Oxford railway station

Oxford railway station is a mainline railway station, one of two serving the city of Oxford, England. It is about west of the city centre, north-west of Frideswide Square and the eastern end of Botley Road. It is on the line for trains between and Hereford via . It is a starting point for fast and local trains to London Paddington and , and for local trains to , Worcester ( Shrub Hill and Foregate stations), and . It is also on the north/south Cross Country Route from and via and Reading to and . The station is managed by Great Western Railway, and also served by CrossCountry and Chiltern Railways trains. Immediately to the north is Sheepwash Channel Railway Bridge over the Sheepwash Channel.

History

The Great Western Railway (GWR) opened to Oxford on 12 June 1844 with a terminus station in what is now Western Road, Grandpont. In 1845 the Oxford and Rugby Railway (ORR) began to build its line, starting from a junction at New Hinksey south of the GWR terminus. The junction was known as Millstream Junction, and was between the future sites of and , both of which were opened in 1908. The GWR took over the ORR while it was still being built, and opened the line as far as on 2 September 1850. For just over two years, trains from Oxford to Banbury started at Grandpont, and had to reverse at Millstream Junction in order to continue their journey.

The ORR line included a new through station in Park End Street, so when this opened with the extension of the line from Banbury to Birmingham on 1 October 1852, the original Grandpont terminus was closed to passenger services. The old station at Grandpont became a goods depot, but was closed completely on 26 November 1872, the day that the broad gauge tracks were removed north of Didcot. The site of the station was then sold, as was the trackbed from Millstream Junction, some in length.

Major subsequent changes were removal of the last gauge tracks in 1872 and of the train shed in 1890–1. The station was substantially rebuilt by the Western Region of British Railways in 1971, further improvements being carried out during 1974 including the provision of a new travel centre, and the new main building and footbridge were added in 1990 by Network SouthEast.

Planning permission was granted for the expansion to support the proposed Chiltern Railways service to London Marylebone and the service was subsequently launched on 12 December 2016. Meanwhile, Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council and Network Rail have developed a masterplan for further development of the station. Construction of an additional platform has been proposed.

Flood remediation work south of the station at Hinksey saw services at the station curtailed & replaced by buses to/from Didcot Parkway in July and August 2016. This allowed the trackbed to be raised by 2 feet (0.65 m) and new culverts installed to reduce the impact of flooding from the nearby River Thames upon the railway (which has caused service interruptions on several occasions in recent years). Concurrent bridge repair work at Hanborough and signalling alterations at Banbury was also carried out over this period. The £18 million scheme was completed on 15 August 2016.

The station has always been busy. In addition to current services, formerly there were others over the Wycombe Railway, Oxford, Witney and Fairford Railway, and Blenheim and Woodstock Branch Line. Through trains from the north to the Southern Railway also typically changed locomotives at Oxford.

It was for a time known as Oxford General station to distinguish it from the London and North Western Railway's terminus of the Varsity Line to , which was adjacent and came under joint management in 1933. On 1 October 1951 British Railways closed Rewley Road station to passengers and transferred its services to this station.

South of the station immediately west of the railway tracks is Osney Cemetery, established in 1848 just before the current station site. Nearby is the site of the former Osney Abbey.

Station masters

*James F. Relton 1853 - 1863 (afterwards station master at Newport)
*Alfred Jordan 1863 - 1866
*William M. Beauchamp 1866 - 1868 (formerly station master at Worcester)
*James William Gibbs, 1868 - 1880 (formerly station master at Warminster)
*Mr. Newsom 1880 - 1883 (formerly station master at Taplow)
*Robert Davis 1883 - 1905 (formerly station master at Plymouth North Road)
*R. Brooker 1905 - 1918
*William Frederick Knutton 1918 - 1924 (afterwards station master at Reading)
*H.C. Foster 1924 - 1927 (formerly station master at Penzance)
*Frank Buckingham 1927 - 1941
*F.C. Price 1941 - ???? (formerly station master at Gloucester)
*C.H. Swancutt 1947- 1950 (afterwards station master at Birmingham Snow HIll)
*James Miller 1951 - 1960 (formerly station master at Newbury)

Plans

Further expansion

In November 2009 it was announced that Oxford station would be expanded. A £10 million joint development between Network Rail and Oxfordshire County Council would create a new platform on part of the station’s long-stay car park. The new platform (south of platform 1) would allow trains to arrive and depart from the same track and reduce the need for empty trains to be shunted around the station. Currently, in busy periods trains can be kept waiting outside of the station for a platform to become available.

A new covered footbridge would also be built over Botley Road to link the station building with the new platform, replacing the existing footbridge to the car park. The new platform was to have been brought into use during 2011, and was to be part of the city and county councils' West End Area Action Plan for the western part of the city centre, which also considers other rail projects such as Evergreen 3 and the Paddington–Oxford electrification.

Chiltern Railways has raised the possibility of developing a service between Oxford and the Cowley branch line.

Project Evergreen 3

In August 2008 Chiltern Railways announced Project Evergreen 3, a proposal to construct a chord between the Oxford to Bicester Line and the Chiltern Main Line, to allow a new Oxford to London Marylebone service to run via Bicester Village and . Work began in 2014; the project, which included reinstatement of double track between Bicester and Oxford, was completed in 2015 as far as the new station at and the service from here to Bicester and Marylebone commenced on 26 October 2015. Services to Oxford were planned to start in Spring 2016, although locals objected to the extra noise that would be caused. Network Rail completed the final stages of infrastructure work in the Wolvercote Tunnel and Peartree areas in September 2016, and Chiltern Railways began services from Oxford to Oxford Parkway on 11 December 2016."Oxford to Marylebone track now complete"
'Network Rail Media Centre'' press release 21 September 2016; Retrieved 22 September 2016.

East West Rail

The Chiltern route out of Oxford is shared with the western section of East West Rail, which reuses part of historic Varsity Line route between Oxford and . The initial services are planned to commence in 2023, calling at and , then or . Extension to Cambridge is planned,Bedford and Cambridge Route Option Consultation: Have Your Say
East West Rail Ltd., 28 January 2018 but not scheduled.

Services

Great Western Railway run two fast trains per hour to via and two stopping services to or per hour. The stopping trains mainly originate here (a small number come from ), however some fast trains continue to and from Worcester and Hereford.

Chiltern Railways run two fast trains per hour to via . These also call at the nearby . Chiltern Railways also provide a limited peak-hour service to .

CrossCountry run trains twice per hour to , of which three trains per two hours continue to and one train per hour continues on from to . These trains come from and via .

See also

* Oxford Down Carriage Sidings, to the north of the station

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

Chiltern Railways Evergreen 3 project

{{Railway Stations served by Chiltern Railways

1852 establishments in England
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1852
Buildings and structures completed in 1990
Railway station
Former Great Western Railway stations
Railway stations in Oxfordshire
DfT Category B stations
Railway stations served by Chiltern Railways
Railway stations served by CrossCountry
Railway stations served by Great Western Railway
Railway station
East West Rail