at 06:01:07 on Fri, 2 Mar 2012, Andy remarked:

The [Reading] Intercity services already have
different peak hour validity, which causes peak hour crowding the the
slower trains which use the relief lines for part of their journey.

That's been the case for as long as I can remember (1978).

Not accepting Oyster on the "Intercity" services would be akin to EMT
not accepting them on a hypothetical extension of Oyster to
Luton/Bedford. Which is not an impossible situation based on prior form
(eg apparently they don't accept Groupsave on that part of the route).
--
Roland Perry