UK: Network Rail announced on September 21 that tracklaying had been completed to enable Chiltern Railways services to run to Oxford. Chiltern had begun operating between London Marylebone and a parkway station on the northern outskirts of the city last year; its trains are due to serve Oxford station, closer to the centre, from December 12.
As part of the £320m project, 18 km of track between Bicester and Oxford has been doubled and the line speed raised to 160 km/h. The final sections of track to be completed were in the Peartree and Wolvercote areas.
‘With the track now laid from our new station Oxford Parkway through to Oxford city centre, we can look forward to the first trains running on December 12’, said Chiltern Railways Managing Director Dave Penney. He added that the completed Chiltern route between London Marylebone and Oxford ‘will bring significant social, economic and environmental benefits’.
