Oxon keeping on with the rails?

This must be, apart from photos, one of the shortest reports I have ever seen? https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/25474194.oxfordshire-must-choose-new-rail-or-gridlock/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1758173257

Education, Education, Education David Blunkett once touted and you would have thought Oxfordshire folks get plenty of it and enjoy a good read?

BRTA have submitted to the consultation via EC Officer Simon Barber:

"

• Oxford Station - We must increase capacity to support more services across the county and redeveloping it into a landmark station and national gateway. This would be a catalyst for housing, jobs, and public services, while strengthening connections to Oxford’s universities, hospitals, and innovation clusters.
• Oxford-Didcot - Four-tracking is a top priority.
•  The Electrified Railway – We must build a zero-carbon network for Oxfordshire, anchored by the Electric Freight Spine.
• The Oxfordshire Metro – We should create an integrated transport network that brings together rail, bus, walking and cycling.
• Oxford Railreight Interchange - The former Upper Heyford Air Base (between Bicester and Banbury) is a top priority. Meanwhile the proposed station at Ardley is adjacent to that interchange and that should go ahead. Meanwhile some of its freight could be coming off the new East-West Rail from the Midlands and the north.
• Cowley Branch - This should be re-opened and there must be a new station at Oxford Cowley.
• Wantage & Grove Road (between Didcot and Swindon) - That station is a top priority, since the surrounding population has increased due to new housing.
• Oxford-Witney Branch - That line had closed to both passengers and freight about 60 years ago and we would like to see it re-opened. A study commissioned by West Oxfordshire District Council found that a new line could reduce congestion on the A40 while offering a more affordabe alternative to car travel. Also, new housing developments will increase the population which will in turn increase more road traffic. The proposed rail link will boost access to jobs, essential services ,education and reducing congestion and CO2 emissions.
•  Cotswold Line - Although some of this is outside your Council, the reinstatement of the Stratford-upon-Avon - Honeybourne - Cheltenham rail link feeds into the Cotswold Line from Oxford to Worcester and will have a direct impact on Oxfordshire's services. The recent Stratford-upon-Avon District Council (Refresh study, Stantec, 2024) confirmed that fully realising the benefits of these new developments dependent on providing transport connectivity that maximises travel opportunities between areas of high economic concentration including Birmingham, Coventry, Oxford (which also provides interchange with East-West Rail), Worcester, Leamington, Warwick, Gloucester / Cheltenham and Stratford. At the same time Stratford’s poor public transport connectivity creates a dependence on car-based travel and can lead to inequalities associated with ‘forced car ownership’.  This also locks in many of the negative external impacts of car travel including congestion and poor air quality  which will be an impediment to future land-use development. Meanwhile Stratford-Honeybourne also creates a Birmingham-Oxford alternative route, which is only 3 miles longer than the Cherwell Valley/Banbury route and severed for 6 weeks in 2015 by the Harbury slippage, a route which has a history of geological instability. Furthermore the double-tracking of that line between  Hanborough and Wolvercote is also a top priority.

Meanwhile the road schemes which include a bypass to Ardley, a relief road to Middleton Stoney and improvements to Junction 10 of the M40 should not go ahead."

End.

Also, can I make a plea for a study into reopening too the former Oxford-Cowley-Wheatley-Thame-Princes Risborough rail link? Yes, Cowley is proposed, yes, new rail bypass of Wheatley and maybe a new Parkway Station for off the M40/A40 area, yes ploughing through Thame may involve some relocational pain, but then the gains:

1. Re-railing growing corridor populations

2. Makes a loop from London to Oxford via Bicester, through and out south towards London via Thame

3. Paddington and Marylebone could share trains and a new Chiltern Main Line to Heathrow and Guildford (Heathrow Southern - see: https://heathrowrail.com/); would give many new by-rail options, likewise to the north the Oxford-Long Marston-Stratford upon Avon would again be a winner alongside a Witney and Carterton new-build.

Government needs to switch the priority of funding from roads to rails, cutting congestion, giving modal choices more, cutting pollution and NHS waiting lists as well as the sustainable footfall and spend the rail choices offer.

It is deeply regrettable that Oxford-Milton Keynes and Bedford passenger services are not operating and of course a conductor /guard on a train can check and sell tickets, can give out information and reassure passengers accordingly, Driver Only Operation (DOO) abandons people to aftercare CCTV and pays yet more people with outlays on barriers, penalty fares and policing teams. We need to see a false economy and ensure our railways are properly staffed.

Please give us your support: https://letstalk.oxfordshire.gov.uk/oxrail-2040