish but I always preferred the abbreviation PIS  ) was going to be installed shortly. I don't know what type of system is envisaged but it would be good if it was similar to the system that the "old" FGW fitted to the intercity stations at Reading, Swindon, Bristol TM etc which is both easy to read and seems to behave itself reasonably well mush of the time.

 
Anyone recall the old Italian made Telesign flap indicators?  They used to make such a comforting clatter as information was changed/updated.

 
The last time i was at Charing Cross they had those, this was 2 years ago, is that still the case??

 
I doubt it - Network Rail has been making a concerted effort to replace the old Solari boards with LED screens. They might not be so much fun but much more flexible and more reliable. I remember changing trains at New Street some years ago when the main Solari board (as it was then) had failed and the place was in choas.

 
Though part of the atmosphere of the concourse at Waterloo was watching and listening as the Solari boards updated, particularly when it meant every service moved one column to the left, so there was a wave of clicking as one by one the updating happened.   

 
I can just remember the old Solari boards at Paddington that went long before the ones at Waterloo.

 
In a "message from the chief operating officer" written for the CLPG's Cotswold & Malvern Line News before his departure, Andrew Haines says that Oxford and Slough will be the first installations of the new information screens, which will be driven by the system in use at Reading and Swindon. Installation should be early in the new year. And Hanborough has just been given a new super help-point which incorporates a screen, though I have yet to see it switched on.

 
Today, the screens at Oxford showed trains to/from Stratford Upon Avon!

Just a little confused about the new timetable I think...

 

Hanbourough was switched on, on Tuesday, had problems with the connection and had a booster fitted on Wednesday afternoon.  It should be working now. - Chatted to engineer who fixed it

 
Good to know.

Can anyone explain why Stratford was showing up on the Oxford CIS?

 
Two Photos....

 

Sometimes the late evening trains from the previous evening 'hang' on the system the following day. Was it an arrival from Stratford that was showing? That is due in just after midnight.

I've learnt to expect anything being displayed on those screens over the years though!

 
Yes it was on the arrival board.

That makes sense, as I believe a Chiltern service runs in late at night to Oxford.

Thanks!

 
The CIS/Help phone combo thing at Hanborough looks fairly impressive I have to say. An ideal way of providing information at smaller stations which have a train or two an hour.

I just hope it will be reliable and not damaged by vandals.

 

Another different version of the CIS/Help Point is shortly to appear at Radley as part of the FGW trials of this new internet based technology.

In total I think there will be 6 different types of equipment at 6 staitons across the franchise. The trial will last for 6 months and hopefully a decision will then be made about which type to install at the smaller stations.

 
Well, The Hanborough information point screen looks very much like the small information screens at Charlbury that come with a FGW official notice that they dont always show the correct information (and frequently lose trains).

But back to the original subject, the last two days the old Oxford concourse display has had its favourite error message "Thames trains apologise this display not in use", how that message is still in the software after 4? years of the FGW franchise I dont know. All the old platform screens switched off or covered in out of order notices. The new CIS flatscreens were working on the concouse, but these dont exist on P1 or P3 yet and the one on P2 was static showing a picture rather than cycling through messages and train information.

 
Our West units also have Wessex announcements stored on the internal 'Digital Doris'.  At seat trolley refreshment service on a 150! LMAO!!

 
Ah the days of a trolley service on the Bristol to Weymouth line. Operated by the people who run or ran the shop in Weymouth station ticket office I believe?

 

I didn't know it was that much of a 'corner shop' operation, but passengers still refer to it. 

OK, in fairness, it was a generic announcement and there are other electronic gems as well.  Like the full ticket check announcement, which some playful colleagues will activate at Lawrence Hill on BRI bound services when a 'new' guard is on the train.  I hear that the resulting look of absolute panic is much appreciate by old hands.  Ah! the cut and thrust of railway humour! 

 
Still not working this morning, however the message now reads "Great Western apologise this screen is not working". Perhaps someone at FGW reads this!

 

It's also been known to display that 'Connex apologises that this screen is not in use' - poor old Connex, I mean, they made a right balls-up of their franchise, but I don't think they can be to blame for delays at Oxford!

On a more positive note, installation of the new system has now started with support brackets being installed at the north end of platform 1.

 

Good to hear that. I was wondering when they new system would actually see the light of day: there have been posters up about its introduction for months!

 
Amey technicians crawling all over Oxford station the past few days and supports for the screens standing ready along platforms 1 and 3.

There is a display all about it set up next to the ticket windows. Was most impressed by the mock-up departure board it features - with trains to Moreton at nine and 52 minutes past the hour, every hour! Hope it's true. Don't know what happened to Worcester trains though...

 
And some of the displays on the platforms are in place now - look similar to those fitted at Reading, which the new system is based on.

 

Yes I spotted them earlier. Much better that monitor type VDU's as they can be viewed from much further away. There's two separate displays for platform three. Hopefully that will mean that 'front' and 'rear' trains can be displayed separately to avoid confusion.

Oh, and I was pleased to see the display for the north end of platform 2 uses a bracket that was originally installed in the early 90's when BR was going to replace the old system that had been installed in the early 80's. The project had been designed, the brackets put in place all over the station and then BR shelved the project because they had ran out of money! The old system was eventually replaced by Thames Trains in 1997 but the bracket wasn't required. Ever since then it has stood there looking lonely supporting nothing but a telephone.

 
Nice. It'll be a pleasant change to have a reliable CIS installed at last! Hopefully it will make life much easier for the station staff as well, and avoid them being beseiged by crowds of confused passengers asking where the next train's going.

I wonder whether we'll get Phil Sayer or Celia Drummond as the voice... (see thread on Digital Doris elsewhere!)

 
I would have thought a simple 'System not yet commissioned' sticker on each of the new screens would be sensible though. Any unknowing visitor to the station would just assume they'd broken down.

 
Whilst I agree that the new screens look promising I will hold my vote until I see if the information they give is useful and correct. With a broken down freight train last night the old screen and temporary screen info became rapidly incorrect, wasn't updated and then trains that were stuck in a queue outside Didcot vanished from the screens entirely. For once the Oxford staff managed to give good concise announcements often correctly saying the opposite of the screens information.

The new screens will only be as good as the information source.

 
Progress with Oxford CIS is continuing quickly. The main display in the concourse is now taking shape and yesterday evening the screens on platforms 1 and 3 were working - albeit with stickers on them saying the system is still under test. The LED displays are nearly identical to those on Reading and other FGW stations, but feature a larger digital clock display.

 
Oxford CIS screens now mostly live, both old and intermediate systems turned off. Seemed to be giving useful information, with next train displayed plus additional information on 2nd and 3rd trains at the platform.

Will wait and see what happens in a service disruption when services start getting delayed/reordered/cancelled.

 
Seemed to be more or less fully operative today - very impressive and comprehensive and a vast improvement on the previous system. Looks identical to the CIS at Slough. Will have to wait and see if it behaves itself during disruption: I suspect it may, like the old system, have trouble with originating trains that haven't emerged from the carriage sidings yet. Having said that, any information when things are going pear-shaped would be an improvement on the previous installation which seemed to fall over at the first sign of anything out of the ordinary.

I have only two petty criticisms: although the system uses the correct industry standard 0631 time format to refer to advertised and expected departure times of trains, the current time is missing the '0' and displayed as 6:31 (ultra-fussy I know, probably serves me right for being up that early on a Saturday). Secondly there is a very useful screen on the concourse that shows the next fast train to a wide range of destinations: this should be a great help in stopping the uninitiated hopping on a stopper to Paddington rather than waiting for a following fast train that will get them there much quicker. However, the wording at the top of the screen is "Next Fastest Train to...": my immediate reaction was "So what's the fastest then?". Maybe this screen title should be altered to "Next FAST Train to..." like it used to be.

 

I agree with you on this. In fact, I'd even leave out the word "Next". The explanation I received when I queried it was that people might confuse "Fast" with "First" and think it was referring to a TOC.

I wasn't sure what to make of that.

 
New platform screens also seemed to be working at Slough on Friday night.

 

I think the word 'Fastest' is used as sometimes late evening or early morning there is no 'fast' i.e. express service, so the fastest way of getting there is on a stopper, which is the fastest way of getting there, but isn't actually fast. Does that make sense? I think I've confused myself!

 
Yes, that makes sense, the quickest way of getting there might be on a class 2 rather than a class 1! It's the combined wording "next fastest" that got my inner pedant twitching because it makes it sound like there's another one faster. I would have no argument with "Fastest train to...".

 
Years ago, there was a simple indicator in the subway at Reading. Next fast train to Paddington Platform 5  8  9, with an individual  light bulb behind each number.  Simple, effective and cheap.  Worked by the station announcer I believe.   

 
Ah, yes, in those good old days, when a single light bulb was allowed: now, we have to have whole CIS screens installed - which still don't give that simple, but extremely useful, piece of information!

  

 
Today it would have to be an energy effiicient bulb. By the time it was light enough for people to notice it the train would have gone.   

 

Don't get me started on eco bulbs which take half an hour to light fully!

 
But whatever it says and how it says it, the system is only as good as the information it is fed, as others have said. And it wasn't being fed good info tonight.

The 17.21 from London to Hereford was running at least 10 late, so knock-on delays of a similar margin are bound to ensue for anything following or crossing it but the 18.54 to Worcester was shown on the screens as on time, as was the 19.01 to London, which passes the 17.21 near Shipton.

While the 18.54 indication changed to delayed around its booked departure time, the 19.01 was still showing as on time at 19.02 as the 18.54 finally left eight late. We passed the 19.01 just south of Wolvercote junction, so it would have been around 10 late at Oxford, which should have been obvious from the moment it left Ascott-under-Wychwood, so it really should have been updated well before it was due at Oxford.

And the scrolling displays on platform 2 were adamant that the 17.51's Adelante had coach A leading - I suppose there was a 50 per cent chance of being right - it wasn't.


Don't get me started on out-of-date myths perpetuated by the Daily Mail...

 

 

 

 

 
Well, the new departure boards are starting to go wrong already. Last night waiting at 1720 on P3 for the 1731 stopping train to Worcester. Departure board shows the 1731 as the 1st train to depart, with the second the 1754 to Bicester.

At 1725 the train from Bicester arrives (this forms the 1731) and the 1st train to depart changes to the 1754, the 1731 vanishes and is not seen on the departure screens again. Guard makes lots of announcements clarifying the actual destination and departure time and apologises for the incorrect information on the departure boards.

NB this was during normal operations, no obvious disruption to services and was with a train that originated at Oxford so no excuse for not knowing where the train was located.

 
What about having:

Next High Speed Service To:

Next Express Service To:

Next Direct Service To:

i'll probably think of some more variations later

 
Next Turbo service to

Next cancelled service to

Next service to Melksham (to save some electricity!)

 
Next HST Service To

that would work except if a cotswold service was turbotutioned

 

I think we should expect and accept the odd error here and there from a new system that has only been in operation a week. The previous system got off to a far worse start and never recovered (some would say got much worse) over the 12 years it was in use.

FGW should be praised for not scrimping on the number of displays either. Far more than previously provided and at more sensible locations. The large displays mean it is impossible to be stood anywhere on a platform and not be able to see what will be the next three trains at it will be.

I also hope the staff at Oxford don't continually interrupt the automated announcements now either. It sounds very unprofessional, and was being done even when the automated announcements were correct!

Slough's system is also now operational and with a similar mix of LED and LCD screens. Hopefully more will follow as soon as possible, with priority given to Ealing Broadway, Maidenhead, Twyford, Newbury and the Cotswold Line stations.

 

I wholeheartedly agree with all of that. Make no bones about it, the old system was dire, and had been for as long as I have been using the station (since 1999).

As far as I know all such CISs use information derived from the signalling system, so when thing start going awry they won't necessarily notice until the train passes its next "monitoring point": that's why if a train has conked out in section, for example, it'll just flash "delayed" (because, just like the traincrew in all probability, it doesn't know yet when the train is expected!)

I think with any system at Oxford the originating trains may continue to present a bit of a problem because they're not recognized until the set hits the relevant track circuits on its way out of the carriage sidings.

 
Agreed the implementation of the new system looks much better in terms of legibility and number of screens/displays.  But it was my understanding that this was implemented at Oxford by copying from Reading and other stations so why are errors creeping in already. As for not being able to cope with originating trains then that is rather surprising given the number of trains that start at Oxford.

Sorry but I go back to my earlier statement, this system however swish it looks on the platforms will only be as good as the input information, if it is still relying on trains passing signal points and has no knowledge of train locations/speeds when things start going wrong then it is not going to provide useful information to passengers.

 

It is based on the system at Reading. Errors creep in there on occasions too! The situation you first described is probably solvable with a tweak to the software set-up. Hopefully that will be done. Though Oxford's system will always struggle to be as accurate as Reading's due to the signalling nearby on the Cotswold Line and Bicester line. Until GPS is fitted to all trains and the CIS interfaces with it, then those routes will always be less accurate as they continue to rely on manual input from Signallers or sometimes unrealiable trackside based monitoring equipment. With Reading being surrounded by relatively modern track circuit signalling that helps the system keep on top of things.

Being able to cope with originating trains is a much more difficult nut to crack. As with the previous system, manually entered delayed departure times can be entered by the controlling staff if they know a train starting at Oxford is going to be delayed in the sidings by, for example, a driver being on his/her break. However, if that train is being delayed in the sidings because of a train fault then nobody (including the driver/maintenance staff frantically trying to fix it) will know how long that delay will be. Similarly if there is a signal or point failure leading from the sidings, again nobody is going to know exactly when it will be fixed.

 
This is a comment about PIS in general:

I wish the software would link terminating trains to new "starts here" trains. So often the PIS says "On time" to a new "starts here" service, but when you look at the arrivals board, it says that the incoming "terminating" train will be late! It can't be difficult to modify the software. Just give every train diagram a code, and feed it into the computer so it can make the links.

Or if this is beyond the software, why can't staff check the arrivals, and change the PIS themselves?

 

They are obviously too busy taking the PIS.

 


Oh.... 

But....

 

Yes I also would like to know the answer to this question.  I often board trains near to a terminus and am always having to check online the arrivals board of the terminus station to figure out what time my train might arrive (if at all).

 
But that theory would go to pot if a set is stepped up to work another train and would require behind the scenes staff that could be customer facing.

Departure boards run by signals and TRUST so diagrams are not important.

 
I suppose trying to predict knock-on delays such as this is rather fraught with problems.

 

Rarely happens in my area, but I take your point.

Basically - they need something so that I can look at the Dep screen only!

 
Let's face it, the improvements in passenger information over the last few years have been huge. I can imagine it would be a major job to try and allow for this, and as has been noted, would be prone to error. You'd be the first to complain if your service was predicted to be 20 down, but turned up on time because unbeknown to the system a unit had been stepped up or similar.

You do need to be careful. One morning a very late running HST missed Weston. But the predicted arrival time at Nailsea failed to take into account it using the avoiding line. So it suddenly made up 10 mins once it arrived at Worle. I was expecting that to happen, but many passengers would not have and may have then missed it (which would have been even more galling since it was 30 down).     

 
Late running LM trains into Worcester Foregate Street freqently make up lots of time at Shrub Hill where they reverse, it's caught me out before just like that!
It would be nice if the CIS as Worcester was also improved.

 

I think that is why NR live boards are so optimistic. It means there is no chance of you missing a late running train because it has made up even more time.


Yes, there are several software glitches! At least the staff have a button to shut Digital Doris up! (when she is speaking..... rubbish)

 
Late arrival of an inbound train does not always mean a late departure for the next working - it depends just how late the inbound is. The practice at Oxford is often to bring a late running terminator from London into platform 1 and turn it round in the platform to form the next up service, so cutting out the time taken going down to the sidings and back. No computer system could predict this - it needs human intervention to keep the CIS updated.

 
Welcome to the forum Oxman

 

I think it is often forgotten that computers can never replace people, they just make them more efficient.

 
Glad to see that the spirit of the old system still lives on somewhere in all the new kit.

Tonight as I was waiting for the train home, Annie - and she is frightfully posh in her new incarnation, think 1940s black and white film received pronunciation - burst into life as a train from Bicester approached platform 3, a dead-end bay for those not familiar with Oxford, announcing that passengers should stand well back from the edge of platform 3 as the approaching train would not be stopping! Happily, the driver seemed to know where to find the brake controller.

 
Still some problems on platform 3 - trains disappearing etc. Probably down to the interaction between signaller and CIS.

Most of the additional screens now running (eg. in the waiting room on platform 2)

Train proximity sensors (which turn up the volume of PA announcements when a train is at the platform) appears to be working.

Hearing induction loops still to be commissioned.

 

I am just waiting for the display screens on the concourse to display 'Thames trains apologise this screen is not working' in sympathy for the removal of the old one! :-)

 

This happens elsewhere with empty stock running into bay platforms, e.g. platform 2 at Swindon. I'm told it's because the announcing system uses train reporting numbers to track trains. Passenger trains will be either class 1 or class 2 (so would have a reporting number something like 1A23* or 2B34) but empty coaching stock is class 5 (so the headcode would be of the form 5C67). The automated announcer recognizes the reporting numbers of class 1 and 2 trains that are due to call at the station. Any other train (including passenger trains not booked to call, plus *all* freight and ECS workings) is announced as "please stand clear, the approaching train is not scheduled to stop at this station".

*For a fuller explanation of reporting numbers, see for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headcode. As an aside, if a conductor or train manager cancels you ticket using the "official" Zifa ticket stamper rather than a biro or old-fashined set of nippers, the last four characters of this are the reporting number of the train you were travelling on (or should be). THis enables any refund claims due to delays to be verified after the event. RPIs seem to cancel just using the last four characters set to 0X00 or 0X01 though.

 
But this was a passenger working - though sometimes it's hard to tell the difference from empty stock with the Bicester branch trains.

 
     

 
New dot matrix screens on all three platforms not working this morning, just blank with the time showing below. LCD summary screens still working.

Also 'new' lcd departure board on some Cotswold line stations not working since last friday, just showing title bar and a blank screen.

 
From the Oxford Times:

 
Oxford is notorious for bikes filling up racks no matter how many you have. This sort of thing has been done routinely over the years, as quite a few students just leave a ramshackle old thing and forget all about it when they leave University.

Two stories spring to mind, once a contractor was on site early on a Sunday morning removing those bikes that had been deemed abandoned, and despite the police being informed in advance, they still turned up with sirens blazing having had a phone call from someone assuming they were being nicked!

The other story harks back to the days of the station forecourt development (circa 1997), when all of the racks were renewed and abandoned bikes were removed to a storage facility in what was to become the Said Business School. Several bikes remained uncollected after a few months and were disposed of, but some chap came down well over a year later asking where his bike was!

 
Monday and Tuesday this week in the evening peak platform 2 at Oxford has been closed with all services diverted to platform 1.

CIS and automated announcements all over the place with frequent manual announcements to please ignore any automated ones. (in addition to tuesdays clock problem)

Both days track staff in orange overalls wandering up and down the track near platform 2.

Signal failure? No reasons given.

 
Platform 2 closed for 2 hours again this afternoon due to failed circuit. Finally handed back at approx 1635. Duty manager confirmed same fault as earlier in the month as he commented that he was on duty then as well.

 
All the pointwork giving access to the stabling sidings on the western side of the line north of the station, used by terminating services from London, has been renewed. I hope they have fitted super-reliable point motors, because as part of the project, Network Rail are removing the points at the north end of the sidings, so no way out in that direction in future if there's a problem at the southern end.

 
At least they're nice and close to the panel box so it's not too far for a signaller to walk with a pair of heavy boots and some point clips 

 

The layout has been changed too. An additional siding has been added which can take a longer train than the headshunt which used to be used in conjunction with shunting moves. That headshunt now shares a signal with the additional siding and has been shortened quite a lot - as far as I can see it will be used for tampers etc. to access the three sidings still remaining of the old diesel depot. As you say though, gains and losses, although not used for a few years (as far as I know) the ability to shunt out of the north end of the sidings has now gone, so there's only one way out!

 
Hopefully more reliable than Airport Jn!

 

Can anyone tell me if some form of cost benefit analysis is done to justify the removal of the North end points. It would seem to me to be a very simple sum . Cost of annual maintenance against cost of delay minutes/cancelled trains if the South end points fail say at 06:00 in the morning.

 

I doubt it very much,  there seems to be little joined up thinking on what operational facilities are required by the TOCs and the benefits of having a robust infrastructure to cover such situations as would have happened in BR days.  

 
The reason for the work is to provide protection for movements from the siding onto the down goods loop, so that the loop can be converted to passenger use. This should be completed in a few weeks time. The points at the North End have also been removed to allow this, and to allow a siding to be lengthened.

Having the loop available for passenger use will allow down Cotswold trains to be held on the loop waiting for an up train to clear the single line, instead of blocking platform 2, which is what happens now, and keeps the down main free for traffic to Banbury.

The cost is justified by the delay minutes savings.

 
Thanks for explaining the protection issue. I was a bit surprised to see a brand new example of that endangered species, the catch point, fitted in the throat of the connection into the sidings.

 
The down loop is now available for passenger services, as I discovered yesterday evening when the 17.51 to Worcester rolled out of Oxford along it and we were overtaken by a Birmingham-bound Freightliner on the main line - had a bit of a 'hang on, what's that doing there?' moment until I twigged what was going on.

 
Does what says on the tin ...... then

 
From the BBC: