page_title: Oxford and Rugby Railway
section_title: Origin
hierarchical_section_title: Oxford and Rugby Railway / Origin
caption_attribution_description: English: Diagram of the new railway between Oxford and Birmingham, England, in 1852
context_page_description: The Oxford and Rugby Railway was promoted by the Great Western Railway as a means of connecting to the West Midlands and the north of England, by joining existing railways at Rugby. It was authorised in 1845, but the GWR soon decided to make its own line to Birmingham, and in 1846 it acquired the O&RR; work had not started on its construction.
  In the same year the GWR obtained Parliamentary authorisation for its Birmingham line. The two railways were treated as a single project, to connect Birmingham and Oxford. In 1850 a single line was opened between Oxford and Banbury, and in 1852 the whole line to Birmingham was opened.
  The line continues in use at the present day, as an important trunk route.
context_section_description: In the mid-1840s the Great Western Railway had established its network in the south of England, but wished to connect northwards, to the industries of the West Midlands and the north-west of England.
  It had reached Oxford on 12 June 1844 by means of an affiliated railway, the Oxford Railway, from Didcot. The Oxford terminus of that line was south of the River Thames, near Folly Bridge. At the time Rugby was a key railway centre, with lines radiating northward: the Midland Counties Railway and the London and Birmingham Railway connected there, forming the only routes to the north. If the GWR could reach Rugby, then it could secure the northern connections it desired.
caption: The Birmingham and Oxford line in 1852
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