Oxford railwey station

**Oxford railwey station** is a mainline railwey station serving the ceety o Oxford, Ingland. It is aboot  wast o the ceety centre, north-wast o Frideswide Square an the eastern end o Botley Road. It is on the line for trains atween  an Hereford via . It is a stairtin pynt for fest an local trains tae London Paddington an , an for local trains tae , Worcester (Shrub Hill an Foregate stations), an . It is awso on the north/sooth Cross Country Route frae  an  via  an Reading tae  an . The station is managed bi Great Western Railway, an awso served bi CrossCountry an Chiltern Railways trains. Immediately tae the north is Sheepwash Channel Railway Bridge ower the Sheepwash Channel.

## History

The Great Western Railway (GWR) appened tae Oxford on 12 June 1844 wi a terminus station in whit is now Western Road, Grandpont. In 1845 the Oxford an Rugby Railway (ORR) began tae big its line, stairtin frae an infaw at New Hinksey  sooth o the GWR terminus. The infaw wis kent as Millstream Junction, an wis atween the futur sites o  an , baith o whit war appened in 1908. The GWR teuk ower the ORR while it wis aye being built, an appened the line as faur as  on 2 September 1850. For juist ower twa years, trains frae Oxford tae Banbury stairted at Grandpont, an haed tae reverse at Millstream Junction in order tae conteena thair jurney.

The ORR line included a new throu station in Park End Street, so whan this appened wi the stension o the line frae Banbury tae Birmingham on 1 October 1852, the oreeginal Grandpont terminus wis closed tae passenger services. The auld station at Grandpont became a guids depot, but wis closed halely on 26 November 1872, the day that the braid gauge tracks war remuived north o Didcot. The site o the station wis then sauld, as wis the trackbed frae Millstream Junction, some  in lenth.

Major subsequent chynges war remuival o the lest  gauge tracks in 1872 an o the train shiel in 1890–1. The station wis substantiously rebuilt bi the Western Region o British Railways in 1971, forder impruivements being cairried oot in 1974 including the proveesion o a new traivel centre, an the new main biggin an fitbrig war addit in 1990 bi Network SouthEast.

Planning permeession wis grantit for the expansion tae stell the proponed Chiltern Railways service tae London Marylebone  an the service wis subsequently lencht on 12 December 2016. Meantime, Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council an Network Rail hae developit a maisterplan for forder development o the station.

Fluid remediation wark sooth o the station at Hinksey saw services at the station jimpit & replaced bi buses tae/frae Didcot Parkway in Julie an August 2016. This alloued the trackbed tae be raised bi 2 feet (0.65 m) an new cundies instawed tae reduce the dint o fluidin frae the nearby River Thames upon the railwey (whit haes caused service interruptions on seiveral occasions in recent years).  Concurrent brig mend wark at Hanborough an seegnallin alterations at Banbury wis awso cairried oot ower this speal. The £18 million schame wis feenisht on 15 August 2016.

The station haes aye been busy. In addeetion tae current services, umwhile thare war ithers ower the Wycombe Railway, Oxford, Witney an Fairford Railway, an Blenheim an Woodstock Branch Line.  Throu trains frae the north tae the Southern Railway awso teepically chynged locomotives at Oxford.

It wis for a time kent as **Oxford General** station tae distinguish it frae the London an North Western Railway's  terminus o the Varsity Line tae , whit wis adjacent an cam unner jynt management in 1933. On 1 October 1951 British Railways closed Rewley Road station tae passengers an transportit its services tae the foregane GWR station.

Sooth o the station immediately wast o the railwey tracks is Osney Cemetery, estaiblished in 1848 juist afore the current station site. Nearby is the site o the foregane Osney Abbey.

### Station Maisters

*J.F. Relton ???? - 1863
*Alfred Jordan 1863 - 1866
*Mr. 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
*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)
*James Miller 1951 - 1960 (formerly station master at Newbury)

## Plans

### Forder expansion
In November 2009 it wis annunced that Oxford station wad be expanded. A £10 million jynt development atween Network Rail an Oxfordshire County Council wad mak a new platform on pairt o the station’s lang-stey car pairk. The new platform (sooth o platform 1) wad allou trains tae arrive an depairt frae the same track an reduce the need for empie trains tae be shunted aroond the station. Currently, in busy times trains can be kept waitin ootside o the station for a platform tae become free.

A new kivert fitbrig wad awso be built ower Botley Road tae link the station biggin wi the new platform, replacing the current fitbrig tae the car pairk. The new platform wis tae hae been brovht intae uise in 2011, an wis tae be pairt o the ceety an coonty cooncils' West End Area Action Plan for the wastren pairt o the ceety centre, whit awso conseeders ither rail projects sic as Evergreen 3 an the Paddington – Oxford electrification.

Chiltern Railways haes raised the possibeelity o developing a service atween Oxford an the Cowley brainch line.

### Project Evergreen 3

In August 2008 Chiltern Railways annunced Project Evergreen 3, a proposal tae big a  chord atween the Oxford tae Bicester Line an the Chiltern Main Line, tae allou a new Oxford tae London Marylebone service tae rin via Bicester Village an . Wark stairtit in 2014; the project had been completed as far as Oxford Parkway railwey station an the Oxford Parkway/Bicester/Marylebone service stairtit on 26 October 2015. The line atween Bicester an Oxford Parkway wis subsequently doubelt an a new station wis built at . Services tae Oxford war planned tae stairt in Spring 2016, awtho locals objectit tae the extrae noise that wad be caused. Network Rail feenisht the feenal stages o track relaying in the Wolvercote Tunnel an Peartree airies in September 2016, an Chiltern Railways began services frae Oxford tae Oxford Parkway on 11 December 2016.

The schame awso included twa new platforms at Oxford station, built on the site o the disuissed paircels depot. The new platforms war ineetially designt tae be five cairiages in lenth wi proveesions makt for them tae be stendit soothlins tae eicht cairiages.

Frae 2019, this route oot o Oxford will be shared wi the wastren section o East West Rail on the foregane Varsity Line tae , ,  an .

## Services

Great Western Railway rin twa fest trains per our tae  via  an twa stappin services tae  or  per oor. The stappin trains mainly oreeginate here (a wee bit cam frae ), houaniver some fest trains conteena tae an frae Worcester an Hereford.

Chiltern Railways rin twa fest trains per oor tae  via . Thir awso ca at the nearby . Chiltern Railways awso provide a leemitit peak-oor service tae . 

CrossCountry rin trains twice per oor tae , o whit three trains per twa oors conteena tae  an ane train per oor conteenas on frae  tae . Thir trains cam frae  an  via .

## References