Oxford station - facilities, improvements, parking, incidents and events - merged posts

[whole diary]

[Mark A]

Having not seen it for some time, the sight of the Botley Road bridge in September came as a surprise. (Photo below...)

Which is the footway that is to reopen please?

Mark

[stuving]

Having not seen it for some time, the sight of the Botley Road bridge in September came as a surprise. (Photo below...)

Which is the footway that is to reopen please?

Mark

It's round to the right of your picture. The pre-diversion arrangement is currently on Google Earth. Those coming into Oxford under the bridge, or down off the footbridge, would exit (to the right) onto the south side of Frideswide Square. The diversion routes them across Botley Road to the north side of the Square.

[TonyN]

I have been to Oxford today. There is now a large hole in Botley road west of the railway between Abbey Road and Mill Street. Pedestrians can walk along the south side of Botley road but not cross over to Cripley Road.
They have to walk along Abbey Road and through Cripley Place to Reach Cripley Road and along the west side of the railway to Jerico.

Buses going to the temprorary bus depot also have to go via Cripley Place. Access to the MIll Street Area for residents only by going round and then being allowed through the work site to cross from Cripley Road to Mill Street.

[ChrisB]

The hole is an exploratory hole for a Thames Water connection to their new Water supply pipe. The two original sites were refused at a late stage owing to being too close to the foul sewer. It is these holes (5 in total, this is the third) that is holding up Network Rail's reappraisal of costs & request to DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) for approval of additional funding. Once Thames Water pick their site, Network Rail are saying it would be 9 weeks before a decision is made by DfT.

[grahame]

From Ground Engineering

Just part of the story ...

Oxford station upgrade: Trial holes drilled after complex utility diversions cause delays

[snip]

“There are a number of buried pipes and cables from various different companies, many of are strategically important e.g. water main. The condition of these pipes and cables is varied some abandoned and no clear owner identified,” they said.

Another major challenge is a brick arch that was discovered underneath Botley Road in sum 2023, that was not previously recorded. The arch is believed to be Victorian and was placed t manage water levels. As such, the impact of removing it was unknown.

I don't see anywhere in the article ( member mirror ) a suggestion of a completion date.  Perhaps that is wise as, from my reading, they're at a research stage and don't know what the final outcome will be.

[ChrisB]

The trial holes are for connection of the *new* water main. Thames Water refused the original locations from the contractors as they were too close to possible contamination from the foul sewer pipe.

Until Thames Water accept a new location, the date of completion cannot be calculated, nor approval of the final budget approved by the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about). Once the DfT has approved any of the 3 plans being presented, then the completion date can be worked out. This will take 9 weeks from when Thames Water agree a new location.

[grahame]

So 5 weeks to do the boring. Followed by [? how long ?] for Thames Water to work out which location and agree to it, followed by 9 weeks to calculate completion date and get final budget approval.  So we should have an update beyond "dunno when" sometime in the New Year?

[ChrisB]

They have saved a week already with the boring of holes & will complete that next week with the last hole.

Hopefully, Thames Water will select a connection point from one of those holes.

Yes, I suspect you aren't far out, and everything will obviously stop for the Christmas/New Year fortnight.

[stuving]

I presume the water utilities are under some kind of legal obligation to cooperate with other land users who want pipes and other things moved. Most commonly this will be a roads authority, since most pipes run under roads. I have not found out where that obligation is defined, or what they can be made to do in terms of speed or anything else. It's hard to believe they can be forced to give this a higher priority than their primary functions, or penalised for taking longer than they "promised".

In this case Thames Water's pipes are being moved primarily for the purposes of lowering the road, a project that takes advantage of the rebuilding of the railway bridge to also widen the road and its side paths. So The county council (and the city too) have their own requirements , as well as the railways' ones, and neither they nor any of the utilities are working for Network Rail - though they will get the costs paid.

So, while Network Rail sits at the top of the whole scheme, can they really be held responsible for when Thames Water's work, or the whole roads element of the  project, gets finished?

[ChrisB]

From what I understand, the Network Rail contractor - Keir - are doing most of the work for all utilities. There aren't 19 utility owners all digging their own channel, for instance.

Once it comes to actually feeding cables through a pipe, or making a connection to a water main itself, then the owner does the work to completion - but otherwise Keir are doing the main works after agreement with the utilities about design/route, etc.

It was Keir that held all the public consultations too - of which various of us did warn them of problems ahead, some of which they have now acknowledged they ignored....

[ChrisB]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) to meet transport secretary over station delays

An Oxford MP is set to meet with the transport secretary to discuss delays to work to upgrade the city's rail station.

Layla Moran raised the lengthy delays to the £161m Network Rail project, which has seen Botley Road closed since April 2023, in Parliament on Tuesday.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said the situation was not "good enough" and agreed to her request for a meeting.

Network Rail has described the project as "incredibly complex" and said it was "taking the time to get it right".

Ms Moran, the Lib Dem MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, said she was planning to attend a meeting of businesses affected by the works later in the week.

Her office said firms had reported up to a 60% drop in income and many were "deeply concerned" about how the closure would affect trade over Christmas.

Ms Moran said Network Rail's motto seemed to be "move slow and break things" and that it had "mismanaged" the train station upgrade.

She said she previously wrote to Transport minister Lord Hendy, who had agreed to meet with her, but now "seems too busy".

Ms Haigh said she agreed "the situation in Oxford isn't good enough".

She said she agreed with Ms Moran's characterisation of Network Rail and said that was "part of the reason" why it was being abolished.

"I will of course meet with her to discuss how we can improve the situation," Ms Haigh said.

Speaking afterwards, Ms Moran said she looked forward to finding "an acceptable way forward”.

“Network Rail have demonstrated utterly shambolic project management from start to finish, and residents have lost all faith in them to deliver this project," she added.

In a previous statement a Network Rail spokesman said: “We are working with the Department for Transport and local authority partners as we undertake a full review of the programme and will provide an update on timescales for the next steps of the project.

"This is an incredibly complex project, involving multiple organisations, so although we know everyone wants clarity, we are taking the time to get it right."

[TonyK]

It will be interesting to see if the Transport Secretary can do anything to actually help move things forward, or will just complain instead.

[Mark A]

From Oxford City Council's full council meeting this evening, source linked below.

"Cllr Upton, responding to a question about the Botley Road bridge closure: '[Network Rail] are not even sure about what the budget envelope that’s remaining is going to cover.' Cllr Rehman’s comment about 'another year of Botley Road closed' is not refuted."


Mark


https://bsky.app/profile/oxfordclarion.bsky.social/post/3lbs525f6b22y

[CyclingSid]

Fills you full of confidence? No doubt traders and residents in west Oxford similarly.

[ChrisB]

Well.....other than this Christmas, when it surely can't happen, the next opportunity to replace the bridge itself is in July 2025...so not far off that. Unless of course, the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) calls a halt to it - but the Chancellor said EWR would be built "in full", and that means enabling 6 tph from Oxford towards Bicester....