Surely most would be looking at Birmingham or Bristol for employment rather than London?
Also can trains run to Worcester Parkway (GW platform) and then run back towards Shrub Hill thence to Birmingham?
Plenty of people use Cotswold Line trains to get into Oxford (or connect for Culham and Didcot) and Reading for work - and for other reasons.
The current signalling arrangements would only allow a train to turn back in the high level platform if nothing else is on the line between Norton Junction and Evesham West Junction - ie it would be the only train allowed in the section while making such a manoeuvre.
You are making the assumption that everyone in Worcester has access to a car, or is willing to pay extra for a taxi.
You are also ignoring the point that this might be good for the more affluent residents of Worcester, but focusing on the Parkway creates a "Ryanair station" for inward visitors so brings little in the way of local prosperity.
It's fair enough as far as it goes, but the central Worcester stations need to continue to have a good service rather than trying to send everything to the Parkway.
Could you inform us who is 'trying to send everything to the Parkway'? Last time I looked there were plenty of trains in and out of Worcester Shrub Hill and Foregate Street in all directions. Indeed, there are more services at both stations than prior to the opening of the Parkway station, due to GWR and WMR timetable improvements.
Neither station is that convenient for large swathes of the city - and surrounding communities - where it is easier and quicker to drive to Parkway via the bypass to access the rail network than bothering to battle the limitations of the city centre roads and the resulting congestion to reach WOF or WOS. It was not unknown for people to drive all the way from Worcester to Birmingham International or Warwick Parkway to get trains to London in the past due to these issues and the tiny car park at Shrub Hill.
You said it serves Worcester very well full stop.
Do you have any evidence that a lot of passengers change there? Given the low frequency of calls on both routes and the lack of facilities if stuck there for some time, it seems unlikely to me. If the connections work it does provide some extra opportunities from the Cotswold Line.
In principle it's a good idea to put a new town around a rail interchange, attracting passengers onto rail and maybe even justifying a bus service into Worcester that would provide more opportunity for Worcester people and visitors to use the Parkway station. I can't speak for any local factors that may make this site better or worse for housing.
Let's look at the ORR station usage data.
The newly-released 2024-25 dataset says there were 133,875 interchanges at Worcestershire Parkway. Given that GWR-set fares from Cotswold Line stations are valid to the likes of Cardiff via either Worceetershire Parkway or Didcot Parkway, the actual figure could be higher then the ORR estimate. i visited Wales just the other week, going out via Didcot and back via Worcestershire Parkway.
Low frequency of calls on both routes? Well it's already better (and with a greater choice of destinations served direct) than it was at the start of this year and these are long-distance routes, not commuter-land with a steady stream of trains at close intervals. In a typical hour at the moment, six passenger trains call at the station. Even if the XC trains that currently speed past stopped and the Cotswold Line were improved to allow a 30-minute interval service, that figure would go up to all of 10tph.
Yes, although Worcestershire Parkway is an excellent interchange for the Cotswolds Line coming from the Midlands, the station facilities are dismal. No heated waiting area, no retail outlets, just one toilet and no pub within walking distance if you have, say, a 30 minute wait. I wonder if there's the possibility of someone opening a micropub there?
It's also an excellent interchange for people travelling between the Cotswold Line and South Wales, Bristol and beyond - and given the tailbacks and delays caused by major roadworks on the A417 dualling project between Gloucester and Birdlip, some journeys by rail via WOP from places served by Kingham and Moreton-in-Marsh stations are currently competitive time-wise with driving across the Cotswolds to Gloucester.
If the trains are behaving, pretty much all connections between the XC route in both directions and the Cotswold Line at Worcesterhsire Parkway are less than 20 minutes and most much less than that - some are pretty much 'get off one train, walk though the station and get straight on the connecting service', assuming XC and GWR are running to time...
The waiting facilities certainly leave something to be desired - the Cotswold Line Promotion Group, among others, is trying to change that - buit it's not a Victorian junction out in the fields, where a Railway Tavern offered a handy spot to while away the time between a sketchy train service.
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