South West politicians call for service improvements to offset Old Oak Common disruption

Politicians in the South West are calling for improvements to rail services to counter disruption caused by the construction of Old Oak Common station.

Councillor Andrea Davis, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport at Devon County Council, said the region had ‘the brunt’ of disruption from Elizabeth line construction, electrification of the Great Western Main Line and now, HS2.

“This is just extending disruption into another decade,” she said. “So, while we’re saying we know why you’re doing it, we’d like to see some mitigation for our passengers.”

Davis told RAIL she was due to meet Rail Minister Lord Hendy “about making the benefits of Old Oak Common for us because, at the moment, I’m struggling to see what they are”.

Davis wants improved WiFi on GWR trains to help mitigate disruption. She described the current system as “really unreliable”, negating the advantage of allowing people to work on the train and preventing families – who may be put off by visiting the South West due to the disruption - from entertaining children as they visit the region on holiday.

In a letter to Jayne Kirkham, MP for Truro and Falmouth (Labour), he said: “I have asked my officials to explore the feasibility of a range of technology options to improve passenger connectivity on the rail network. The Department is also conducting research to measure the strength of mobile signals along the rail network to fully understand where interventions are needed, and the potential impacts.”

A GWR spokesman said: “We are always looking at ways to improve the customer experience on board our services. WiFi provision is however in part determined by service providers.”

Old Oak Common has been designed so all trains can stop there, however final calling patterns are yet to be decided. Adding an additional stop typically adds four-seven minutes onto journey times, and GWR, HS2 Ltd, Network Rail and the Department for Transport are developing proposals around service frequency stopping patterns.

Transport minister Simon Lightwood (Labour) said during a Westminster Hall debate on January 14 about rail services in the South West that the government had challenged Network Rail to keep disruption at Old Oak Common to a minimum, with the next closure pushed back from December 2026 to an unspecified date.

Those comments echoed Hendy, who said in the House of Lords on January 8 that he didn’t expect construction to cause disruption “in this calendar year, the next one or, indeed, the one after that”.

He also said ministers were “committed to ensuring passenger interests are considered” both during and after construction of the station.