A campaign has been launched to open a new train route in England, linking two major centres

Travelling between two places is always much, much easier if you can do it via direct train. You can just sit back, relax and not worry about all the kerfuffle involved in having to change over to another service midway through your journey.  

That’s why local leaders in west England are calling for a permanent direct daily service between Swindon and Oxford. Right now, rail passengers have to switch trains at Didcot Parkway to get from one place to the other. 

Swindon Council debated the motion at on Thursday January 15, but the results of the meeting are still not clear. Those campaigning for the service say that it’ll ‘boost commuting, tourism, and supply-chain links’ between the two cities, offer local communities ‘quicker, greener travel’ and help to ease congestion on the roads. They add that it would cut journey times by more than 10 minutes.  

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander, who also happens to be the MP for Swindon South, has expressed her support for the service. Last week, she told Swindon Advertiser: ‘Swindon is obviously a proud railway town. My dad was an electrical apprentice, and the railways are really important to Swindon.

‘I’d like to see whether we could do more to give us better connections to cities like Oxford… Making family days out more affordable for leisure travellers will be welcomed by people in Swindon.’

The calls come over a year after Great Western Railway began trialling a direct train service between Bristol and Oxford, which included a stop at Swindon. The trial is currently running twice every Saturday in each direction. It’s due to come to an end in May but plans have been submitted to make that service permanent. 

Councillor Kevin Small, who tabled the motion this week, said that the pilot ‘proved demand is there’. He added that Network Rail has confirmed there is already sufficient track capacity for the service and said: ‘With no new infrastructure required and strong economic benefits, a daily service is a win for residents, businesses, and the environment.’

If councillors vote to approve the motion, the council leader will write to the the transport secretary, Network Rail and Great Western Railway to call for the daily service to become reality. 

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