Great Western Railway, Chiltern Railways and CrossCountry Trains at Oxford on September 4th 2021

4th visit to Oxford on the Oxford Canal Line, Cotswolds Line and Cherwell Valley Line
Featuring services from Great Western Railway, Chiltern Railways and CrossCountry Trains.
Oxford opened on June 12th 1844 by the original Great Western Railway although located in Western Road, Granpont however todays site of the present station dates from relocation on October 1st 1852.
The former Terminus eventually became a goods depot however closed in 1872.
The station has been refurbished several times over the decades firstly in 1971 by British Railways. next was 1990 by Network Southeast a few years before privatisation in 1994 which included today's station building added along with footbridge, 2011 was when the footbridge was replaced along with the addition of Step Free Access and 2015 for the arrival of Chiltern Railways services from London Marylebone via Bicester Village.
Eventhough the station managed by Great Western Railway rebranded in September 2016 from First Great Western suprisnly still retains some of the original First Great Western signage
The Bay Platforms 1 and 2 are nowadays used by Chiltern Railways provide an Half Hourly service from London Marylebone via High Wycombe
The former Varsity Line to Cambridge had been originally axed by Beeching however in the early 2000s an option was explored to provide an alternative service to London
The Evergreen Project which at the time consisted of 3 stages which included the upgrade of the Chiltern Main Line including Signalling and infrastructure as well the line from Bicester Village to Oxford came under the 3rd stage
It was reinstated firstly to Oxford Parkway in October 2015 however due to difficulties with the Woolecote Tunnel and work on the chord junction to connect the Chiltern route into Oxford it wasn't until December 2016 when full services from London Marylebone began running into Oxford.
Nowadays services are covered mostly by Class 165 Turbos or Class 168s Clubmans and Turbostars respectively.
The through lines used by Freight services split Platforms 3 and 4 used by Great Western Railway and CrossCountry services
Main Great Western Railway services from London Paddington served by Class 800 or Class 802 IETs which provide an Half hourly service with terminating services head to the reversing sidings although certain services continue via the Cotswolds Line to destinations such as Worcester Shrub Hill, Worcester Foregate Street, Great Malvern and Hereford .
The Other GWR services to and from Didcot Parkway are provided by Class 165 turbos operate the shuttle fast or stopping services with 1 train every 2 hours continuing to Banbury.
Since December 2019 there are 2 trains a day to and from Banbury to London Paddington are provided by IETs although run non stop between Oxford and Banbury.
CrossCountry services are provided by Class 220 and 221 Voyagers normally run services from Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth with other services from Reading to Newcastle or Newcastle to Southampton Central however at the time of filming were running reduced service with Bournemouth services being 1 every 2 hours alternating with terminating services to and from Reading.
When Electrification for the GWML announced in July 2009 it included plans to electrify the route from the GWML at Didcot East Jn to Oxford however due to the soaring costs of the GWML electrification project it was shelved in November 2016.
The station itself is due to undergo a major rebuild in the next few years according to Network Rail which is due to be rebranded in 2023 to GBR which includes remodelling the track layout, additional of a 5th platform, new station buildings.
Talks of reinstating the branch line to Witney have been mooted although at present nothing been confirmed.
The Varsity Line to Cambridge via Milton Keynes Central being reinstated in stages first section to Bicester Village was completed for Chiltern, 2nd stage is to Milton Keynes Central via Bletchley as well as the Marston Vale Line to Bedford and then thirdly to Cambridge.
The section to Milton Keynes and Bedford due to be completed in 2024 - 2025 which includes the rebuild of the Bletchley Flyover and addition of high level platforms of the station itself however Cambridge section is still ongoing due to the difficulties of the geology around the Sandy Area which is likely to include a new station north of Sandy.
For now diesel power on the line is likely to happen first however electrification could still happen.
Whether it's overhead wires or other green resources from battery power to hydrogen power for long term even in uncertain times like this whatever is decided well only time will tell.
Featuring
Jack and Ed (Ed)
Music used:
JJD - Adventure
Music provided by NCS
Video link:
NoCopyrightSounds
• JJD - Adventure | Glit...
Filmed on Saturday September 4th 2021 on iPhone 12 Pro and edited on iMovie
#greatwesternrailway #oxford #hitachi

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[@RoscoTrain107]

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[@RoscoTrain107]

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