Thursday 9th July 2026
After a 23 year absence, direct trains are running again on Mondays to Fridays between Bristol, Bath, Swindon and Oxford using the western ‘avoiding curve’ section of track to bypass Didcot Parkway.
A similar direct link, operated by Thames Trains, was withdrawn in 2003 leaving rail passengers with no alternative but to change trains at Didcot Parkway.
One reason for withdrawal at that time was to free up capacity for longer distance services but in granting GWR’s recent application to run a two-hourly Bristol-Oxford frequency on Mondays to Saturdays until December 2027 the Office of Rail and Road stated “Network Rail must introduce reasonable practicable level crossing safety features” on part of the route but it was satisfied with the proposal’s “impact on punctuality and reliability”.
I was intrigued to see, six weeks on from introduction, how many passengers are making use of the new service so last week made my way to Swindon on Monday morning with the aim of catching the 11:58 to Oxford which begins its journey at Bristol Temple Meads at 11:18, stopping also at Bath Spa and Chippenham, as do all the journeys shown in the above table.
Good old GWR – as I was on my way from Paddington to Swindon I noticed the train had been cancelled due to “a shortage of train crew”. It was one of a number of cancellations across the network that day due to insufficient staff and I guess being a new service it’s considered a low priority when resources are tight.
However, if you want to grow a market and give new passengers confidence when trying out a fledgling service for the first time while promoting the benefit of not needing to change trains mid journey, the last thing you should be doing is cancelling the journey at short notice.
My mission wasn’t wasted completely as I had the pleasure of meeting up with blog reader Tim in Swindon while waiting for an alternative train and it was great to chat about his long career working with Thamesdown/Swindon Buses.
With the next direct train from Swindon not for two hours I decided to make the journey the ‘old way’ as all other passengers were also no doubt doing due to the cancellation.
Instead of the new direct train leaving Bristol Temple Meads at 11:18, passengers bound for Oxford would catch the 11:30 (to Paddington) which calls at Swindon at 12:11 and Didcot Parkway at 12:26 where there’s a decent connection with the 12:35 stopping service to Oxford arriving there at 12:52 making for a one hour 35 minute journey from Bristol instead of what would have been an hour and 11 minutes on the direct train that had been due into Oxford at 12:29.
I counted the number of passengers making the change at Didcot Parkway from the Bristol to Paddington train on platform 2 with the Didcot Parkway to Oxford (and Banbury) train waiting on platform 5.
It was around 50 including one using a wheelchair who obviously made use of the lifts and subway between the platforms whereas most others used the stairs.
Having arrived in Oxford, obviously the next departure back to Bristol at 13:03 had also been cancelled presumably as it’s the same train and possibly the same (missing) crew so after amusing myself for an hour or so (taking a look at the Botley Road situation which is promised will all be back to normal next month)…
…I watched the next direct train arrive from Bristol which pulled in just before its scheduled arrival at 14:29 and with a quick count I’d say a similar number of around 50 passengers alighted.
Among them was blog reader Stephen who’d also been trying out the new link and it was nice to meet up and have a quick chat before I headed back to Paddington having established in my mind that around 50 passengers are using the new direct link every two hours.
How many of these are new passengers is unknown and it’s also interesting to note across two hours (between trains) Stagecoach operates six departures on its 20 minute frequency route S6 between Swindon and Oxford via Faringdon making for a comparable eight passengers per departure (50 passengers divided by six journeys).
The end to end journey by bus takes an hour and 25 minutes compared to the new direct train at 31 minutes (to Swindon) but I suspect, taking account of that, comparable numbers are travelling per hour by both bus and train not least because the former picks up at many intermediate stops.
The new direct link obviously costs resources. Two trains are deployed and a considerable number of crews six days a week between 07:00 and 22:30 (as well as signing on and off time), none of which is going to come cheap. I have my doubts whether enough extra passengers will be generated (because of the direct facility) to pay for these costs and it wouldn’t surprise me if by December 2027 and the need for the new GBR to make cost savings, this service is withdrawn again.
Nice try though.
Roger French
Summer blogging timetable: 06:00 TThSSu
BusAndTrainUser 
The S6 seems a considerable step up in frequency from what I think in late NBC days was the 420 bring NBC Green Series 2 (B? Leyland Nationals into Gloucester Green being handy If I missed the morning COMS bus from the local village ( they did run frequenly but the next one was too late ) being the back up to get to work with both services making use of the Botely Road bus lane to get past queues of motorists. I could then change either to my bicycle If I left that secured in town overnight or change buses to get to Cowley. The Swindon and District bus was also the way back late (is 10pm late?) last bus for visiting cinema or theatre or friends in Oxfords centre or other localities.
Can the Bristol Swindon Oxford direct service actually get to Milton Keynes keeping to 2hrly with 2 trains or could every 90mins be achieveable with three using East West Rail ?
JBC Prestatyn
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In my recollection the predecessor to the S6 was COMS’s route 66 which together with the 74 of BOC provided a 2-hourly frequency between Oxford and Swindon. The 420 mentioned is more likely the A420 road which forms most of the route.
COMS was notable in using different route numbers from other companies on nominally joint routes:
Oxford – Reading COMS 34 + Thames Valley 5;
Oxford – Newbury COMS 12 + Thames Valley 112;
Oxford – Bedford COMS 70 + United Counties 131;
but the Oxford – Stratford route was 44 for both COMS and Stratford Blue.
Going back 60 years or so there was a weekday train from Swindon to Oxford – possibly the only one of the day – at around 9pm.
Ian McNeil
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Yes, it was service 66 and was renumbered to S6 sometime in 2018, I think from memory. After NBC, Western Travel operated it with their Swindon & District fleet and it was still operated from Swindon depot well into Stagecoach days. I think it moved away from Swindon depot when it was remembered, but others out there will know more of the history.
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The S6 is still operated by Swindon depot and hasn’t moved. It was renumbered into the Stagecoach Oxfordshire series but was still operated by Stagecoach West from Swindon – of course, they are now one business anyway!
BW2
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Thanks for clarifying my comments. I have memories of good runs on Leyland National 2s on the 66! A good day out meant Salisbury to Marlborough on the 205, later the 5, before Wilts & Dorset reinstated the long withdrawn through service rom Salisbury to Swindon, then the 470/70 from Marlborough to Swindon and then onto the 466/66. Some.of Swindon & District’s first new buses were Mercedes 801 and 802 which were used on the 70 and had a welcome, but short-lived return to Wiltshire registrations.
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JBC is indeed getting confused. The Swindon to Oxford service in NBC days was the 466; the road is the A420!! As Ian says, the 466 later became the 66 in more recent times before it became the S6 as all the Stagecoach routes emanating from Oxford gained S prefixes – I forget what it stands for.
The 66 was a recipient of funding (Kickstart? s106?) that allowed the hourly frequency to be enhanced to half hourly, improved Sunday services, and new vehicles. Such was the success that it then gained deckers and a 20 min headway (up to 15 mins at times), helped by the massive house building in the area – Faringdon’s population has doubled from 4.5k to 9k since 1981 and you see the same around Shrivenham, Southmoor etc. Note that the 466 was two hourly in ye olden days to Oxford, with an hourly headway Swindon to Faringdon.
The S6 really depends on those intermediate flows, as Roger opined, rather than end to end.
BW2
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By 1970 the the Swindon – Oxford bus service was numbered 466, and the Bristol OC timetable (showing both operators’ journeys) can be seen at:-
https://timetableworld.com/ttw-viewer.php?token=6baaffe9-b02a-453e-92bf-9c52e58c287a
The populations of both Swindon and Oxford have grown in recent years, which provides some explanation for the increased frequency of the bus service linking them. The population of Swindon was about 138,000 in 1971; by 2021 it was 233,000 (source: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10104178/cube/TOT_POP). For Oxford, the growth has been from 102,000 in 1971 to 162,000 in 2021 (source: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10084672/cube/TOT_POP). Such statistics do need to be treated with some care, to ensure that the comparison is on a “like for like” basis – other websites show slight deviations from those numbers.
RC169
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Good to read the further comments that I triggered this morning.
My source document (apart from memory) for the 66/74 is the COMS timetable dated 6/1962 which therefore predates the NBC era BOC timetable from 1970 referenced by RC169; I see that the 466 shown there was two-hourly over its full length with no hourly section south of Faringdon – in other words it was a renumbering of the 66/74.
I suspect that the 466 ultimately morphed directly into the S6 in 2018 or thereabouts without reverting to the pre-NBC 66.
Ian McNeil
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It was the 66 again by at least 1997 (confirmed by timetable leaflets on the internet). It was still 66 when first converted to Gold standard.
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Sad to think that after all the hype on renationalising the railways, seems like cuts in service are already proposed. Shame the government weren’t a bit more honest about this on the first place.
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All the more sad when you consider that the forthcoming cuts will save peanuts due to the high fixed costs of the railways, plus reduce revenue due to suppressing demand.
Steve
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Some of the councils along the route of the Bristol – Oxford service have hopes of it forming an extension of services on East West Rail, or at least providing an easy onward journey to the west for those arriving in Oxford from Milton Keynes and beyond. Unless it was a through service it seems unlikely it would boost demand much.
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Having moved from Hove to Leicester in 1996 after a visit to a family member in Swindon I caught the original service from Swindon to Oxford and thought it was very useful. Unfortunately, it being a Sunday, my fast start to the journey was spoiled by a rail replacement bus between Oxford and Leamington and again between Coventry and Nuneaton. Nuneaton to Leicester is another useful rail link which was quietly dropped about 25 years ago, never to be replaced.
Paul in Leicester
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Not sure which places the last sentence of Paul’s comment was meant to refer to, but Nuneaton to Leicester is twice an hour with Cross Country, while Nuneaton to Leamington is hourly. I don’t recall the latter ever running further, but would be happy to be proved wrong; it’s only relatively recently that it has superseded two separate services terminating at Coventry.
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The Leamington to Nuneaton service formerly operated beyond Nuneaton into the east midlands. During the Nuneaton area resignalling, the direct connection was removed meaning running westbound beyond the station and travelling back eastward through the station to access the Leicester line would be needed.
Midlnds Connect are building a business case to have a direct service reinstated. Whilst crossing the WCML would no longer be acceptable due to pathing constraints, one potential option would be re-opening the ‘crossunder’ that passed the rear of Nuneaton’s MPD and was little used and then truncated during it’s day. This land is still vacant 60 years after the shed closed due to it’s inaccesability for anything else.
Ironically, this would mean that any extended service would be unable to stop at Nuneaton, although it would stop at Bermuda Park station on the outskirts of town which has good road access. (Named after the former coal mine and miners village on land originally owned by the Governer of Bermuda in case anyone is wondering…!)
https://www.jfgcomms.co.uk/building-advocacy-for-new-rail-link/
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Good stuff 👍
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Somewhere in crayonland the eventual sensible investment would be to 4-track between Didcot and the junctions west of Swindon. Then Wantage/Grove could at last get its station back, along with another at Shrivenham. Then electrify the gap between Didcot and Oxford, as it always should have been but for Network Rail’s disastrous overspend on the GWML.
Once done, put in a really useful regular service between Swindon and Oxford using multiple units.
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In which case, a reversal at Didcot would open up the market even more.
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I suspect the reason the crew didn’t turn up for the 11.18 departure from Temple Meads is because they were watching the England vs Mexico match & were too tired to turn up for their shift. Apparently thousands of businesses (as well as schools) were affected in this way.
Even one of the England squad was quoted when asked about the late kick off time in the U.K. ‘Throw a sickie’. Very responsible behaviour.
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Roger says (writing on 9th July) that “…last week made my way to Swindon on Monday morning …”. That would have been Monday 29th June, but the football match that is being referred to took place on Monday 6th July ( https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/live/cr5j14eyzm8t ). So I am inclined to think that would not have been the reason for the cancellation of the train that Roger originally intended to travel on.
RC169
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Hi Roger, I think a very large number of people (across every sector) called in sick on Monday morning. (I had an NHS appointment cancelled at the last minute.) I believe there was a severe outbreak of “Footballitis”! JP Cheltenham.
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A great idea for a service and the sort of thing the new BR should be doing. Why doesn’t it run on Sunday?
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I believe most GWR staff still have voluntary working for Sundays. Unlikely they would want to worsen what is already a hard day to resource.
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It is a great service, when it runs. And, currently, GWR are selling reasonably-priced Advance tickets. As well as their simple, and not at all confusing, range of flexible single tickets Swindon to Oxford:
Anytime day not via London [which is railspeak for you CAN go via Reading] £49.60
Offpeak single not via London £31.70
Anytime day single not via Reading £31.70
Super offpeak single not via London £23.70
Off-peak day single not via Reading £15.60
Super off-peak single not via Reading £13.80
Bus Swindon to Faringdon with ‘guaranteed connection’ Faringdon to (currently) Osney Island: £3.00
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No wonder people get confused over train fares. Hopefully, GBR can be persuaded to simplify fares once they’re in total control.
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Of the six fares listed, which ones get dumped as part of ‘simplification’? Thus fare, it isn’t the cheap ones that have survived (see LNER).
KCC
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As someone living in Swindon, this service (when running) is perfect when travelling to Oxford. However, it seems maddening that there is a condition put on Network Rail to improve level crossings etc on what is already a busy route – surely this service is a drop in the ocean compared to what is already running? There is sadly the very real possibility of Network Rail dragging their feet, leading to a great service being withdrawn within just a couple of years
(Appreciate cost might also play a part in withdrawal)
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I think round here in Oxford, there is a quiet hope that these trains will extend along the East West Rail route to Milton Keynes (they have a guard, so no issues about how to dispatch). Apparently a 5-car 800 series train is slightly too long to fit in the bay at Milton Keynes, so it would need them to do something like continue to Northampton if paths were available. Others will know better than me whether instead going to Bedford is feasible, even on the current infrastructure. Passing through Oxford also frees up the time spent stationary in the platforms there, which may make operations more efficient (CH, Oxford).
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Dream on! Having spent 18 months, and counting, responding to parliamentary questions about the lack of trains between Bicester & Milton Keynes without admitting who is arguing with whom about what; and, in one letter from Lord Hendy, blaming the delay on the general election of 2024, the DfT is NOT suddenly going to arrange for GWR, or the forthcoming DFTO, to acquire (where from?) enough 80xs to run Bristol<>Bletchley. (Though 80xs have run Oxford-Bletchley-Euston. Thus, pleasingly, making once again true the inclusion of Oxford on the list of destinations served by the LNWR, still to be seen one of the Euston gatehouses.) And, while I am having my rant, why do people swallow the absurd branding of the dear old Bletchley to Oxford branch line as ‘East West Rail’? The East West Rail company is a money pit responsible for (a) hyping the chance, in 2040 or after, of a new railway line from Cambridge to Bedford, in order to enable big builders to make lots of money from a new town to swallow innocent little Tempsford; and (b) for commissioning, if enough local suckers can be found to pay for it, an underpass at Bicester which will make the Botley Road story seem like a model of a rapid and efficient road improvement project.
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If there was just one extra class 800 train put in to the Bristol Oxford service, presumably that would allow a two-hourly service to Bletchley? OK, certainly not great, but it’s a start. So instead of turning back in Oxford, there would be two hours available to go along EWR, and get back again to pick up the path of the next Oxford Bristol service.
How about doing that on Saturdays, when presumably there are more units available? A sort of “taster”. (CH, Oxford)
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Thank you for the mention! My sense is that there was a similar number of passengers on the next train back to Swindon, where I disembarked. What would be interesting to know is some idea of the volume of passengers using the service to make inward and ontward connections at each end.
And I can corroborate that this particular “shortage of traincrew” occured a week before the England v Mexico game!
Steven Saunders
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Apologies, me again and.trying to get my comments back to the topic!
I’ve just remembered that at one stage there was a direct limited stop bus service that linked Bristol with Swindon that used the M4. It ran for a short time in the 1980’s a few times per day. I can’t remember whether it was operated by Bristol Omnibus from their Marlborough Street depot or by Thamesdown Transport when they first started to expand into rural services. It was the X forty something!
Go South Coast’s Swindon Bus Company do operate the X76 which runs one return journey from Marlborough to Bath via Melksham from Monday to Friday. (Sorry, off topic again!!!)
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This tale reminds me of an abortive trip to south east London a very long time ago when I was in full belief that a route alteration concerning Route 273 would take place on a selected Saturday. I arrived in the area to “do” the new arrangements for Route 273 only to find that no Route 273 buses were on the road that day. I took direct action and went off to Lewisham to have a row in person at the SELKENT office there: the explanation was that the buses needed had not arrived from the suppliers.
JMG/KT12 3EZ,
Formerly of KT12 4JH.
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Re- philstubington’s comment (9/7/26 6:03pm) about Sunday working being voluntary:
as one who worked in television production my entire career, Sunday was as much a working day as the other 6. It amazes me how the railways have allowed this situation to prevail. Apart from anything else, having time off in the week when shops and businesses were fully open was a bonus.
V ….. Saltash
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