All aboard for rail misery

8:55am Friday 22nd December 2006

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Oxfordshire commuters are up in arms about cuts in fast rush-hour trains to London. Charlotte Bailey braved the crush to hear their views yesterday.

Arriving at a foggy Oxford station at 6.50am, I made my way to platform one, only to find the 7.05am departure was running late.

This gave me the chance to chat to Jamie Donaldson, a regular commuter to London. Mr Donaldson, 35, from Witney, said his morning journey had been severely disrupted by last week's First Great Western timetable changes.

He said: "The 7.25 was useful because, quite often, if my usual train was delayed, I would get that service.

"Now, if my first train is delayed, I have to change at Reading just to get in on time. At least there was flexibility with the other service."

The IT consultant said the trains were always full, but overcrowding had become a serious problem in the past fortnight.

He said the problem was also affecting evening services.

The morning train arrived a few minutes late and was already packed with passengers, who had boarded at stations on the Cotswold Line.

On board, I met two businessmen whose journeys were now much more difficult.

Matthew Hare, a company director in Oxford, occasionally travels to London for work and would always take the 7.25.

"I normally took the express train, as it got me to my first meeting at 9am," he said.

"However, last Thursday, I arrived at the station and there was no train. I was extremely annoyed, as it meant I would miss this first meeting."

As we approached Didcot Parkway, the train was very full and I wondered how the 30 or so passengers I could see on the platform were going to get seats.

I was informed by my fellow passengers that today was a particularly quiet day, with Christmas coming up.

It was frightening to think what it must be like on a regular weekday, especially when you consider an annual standard class season ticket between Oxford and London costs £3,500.

A lucky few who boarded at Didcot did manage to find seats in the front carriage, but the rest were left standing near the doors.

Tina Deaney, a 34-year-old civil servant from Didcot, told me she thought the decision to axe the 7.25 express was a disgrace.

She said: "It's absolutely disgusting. I have lived in the Czech Republic and had no problems there. And I was paying much less for my ticket."

Getting into Reading at 7.45am, after coming to a standstill just before reaching the platform, I could see a dozen more people waiting to board our train.

As I got off, I Iooked back and saw three or four commuters becoming quite heated as they realised they would be standing all the way to Paddington.

I spoke to one of more than 250 people who have signed an online petition calling for the reinstatement of the 7.25am express.

Melanie Campbell has been commuting to London for more than three months, but said she had had enough: "I used to get the 7.25 service and now I'm forced to get the 7.05. I'm very, very disappointed. The service now is an absolute joke."