Oxford area rail infrastructure improvements

[Brian M]

Thanks jimm - let's hope that the timetable for next summer's completion of the total scheme is achieved.

I must make an effort and take an Oxford General to Islip cheap return to see the alterations and progress from a ringside seat.

 

[Tom Quinne]

For as long as I can remember you could approach Oxford from the north at speed with flashing yellows controlling the approach to the 25mph turnout for the platform road just north of the station; but from the south you were brought almost to a stand at Osney Cemetery before the signal cleared even when the platform was empty. So I was delighted when the whole layout south of the station was recently remodelled: a much-needed improvement I thought. Imagine my disappointment to find that, not only is the new turnout still 25mph when a longer-lead for at least 50mph would have been possible, but worse there's still no approach-control and the potential for 2-minute time saving for arriving trains appears to have been missed. Or will this be rectified when control passes to the TVSC at Didcot?

Although new track work has been installed it’s still controlled via the interlockings at Oxford, the full benefits will become apparent when Oxford transfers to TVSC summer 18.

 

[Andyjs247]

Does anyone know if the Down Bletchley through Wolvercote Tunnel is completed? Everything uses the Up between Woodstock Road Jn (north of the tunnel) and Oxford Canal Jn from where everything crosses to the Down line to Oxford North. Would I be right in assuming the track through the tunnel is complete but not yet commissioned?

The photo also shows the hut on the alignment of the Up Bletchley. Obviously that will have to go before the works are completed and the connection made.

Thanks jimm - let's hope that the timetable for next summer's completion of the total scheme is achieved.

I must make an effort and take an Oxford General to Islip cheap return to see the alterations and progress from a ringside seat.

Brian M, for 10p more you can get a cheap return from Oxford to Bicester which will allow you 2tph to choose from rather than the rather sparse service that Islip gets.

 

[Brian M]

Brian M, for 10p more you can get a cheap return from Oxford to Bicester which will allow you 2tph to choose from rather than the rather sparse service that Islip gets.

Thanks Andy for the tip - That would also enable a hands-on view of Bicester Village station and also the connection into COD Bicester (where I presume a new link was made for entry for services from the north whilst the south end of the Oxford-Bicester line was closed for refurbishment for the past few years)

Have watched Islip Station 'rebuilt' twice now in the last 30 years, with the current station now with two platforms and a decent size car park (and free, when I last visited a few months ago) but, as you say, a fairly lean train service.

 

[swt_passenger]

Does anyone know if the Down Bletchley through Wolvercote Tunnel is completed?

The track work in the Wolvercot tunnel area (and the route generally) is complete, it is visible in a number of videos taken in and since December 2016.

 

[II]

Sidings 4 and 5 (one new, one realigned) in Rewley Road Carriage Sidings opened yesterday. Work will now take place on realigning sidings 2 and 3 which have now closed, with siding 1 remaining open until a later date.

 

[70014IronDuke]

I don't think I've stood on the platforms at Oxford since the days when Bulleid pacifics would hand over to Halls or Cl 47s there, so apologies if I'm off the wall here - but wasn't there talk at some time of opening a new station about 2 - 2.5 miles south of the present station, near where the southern ring road crosses the main lines? Or am I imagining it? Even so, wouldn't it be an idea - allowing car drivers to avoid the western end of the city and catch the train there, and you could build your student flat at will on top of the old station site and barely bother with car parking facilities? It would add 3 mins to journey times, I suppose - but it would help GWR keep more of the traffic from the city. (nnot that I hve the slightest interest in GWR doing this, as opposed to Chiltern).

 

[II]

There were plans to move the station about a quarter of a mile south of its current location, roughly adjacent to the ice rink, but none that I can remember to move it that far south. The current favoured option, which I can't see altering, is to rebuild the station in its current location. A search of Oxford Station Masterplan will give you details.

 

[jimm]

The reinstatement of rails and sleepers on the section of the down loop extension to Wolvercote that was lifted earlier this year is now complete, so rails are continuous again down to Oxford North junction.

The easternmost of the new up carriage sidings at the station are now complete and at least one of them is in use with temporary lighting on the trackside walkway. Work to lay the other new up sidings is under way.

 

[II]

The easternmost of the new up carriage sidings at the station are now complete and at least one of them is in use with temporary lighting on the trackside walkway. Work to lay the other new up sidings is under way.

Yes, as my post said up thread a little, roads 4 and 5 opened a month or so ago. That was joined by road 3 just the other day.

 

[jimm]

Forgot that, not that it was entirely clear passing in the dark yesterday what was in use and what not, as all the lighting seems to be angled on just one walkway and one siding.

 

[jimm]

Work on the new canopies for the north end bay platforms is coming long - about two-thirds of the roof panels are in place now between platforms 2 and 3 and steelwork for the platform 1 canopy is going up.

 

[jimm]

Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne was out this morning at Oxford to see work on the new stabling sidings just north of the station and preparation for the resignalling scheme due to be completed next summer

https://twitter.com/networkrailwest?lang=en

 

[gwr4090]

Has the current phase of track and signalling works at Oxford been affected by the demise of Carillion ? Will it have an impact on the deferred Didcot-Oxford electrification ?

 

[tago]

wasn't there talk at some time of opening a new station about 2 - 2.5 miles south of the present station, near where the southern ring road crosses the main lines? Or am I imagining it?

No, there was a short lived proposal to use the Hinksey sidings area, many years ago now. It is of course in the Green Belt so there was outrage.

Oxford Parkway has performed a similar function for those to the North of Oxford, seemingly without impacting passenger numbers at Hanborough.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Both Hanborough and Charlbury have recorded falls in passenger numbers since Oxford Parkway opened. Anecdotally Parkway appears to have taken a non-negligible amount of off-peak leisure traffic from the Charlbury area, but not commuter traffic.

 

[tago]

That might also be down to them replacing HSTs on the Cotswold line with knackered old 2-coach Turbos. Service seems to have fallen off a cliff edge in the last month or so.

 

[Ploughman]

That might also be down to them replacing HSTs on the Cotswold line with knackered old 2-coach Turbos. Service seems to have fallen off a cliff edge in the last month or so.

Could be worse.
Do you want some 2 car knackered old Pacers instead?

 

[tago]

Could be worse.
Do you want some 2 car knackered old Pacers instead?

There's very little difference.

 

[jyte]

There's very little difference.

ooooh I bet half the north would beg to differ

 

[Non Multi]

Could be worse.
Do you want some 2 car knackered old Pacers instead?

Before the Turbos came along they had the 155s, built by Leyland Bus at Workington.

 

[FGW_DID]

That might also be down to them replacing HSTs on the Cotswold line with knackered old 2-coach Turbos. Service seems to have fallen off a cliff edge in the last month or so.

You make it sound like every HST diagram over the Cotswolds has been replaced by a 2 car Turbo as routine, that certainly isn’t the fact. There are now 800s running on the Cotswolds as well and if there is need to replace one of those, it’s usually by an HST. Yes, there has been incidences of 2 car Turbos as a short notice replacement, it depends what’s available! A 2car may be preferred instead of a 3car as due to no SDO on the Turbos, the 2car can be used to stop at the short platforms at Combe & Finstock.

 

[tago]

You make it sound like every HST diagram over the Cotswolds has been replaced by a 2 car Turbo as routine, that certainly isn’t the fact. There are now 800s running on the Cotswolds as well and if there is need to replace one of those, it’s usually by an HST. Yes, there has been incidences of 2 car Turbos as a short notice replacement, it depends what’s available! A 2car may be preferred instead of a 3car as due to no SDO on the Turbos, the 2car can be used to stop at the short platforms at Combe & Finstock.

My last three journeys on the line have all been turbos in place of longer trains. Two of them at peak. None of them the Oxfordshire halts train. Not seen an 800 on the line so far.

 

[jimm]

That might also be down to them replacing HSTs on the Cotswold line with knackered old 2-coach Turbos. Service seems to have fallen off a cliff edge in the last month or so.

The reductions in passenger numbers at Charlbury and Hanborough noted above were evident from the last set of station usage figures, covering a period months before the 180s were in their last week with GWR and a 2-car Turbo stood in on the afternoon halts train, which has been happening on and off since then, or the train has't run, or has been an 800 - at any rate it was on Monday.

On at least a couple of days last week I think every planned IET working ran, except the 16.22, which doesn't fit with the three diagrams of sorts that are booked to operate at the moment, so will pose a problem until enough drivers are available and some London-Oxford only turns can be fitted into diagrams. And as FGW_DID says, if there is an HST available, those have also replaced 800s in the past few weeks.

Turbos appearing as substitutes on the Cotswold Line ia nothing new and has been happening for years if a 180 or HST failed, or got switched to cover another job to Bristol, Cardiff etc. You can use a Turbo to Oxford and Worcester - sending one up the main line to Swindon and Bristol isn't really practical.

If your peak journeys involve heading in the Oxford/London direction in the morning and the other way at the end of the afternoon, you won't be seeing an IET, unless it is passing you in the other direction, or one is being used on the 16.22.

As has been discussed elsewhere, staff training is still taking place, so matching drivers, guards and rolling stock is going to be a headache for some weeks to come, it appears.

And now maybe this thread can get back to talking about Oxford area improvements, as intended, such as the canopy recently going up over the area between the station building, the footbridge and the bay platforms.

 

[robk23oxf]

Both Hanborough and Charlbury have recorded falls in passenger numbers since Oxford Parkway opened. Anecdotally Parkway appears to have taken a non-negligible amount of off-peak leisure traffic from the Charlbury area, but not commuter traffic.

That might be due to the car parks at Hanborough and Charlbury generally being full by the time the morning rush hour is over? That said, even Parkway fills up from time to time. Car park extensions at the Oxford area stations are going to have to be considered in the near future.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Could be worse.
Do you want some 2 car knackered old Pacers instead?

Does every thread about improvements in South have to reduce to this?

 

[jimm]

That might be due to the car parks at Hanborough and Charlbury generally being full by the time the morning rush hour is over? That said, even Parkway fills up from time to time. Car park extensions at the Oxford area stations are going to have to be considered in the near future.

No it's not - the fall in traffic was sizeable and came after years of sustained growth. No sign of it at stations further along the line towards Worcester. A planning application for an extra deck on the lower part of the Charlbury car park is expected shortly.

And again nothing to do with things going on at Oxford.

 

[alexx]

Meanwhile, the Oxford Mail has decided that the Cowley branch could open next year because a report says it's a good idea. Nothing like reality to get in the way of a good headline...

DESIGNS for a new train station have already been drawn up as business leaders and MPs push for Oxford's Cowley Branch Line to be reopened next year.

A Government-backed report called for the rail line to be reopened for passenger services in 2019 and a £300,000 study into how it could happen was also commissioned.

Chiltern Railways said the timescale was 'ambitious' but the Oxford Mail can reveal plans for a new station at Oxford Science Park have already been drawn up as part of an architectural competition.

The scheme could also include another station at Oxford Business Park with journeys into the city taking less than ten minutes.

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/15...anch_Line_railway_could_be_open_by_next_year/

 

[jimm]

Track for another of the new up side carriage sidings north of the station is now nearing completion, which I think is number 4 out of 5.

The Oxford area is swarming with people in orange working on the resignalling project and new signals with hoods over them have been planted heading north out to Wolvercot junction.

I gather that the blockade to complete the resignalling and commission the extended down loop line to Wolvercote Common this summer will run over three weeks from June 30. Different arrangements for trains and replacement buses will apparently apply each week as the work progresses.

 

[jimm]

Much of the track work for the new connections into the down side carriage sidings at the station is now in place, awaiting connection during the summer blockade, along with elements of the new connections into platforms 1,2 and 3 from the north.

And looks as though ballast is starting to be dropped along the new track for the extension of the down loop line to Wolvercote at long last.