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Great Western Coffee Shop > Journey by Journey > London to Didcot, Oxford and Banbury > Go-ahead given for Cowley Line to reopen by 2030
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Author Topic: Go-ahead given for Cowley Line to reopen by 2030  (Read 784 times)
ray951
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« on: October 23, 2025, 09:15:48 »
News today that the go-ahead has been given for reopening the Oxford -  Cowley line by 2030.
Funding of £120m has been made available to reopen the line to passengers with new stations at Littlemore and Cowley.

https://oxfordclarion.uk/cowley-branch-line-reopening-gets-the-go-ahead/ and https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgql954g07do

Services will operate to Oxford and London Marylebone.
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Ralph Ayres
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« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2025, 09:49:10 »
Cynically, i expected that £120m to be for a feasibility study, but it does actually seem to be towards doing some physical upgrade work. 

Quite impressed by the Oxford Clarion, which I expected to be one of those clickbait local news sites that simply repeat/misunderstand a press release, if you can manage to read it between the popup adverts.  This was refreshingly different and I felt rather better than the BBC» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) article.
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IndustryInsider
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« Reply #2 on: October 23, 2025, 10:22:34 »
Great news.  A special train is just about to go onto the branch now. I remember another special ran 11 years ago to demonstrate the potential of the line, and that potential looks like it might be close to being realised.

Oxford Clarion is an excellent site.
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ray951
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« Reply #3 on: October 23, 2025, 11:26:48 »
Quote from: IndustryInsider on October 23, 2025, 10:22:34
Great news.  A special train is just about to go onto the branch now. I remember another special ran 11 years ago to demonstrate the potential of the line, and that potential looks like it might be close to being realised.

Oxford Clarion is an excellent site.

I assume this one https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:U68415/2025-10-23/detailed and https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:U68420/2025-10-23/detailed doesn't seem to be stopping at Oxford and I assume is using a Chiltern Trains unit.
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CyclingSid
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« Reply #4 on: October 23, 2025, 18:52:01 »
But will they have finished the work at Oxford station in time?
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ChrisB
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« Reply #5 on: October 23, 2025, 18:53:23 »
One is reliant on the other, so yes.
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ray951
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« Reply #6 on: October 23, 2025, 20:04:46 »
Lets hope that's the line is opened quicker than EWR▸ (East West Railway (Oxford to Bedford), or possibly East Worthing station, depending on context), first announced in 2011 still not open to passengers in 2025.

On the whole I think this is good news but they would struggle to run this service without completing Oxford Station. So I assume that means they are still planning to finish the station even though it has gone over budget.
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