How Oxfordshire's railways will be impacted by strike

Planned industrial action by The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers (Aslef) and the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) unions mean rail services will be severely affected on Wednesday (July 27) and Saturday (July 30), with significantly reduced temporary timetables in place.

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The action will take place across 13 train operating companies, with several of these serving Oxfordshire.

On Saturday, the strike will coincide with the first weekend of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham meaning the few services which will run will be extremely busy.

Oxfordshire’s train operators, Chiltern Railways, Great Western Railway (GWR) and CrossCountry, have released temporary timetables ahead of the strikes so passengers can plan their journeys.

Chiltern Railways

Due to strike action Chiltern will run a significantly reduced timetable on July 27.

However, on July 30 Chiltern Railways will run a normal timetable as staff at the operator are not striking but services are likely to be extremely busy due to strike action on other train operators routes.

Timetable on July 27:

• 1 train per hour Marylebone - stations to Oxford Parkway (and vice-versa).
• 1 train per hour Marylebone - stations to Banbury (and vice versa).
• 1 train per hour Marylebone - stations to Aylesbury (via High Wycombe, and vice-versa).
• 1 train per hour Aylesbury Vale Parkway - stations to Amersham (and vice-versa).

In particular, note:

• There will be NO Chiltern Railways service North of Banbury, nor to/from Oxford.
• Start of service will generally be between 8am and 9am (see below).
• End of service will generally be between 4pm and 5pm (see below).

First train to Marylebone:

• 07.58 Aylesbury - Amersham.
• 08.08 Aylesbury - Marylebone (starts from Aylesbury Vale Parkway 08.01; via High Wycombe).
• 08.23 Bicester North - Marylebone.
• 08.42 Bicester Village - Marylebone.
• 08.46 Aylesbury Vale Parkway - Amersham.
• 09.08 Banbury - Marylebone.
• 09.30 Oxford Parkway - Marylebone.

Last train from Marylebone

• 15.15 Marylebone - Banbury.
• 16.00 Marylebone - Oxford Parkway.
• 16.15 Marylebone - Bicester North.
• 16.35 Marylebone - Aylesbury (via High Wycombe; continues to Aylesbury Vale Parkway).
• 16.38 Amersham - Aylesbury Vale Parkway.
• 17.42 Amersham - Aylesbury.

GWR

On strike days GWR will run an extremely limited service which will operate between 7am and 6.30pm and last trains will leave much earlier.

Timetable on July 27:

No rail services will operate on the following routes:

• All lines in Cornwall, including all branch lines
• West of Exeter towards Plymouth/Cornwall (due to no contingency signallers)
• All branch lines in Devon (Barnstaple, Exmouth, Paignton, Okehampton)
• South Wales main line (Carmarthen/Swansea–Cardiff Central)
• Berks & Hants line (Reading–Taunton via Castle Cary)
• Wessex main line (Bath Spa–Portsmouth Harbour)
• Heart of Wessex line (Westbury–Weymouth)
• TransWilts line (Swindon–Westbury via Melksham)
• Severn Beach line (Bristol Temple Meads–Severn Beach)
• North Cotswolds line (Hereford/Worcester–Oxford)
• South Cotswolds line (Cheltenham Spa–Swindon)
• Worcester/Gloucester–Bristol
• Greenford branch line
• North Downs line (Reading–Gatwick Airport)

Timetable for July 30:

An extremely limited service will only operate on the routes below.

Services will start later and finish much earlier than normal.

• Bristol Temple Meads-London Paddington
• Bristol Temple Meads-Cardiff Central
• Reading to Oxford
• Reading to Basingstoke

No other GWR services will run.

CrossCountry

During the strike, CrossCountry’s hours of operation across the network will also be reduced to between 7.30am and 6.30pm to ensure essential rail freight services can operate.

CrossCountry's routes on July 27

Timetable for July 27:

On this day there will be train per hour between Birmingham and Reading, via Banbury and Oxford. The last train will be at 3.04pm.

CrossCountry's route through Oxfordshire on July 27

Note: CrossCountry's timetable for July 30 has not been released yet. 

Tom Joyner, Managing Director at CrossCountry said: “No one wins from strike action. The latest round of action will cause more misery and disruption at a time when we should be rebuilding confidence in train travel. It is disappointing as it coincides with numerous summer events in particular the Commonwealth Games.

“This will of course, cause unnecessary disruption to thousands of people and we are sorry for the inconvenience this will cause. We are working with industry partners to offer the best service possible despite the actions of the RMT.

“We remain open to speaking with union colleagues to reach a compromise. However, if the strike goes ahead it will cause significant disruption.

“We strongly advise passengers to avoid travelling by rail wherever possible during this time and make alternative arrangements. If travel by train is essential, we urge customers to allow significant extra time and check their journey details in advance.”

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Read more from this author

This story was written by Sophie Perry. She joined the team in 2021 as a digital reporter.

You can get in touch with her by emailing: sophie.perry@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @itssophieperry

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