Oxford railway station

Oxford
Oxford station from the south with platforms 2 (left) and 1 (right) clearly visible
Location
Place	Oxford
Local authority	City of Oxford
Coordinates
Grid reference	SP504063
Operations
Station code	OXF
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Number of platforms	3
DfT category	B
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2007/08	4.713 million
2008/09	5.081 million
2009/10	5.427 million
2010/11	5.798 million
2011/12	6.227 million
2012/13	6.310 million
2013/14	6.505 million
2014/15	6.625 million
History
Original company	Great Western Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
1852	Opened
1971	Rebuilt
1990	Rebuilt
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Oxford from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Oxford railway station is a mainline railway station serving the city of Oxford, England. It is about 0.5 miles (800 m) west of the city centre, northwest of Frideswide Square and the eastern end of Botley Road. It is on the line for trains between London Paddington and Hereford via Worcester Shrub Hill. It is a starting point for fast and local trains to London Paddington (and, in 2016, to London Marylebone), and for local trains to Reading, Worcester and Banbury. It is also on the north/south CrossCountry route from Manchester Piccadilly and/or Newcastle Central via Birmingham New Street and Reading to Bournemouth. The station is operated 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 front of Oxford railway station, northwest of Frideswide Square.

The Great Western Railway was first 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 began to build its line, starting from a junction at New Hinksey 0.75 miles (1.2 km) south of the GWR terminus. The junction was known as Millstream Junction, and was between the future sites of Hinksey Halt and Abingdon Road Halt, 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 Banbury 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 66 chains (1,300 m) 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 South East.

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 Oxford Rewley Road terminus of the "Varsity Line" to Cambridge, 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 the former GWR station.

Up oil empties entering Oxford with two Diesels in 1964

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.

Plans

Further expansion

Passenger traffic at Oxford is growing rapidly. In the nine years 2003–12 the number of passengers using the station increased by 71%.

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.

Project Evergreen 3

Main article: Chiltern Railways § Evergreen 3

In August 2008 Chiltern Railways announced Project Evergreen 3, a proposal to construct a 0.25 miles (400 m) link between Bicester Town and the Chiltern Main Line, to allow a new Oxford to London Marylebone service to run via Bicester Town and High Wycombe. Work began in 2013: the project has been completed and the Oxford Parkway/Bicester/Marylebone service commenced on 26 October 2015. The line between Bicester Town and Wolvercote Tunnel has been doubled and a new station has been built at Oxford Parkway. Services will start from Oxford to Marylebone in 2016. From 2019, this route out of Oxford will be shared with further new services on the former 'Varsity Line' to Winslow, Bletchley, Milton Keynes Central and Bedford.

The scheme also includes two new platforms at Oxford station, to be built on the site of the disused parcels depot. The new platforms will initially be five carriages in length, but provision will be made for them to be extended southwards to eight carriages.

Services

Railways around Oxford

Legend to Banbury to Worcester to Bicester to Witney and Fairford Oxford Parkway Yarnton Oxford Road Halt Yarnton Loop City boundary Wolvercot Junction Wolvercot Platform Wolvercote Halt Oxford North Junction x20px Port Meadow Halt Exchange sidings Sheepwash Channel Rewley Road Swing Bridge Oxford Oxford Rewley Road City boundary Oxford (Grandpont) Goods Hinksey Halt Millstream Junction Abingdon Road Halt Kennington Junction Radley Iffley Halt to Didcot Kennington Railway Bridge Littlemore Morris Cowley BMW Mini terminal Horspath Halt to Princes Risborough

A 1902 Railway Clearing House map of railways in the Oxford area

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Banbury or Tackley		Chiltern Railways Stratford-upon-Avon – Oxford Limited Service		Terminus
Oxford Parkway		Chiltern Railways Interim bus service		Terminus
Banbury		CrossCountry Manchester – Bournemouth		Reading
		CrossCountry Newcastle – Reading and beyond
Hanborough or Terminus		Great Western Railway Cotswold Line		Didcot Parkway or Reading
Tackley or Terminus		Great Western Railway Cherwell Valley Line		Radley
	Future services
Oxford Parkway		Chiltern Railways London Marylebone – Oxford		Terminus
Oxford Parkway		Varsity Line Reading - Bedford or Milton Keynes Central		Didcot Parkway
	Historical railways
Wolvercot Platform Line open; station closed		Great Western Railway Great Western Main Line		Hinksey Halt Line open; station closed

External links

• Chiltern Railways Evergreen 3 project