Proposal to increase Old Oak Common line speed submitted by Network Rail

Network Rail has submitted plans to increase the westbound line speed through Old Oak Common while the Great Western Main Line station is being built.

A 60mph limit, adding around 90 seconds to journey times, is planned for when the route is realigned to serve the station.

But NR has submitted a proposal to the Department for Transport to raise that to 80mph until the station is open.

NR told RAIL: “We’re considering increasing the speed limit through the new station for certain trains, which could save passengers time on their journeys.

“This would be for long-distance services heading west out of London Paddington towards South Wales, the West and South West.”

The submission comes after Liberal Democrat MPs in the South West said they had been told not all Great Western Railway services would stop at the new station.

Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) posted on X: “I am glad to confirm Great Western Railway trains travelling from the South West to London Paddington will not stop at Old Oak Common as standard - as had been proposed.”

They said Rail Minister Lord Hendy had told them GWR trains would not stop unless “there is good reason to do so” - something DfT did not deny.

A GWR spokesman said: “The main issue is that the decision on how many trains (and which ones) will stop at Old Oak Common once it is completed in around 2035 is not GWR’s to make. While the new HS2 station has been designed so it could cope with a high number of stopping trains, it has never been a GWR plan to do so.”

MPs also said no extensive closures in 2025 or 2026 are planned for the Old Oak area.

However, ten days of partial closure (with two tracks being closed at a time) are planned over Christmas 2025 at Dolphin Junction, just east of Slough. RAIL understands the junction will be replaced alongside other maintenance work.