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

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Saturday was ... a zoo ... at Oxford Station, but then it's reasonable to put up with a short (??) period of disruption while things are being rebuilt for the better.

The effect is felt not only in the stations but beyond.   Here is the flow - and it was a steady one - of people coming in to town along what I think is called "Hythe Bridge Road".   Not only off trains, but also off buses that can't get into town at present either.



Mark and I had looked for a west exit from the station ... but there isn't wan't one [visible] at present and we had to go over the footbridge, observing queues for the lifts ... and out through the Chiltern Gateline which was also crowded. It didn't take all that long in reality to get through that queue but my ticket - as so often is the case - was refused by the machine and I had to double across to the hooman on duty for him to check and swipe his own pass card.  He was not just waiting to help people either - he was constantly helping clear the queue / system that, frankly, should be set up to make his role being close to redundant even with a higher flow.

[ChrisB]

Hythe Bridge *Street*, not Road.

And the West side gate is still there/available, but only to those requiring accessible onward transport, which can pick up outside the gate still.

[ray951]

That isn't unusual for Hythe Bridge Street, both the road and the pavement are way to narrow especially between Upper Fisher Row and George St.

Since Covid the western entrance to the station has been closed, prior to Covid it was only open during the morning and afternoon peak. It is an especially useful entrance if you have a bike, pushchair,  lots of luggage, etc. as you then don't have to use the stairs or lift. The lift is quite small and very slow.

I believe if you have accessibility issues then you can request access, but I haven't seen that happen very often.

[grahame]

Hythe Bridge *Street*, not Road.

And the West side gate is still there/available, but only to those requiring accessible onward transport, which can pick up outside the gate still.

And - err - what percentage of passengers does that apply to?   It will make a big difference to those few people who are not only of limited mobility but so limited that they REQUIRE onward transport (and I guess it works both ways - for people being dropped off too?) but for the vast majority it's a no-go none-exit and none-entrance at present.   We did see queues in the building on platform 4 but concluded they were not to get out of the station, but for the loos.

[ChrisB]

All those that request it, from platform staff.

[Mark A]

Not that anything's permanent but it's been said from the start that Oxford for some reason has never been provided with a 'Permanent' station building/layout (LNWR^▸ (London North Western Railway) excepted).

Also, there must be chapters written on the relationship between size/speed/capacity of lifts and their throughput. The ones at Oxford were generating queues, those at Bath seem to have become fragile, a two person limit applied and queueing for those isn't uncommon.

Oxford station's out-of-use subway for foot passengers, somewhat on the same level as the proposed west side exit... perhaps it's too constricted for the present day but it could relieve pressure on the footbridge.

Mark

[IndustryInsider]

Not that anything's permanent but it's been said from the start that Oxford for some reason has never been provided with a 'Permanent' station building/layout (LNWR^▸ (London North Western Railway) excepted).

Also, there must be chapters written on the relationship between size/speed/capacity of lifts and their throughput. The ones at Oxford were generating queues, those at Bath seem to have become fragile, a two person limit applied and queueing for those isn't uncommon.

Oxford station's out-of-use subway for foot passengers, somewhat on the same level as the proposed west side exit... perhaps it's too constricted for the present day but it could relieve pressure on the footbridge.

The lift is way too small and not particularly speedy - though it's much faster than the original lifts that were installed.  But simply not suitable for the footfall today.

The new exit will be very useful, though as I said I fear any relief for the current route over the bridge will soon be swallowed up by additional passengers.

The old subway was dank, smelly, dark, narrow and horrible.  And now partially filled with equipment.  I think a new and wider, or a second, footbridge is the answer.

[ChrisB]

One of the previous designs for the station upgrade had the concourse up above the platforms, with lifts/escalators down, but got abandoned as the money to pay for it all was coming from a hotel siting next to the station?

As I said earlier, one design of the west side resurrected the underpass, all done up of course.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Hythe Bridge Street is one of my (many!) Oxford transport bugbears. I count over 60 pedestrians in grahame's photo, crammed onto that tiny narrow pavement. There are presumably some on the opposite pavement, too, from where the photo was taken. Meanwhile the five cars - possibly with 20 occupants, but probably closer to five - get the vast majority of the carriageway space to themselves. It's not as if there are any bus services that use this road either.

Closing Hythe Bridge Street to cars, which can equally use the wide Park End Street running parallel a few yards away, would make a massive difference to the experience of the rail passenger arriving in Oxford. Danny Yee set out how this could be done a couple of years ago: https://wanderingdanny.com/oxford/2023/08/an-east-west-foot-cycle-route-for-oxford/

[grahame]

Hythe Bridge Street is one of my (many!) Oxford transport bugbears ....

Indeed - it leaves much to be desired.  Indications are that some of those desired will be me but others not during current works and plans.

Here's another ...



OK - it looks shiny and new, but what a racket when it took off, burning fossil fuel and putting the resultant fumes into the atmosphere.   Why on earth does a busy railway line like this, and only 60 miles from London, not have a single electric train service even on the very busiest of routes that serve it?

[IndustryInsider]

Grahame's pictures (4&7) show the northern abutment for the P5 span, and how it is a concrete box with the foot/cycle path through it. The one for the main span has also been slid in under the bridge. The other smaller one, on the east side, may be in place or may not yet (I've not seen a picture). I found a diagram of all three "tunnel abutments" and their piled supports (can't say if north or south) in the presentation, but can't link to it in the PDF so it is attached. They are cast on site and were/will be moved into place; the main bridge ones are quite big.

I took a stroll through it yesterday and all three 'concrete boxes' are in place.

[ray951]

The earliest that EWR^▸ (East West Railway (Oxford to Bedford), or possibly East Worthing station, depending on context) was going to be ready was late this month - and its still slated for the December timetable, allowing further time for driver training & Winslow station fit out. It can still work on 2tph to MKeynes without the extra platform, using platforms 1 & 2

Oxford Clarion are reporting that EWR services won't be starting this year (https://web-cdn.bsky.app/profile/oxfordclarion.bsky.social/post/3m3p7cbgnnc2c

"Chiltern Railways has conceded that East West Rail services from Oxford to Milton Keynes are unlikely to start this year, after troubles were first reported by the Clarion. A statement that “we are confident that trains will be running this year” has been quietly removed from their website. The site now says “A date for passenger service introduction will be communicated once all the necessary authorisations and agreements are in place.” As we reported in September, although the track is complete and the trains ready, rail unions have objected to running the trains without a guard."

Given that over £1 billion has been spent on EWR, the track is ready, the trains and drivers are available why is it we still have no idea when trains are due to start? 

I just don’t understand how this industry can be run so badly — or why we keep spending money on it.

[IndustryInsider]

Perhaps they can use the delay to build an extra carriage for each of the trains to stop them being crowded from day one? 

[ChrisB]

That is being solved by the acquisition of those 13x5car Mk 5a sets from TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express), which will allow a cascade of 168s onto the Oxford & EWR^▸ (East West Railway (Oxford to Bedford), or possibly East Worthing station, depending on context) services....but they'll obviously want paying to employ guards/TMs^▸ (Train Manager, or Ticket Machine, or Temple Meads (Bristol), depending on context) if the unions get their way - and I'm guessing they will (or that depot will remain unused & Chiltern will run these out of Banbury as originally suggested).

Might have a long wait though....GBR^▸ (Great British Railways) decision anyone?