East West rail starting date?

[Broseley man]

Has anyone any idea when passenger trains will begin on East West rail from Oxford?

 

[DarloRich]

Christmas. Year not stated!

Honesty- no one knows. the current excuse is that Winslow needs longer platforms. The real reasons are guards.

 

[swt_passenger]

I did suggest in an earlier thread that Chiltern would just give up on this, it’s not worth the hassle as the management contract runs down. As the months go by I can’t see it starting under Chiltern.

 

[duffield]

I did suggest in an earlier thread that Chiltern would just give up on this, it’s not worth the hassle as the management contract runs down. As the months go by I can’t see it starting under Chiltern.

Yes, time is very nearly up for Chiltern, since it's been recently officially confirmed that it transfers to public ownership on 20th September 2026 which is six months today. Why should they care?

Link below is to the official Department for Transport document "Great British Railways and the public ownership programme".
Quote:

In September 2025, the Secretary of State for Transport outlined the intention for Chiltern Railways’ and Great Western Railways’ services to be the next services to transfer, subject to a final decision about each operator. In March 2026, the Secretary of State made a final decision in regard to the transfer of Chiltern Railways’ services and an expiry notice was issued to confirm that the date of transfer will be 20 September 2026.

Great British Railways and the public ownership programme

Updates on the programme to transfer rail services into public ownership and establish GBR as the body responsible for passenger services and infrastructure.

www.gov.uk

 

[Oxfordblues]

Yesterday (19 March) there were four round-trips between Bletchley High Level and Oxford, presumably for route-learning. What exactly is the point of them if the route-knowledge is likely to expire before passenger services finally start?

 

[JonathanH]

What exactly is the point of them if the route-knowledge is likely to expire before passenger services finally start.

The route knowledge already built up would still need to be maintained.

 

[dk1]

Yesterday (19 March) there were four round-trips between Bletchley High Level and Oxford, presumably for route-learning. What exactly is the point of them if the route-knowledge is likely to expire before passenger services finally start?

Just need a refresher every six months otherwise it'll all have to start again from scratch.

 

[JonathanH]

I did suggest in an earlier thread that Chiltern would just give up on this, it’s not worth the hassle as the management contract runs down. As the months go by I can’t see it starting under Chiltern.

The staff already recruited and trained to drive the trains are employed by Chiltern though, so there would need to be some sort of TUPE exercise, or retraining, if another part of the railway workforce is to be involved.

Do you just mean start of service won't happen until those staff are employed by "Chiltern Rail Limited", the DFTO successor company to "The Chiltern Railway Company Limited"?

 

[DarloRich]

Yesterday (19 March) there were four round-trips between Bletchley High Level and Oxford, presumably for route-learning. What exactly is the point of them if the route-knowledge is likely to expire before passenger services finally start?

It has been happening on and off for months. Got to keep the route knowledge upto date so the service can start at a moments notice

(Last line may be sarcastic!)

 

[swt_passenger]

Do you just mean start of service won't happen until those staff are employed by "Chiltern Rail Limited", the DFTO successor company to "The Chiltern Railway Company Limited"?

Yes, that’s exactly what I meant. We’ll see how DFTO solve all the problems overnight…

 

[NickBucks]

I am sure that the DfT, the unions and to a certain extent Chiltern Railways are in no hurry. Come 21st September the DfT can rip up the agreement with Chiltern Railways and pass the baton to West Midlands Trains and why not. West Midlands Trains can use the staffing arrangements which they currently use, agreed by the unions and which solves the problems. The Class 196 units will not have to run with Chiltern livery and can be swopped with the same units on the Camp Hill line when required. The trained drivers will still be required albeit without the need to open / close doors as required. DfT can get maximum publicity for solving the issues at a stroke enabling services to be up and running by the end of September. Chiltern Railways are saving money on running the trains in the meantime. The need to extend the length of the platform at Winslow is surely an excuse to kick the can down the road until September.

 

[JonathanH]

Come 21st September the DfT can rip up the agreement with Chiltern Railways and pass the baton to West Midlands Trains and why not.

The obvious barrier to that is that the staff who have been trained work for a different company, from different depots.

West Midlands Trains can use the staffing arrangements which they currently use, agreed by the unions and which solves the problems.

Chiltern could do that as well if that is what the DfT wants. For some of their services, they have staffing arrangements consistent with those used by West Midlands Trains.

 

[Brush 4]

Good to see everyone involved putting the passengers first......

 

[dk1]

Good to see everyone involved putting the passengers first......

That’s down to our wonderful DfT

 

[Purple Train]

There was a piece on this in Private Eye recently (I'm afraid I don't have the issue to hand; I shall look for it) which suggested that the monetary cost of not operating the passenger service outweighed the cost of the necessary steps to get it going ASAP. I'm surprised that there hasn't been more attention paid to this palaver given it's south of Watford Gap (as I should have known before I edited this post given how much of my life I've spent at Watford Gap services).

 

[Rail Quest]

Please can someone explain why the guards issue is actually preventing the service from starting? I'm struggling to understand what actually blocks ORR approving and Chiltern running the services.

 

[PLY2AYS]

There are a lot of sticking points around Winslow station, both with platforms and the station build as a whole.
So even if the dispute with unions around door operation was to end instantly, most of the station interior needs a refit to be accessible as well as a supposedly a local land owner compensated due to boundaries and emergency egresses encroaching onto private property.
Yet to verify the last part though…

 

[dk1]

Please can someone explain why the guards issue is actually preventing the service from starting? I'm struggling to understand what actually blocks ORR approving and Chiltern running the services.

Drivers will quite rightly not work the route without an agreement for DOO.

 

[PLY2AYS]

Please can someone explain why the guards issue is actually preventing the service from starting? I'm struggling to understand what actually blocks ORR approving and Chiltern running the services.

The line is bi-directional. There is no safe way to dispatch trains from Winslow in either direction on either line because 196s are not capable of DOO operation.
WestMids RMT staff do not support an extension of DOO into MKC, and neither do ASLEF.

 

[800002]

DfT can get maximum publicity for solving the issues at a stroke enabling services to be up and running by the end of September.

I think a little more time would be required to recruit and train the requisite train crew (not talking drivers) to operate the services.

It would take substantially longer than 10 days, unless you meant end of September 2027?

But, hey, if they DfT wanted train crew-other than drivers - assisting in the operation of the service, do you think Chiltern would still be at a standstill with operational infrastructure but no train service operation to speak of?

Can I just check that this particular thread is filed away under the 'speculative' area of the forum?

 

[Kingham West]

The line is bi-directional. There is no safe way to dispatch trains from Winslow in either direction on either line because 196s are not capable of DOO operation.
WestMids RMT staff do not support an extension of DOO into MKC, and neither do ASLEF.

Why can’t Chiltern just use the same systems for dispatch, as on the rest of their network, why is Winslow different .

 

[800002]

196s are not capable of DOO operation

Yes, they are.

The line is bi-directional. There is no safe way to dispatch trains from Winslow in either direction on either line.
196s are not capable of DOO operation.

Academic. It was designed without on platform DOO equipment.

WestMids RMT staff do not support an extension of DOO into MKC, and neither do ASLEF.

It's the union, more than anything, to be honest.
The staff follow the union, sadly not the other way around.
The union does not want extention of DOO for what ever reason they may like to state.

Um, juries out on ASLEF, I can't recall what I've seen from that particular union.

 

[dk1]

Why can’t Chiltern just use the same systems for dispatch, as on the rest of their network, why is Winslow different .

It’s an extension of DOO which the unions will not tolerate.

 

[PLY2AYS]

Yes, they are.

No. They are not currently fit for DOO operation because the cameras are not operational. This has been explained several times on this forum.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Mar 2026 ==

Why can’t Chiltern just use the same systems for dispatch, as on the rest of their network, why is Winslow different .

Chiltern do not operate DOO ‘on the rest of their network’

 

[RUK]

I did suggest in an earlier thread that Chiltern would just give up on this, it’s not worth the hassle as the management contract runs down. As the months go by I can’t see it starting under Chiltern.

Surely it’ll be the same staff employed, including management, whether it’s under Chiltern or then DFTO, so why wait around and waste 6 months, when the same people will have to sort it out sooner or later? Or are you suggesting that the staff are so lazy/idle that they’d rather do it later rather than sooner?

 

[800002]

No. They are not currently fit for DOO operation because the cameras are not operational. This has been explained several times on this thread.

You did not say 'currently'.
They are perfectly capable of DOO operation.
It only needs agreement to do so by making rhe relevant choices / exacting the right capabilities.

 

[Kingham West]

No. They are not currently fit for DOO operation because the cameras are not operational. This has been explained several times on this forum.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Mar 2026 ==


Chiltern do not operate DOO ‘on the rest of their network’

What do they call it if they don’t have guards, to open and close doors ?

 

[PLY2AYS]

What do they call it if they don’t have guards, to open and close doors ?

Driver Only Operation or DOO (apologies I double “operation”ed on my previous post. I’m sure we’ve all said PIN number before)
But Chiltern do have guards on their Class 68 and Mk5 services and every passenger service north of Banbury.

 

[swt_passenger]

Surely it’ll be the same staff employed, including management, whether it’s under Chiltern or then DFTO, so why wait around and waste 6 months, when the same people will have to sort it out sooner or later? Or are you suggesting that the staff are so lazy/idle that they’d rather do it later rather than sooner?

No I’m suggesting that the top level management that won’t be TUPE’d maybe don’t care anymore.

 

[williamn]

most of the station interior needs a refit to be accessible as wel

What exactly needs to be done? I find it hard to believe such a recently built station isn’t accessible.