New
service



Great
Western
Railway
is
proposing
to
run
several
trains
on
Saturdays
between
Oxford
and
Bristol
Temple
Meads.
Some
of
the
trains
would
run
via
the
west
curve
at
Didcot
Parkway,
and
revive
a
route
which
disappeared
more
than
20
years
ago.
The
two
return
trips
would
call
at
Swindon,
Chippenham
and
Bath
Spa,
and
one
would
also
call
at
Didcot
Parkway
by
reversing
there.
If
approval
is
given
by
the
Department
for
Transport
and
Network
Rail,
the
trial
journeys
could
start
on
14
September
and
run
until
December.

Battery
delays


Merseyrail
has
promised
refunds
to
passengers
who
have
been
affected
by
delays
on
the
Kirkby
line
since
battery
powered
Stadler
Class
777
units
began
running
on
the
route.
It
includes
the
recently-opened
extension
to
Headbolt
Lane,
which
has
no
conductor
rail
and
relies
on
battery
trains.
Merseyrail
said:
‘We
know
that
services
on
the
Headbolt
Lane
line
have
fallen
short
of
the
high
standards
our
customers
deserve.’
The
nature
of
the
problems
has
not
been
revealed.

Pay
talks
call



The
‘white
collar’
rail
union
TSSA
has
called
for
urgent
talks
with
Transport
for
London
after
it
rejected
a
5
per
cent
pay
offer.
The
RMT
had
been
set
to
strike
between
Monday
and
Thursday
this
week,
but
the
walkouts
were
called
off
on
Sunday
after
TfL
made
an
improved
offer
to
the
RMT
after
reportedly
‘finding’
another
£30
million.
Now
TSSA
is
due
to
hold
a
strike
ballot
of
its
TfL
members,
and
said:
‘It
is
hoped
that
urgent
talks
will
mean
that
escalation
to
industrial
action
can
be
avoided’.