Archive for February, 2010

Customer Information Systems

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

FGW are planning to replace the existing help points and Customer Information System (CIS) at Islip and Bicester with a new system. Details are in the following communication from FGW:

“At Islip and Bicester we are removing the current Help Points and CIS and replacing them with a WebCIS unit.
These act as Help Points and will have two buttons – one to contact National Rail and the other for Emergencies.
Additionally the Help Point has a screen that reflects the current train service from its location – as the information on the screen will be fed directly from our new CIS server it will reflect the very latest available information.
That is to say should we replace a train service between Oxford and Bicester and return by bus this will show on the Help Point screen.
Furthermore the new style help points will have the ability to rung up from either a staffed station or the control centre and a broadcast live annoucement made to customers.

The date of install at Islip and Bicester has not been finalised yet but hopefully these Help Points will appear shortly after April.”

FGW Customer Panel

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

FGW have revised their Customer Panel representation and are rolling Islip and Bicester in with 8 other stations, including Oxford. Therefore as from April our representative, Ian East, will cease to be on the Customer Panel.

If anyone is interested in becoming part of the new panel, please contact Ian or leave a message here and we’ll pass on your details. There are 3 evening meetings per year and four first class return rail tickets in return for your input.

Notice board vandalism

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Unfortunately the Rail User Group notice board at Bicester Town station was vandalised at the weekend. If anyone has any information about this incident, please contact us.

Passengers seek pledge on Bicester rail link services

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

Today’s Oxford Times and this week’s Bicester Advertiser both have articles about the proposed upgrade to the Oxford-Bicester service. The Oxford Times has comments from OBRAG chairman Ian East, in particular about services stopping at Islip – click here to read the article.

The article in the Bicester Advertiser urges users to have their say on the type of replacement services available while the line in closed. The text of this article can be found here:
Bicester Advertiser 2010-02-11

The Bicester Advertiser also has the following advance warning:
“Rail passengers are being warned that services from Oxford will be affected by engineering work over the weekend of February 20-21. The line north of Oxford will be closed both days, with buses replacing FGW trains to Islip and Bicester Town”

This is also on the FGW website (although this mentions engineering on Saturday only).

Article from Rail Magazine 27 Jan 2010

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Click the following link to read this article about Chiltern’s plans for the new Oxford-London route from Rail Magazine:
Rail Magazine 27 Jan 2010

Line closure – replacement services

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

At the AGM, Chiltern Railways confirmed that the Bicester-Oxford line will need to be closed for a period of 9-12 months, beginning mid 2011, in order for the track improvements for Evergreen 3 to be carried out. This will obviously be a great inconvenience to users of the service. Unfortunately this work is necessary due to the position of the existing line and the poor condition of the foundations beneath it.

In the meantime a replacement service will operate. There was some discussion at the AGM about the options for replacement services and Chiltern seem open to discussion about this. Please vote in the following poll to express your preference(s) or add a comment if you have a suggestion that is not listed:

The Evergreen 3 upgrades will mean no rail services on the Bicester Link line for 9-12 months. Which replacement services would you find useful? (Tick one or more choices)

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2010 AGM minutes

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Minutes from the OBRAG AGM last week are now available here:
OBRAG AGM 2010 Minutes

Also, there have been more articles in the press recently about Chiltern Railways’ Evergreen 3 proposals for the Bicester-Oxford service:
Bicester Review 2010-02-01
Bicester Advertiser 2010-01-28
Oxford Mail 2010-01-28