Update: Improvements to service could be on the way (From Witney Gazette)

Update: Improvements to service could be on the way

3:23pm Thursday 11th January 2007 in Witney By William Crossley

NETWORK Rail has revealed that improvements to the Cotswold Line, which runs through West Oxfordshire, could be in place within three years.

At a meeting in Oxford, members of the Cotswold and Malverns Transport Partnership were told by NR staff that detailed work to draw up options for improvements to the three single-track sections on the line would begin next month.

The aim will be to identify which schemes have the best potential to improve the reliability of trains using the route. These could include reinstatement of double track on some or all of the line, as well as provision of extra passing loops to shorten the single-line sections, and a new signalling system.

A decision on what to do is expected to be taken in August or September, with the aim of completing work in time for the December 2009 timetable change.

Adrian Saunders, Oxfordshire County Council's rail development officer, said: "It was an extremely positive meeting, and represents a big shift from where we were only a couple of years ago.

"The county council has given its support to the study. Our hard work and lobbying over the past few years has paid off, and we're on the verge of seeing the Cotswold Line achieve its potential.

"In terms of the rail industry, getting something done in a little over two-and-a-half years is very good indeed, and shows the importance Network Rail is putting on it."

He said that it was too soon to say how train services on the route might change as a result, but added: "Once the track issues are sorted out, then there is potential to look at how stations are served, but that will need a lot of detailed work as well."

The line serves West Oxfordshire stations at Hanborough, Charlbury, Shipton, and Kingham, as well as the halts at Combe, Finstock, and Ascott-under-Wychwood, which have only one peak-hour train each way on weekdays. Shipton has a slightly better service, but due to short platforms and tight timings for trains on the single-track sections, far fewer trains call than at Honeybourne station, in Worcestershire, which serves a similar-sized community.

Mr Saunders said that any improvements at Shipton would be extremely expensive, due to the need to provide access between the two platforms, one of which is approached through the FWP Matthews flour mill yard. He added: "It's an option we would need to look at. There's a long way to go before we can say what might happen."