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

[whole diary]

[Puffing Billy]

Just wondering, but would it be at all feasible to extend the existing platforms northward and have crossovers at the mid-way point to achieve the same flexibility as parallel platforms? I can see that it would involve a lot of signalling and fancy pointwork, not to mention at least partial relocation of the carriage/servicing sidings, but on the other hand it could avoid having to extend the current railway boundaries and virtually rebuild the main buildings.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks for posting, Puffing Billy - and welcome to the Coffee Shop forum! 

I have no answer to your suggestion, as I'm not an Oxford expert - but I'm sure you will have some responses from our erudite members shortly!

[81F]

Just wondering, but would it be at all feasible to extend the existing platforms northward and have crossovers at the mid-way point to achieve the same flexibility as parallel platforms? I can see that it would involve a lot of signalling and fancy pointwork, not to mention at least partial relocation of the carriage/servicing sidings, but on the other hand it could avoid having to extend the current railway boundaries and virtually rebuild the main buildings.

When I first came to Oxford in 1964 there were diamond crossovers between through and platform lines halfway down each platform. Ex-area manager David Mather led a walk around the railway lands of Oxford last September (part of the "Open Doors" weekend) and I asked him whether this might be a way of handling more trains through Oxford station. He reckoned not, and was in favour of a new station south of Botley Road with tracks re-aligned through the car park.
Only last week [9 Jan 2013] there was a public meeting at Oxford Town Hall where NR^» (Network Rail - home page) revealed their plans for increasing capacity, basically involving turning the down platform into an island (on the present site).
I have a file of NRs powerpoint presentation showing how they propose to deal with traffic growth.   It includes, inter much alia, their plans for the new station layout. I don't know how to post it to this newsgroup, but if anyone is keen to see it, please send a personal message with email address and I'll send it to you attached to an email.

[paul7575]

Only last week [9 Jan 2013] there was a public meeting at Oxford Town Hall where NR^» (Network Rail - home page) revealed their plans for increasing capacity, basically involving turning the down platform into an island (on the present site).

I think a couple of us discussed this possibility in one of the previous threads about Oxford station a year or so back.  In the 2011 GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy) they were proposing turning both sides into islands, and that looked incredibly difficult to achieve, given the layout of the main station buildings, and Chiltern's plans for the Marylebone bays etc.

I for one thought that a through line behind the down platform would give them much of the operational flexibility required, as trains from the south could terminate and head back towards Didcot from the current down platform, without conflicting at all with other down through trains that would pass through on the new platform.  The addition of the up side bay alongside the car park provides another option for terminating trains from the south of course, presumably this may still happen as well.

Paul

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, that looks like the favoured layout at the moment.  Space constraints mean that it'll be a very tight squeeze, especially (and assuming) given that platform lengths will need to be at least 270 metres to be able to accommodate 10-Car Bi-mode IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project. This will offer more capacity on routes, save money, give a consistent and safe service and meet customer requirements. Intended to replace HSTs.)'s.  Currently platforms 1 and 2 are 275 metres long, so are just about OK, but it's clear to see why the Botley Road bridge will need widening in order to give room for the new track.

Buildings wise it works quite well given how tight the space is.  Just south of Botley Road is railway land and buildings (the former Railway Club and also some Permanent Way accommodation), which can easily be demolished to allow the track for the new platform to fit in, and with the panel box building becoming redundant in a couple of years, some offices and buildings on platform 2 will need to go, but can easily be built elsewhere.  Crucially there should still be just about be enough room to squeeze in Roger Dudman Way, the access road to the ever growing housing and student accommodation on the site of the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Locomotive Yard.

[mjones]

And the Youth Hostel...?

[IndustryInsider]

It's tight, but as long as that end of the platform was quite thin, I think it wouldn't be in the way - though they might have to lose a bit of their garden!

[mjones]

Yes, you are (of course!) right- I had in mind that it was right next to the platform buildings but I've just had a wander around there on Google Streetview and there is more space behind than I'd realised.

[IndustryInsider]

Using Google streetview you can also see what an odd road Roger Dudman Way is.  Set to become twice as busy later this year with two new housing developments nearing completion.  I could see the parking spaces being removed and along with removal of the Panel Box building and other signalling related structures further down, there would probably be room for a new track along the existing side of Platform 2 and an improved 'proper' road access.

[paul7575]

The biggest issues would seem to be at the north end, crossing the Sheepwash Channel.   It looks from Google as though the four tracks spread out in width to match the individual bridge positions, (compared to the Botley Rd end of the station it's about twice the width) with the road in question taking the westernmost span.  In hindsight, that doesn't seem to have been such a good idea...

Paul

[ellendune]

The biggest issues would seem to be at the north end, crossing the Sheepwash Channel.   It looks from Google as though the four tracks spread out in width to match the individual bridge positions, (compared to the Botley Rd end of the station it's about twice the width) with the road in question taking the westernmost span.  In hindsight, that doesn't seem to have been such a good idea...

Paul

Yes but I thought that leaving room for Roger Dudman Way to cross the Sheepwash channel would be a problem, now you point it out a new single bridge deck would allow the tracks to be moved nearer (and also the platform ends leaving room for the extra tracks and the island platforms, while still leaving room for the bay for evergreen 3. 

[IndustryInsider]

I've chanced across some quite detailed diagrams of current Network Rail plans for Oxford, which are in slightly more advanced stages than I've seen before.

Lines marked in black are unchanged.
Lines marked in red are new sections of track.
Lines marked in green are sections of track to be removed.

The first one is an overview of the Oxford area.  It shows that current thinking is for Bi-Di signalling on both the up and down main lines along with the up passenger loop and an extended down passenger loop as far as just before Wolvercote Junction.  Linespeeds on the loops are to be improved massively with the up loop going from 25mph to 75/90mph!

It also shows a re-laid Oxford North Junction for East-West Rail with the current single lead 25mph junction being replaced with a double 50mph junction.





The second one shows the station area itself in more detail.  Things to note include the new platform at the back of the current platform 2, with both of those platforms gaining signals so that trains can depart back to London from them.  Both bridges at the end of the platforms would be replaced/widened with the line leading to the new through platform meaning the removal of the two 'West Midland' sidings immediately south of the station.

The sidings on both sides are altered to mostly provide for 260m long trains (10-Car IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project. This will offer more capacity on routes, save money, give a consistent and safe service and meet customer requirements. Intended to replace HSTs.) length) and this is achieved by moving the access route into the down sidings closer to the station for two of the three roads which would then not be able to access the current up platform, though with two other London platforms available that would not be a problem.  The up sidings would be extended by removing the headshunt at the Banbury end and making four long sidings using space created at that end.

It appears, from the diagram, that the London end bay platform idea isn't included, although passive provision for a fourth through platform linking through to the current platform 3 would be - though that would mean knocking down the concourse!

The other major alteration is for the Evergreen 3 service, which it appears would only use one additional platform (and could also use the current bay platform), and would have no dedicated line to Oxford North Junction but would instead share the main or loop lines that other services would use.

I must stress that these are only provisional plans, and there may be other plans that are totally different, but just as likely to see the light of day.  But it's interesting to get a glimpse of what the current thinking is, and if these improvements were to be made there would be a huge leap in flexibility at Oxford.

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Thank you II for that, track diagrams are always very interesting (well I think so). I know one can always think of bells and whistles to add, but it would add flexibility if the down passenger loop were extended to run past Wolvercote Junction into the Cotswold line, so that (for example) up Cotswold line trains could acccess P4 and P5 independently of the UM and DM^▸ (Dilton Marsh).  As far as I can recall there are no physical barriers eg overbridges in the way. 

[IndustryInsider]

I agree with the extending of the down loop, but there would need to be an additional bridge span over Duke's Lock just before the junction, and a couple of lineside buildings would need moving.  Quite possibly that will be worth the investment if and when Wolvercote Junction to Charlbury section is re-doubled as the whole junction would need changing then?

[bobm]

track diagrams are always very interesting (well I think so)

Totally agree - I still regularly refer to my ageing copy of the Thames Valley Trackplans produced internally by Network Rail even though it is getting woefully out of date in the Reading area!