Charlbury and Hanborough Stations - service improvements and car parking

[whole diary]

[Btline]

But it won't be. half the time it will be a 166 (which is WORSE than a Chiltern 165) or delayed or cancelled.

Faster journey times, lower fares, more frequent, more reliable, more punctual, more chance of a seat.
Frustrated commuters will switch to Chiltern as they have further up the line.

If the service is so rubbish, and commuters are so frustrated, can you explain how the number of passengers using Hanborough station has risen by over 100% in the last five years (84,000 in 2007/8 to 173,000 in 12/13). And how after 7 years of static numbers to 09/10, Charlbury's E&E have risen steadily over the last three years (232,000 to 272,000). 

Sorry that I didn't reply. Mainly as I disagree and there's no point hashing out the same arguments. Agree to disagree.

To respond to the above - let's just see what happens next year when Oxon Parkway opens.
Pax numbers are shooting up across the board (although higher growth at Chiltern stations) so I'm not surprised that paxs have gone up since the new car parking.

[ChrisB]

Sorry that I didn't reply. Mainly as I disagree and there's no point hashing out the same arguments. Agree to disagree.

If we all did as you suggest, there wouldn't be much of a *discussion*, would there? This IS a discussion forum, you know. IN othyer words, it's fine to disagree, but back up your opinion with reasons....

[IndustryInsider]

Good news parking wise for Cotswold Line passengers as by the beginning of the new franchise FGW^▸ (First Great Western) aims to have a new car park extension in place at Kingham offering over 100 additional spaces. Further car park extension plans are being developed for Charlbury (30 spaces) and Hanborough (44 spaces).

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

The area identified for a 44 space expansion at Hanborough can in no way take 44 cars unless they are the very small Smart Cars and not the large BMW/Mercs/Chelsea tractors that tend to predominate in the current Hanborough car park.

[IndustryInsider]

Just out of interest, where is the area identified, Andrew?  And also where in Charlbury?

[Chris from Nailsea]

From The Herald:

Housing plan could produce 400 more parking spaces for station


Plans: Long Hanborough Rail Station

Promises to set aside land for a 400-space car park have boosted plans for an ^8m upgrade at Long Hanborough railway station.

It was revealed last week that First Great Western and Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP^» (Local Enterprise Partnership - about)) plan to upgrade the station on the Cotswold Line by applying for funding from the Government.

And this week Commercial Estates Group (CEG) unveiled a scheme for 150 homes on land next to the station. In return for planning permission it would offer land for 400 car parking spaces, a new station building which would include a pedestrian bridge, ticket machine and shop, plus taxi and bus drop-off points.

Development project manager at CEG Jon Allen said: ^The present parking at Hanborough Station totals 241 spaces and is at full capacity from early in the morning each weekday. In the year April 2009 to March 2010, the number of passengers using Hanborough Station was 104,080. In 2013-14 the passenger numbers exceeded 200,000 and when the figures for 2014/15 are released in a few weeks^ time they will show a further significant increase. This demonstrates the sustainability and strategic importance of this location.^

Transport campaigner Hugh Jaeger welcomed the announcement. He said: ^Developer funding is really the only way of securing money for these kinds of projects now. The station needs a waiting room and a canopy to protect people from the weather and it would be good to put more ticket machines and a coffee machine in the waiting room. If you^re going to put housing in rural Oxfordshire it^s far more sustainable next to a railway station than up some lane in the middle of nowhere.^

The existing car park has 241 spaces and was upgraded from 50 spaces in 2013 at a cost of ^400,000.

Mr Jaeger and other commentators believe more parking would help to draw commuters off the A40, partially relieving congestion around Oxford.

He said: ^The amount of cars parked at a station will increase the more you increase the space. It^s either going to Long Hanborough or making a longer car journey to Water Eaton or Oxford. Water Eaton is going to be a good station, but it still attracts more traffic to some of Oxford^s busiest junctions, whereas going to Long Hanborough will keep cars away from these areas. It^s about spreading the load.^

CEG will hold public exhibitions on the scheme at Christ Church in Main Road, Long Hanborough,on Wednesday, from 3-9pm and next Saturday,from 10am-3pm.

Mr Allen said: ^We understand the importance of actively engaging the community and stakeholders to ensure local views and opinions, wants and needs are taken into consideration and reflected in our scheme.^

The Oxfordshire LEP will present its plan to the Government in September and begin lobbying for funding.

First Great Western spokesman James Davis said: ^We recognise there is huge potential for further growth at Long Hanborough.^

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

There are a number of problems with this proposal. First, and of most concern to residents of Long Hanborough is access to the station. The A4095 (running between Witney and Woodstock) is the access road. However this is already used as a rat run for traffic from West Oxon heading to Oxford and the M40 avoiding the very congested A40. This has resulted in the A4095 itself becoming very congested at peak commuting hours and there is no relief in sight for this over crowding - only increased A4095 congestion.
Secondly, a 150 housing site adjacent to the station would be very attractive for the many London suburban residents seeking to relocate out of London and adjacent areas because of escalating house prices and most would want to use the trains from Hanborough station. These, plus the drivers of the cars in the 400 space car park would find that peak hour Cotswold Line trains to London are so crowded at times that there is no seating available. FGW^▸ (First Great Western) has made it known that it would like to send more Oxford terminating trains to Hanborough and Charlbury to tap this ever growing market but there is no funding, as far as I know, for the essential infra structure investment. In any case if electrification does eventually get to Oxford, the electric trains terminating at Oxford would not be able to travel on the non-electrified CL line. As usual the whole matter of raail development gets very complex with one unsollved issue preventing the development of another. I could go into more problems but this blog is quite long enough already.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

Further to my last post, an exhibition was held at Christ Church by the developers agents into how the 150 home/400 space car park might look.
As usual, only the plus points were displayed with absolutely no mention of the impact on the adjacent A4095 Witney/Woodstock Road and the plans showing a simple T junction. With up to 400 vehicles entering  and leaving plus the home occupiers movements there would be massive obstructions to the free flow of traffic. At peak hours the flow, largets eastwards AM but a steady west bound flow would mean that the 400 cars coming from the west would not easily cross the west bound flow leading to the existing peak hours queues from the west at present stretching back for several miles, coming to an almost complete halt. Traffic lights would be needed and road widening to allow eastbound traffic to slip past traffic queuing to turn right into the new development similar to that required by the highway authority for the recently opened 191 space car park. In addition, the proposed new road access is very near to the A4095 bridge over the railway and due to the hump is blind for views westwards of the bridge. The completely unacceptable danger is not considered by the developers propsals so I think it will be a long time before the 400 space car park appears, if ever.

[John R]

Hopefully FGW^▸ (First Great Western) will let Oxford Parkway hoover up the commuters and concentrate on improving the service to Worcester by ditching some West Oxon calls.

Hanborough station will be pointless. It will be quicker and cheaper to go via Chiltern. Not to mention more reliable, better rolling stock, etc.

And to follow up on the most recent station stats, Hanborough trade is still growing at over 20% pa, so hardly pointless.  Up 78% in 3 years, over double in the last 4 years.  So Btline may not rate the service, but clearly some other people do.

[grahame]

Hopefully FGW^▸ (First Great Western) will let Oxford Parkway hoover up the commuters and concentrate on improving the service to Worcester by ditching some West Oxon calls.

Hanborough station will be pointless. It will be quicker and cheaper to go via Chiltern. Not to mention more reliable, better rolling stock, etc.

And to follow up on the most recent station stats, Hanborough trade is still growing at over 20% pa, so hardly pointless.  Up 78% in 3 years, over double in the last 4 years.  So Btline may not rate the service, but clearly some other people do.

Lots more users in the last 18 months.  Let's see what has happened since the opening of Oxford Parkway, and what happens when that links through to Oxford Central.   I expect we'll some some abstraction, but I contend that for the 2016/17 year, Hanborough will still have more passengers per day than Pilning has in a year.

[IndustryInsider]

From general observations, I haven't seen much, if any, reduction in the number of users at Hanborough, or indeed Oxford, stations since Oxford Parkway opened.  Will be very interesting to see the next set of usage figures in a year or so from now.

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

As the CLPG^» (Cotswold Line Promotion Group - about)'s station rep for Hanborough I try to keep an eye on the rail traffic and talk to rail users.
There has been no discernable loss of Hanborough rail business since Oxford Parkway opened and, if anything traffic has grown as the new park is used Monday to Thursday to maximum capacity with a noticeable increase in cars parked on the highways around the station, although yellow lines do prevent parking immediately close to the station. I think the growth in users since Parkway can be attributed to the major road works on the two A40 roundabouts in North Oxford that has made the A40 congestion worse so that there is now a lot more rat-running to avoid the A40.
With regard to the proposal to build 120 homes adjacent to the station, the WODC Planning Policy Manager has written a very damming 7 page memorandum to the planning officer dealing with the house planning application set to be considered by committee early next year, pointing out the many ways in which the application breaks numerous aspects of local planning policy. This memorandum is too long to be posted here.