Overview
- Great Western Railway has begun a two‑hourly Monday–Saturday service linking Bristol Temple Meads, Bath Spa, Chippenham, Swindon and Oxford, with the fastest trips taking 1 hour 8 minutes from Oxford and 1 hour 11 minutes from Bristol.
- The first service left Oxford at 7:00, reached Swindon at 7:30 and arrived at Bristol Temple Meads at 8:20 in the inaugural weekday run.
- To kick off the route, GWR is selling Advance tickets at about half price for the first month, with example fares of £10 Bath–Oxford and £6 Oxford–Swindon.
- Network Rail says it completed initial safety work for the restart and has discussed further improvements with the Office of Rail and Road to bolster reliability in the months ahead.
- Local leaders and GWR highlight gains for patients traveling to the OUH Radiotherapy Centre in Swindon, students at Oxford Brookes’ Delta Business Park campus and commuters who can skip A420 road traffic.