Aylesbury Vale Parkway railway station is a railway station serving villages northwest of Aylesbury, England. It also serves the Berryfields and Weedon Hill housing developments north of the town. The station and all trains serving it are operated by Chiltern Railways.

Background

Aylesbury Vale Parkway is on the former

Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Railway The Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Railway was a joint railway company that controlled a line extending from Harrow on the Hill in what is now north-western Greater London to Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, England. Owned by the Met ...

, which formed part of the Great Central Main Line route linking

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and Aylesbury with the East Midlands and North. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister announced in April 2006 that it would provide £8.17 million for track and signalling improvements to the existing line, which then was only used to carry freight. A further £2.8 million was invested by Chiltern Railways' owners

Laing Rail Arriva UK Trains Limited is the company that oversees Arriva's train operating companies in the United Kingdom. It gained its first franchises in February 2000. These were later lost, though several others were gained. In January 2010, with th ...

and £1 million by

Buckinghamshire County Council Buckinghamshire County Council was the upper-tier local authority for the administrative county and later the non-metropolitan county of Buckinghamshire, in England, the United Kingdom established in 1889 following the Local Government Act 1888 ...

. Construction began in October 2007 and the rail works were completed by Carillion Rail. The station was originally not due to be completed until 2010 but actually opened on 14 December 2008 although the station building did not open until 1 June 2009. In the interim while the station buildings were being completed, tickets and facilities were provided from

Portakabin A portable, demountable or transportable building is a building designed and built to be movable rather than permanently located. Smaller version of portable buildings are also known as portable cabins. Portable cabins are prefabricated structu ...

Services and facilities

Aylesbury Vale Parkway has links to existing

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

bus services along the A41 corridor. A bus service from the station to several villages north of Aylesbury began on 15 December 2008. Other bus journeys include the Green Route 4 of the Rainbow Routes served by Redline Buses and very infrequent services to and from

Bicester Bicester ( ) is a historical market towngarden town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in Southern England that also comprises an eco town at North-East Bicester and self-build village aGraven Hill Its loca ...

on the route 18 run by Langston & Tasker. The station has a taxi rank, car park, a charging point for electric vehicles and parking bays for motorcycles and pedal cycles. The off-peak train service is one departure per hour to Marylebone via . In peak periods there are up to three trains per hour to Marylebone. The journey time to Aylesbury is about four minutes.

Plans

In 2011,

East West Rail East West Rail is a major project to establish a strategic railway connecting East Anglia with Central, Southern and Western England. In particular, it plans to build (or rebuild) a line linking Oxford and Cambridge via Bicester, Milton Keyn ...

planned to extend passenger services from north and east to Milton Keynes Central and by 2025, using parts of the former

Varsity Line The Varsity Line (or the Oxford to Cambridge railway line) was the main railway route that once linked the English university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, operated by the London and North Western Railway. During World War II the line was ...

route. However, in November 2020 it was reported that this service may be dropped from the first phase. , trains between Aylesbury and cannot serve Aylesbury Vale Parkway as there is no platform on the through route. In the East West Rail consultation it was proposed that the station would have two new through platforms and a terminating platform for terminating services to and for trains to Marylebone. The track between Aylesbury and the new station was upgraded to

continuous welded rail A railway track (British English and UIC terminology) or railroad track (American English), also known as permanent way or simply track, is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties (sleepers ...

with a maximum line speed for DMU passenger trains of . It was proposed that, if services are extended to the north, trains between Milton Keynes Central and Marylebone would run via and not Amersham. In March 2021, the East West Rail Company announced that its opening plans for East West Rail have changed, notably deferring indefinitely a connection to Aylesbury.

References

External links

Chiltern Railways station page

East West Rail Consortium
{{Railway stations in Buckinghamshire Railway stations in Buckinghamshire DfT Category E stations Railway stations opened by Network Rail Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 2008 Railway stations served by Chiltern Railways Vale Parkway railway station East West Rail

Background

Services and facilities

Plans

See also

References

External links