Oxford Station Closed Feb 2016 for 9 days

[whole diary]

[ray951]

Just had a tweet that suggested there would be no trains through Oxford for 9 days in February 2016.
Anyone know anything more?

[stuving]

Just had a tweet that suggested there would be no trains through Oxford for 9 days in February 2016.
Anyone know anything more?

It's in the EAS, though still subject to discussion. From Saturday 13th through to Sunday 21st, and from Didcot to Heyford all closed. The notes say:

REPLACEMENT ROAD TRANSPORT REQUIRED
BETWEEN DIDCOT/OXFORD AND BANBURY /
LEAMINGTON / HANBOROUGH / BICESTER.
FREIGHT DIVERTED VIA WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line). SPECIAL
ARRANGEMENTS BY PILOT WORKING REQUIRED
TO REVERSE AT HANBOROUGH.

NOTES: This is a Western Route possession that
impacts on London North Western Route. After this
possession, OX75 has moved north; Down Jericho
line renamed to be Up Relief and is bi-di

Work: Oxford enhancement and resignalling

There will be a number of Sunday closures before and after that.

[ChrisB]

This work is Oxford Re-signalling Part One and is to enable Chiltern access to Oxford and is across Oxfordshire February half-term, in order than their Marylebone service can start in May 16 (or earlier, but I doubt it)

[ray951]

thanks for the responses and what is EAS? and I may also take a half term holiday that week given that I commute from Didcot to Oxford each day

[stuving]

thanks for the responses and what is EAS? and I may also take a half term holiday that week given that I commute from Didcot to Oxford each day

The EAS is Network Rail's Engineering Access Statement, the part of the Operational Rules that defines all engineering possessions in advance so all the timetabling gets done. This covers the whole network and is large, but can be downloaded from here.

In this case it will be Timetable year 2016, and while I was looking at Version 2 (Rules Proposal Date : 24 October 2014) the current Version 3 is the same.

[ChrisB]

11 all day Sundays north of Oxford in advance of those dates plus significant number of weekends afterwards both North & South of Oxford.

Oxford does need this resignalling & has to be completed before the wires can go up

[ChrisB]

Can someone check the EAS & update us on current plans? They must be set in stone by now?

[stuving]

Can someone check the EAS & update us on current plans? They must be set in stone by now?

Well, it hasn't been changed as of October. That doesn't mean it's going to happen - if the work can't be done the posession will presumably be cancelled. In which case it ought to be done pretty soon.

As that work was to finish resignalling the old Down Jericho line and reconnect it as the bidirectional Up Relief, and to put up some of new-fangled those electric wires from Appleford to Radley, it doesn't look like it can happen then.

[ChrisB]

So has this been cancelled? No notices that I've seen anywhere and its only a few weeks away. Suspect its been combined with Hinksey flood relief work in July/Aug?

[phile]

No mention on NRE^‡(resolve) Future Engineering Work on the website.   Should be 12 weeks notice for Booking Engines.    There is another thread on the Board re Closure Oxford to Didcot 23 July to 8 August.

[ChrisB]

Which is now 30 July to 15 August....