Oxford to Didcot Railway Line Closed

This has been under monitoring for some time and it has finally gone too far out of alignment with the recent heavy rain. Three weeks is currently on the books but I wouldn't hold my breath on it being finished in that schedule from the pictures.

Some diversions are likely to be put in place so watch this space.

Thanks isn31c and Marco for this information!

I was about to tear what little hair I have out, having just managed to work out a route for my wife from Preston to London on Sunday avoiding the obstacle course that the west coast main line will be this weekend. I was driving her to Manchester to pick up a train to Reading and then into Paddington. But starting to look for alternatives there is already a route for her train to change at Banbury for Marylebone. Just adding 15 minutes.

This is the detailed travel advice from Great Western-
Were sorry for the disruption to your journey today. Following a safety inspection of a railway viaduct between Didcot Parkway and Oxford the railway has been closed to allow emergency repairs to take place. We are expecting this work to continue until at least Sunday 23 April.
While we are unable to run trains limited Rail Replacement Transport is in operation between Didcot Parkway and Oxford, some services will run direct between the two and some will call at Appleford, Culham and Radley.
Please wait at the appropriate bus pick up point shown on the Onward Travel Information posters. The replacement transport may not be running at the same time as trains and journeys on this replacement transport will take longer.
To help you complete your journey, we have arranged ticket acceptance with other train companies:
Chiltern Railways between Oxford and London Marylebone. Your ticket will be accepted by London Underground on Bakerloo line services between Marylebone and Paddington.
West Midlands Railway, CrossCountry and Avanti West Coast between Worcester Stations and London Euston via Birmingham New Street. Your ticket will be accepted by London Underground on the Circle line and Hammersmith & City line between Euston Square and Paddington.
CrossCountry between Worcestershire Parkway and Cheltenham Spa and Bristol Parkway. Change at Cheltenham Spa or Bristol Parkway for GWR services to London Paddington
Transport for Wales between Hereford and Newport, where you can change for GWR services to London Paddington.
We have also arranged for your ticket to be accepted on the following local bus routes:
Thames Travel route X2 between Oxford (Station) and Didcot Parkway.
X2 Timetable
Thames Travel route X32 between Oxford (City Centre) and Didcot Parkway.
X32 timetable
Stagecoach route S6 between Oxford (Frideswide Square) and Swindon (Bus Station).
S6 Timetable

The advice from Cross Country (XC) is that if you are travelling to / from the South Coast from / to anywhere from Coventry northwards to travel via London or Bristol instead. Ticket acceptance is in place with Avanti, Chiltern, GWR, SWR, TfL. Might be tricky this weekend though. Expect all Chiltern trains to be packed.

The XC services that normally start from Reading northwards won't be running just to Didcot, you'd need to take an alternative XC or GWR train.

happy days.

better than involuntarily swimming in the Thames I 'spose.

5 April additional information:

GWR are running an additional train once an hour between Paddington and Didcot calling at Reading and Slough (most hours), mostly of 8 carriages. The times to / from Paddington is at approximately the same time as the fast Oxford service would normally run. Only in the timetable for the next couple of days at present but I guess will probably be maintained during the closure.

Earliest time for reopening is now 9 June. Although I still wouldn't bet against it being later. Likely there may be a quick fix first which could only open one line, although they are signalled to be bi directional.

Hello all, hoping you can help me digest this change in service... We have tickets from Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh on Monday May 15.
It looks like we'll train to Didcot, get off at the Didcot Parkway stop and get a bus there to take us on to Oxford.
(I'm not finding a bus route from Didcot to Moreton-in-Marsh)
Not clear yet where the bus would let us off in Oxford, but we'd need to get to the main Oxford train station to then board train to Moreton. Does that sound right?

The GW info, and as noted in this thread, suggest about a 45-minute extension.
But I'm looking for a little more clarification. We shouldn't need a bus ticket as our train tickets will work? And should it be obvious where we go to catch the next leg? And I get that the bus system and trains aren't in sync for this temporary issue, but has anyone heard whether there are lengthy delays, either waiting to get a bus to Oxford or waiting to get the train from Oxford.
The timing is such that we need to catch either the 10:45 a.m. or 12:26 p.m. bus from Moreton-in-Marsh to Chipping Campden. So I'm attempting to see how early we'd need to leave London. Actually we have tickets for the 8:50 a.m. train.
Also, is there another way to get to MIM station from London that I'm missing that could be faster?
And of course we have the same issue returning to London from Oxford on May 20.
Thank you so much. Super excited to return to London and countryside!

The dedicated rail replacement buses from Didcot to Oxford run from Didcot station to Oxford station. However there is limited capacity on those buses (it just isn't possible to hire enough buses for the normal passenger numbers), and the added issue of the roadworks near the station.
There will be lots of signeage and staff at Didcot to direct you from train to bus.
If you decide to use the normal scheduled bus services highlighted they will drop you in the city centre, and you would have to walk or catch another bus from there to the station.
Yes your tickets would be valid on either bus.
The far better answer would be to catch the 0814 Chiltern Railways train from London Marylebone to Oxford which arrives at 0919 . That way you have certainty over your timings. That will put you on the 0945 from Oxford (the same train as you would have caught from Paddington at 0850 normally).
Even if it is a super cheap Advance Ticket which you hold because of the line closure it is available on Chiltern-

Tickets are also being accepted on: Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, London Underground, and West Midlands Railway via any reasonable route

If you didn't already have a ticket then the cheapest way to do the journey would have been a ticket from London to Oxford, then buy a Cotswolds Discoverer pass as that includes all Stagecoach buses in the Cotswolds for the day- cost £13- the M in M to CC bus is run by Stagecoach- https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/CE1.aspx
The Cotswolds Discoverer pass can be bought at any railway station, including Marylebone. If you have a railcard there is the usual 34% discount.

Same route on the way back- Oxford to Marylebone trains are half hourly.

The Chiltern route to Oxford undoubtedly will be much busier than usual but maybe not quite so much in the direction contra of commuting. Only limited increase in capacity has been possible and that has been done in the commuting direction (from Oxford am, to Oxford pm).

The time you are looking at travelling at, ie during the peak traffic period between Didcot and Oxford would dissuade me from the bus replacement alternative as too risky.

So helpful, I'm grateful! Travel can be a puzzle and having you folks to help put the pieces together is calming!

We’re planning to land at Heathrow June 2 and take a bus from Heathrow to Oxford. Then the next day, rent a car to head towards the Cotswold area. Is the Oxford area & transportation going to be a logistics mess that we should avoid?

You'll be fine in Oxford. The roadworks in the station area are just very unfortunate timing, with the railway closure as well. The rental car company will tell you the best way out of the city to avoid any local problems. It's nothing to worry about.
Whether or not the train line was working the Coach would be the preferred (easiest) route from Heathrow, if not the cheapest.

The main cluster of car hire companies are on the "right" side of the Botley Road closure so although more difficult to get to there won't be an issue getting out to the A34. Indeed it will probably be quicker with the traffic reduction.

Thank you!

Replacement measures are now settling down. There are three dedicated bus replacements an hour running directly between Oxford & Didcot plus a minibus running once an hour for the intermediate stations. You can still use the Thames Travel buses as well, plus the alternative rail routings. 9 June is still the target date with a reported 80% confidence.

There is some industry talk of hopes by Great Western to run relief services into Marylebone- to supplement the existing Chiltern services and/or to run some trains into Paddington via the Chiltern route and Greenford, if enough crew can be trained. No date on either proposal, but watch this space to see if anything happens.

GWR are now serving intermediate stations between Didcot and Oxford by shuttle trains from each end, ie Radley from Oxford, and Appleford and Culham from Didcot. Unlikely maybe anyone here might want to use these but I've learnt here anything is possible.

Also XC have resumed running their services that start at Reading as a shuttle to/from Didcot. I thought there would be enough trains already between these two but maybe XC feels they have to show to be doing all they can to be normal.

GWR have now reintroduced Advance Fares on a restricted number of train/bus combos between Paddington and Oxford.

-- GWR have now reintroduced Advance Fares on a restricted number of train/bus combos between Paddington and Oxford.

I'm circling back to get another round of advice please as we leave in a few days. And am so grateful for this help.
Does the above info mean we should return to our original GWR Paddington to Moreton-in-Marsh train instead of plan B, which was to take Chiltern Rail from Marlybone to Oxford then pick up a train there to MIM.
I guess the 45 minute extra trip time is still part of the GW route, so plan B still would be faster?
Also, we would just hop on the Marlybone train we choose and show conductor our GW tickets, right?
And as we would be traveling in 8 a.m. hour on a Monday, we'd be going against the commute so trains shouldn't be too full? Or am I dreaming?

For the return trip, Oxford to London on a Saturday evening, would it be smart to get our tickets now - Oxford to Marlybone - . And are Saturdays "off peak" like on Sundays, so if we get one train we can use tickets on the next train instead, if timing works that way? Or do we need to stick to the Saturday train we book?
Thank you!

Outward I would still travel via Marylebone- the reason is that the 0757 from Marylebone arrives Oxford at 0919 for the 0945 train forward to Moreton (next 1045). The 0802 from Paddington arrives at Oxford at 0944- a theoretically impossible connection. There are ticket barriers at Marylebone so insert your ticket into the barrier. It may not be coded to work, so show it to the staff at the barriers and they will use their staff card to open the barriers for you, if that happens.
Yes you are against peak flow, so it should be quite reasonable for capacity.

On the way back (which I hope is on 20 May) look at the fares. It may be worth splitting your fare on Oxford as there are £12 advance fares on each xx10 departure from Oxford that day (yes, this close to journey date). The train from Moreton arrives at xx.30, so it is a nice easy connection. Only another 20 minutes on your journey to save £20 each.
It's a personal choice of trade of of time and cost.
If you are travelling next Saturday, strike day, then the last GWR services to Didcot are at 1510 and 1710 (the 1610 is sold out), otherwise it is xx.36 to Marylebone, last at 1936.; and there is no strike day service from Moreton to Oxford.

On the way back (which I hope is on 20 May) look at the fares. It may be worth splitting your fare on Oxford as there are £12 advance fares on each xx10 departure from Oxford that day (yes, this close to journey date). The train from Moreton arrives at xx.30, so it is a nice easy connection. Only another 20 minutes on your journey to save £20 each.

thank you isn31c!
yes we will be leaving Oxford on 20 May for London in the late afternoon, We will have arrived from MIM on Friday and have that ticket already. So your recommendation for the 12 pound fare doesn't work for us? What I saw last night was the train from Oxford to Marlybone was about 20 pounds each.
Also, friends who've already gotten their GWR tickets on 20 May from Oxford to Paddington have just gotten a notice that GWR won't be stopping at Oxford now. It wasn't clear to me whether the notice meant THAT train or all trains that day. It mentioned nothing of the Didcot work around.
I suggested they switch to Marlybone on Chiltern or take the Heathrow bus, as they are headed to airport hotel. I have no info on the bus service but have heard it exists. Any further thoughts?

This is the Heathrow rail air bus from Oxford- https://www.oxfordbus.co.uk/airline

That notice about no GWR service from Oxford is just plain odd, when they are selling tickets for bus/train combos they are now saying don't exist. I have just looked at the Working Timetable (rather than the public timetable) which also claims that the buses exist to Didcot, then trains forward.
Given the apparent confusion take whichever route and fare you feel most comfortable with. To me I would buy a Paddington advance ticket, knowing that if there was no GWR service for any reason the cheaper fare would have to be honoured on Chiltern to Marylebone instead.

I meant that the Oxford to Paddington trains are £12 advance fare (or £8 with a railcard), not the MiM to Paddington, that wasn't awfully clear, sorry.

oh great, got it... and yes odd, re GWR...
thanks again for insight. So helpful, R and R

As a quick update, Network Rail has announced that works are on schedule for a 10 June reopening.

We have GWR tickets from Moreton in Marsh to Paddington on June 7, and understand that we can take the GWR train to Oxford and then switch to a Chiltern Railways train to Marylebone Station. That same day we have LNER tickets from Kings Cross Station to York, and originally we had 2 hours to transfer between Paddington and Kings Cross.

With the transfer to the Chiltern train, our time in London is now tight, so we'd like to take an earlier train from Moreton in Marsh. Does anyone know if we need to change our tickets, or will GWR allow us to take the earlier train using our original tickets? The works notice does say that tickets can be canceled or amended, but I don't know if that has to be done ahead of time.

No, there's no need to change tickets. Just get the earlier train. No one is going to be bothered about the time of the 'advanced' train you were booked on.

Thank you!

Reopened! Full service tomorrow, 10 June. Today there are some Didcot-Oxford local shuttles.

But now be aware of there being no trains to Oxford by any route between 29 July and 6 August (bus substitution will be in place, routes to be advised)-

Between Saturday 29 July and Sunday 6 August, buses will replace trains on all routes serving Oxford while Network Rail upgrades track and signalling in readiness for future services to and from Milton Keynes. For more information visit GWR.com/upgrade

This is the East-West Rail project to re-open a long closed route (originally known as The Varsity Line)- potentially in the far distant future all the way to Cambridge