No trains between Oxford / Didcot Parkway and Reading: major disruption is expected until at least the end of the day on Wednesday 23 September 

Route(s) affected

CrossCountry between Newcastle / York / Manchester Piccadilly and Reading, between Manchester Piccadilly and Southampton Central / Bournemouth, and also between Birmingham New Street and Bournemouth

Great Western Railway between Penzance / Exeter St Davids / Carmarthen / Swansea / Cardiff Central / Hereford / Great Malvern / Worcester Foregate Street / Worcester Shrub Hill / Cheltenham Spa / Weston-super-Mare / Bristol Temple Meads / Banbury / Oxford / Dicot Parkway and London Paddington, and also between Didcot Parkway and Reading

Description

There has been a gas leak near the railway in the Didcot Parkway area. This has closed all lines running between Oxford / Didcot Parkway and Reading.

As a result of this, trains are unable to operate between these stations and will either be cancelled in full, or revised to only operate for part of their normal route.

Major disruption is expected to continue until at least the end of the day on Wednesday 23 September.

CrossCountry customer advice for today:

You may use your ticket on the following services at no extra cost:

Between Manchester / Birmingham and Reading / Southampton / Bournemouth via London:

• Avanti West Coast services between Manchester Piccadilly / Birmingham New Street and London Euston

• Chiltern Railways services between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone

• Great Western Railway services between London Paddington and Reading / Oxford

• London Underground services between London Terminals. Please show your ticket to gateline staff on the Underground to be allowed through the ticket gates

• South Western Railway services between London Waterloo and Bournemouth

Between Birmingham and Reading via Oxford:

• CrossCountry services between Birmingham New Street and Worcestershire Parkway

• Great Western Railway services between Worcestershire Parkway and Reading

• Chiltern Railways services between Birmingham Moor Street and Haddenham & Thame Parkway, and also between Haddenham & Thame Parkway and Oxford

You may also use your ticket on the following operators:

• West Midlands Railway services between Coventry and Leamington Spa

• Great Western Railway services between Banbury and Didcot Parkway, and also between Reading and Basingstoke

You do not need to amend your ticket to use it on these services.

Rail replacement transport:

Rail replacement transport is been requested to run between Oxford and Reading. More information will be provided once this has been confirmed.

Other options:

If your CrossCountry train is cancelled, then you can use your ticket on the two CrossCountry services operating before and the two CrossCountry services after your cancelled service

Unfortunately, any seat reservations will not be carried over, but coaches B, H and L are the unreserved coaches on CrossCountry services where available, so please head to them.

If you decide to travel from a different station due to this disruption and need to return to that station later, you will also be able to use your existing ticket to do this at no extra cost

Great Western Railway customer advice for today:

Your tickets dated today, Tuesday 22 September will be valid tomorrow, Wednesday 23 September.

All trains running between London Paddington / Reading and Exeter / Plymouth will call additionally at Westbury, allowing connections to Bath Spa, Chippenham, Swindon and south Wales.

You may use your ticket on the following services at no extra cost:

• Avanti West Coast between London Euston and Birmingham New Street

• Chiltern Railways between London Marylebone and Oxford

• CrossCountry between Cardiff / Newport (South Wales) / Bristol Temple Meads / Bristol Parkway / Gloucester / Cheltenham Spa and Birmingham New Street

• London Underground between London Marylebone and London Paddington

• South Western Railway between London Waterloo and Salisbury. This allows you to connect on to services that go to Bath Spa, Bristol, Newport (South Wales) and Cardiff

• West Midlands Railway between Hereford / Worcester Shrub Hill / Worcester Foregate Street and Birmingham New Street

• Reading Buses route sky blue 16 between Reading (Station Road), Reading West (Oxford Road) and Tilehurst (Kentwood Circle)

• Stagecoach Buses route S6 between Swindon (Fleming Way) and Oxford (Osney Island, near the station)

• Thames Travel routes:

  • X34: Newbury (Wharf), Didcot Parkway (Station)

  • X40: Oxford (Westgate), Reading (Northern Interchange / Station Road)

Replacement transport in the form of coaches and minibuses have been requested. A limited number will operate where possible.

If your train is cancelled, you may travel on either of the two services before, or two services after, your original train. If these are peak services or less flexible, you can still travel with your original ticket, at no extra cost.

You may wish to consider postponing your journey until service on this line returns to normal.

If you are travelling on Wednesday 23 September:

It is not yet known what service will look like for either CrossCountry or Great Western Railway on this date. Please check back later.

Additional information:

Staff are on site working to assess the severity of the issue and formulate a plan for the necessary repair work. As a result of the nature of the incident, this is expected to be a protracted process. Once more is known, this page will be updated with further information.

Check before you travel:

You can check your journey for today only using the National Rail real-time Journey Planner. If you are travelling on Wednesday 23 September, please check back later.

For helpful advice if you need to travel on a rail replacement service, including accessibility and bicycle information, please use our Rail Replacement Services page.

You can find the pick-up and drop-off location of rail replacement services by checking station signage or by searching for your station on our Find a Station page.

Please be advised that replacement vehicles may be busier than usual, and you should allow extra time for your journey.

Compensation:

You may be entitled to compensation if you experience a delay in completing your journey today. Please keep your train ticket and make a note of your journey, as both will be required to support any claim.