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Oxford is a mainline railway station serving the city of Oxford, England. It is about ten minutes walk to the west of the city centre, and on the line linking Reading with Birmingham New Street. It is also on the line for express trains from London Paddington to Hereford via Worcester. It is the starting point for fast trains to Paddington and for local trains to Reading, Worcester and Bicester Town.

The station is operated by First Great Western, and also used by CrossCountry and occasionally Chiltern Railways.

Ticket barriers are in operation.

History

The Great Western Railway was first opened to Oxford in 1844, with a station in what is now Western Road, Grandpont. The passenger station moved to its present site in 1852. Major subsequent changes were removal of the last 7 ft 0¼ in (2140 mm) gauge tracks in 1872 and of the train shed in 1890-1. The station was substantially rebuilt by the Western Region of British Railways in 1971, and the new main building and footbridge were added in 1990.

The station has been a busy one throughout its life. In addition to the services seen today, there were others over the former branch lines to Princes Risborough, Witney and Fairford, and Blenheim for Woodstock. Through trains from the north to the Southern Railway also typically changed locomotives at Oxford.

It was for a time known as Oxford General station to distinguish it from the London and North Western Railway Oxford Rewley Road station (terminus of the "Varsity Line" from Cambridge) which was adjacent and came under joint management in 1933. This was closed to passengers in 1951 and services transferred to the ex-G.W.R. station.

Future plans

In August 2008, Chiltern Railways announced a proposal to construct a quarter-of-a-mile link between Bicester Town and the Chiltern Main Line, to allow a new Oxford to London Marylebone service to run via Bicester Town and High Wycombe. The single line between Bicester Town and Wolvercote Tunnel will be doubled and a new station will be constructed at Water Eaton Park-and-Ride. It is hoped that, if approval is granted for the scheme, services will start in 2012.

The scheme also includes two additional platform roads at Oxford station, to be built on the site of the disused parcels depot. The new platform roads will initially be five cars in length, however provision will be made for them to be extended southwards to eight cars.

Services

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Terminus		Chiltern Railways Birmingham - Oxford		Banbury
Reading		CrossCountry Manchester - Bournemouth		Banbury
		CrossCountry Newcastle - Reading
Hanborough		First Great Western Cotswold Line		Didcot Parkway
Tackley or Terminus		First Great Western Cherwell Valley Line		Radley
Terminus		First Great Western Oxford to Bicester Line Mondays-Saturdays only		Islip
	Future Chiltern service
Terminus		Chiltern Railways London Marylebone - Oxford		Water Eaton Parkway
	Disused railways
Terminus		British Railways Varsity Line		Port Meadow
Hinksey Halt		Great Western Railway Great Western Main Line		Wolvercote Platform

References

1. Railnews (2008-08-29). "Chiltern Railways plan to make Bicester well connected". Retrieved 2008-09-07.

Bibliography

• Waters, Laurence (1986). Rail centres: Oxford. Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1590-2
• Vaughan, Adrian (1994). The heart of the Great Western. Silver Link Publishing. ISBN 1-85794-026-1

External links

• Chiltern Railways Evergreen 3 project

• Railway stations in Oxfordshire
• Buildings and structures in Oxford
• Transport in Oxford
• Railway stations opened in 1852
• Railway stations served by Chiltern Railways
• Railway stations served by CrossCountry
• Railway stations served by First Great Western