When will train services return to normal in Oxfordshire?

When the country went into its first lockdown back in March 2020, train operators heavily reduced their timetables.

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This included Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry and Great Western Railway which all serve Oxfordshire.

But as Covid restrictions come to an end, are train services returning back to normal?

Here's what they have said:

Chiltern Railways

Chiltern Railways Train

Chiltern is running just under 80 per cent of services compared to pre-Covid across the week.

A Chiltern spokesperson said: "Our services have changed throughout the pandemic to meet demand. We have changed our timetable multiple times to reflect the number of people travelling due to changing restrictions.

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"Any increase in services now will reflect demand and reflect changed travel patterns. We will continue this agile approach to adjusting service levels in order to provide a reliable service which provides value for the taxpayer."

CrossCountry

CrossCountry train

CrossCountry said it would not be running its normal pre-Covid schedule 'for a fair while yet'.

The earliest it would get back to normal is December this year, but this isn't guaranteed.

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It also said it is running less than its Covid timetable at the moment due to 'staff shortages'.

Great Western Railway (GWR)

GWR is yet to respond to our enquiry.

Great Western Railway Train (Image: Great Western Railway)

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