Great Western Railway hopes to run direct trains between Bristol Temple Meads and Oxford for the first time since 2003 from September 2024.
The fastest planned journey time would be 1hr 11min, and GWR has requested authorisation to run two round-trips per day from 14 September, with trains calling at Bath Spa, Chippenham and Swindon. Departures from Bristol would be at 10.18 and 15.18, with returns from Oxford at 11.55 and 17.12.
Should approval be granted, the trains would initially run as a trial until December 2024.
GWR Managing Director Mark Hopwood said changing travel patterns since the Covid pandemic have presented the operator with a ‘clear opportunity to expand our leisure offering’, pointing out that the Bristol-Oxford route offers ‘real potential’.
