Station work-wise there would have to be new platforms at Charlbury and Ascott-under-Wychwood, but at Honeybourne, the old island platform (Stratford-upon-Avon and Cheltenham services used the opposite face) is pretty much intact and could be brought back into use relatively easily. The question here is whether the whole length would be restored to use, as it could probably take a 2+8
HST▸ , in contrast to the three-coach platform on the single line.
Not clear on footbridge locations (though CBY and HYB are obvious), but if they are going to spend the money, then Kingham really could do with a new disabled/cycle/baby buggy-accessible bridge while they are at it, because if you can't manage steps, then you can't reach the Oxford/London-bound platform at present.
After questions about parking at Charlbury station - and people leaving cars in the town and walking down to the station - Dave Ward, Network Rail's western route director, said at the meeting tonight that he would be taking up the issue of providing adequate car parking at all the stations on the route with the team in charge of the project, as station facilities are very much part of the equation.
More parking could be tricky, as previously noted, at Shipton. And new housing at Honeybourne has eaten up what would have been an ideal area to extend into, though there is a lot of railway-owned land on the opposite side, behind the island platform, with disused sidings on, so maybe there is parking potential there.
However, if the shortlisted eco-town at Long Marston were to go ahead (and it would only make eco-sense if the rail link through to Stratford upon Avon is reinstated - and maybe even to Cheltenham via the Gloucester & Warwickshire preserved line - then they may need to reinvent Honeybourne Junction in all its four-platform glory, along with the spectacular triangular and burrowing junctions just to the east (the
GWR▸ didn't do things by halves in the 1900s). How about a Birmingham-Worcester-Evesham-Honeybourne-Long Marston-Stratford-Birmingham circular route and Stratford-Oxford via the Cotswold Line?
And let's not forget Chipping Campden, where Gloucestershire County Council has long had aspirations to reopen the station. Until now, lack of capacity on the single line has always stymied this, but a green light for double track would change the equation here.
Certainly interesting times in these parts.
Shame it will take so long...
Give them a break - in rail project terms, this is warp speed. They are talking 15 months of work, while keeping trains running for as much of that time as possible. All told it would be just over three years from starting study work to completion, which compares pretty well with Chiltern's redoubling schemes.
Now all we've got to do is hope that D(a)fT and the
ORR» see sense.
