Tackley Rail User Group

Tackley Rail User Group logo, a blue train with text in side a train ticket shaped box

Tackley Rail Users Group (TRUG) is an informal group of Tackley residents who would like to maintain and improve the train services here. The main aims of the group are:

  1. To act as a point of contact between the village, the rail operators and other stakeholders,
  2. To keep the village informed about developments relating to the train services and station, and
  3. To promote and improve the Tackley train services and facilities

Basic travel information, including current train services and timetables, can already be found on the Location and Travel section of the Tackley Village website. In addition, we hope to provide topical news and updates from the train companies and Network Rail about upcoming developments and opportunities, through direct contacts with the companies and their representatives, and also the Parish Council. We hope to find out from time to time how residents use the train service, more generally what people think about the rail services and station (whether you are a current user or not), and to see what people would like from these services in the future. We also plan to explore the possibility of Tackley joining the “Adopt a Station” scheme for our own station, and other initiatives to develop rail-related facilities alongside other rail user groups in the area.

NEWS June 2026 – S4 Busses Latest
GWR still maintain that the S4 bus provides a reasonable alternative when the platform is closed. As is the current position with the temporary bridge, taxis will continue to be made available to the disabled. If GWR’s position changes we will update.

The timings of the three key morning buses (from the Green) are:
06:30 arrives Magdalen St. 07:03 (current train 06:52 arrive 07:03)
07:34 arrives Magdalen St. 08:17 (current train 07:45 arrive 07:57)
08:43 arrives Magdalen St. 09:20 (current train 08:52 arrive 09:03)

The bus also stops at Oxford Parkway station.

During the period of the closure, GWR are going to reduce the cost of a single rail ticket from Oxford to Tackley to ensure that the cost of using the bus to get to Oxford and the train back to Tackley is equivalent to an off-peak rail ticket.

Stagecoach have just informed us that they will be running double decker buses on all the morning services, and that there will be plenty of seats.

NEWS April 2026
On Thursday May 14 from 4pm-7pm Great Western Railway (GWR) and Network Rail are holding a drop-in session at Tackley Village Memorial Hall to discuss the proposals.  Please come along if you want to hear more, or make your views known.

Network Rail have decided to site the new bridge at the same location as the temporary bridge, and the temporary bridge will therefore be dismantled during construction.  Access to the down platform will be closed, and trains will not stop there. Trains from Oxford will stop as normal at Tackley.

We don’t yet know the precise date for starting (probably early summer), or the length of period for construction, but it could be up to 12 months.

Alternative transport to Oxford
GWR have currently decided that the S4 bus provides a reasonable alternative during this disruption.  As is the current position with the temporary bridge, taxis will continue to be made available to the disabled.

The timings of the three morning buses (from the Green) are:
06:30 arrives Magdalen St. 07:03 (current train 06:52 arrives 07:03)
07:34 arrives Magdalen St. 08:17 (current train 07:45 arrives 07:57)
08:43 arrives Magdalen St. 09:20 (current train 08:52 arrives 09:03)

During the period of the closure, GWR are going to reduce the cost of a single rail ticket from Oxford to Tackley to ensure that the cost of using the bus to get to Oxford and the train back to Tackley is equivalent to an off-peak return rail ticket.

We will update with more news as we hear it.  

Malcolm Ridout has organized a petition concerning the alternative services – click here to sign the petition

GWR obligations on alternative transport arrangements
Under their 2022 Franchise Agreement with the Government, FGW are obliged during planned disruption of services  “the Operator shall use all reasonable endeavours to: (a) ensure that such alternative transport arrangements are of reasonable quality, of a reasonably similar frequency to the Passenger Services included in the Timetable which such arrangements replace and fit for the purpose of the journey to be undertaken; (b) transport passengers to, or as near as practicable to, the end of their intended journey”
(Chap 4.2, para 6.2)

August 2025
From Great Western Railways (GWR)
Several TRUG members met in April in Tackley with Eleanor Wills, who is the GWR Regional Manager for our area. During this meeting several issues were raised, following the recent residents’ survey in the village, especially concerning the possibilities of extending the Sunday train services throughout the year and providing a late night service on Saturdays (at the moment the last train from Oxford to Tackley leaves at 9.23pm). Eleanor was sympathetic to these requests and agreed to raise these points with Matthew Cambourne, the Head of Planning at GWR. We have now had a response from him which we report below.

The answer was somewhat disappointing in the short term, although he did say that “there is a long standing aspiration to increase the local service level in future”, including the possibility of increasing the frequency of trains during the day. But the line is currently considered to be at full capacity because of the heavy freight and passenger traffic, and because speeds are limited due to safety concerns at level crossings, although this may be addressed by Network Rail in the future. 

Heavy freight traffic means that engineering work has to take place overnight on Saturdays, which limits the local services late at night. A rail replacement bus service used to run instead but was stopped because of anti-social behaviour, although it is hoped to revive this at some point in the future. 

Matthew was also unable to provide a positive response to our request for extended Sunday services because this would not be possible to cover within the existing level of government subsidy unless this was to change in the future.  

TRUG will continue to lobby for these services, for which there is an evident demand thanks to the residents’ survey.

Train Survey – Summer 2024
Thank you everyone who took part in the train survey in the summer.  We had 204 responses which is a very good number, and a very broad range of ages.
80% had used the train in the last 3 months, with around 20 regular commuters but most using the train for leisure purposes.  The most popular destinations were Oxford and London.  Most users thought the fares were reasonable and that the trains ran on time.  But there was concern about overcrowding on the two early morning trains when there are currently only two carriages.

Just over half the non-users drove to other stations to travel, with Oxford Parkway the most popular.  Others found a car or buses more convenient and the times not convenient.

At present there are some Sunday trains (3 times a day) but only during summer months. A very high proportion of both users and non-users (76%) said they would be very likely or likely to use the services if extended throughout the year.   Again, a very high proportion (70%) said they would welcome a late night Saturday service from Oxford. We have sent the results to First Great Western, and plan to meet up before the end of the year with the new Regional Manager to discuss the key findings.  We know they are very interested in this survey and will report back on their reactions.

Current members:
Dilys Codrington
Alfie Davis
Robin Gibbons
Christopher Gribble 
Nigel House 
Andy Lines (Paris Council liaison)
Will Lowe 
Charlie Macke
Richard Macrory (convenor)
Tony Perry 
Ruth Plucknett 
Peter Read

Contact: Peter Read (plread@btinternet.com)

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