Are our MPs happy with this? – Owl

Six years of disruption on railways as HS2 works wreak havoc

Train services between London and the southwest will be severely disrupted for six years because of HS2 work.

Ben Clatworthy, Aubrey Allegretti www.thetimes.com

Up to a third of weekend and overnight services leaving Paddington will be axed, affecting journeys to Heathrow as well as south Wales, the Cotswolds and the west of England.

The station will also be closed for extended periods each Christmas between this year and 2030. It includes a closure of up to four weeks starting in December 2028

Disruption at Paddington will be mitigated by diverting some services to Euston, which will add 15 minutes to journeys

Much of the disruption is caused by the building of the new HS2 station at Old Oak Common, in west London.

The Times has seen a presentation made by GWR, the rail operator, and Network Rail, to MPs whose constituents will be affected by the works.

It warns that only two tracks, compared with the usual four, will be open in the Old Oak Common area when weekend and overnight work takes place, reducing the number of train “paths” from 48-56 an hour to 14-15. Line speeds will also be halved from 125mph, adding to journey times.

Weekend services between the west country and London are already regularly overcrowded as passengers return from mini-breaks, especially on Sunday evenings. The reduction in services is likely to cause significant issues.

Network Rail is also carrying out extensive upgrades to the western mainline between Paddington and Didcot Parkway, including replacing 30-year-old overhead wires. The line has been “plagued by faults” in the last 18 months, including cracked rails, overhead line and points failures.

Services on the line became so bad last year that the rail regulator launched an investigation into whether Network Rail was managing its assets appropriately.

A rail source, familiar with the plans, said: “There is going to be real and significant disruption on the line in Paddington. Passengers who use the line regularly have just suffered a decade of upheaval with the electrification project [which was completed in 2020].

“Now there’s going to be more closures, cancellations and service alterations. We are looking at a similar level of disruption as the five years to 2019 when the electrification works were in full swing.”

Complete closures of Paddington will begin this Christmas and continue each year until 2029-30. Plans to mitigate the disruption include diverting a handful of services to Euston, which will add about 15 minutes to journey times.

Latest modelling suggests one Bristol/South Wales service and one Devon/Cornwall service each hour will be able to terminate at Euston. There are also plans for the Night Riviera sleeper service to Penzance to run from Euston.

The first Paddington closure is scheduled for November 17 this year. It will be followed by a three-day closure from December 27 to 29. The length of Christmas closures will increase from 2026.

Paddington was the second busiest station in the UK last year, up from sixth in 2022, largely thanks to the opening of the Elizabeth Line.

Old Oak Common, in west London, will be a huge new HS2 station with 14 platforms, eight of which will be used by conventional services. The HS2 platforms will be 400m long.

Under current plans, all GWR services out of Paddington as well as Heathrow Express and Elizabeth Line will call at the new station. It will also initially serve as the terminus for the HS2 line, until the planned link to Euston opens.

In October last year, Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government cancelled a plan to extend HS2 between the West Midlands and Manchester because of spiralling costs. The leg between Old Oak Common and Euston was also put on ice, with Sunak favouring a private investment model to connect the line to central London, its intended terminus.

Louise Haigh, the new transport secretary, has said that Labour is assessing all options for the scheme, including the central London leg. A decision on the future of Euston is vital as it affects the Old Oak Common design.

Rail bosses are understood to be concerned about the impact of all mainline services calling at Old Oak Common. MPs were told that timetables will need to be amended to incorporate “increased running times resulting from the new station call”.

It is anticipated that it will add an average of three minutes per train, although one MP present said officials privately believe it could add an extra 15 minutes to journeys.

“Some trains [are] likely to be significantly longer due to congestion into and out of Paddington,” the presentation said.

The rail source said: “There is a real concern about undoing the good work of the electrification project which shaved about eight minutes off London-Bristol and about 15 minutes London to south Wales.”

A spokesman for HS2 Ltd, which is building the station, said: “HS2 is delivering one the UK’s largest stations at Old Oak Common — a super-hub with unrivalled connectivity for passengers.

“There will, unfortunately, be some disruption on existing services while construction is carried out, although work has been comprehensively planned in partnership with Network Rail and the train operating companies to reduce the impact as much as possible.

“We apologise to people who will be impacted, particularly those using GWR, Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth Line who are already affected by separate works to improve performance on the Great Western mainline between Oxfordshire and London.”

People have started catching a new Covid variant that could soon take off and become the dominant type, according to scientists.

Michelle Roberts www.bbc.co.uk

Identified in Germany, in June, cases of the XEC variant have since emerged in the UK, US, Denmark and several other countries, say users on X,, external formerly known as Twitter.

It has some new mutations that might help it spread this autumn, although vaccines should still help prevent severe cases, experts say.

For those more likely to become seriously ill from Covid, the NHS offers a free booster shot.

The vaccines have been updated to better match recent variants, although not XEC, which has emerged from earlier Omicron subvariants.

Prof Francois Balloux, Director of the Genetics Institute at University College London, told BBC News that although XEC has a “slight transmission advantage” over other recent Covid variants, vaccines should still offer good protection.

He says it is possible XEC will become the dominant subvariant over the winter though.

Director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, in California, Eric Topol says XEC is “just getting started”.

“And that’s going to take many weeks, a couple months, before it really takes hold and starts to cause a wave,” he told the LA Times.

“XEC is definitely taking charge.

“That does appear to be the next variant.

“But it’s months off from getting into high levels.”

Symptoms are thought to be the same cold or flu-like ones as before:

• a high temperature
• aches
• tiredness
• a cough or sore throat

Most people feel better within a few weeks of Covid but it can take longer to recover.

There has been “strong growth” of XEC in Denmark and Germany, Covid data analyst Mike Honey says on X, external.

There is far less routine testing than before, making it difficult to know how much Covid might be around.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says it is normal for viruses to mutate and change.

People qualifying for a free booster vaccine include:

• adults aged 65 years and over
• those living in a care home for older adults
• those over the age of six months in a clinical risk group
• some front-line NHS, care-home and social-care workers

The main vaccination drive for flu and Covid, external will start in October, although some may receive their shots earlier.

Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, UKHSA Deputy Director, said: “It is normal and expected for viruses to genetically change over time. UKHSA continues to monitor all available information relating to emerging Covid variants in the UK and internationally, and to publish our data regularly.

“Vaccination provides the best protection against serious illness from COVID-19, and we urge those who are contacted by the NHS to come forward to receive their autumn vaccine.”

Will the introduction of a “seasonal charge” for water be followed by something similar for sewage.treatment? Would that go up during the rainy season perhaps? – Owl

Households in the southwest of Eng­land are being encouraged to use less water in summer, in trials during which they will receive cheaper water in winter and pay more during the summer months.

Adam Vaughan www.thetimes.com

The region had a longer-lasting hosepipe ban than any other area after the 2022 drought. Water demand across the southwest surges in the summer with the annual tourist influx, just as water supplies are tighter because of hotter weather.

In an attempt to curb water use and bills, South West Water is moving 3,500 of its 1.8 million customers to a pair of two-year trial tariffs from October 1. Participants in Devon, Cornwall, Bristol and Bournemouth will be shifted to a “seasonal tariff” that will charge them £1.02 per 1,000 litres between October and March, far lower than the normal £2.07 for metered customers. The price will be higher than normal in summer. In illustrative examples, a resident in a flat would save £1 a year but a keen gardener might pay £22 more annually.

Others in the southwest will be moved to a “summer peak” tariff and enjoy cheaper water — £1.90 per 1,000 litres rather than £2.07 — provided they use no more than 90,000 litres between April and September. If they breach that level they will pay £7.60 per 1,000 litres. The summer threshold is equiv­alent to about 1,125 baths.

“Trialling alternative charging opt­ions has the potential to alleviate the pressure both on people’s finances and our water resources and we look forward to seeing the results of this new approach,” Andrew White, senior policy leader at the Consumer Council for Water, said.

Ray Henning, a retired heavy goods vehicle driver who lives in Exeter, objected to being moved to one of the new tariffs. “They have tried to tell me that on this new charging system I will save £5 a year on water. Wow! That’s just over £0.01 a day. I can bet that it will end up costing me a lot more than I am currently paying though,” he wrote on Facebook.

Only people who are poorly or moving house can opt out of the trials, which do not include customers on social tariffs. Steve Reed, the environment secretary, said recently that people should take individual responsibility for cutting water usage, to help to meet a national goal of reducing average household water consumption by a fifth by 2038.