From the
Oxford Times:
Wantage MP▸ Ed Vaizey believes the time could be right for the re-opening of Wantage rail station following talks with rail industry officials.
He is calling for a grass-roots campaign to put pressure on transport chiefs to see the project through for the old Wantage Road station at Grove. Mr Vaizey has held talks with the Association of Train Operating Companies. The MP said: ^The reopening of the station has been something people have been sceptical about for years, but following my talks with ATOC» , I have gone from thinking it was almost impossible to becoming a believer. The issue is something I get regular correspondence about and people would love to have a hourly, high-speed service into London.^
Mr Vaizey said: ^It would clear up the roads, which are extremely busy, and only set to get worse with the upcoming growth of Grove. Local people want the station, but in the past things have never really got going to bring it to reality. I want to start a campaign to make it happen and will make it clear to the Department for Transport and Network Rail that I^ve put my support behind it.^
The Wantage Road station closed under Dr Beeching^s cuts in the 1960s. The station is alongside the A338 just north of Grove.
A report by ATOC in June included the station on a list of seven it was looking at reopening. It said there was a strong business case for a new ^4m station and car park. A high-speed hourly service would run from Swindon to Paddington and stop at Wantage Road. It would operate on the slow line used by trains delivering coal to Didcot power station. The line is set to be freed up by 2015 when the station becomes coal-free.
Hassard Stacpoole, media relations manager for ATOC, said: ^Our studies have shown the return from a station at Wantage would be ^3.80 for every pound spent, which is a very strong business case. People in the area need a station as the A34 is so badly clogged up. It won^t happen overnight, but our target date is 2017. The next stage is to get the plan on to the railway forward plan.^
First Great Western spokesman Dan Panes said: ^From our point of view the station reopening is something we would very much welcome. Although our franchise runs until 2016 and it is very unlikely a proposal will come before then, we entirely back the ATOC report and the sentiments expressed by Mr Vaizey.^
Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Marcus Mabberley said: ^We would support the idea of reopening Wantage train station but the final decision lies with the rail industry.^
Mr Vaizey is holding a public meeting about the issue at Wantage Civic Hall on Friday at 7.30pm.
