Is it intact? You are going to have problems with Eynsham and Witney itself. Even the proposal posted on here a while back had it substantially re-routed and not even getting close to Witney by staying south of the bypass.
It isn't fully intact, but the only major barrier is at Witney itself, where you could reroute through a 0.3 mile tunnel under Ducklington and build a Witney Parkway station to the west.
Said factory is due to close within the next decade, so maybe a potential station site?
Perhaps
Like I said when the other proposal was made though, you end up with a massive traffic influx trying to get to it as its right on the edge of the town.
Traffic into Oxford is terrible, and the last 2 miles by park and ride isn't great. A shuttle to Radley would be good - rather than 2x / hour which the bus is. Radley could become Abingdon Parkway even!
Witney's busy and could do with it - but west of that is pretty sparse and probably not too much need for connecting with Oxford. The closure and tracklifting was around
Not without taking something out at MK for the platform, AIUI (once EWR is up and running).
It's not really competing for any XC traffic though, so it certainly wouldn't affect their ticket prices (especially as if anything they'd see it as market segmentation which eases their capacity slightly).
It depends if people could use public transport to access the station.
I know traffic is terrible, but the frequency is key. Train would need at least 4tph direct to compete.
Now it feels properly like we're into 'solution in search of a problem' territory.
This is where generalised journey time plays a part. If you are having to rely on public transport to get to the station with a low frequency of trains, how far towards Oxford is that going to get you either in a car or bus? It would certainly apply off peak where traffic reduces towards Oxford. A rail service is unlikely to be more than 2tph, and without a lot of infrastructure, you might not even get that.
I've got a suggestion for that when I get back to my laptop...
It does has the big advantage of being in close proximity to an arterial road out of Witney, where as Abingdon's station location is rather peripheral.
You are still looking at 10 minutes journey time from the centre of Witney out to the Ducklington roundabout. Looking at GoogleMaps, anyone to the east of the High St is just going to carry on as they are. Id be very surprised if they bothered trying to fight through Eynsham to get to a station there either, unless it is the proposal to re-route the railway to the north which would make more sense for them.
My logic on that would be the Oxford call already allows for connections to Reading.
Many journeys connectable through Reading to east of Bletchley might be more quickly routed through London, or via XC direct from the South Coast to Oxford for interchange, while Swindon follows the general east - west trajectory and connects with trains heading further west. I think Swindon better matches up with the Oxford to Bedford and Cambridge service for capturing longer journeys, although Milton Keynes - Reading might make some sense. There could be slower paths routed via the 3.5-mile-long reliefs between Wantage Road and Challow. That would favour a new station at Grove as a stop there would increase the time on the reliefs for a slower train to be overtaken by an Express. With EWR's diesels, I wouldn't advocate running them any significant distance under the wires on GWML or elsewhere. When they eventually trade them in for battery-equipped EMUs, running to Swindon would be beneficial as it would give them a good long run under wires at the west end of the circuit to charge up en route without requiring any long charging dwells at termini.
I don't know how well you know West Oxon, but the A40 corridor has to be one of the worst for congestion and overall reliability, so it isn't a question of just carrying on into Oxford.
I concur with your Swindon to Oxford, Bedford and Cambridge suggestion, especially in the light of Oxford station's rebuild. I always assumed that at some point the Cowley Branch would link into services to Milton Keynes in a similar manner to the Aylesbury to Bletchley service. As to the question of EWR not being wired ab initio - I am of the view that as Felixstowe to Ely is on the,albeit distant CILT agenda because battery power for freight won't hack it) for electrification and also that Network Rail have already proposed a new east west chord near Soham to avoid existing loading gauge constraints at Newmarket that (a) if not electrified on opening it would be in due course and that (b) the original concept of EWR sreaching both Ispwich and Norwich will happen at some point.
Why not Basingstoke to Milton Keynes with a reversal on the north side of Reading?
As @AlastairFraser says, congestion on the A40 approaching Oxford (never mind Oxford itself) is such that "carrying on as they are" isn't really a viable option most times of the day.
Cowley to London Marylebone is an odd choice.
Fully agreed on most of it including Carterton being a great a place for the stopper to end, not sure I would send the IET there though (Banbury for connections if paths could be found, and perhaps Stratford via Honeybourne if they ever get round to reopening that).
Don't think of it of a through service based on those parameters, it allows the Cowley branch the connection to other services at Oxford whilst being able to hide a Chiltern service. Its like the TfW service to Birmingham International, it gets it out of New St.
EWR trains also need storing elsewhere and would provide more useful connections in my view.
Considering the nightmare timetabling the Milton Keynes trains, don't assume Oxford has room. Hinksey would be an operational nightmare getting across the layout twice.
Oxford will probably lose a bay on its rebuild - for a through platform (which this Cowley would probably use both directions)
I bow to your superior knowledge on Hinksey Yard, perhaps some track layout changes would be prudent once EWR is complete.
Agreed that another bay would be useful.
