Oxford Parkway railway station explained

Oxford Parkway
Symbol Location:gb
Symbol:rail
Borough:Water Eaton, Cherwell
Country:England
Coordinates:51.8042°N -1.2745°W
Grid Name:Grid reference
Owned:Network Rail
Manager:Chiltern Railways
Platforms:2
Code:OXP
Original:Network Rail
Years:25 October 2015
Events:Opened[1]
Footnotes:Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Zoom:13

Oxford Parkway railway station is a railway station at Water Eaton, Oxfordshire, on the Oxford–Bicester line. Full regular weekday service began on Monday 26 October 2015,[2] although the first passengers travelled the previous day on a Sunday timetable.[3]

The station, whose name was changed in September 2013 from the provisional "Water Eaton Parkway",[4] [5] lies between Kidlington and Oxford beside the existing Water Eaton park-and-ride site.[6] It serves Kidlington, north Oxford and nearby villages. The station forms part of a multi-modal transport interchange node, connecting travellers by bus, cycle, on foot and by car with rail transport. It is also intended to attract park-and-ride traffic from the busy A34, A40 and A44 roads.

Services to Oxford started on 11 December 2016.[7]

Description

The station is part of Project Evergreen 3, funded and managed by Chiltern Railways. It is served every half-hour by trains from London . Chiltern Railways opened the station in October 2015 for trains towards Bicester and London Marylebone, with services to Oxford railway station beginning in December 2016, delayed from Spring 2016 as locals objected to the extra noise that would be caused.[8] [9] The journey time to London is about an hour. Network Rail completed the final track upgrades on this portion of the route in September 2016[10] allowing driver training runs on the line ahead of the inauguration of new services on 11 December.

The East West Rail Consortium's planned rail service between Oxford and and Midland will also serve Oxford Parkway.[11]

The station is on the site of the Buckinghamshire Railway's temporary Oxford Banbury Road terminus (1850–51), and north-east of the site of the former (1905–26). In 1942 a Government grain silo was built next to the site as part of a Second World War network to concentrate scarce food and distribute it by rail. It was in use until the late 1980s.[12] In October 2013 Chiltern Railways had it demolished as part of site preparation for the new station and car park.[13]

The Oxford Parkway (Formerly known as Water Eaton) Park-and-Ride is immediately adjacent, with bus services to central Oxford,[14] London Oxford Airport and to the Headington hospitals (Monday to Friday only).[15]

The station lies on National Cycle Route 51, which links Oxford to Bicester and further East.[16] Oxford Parkway has covered two-level parking for 152 pedal cycles adjacent to the entrance, additional to the existing cycle parking at the nearby Park & Ride. It has CCTV surveillance.[17]

The car park has 815 standard spaces, plus 41 spaces for passengers with reduced mobility. There is realtime information about remaining available spaces.[18] There is a fee to park a car[6] but the first hour is free. There are also spaces for 30 motorcycles.

Purchase of rail travel tickets is by machine; there is no ticket office at the station,[17] but there is an information desk. Toilet and refreshment facilities are also present.

Grain silo

Prior to the station's construction, the site was occupied by a large grain silo. This followed a standard pattern common to other wartime silos, taking the form of two banks of ten seven-storey high cylindrical reinforced concrete silos side by side with the space between them filled by a brick access shaft. In the shaft there were associated grain handling machinery and two enormous grain driers which extended the full height of the building. It was built in the early 1940s and closed in the late 1980s, after which the yard surrounding it was used by several local businesses including a pet food supplier and a car breaker.[19]

Construction

Building of the station began in late October 2014 and was sufficiently advanced for services to begin 12 months later.

Services

All services at Oxford Parkway are operated by Chiltern Railways. The current off-peak service in trains per hour is:

External links

Notes and References

  1. Oxford Parkway opens . Today's Railways UK . 168 . Platform 5 . November 2015 . 14–15.
  2. Web site: UPDATE: First trains from Oxford Parkway arrive at London Marylebone (From Oxford Mail) . Oxfordmail.co.uk . 2015-10-27 . 4 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304201836/http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/13895524.UPDATE__First_trains_from_Oxford_Parkway_arrive_at_London_Marylebone/ . live .
  3. Web site: Keen passengers board the first trains to leave Oxford Parkway. Oxford Mail. 2015-10-27. 4 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090451/http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/13894736.Keen_passengers_board_the_first_trains_to_leave_Oxford_Parkway/?ref=mr&lp=17. live.
  4. Web site: APPLICATION TO THE OFFICE OF RAIL REGULATION FOR A PASSENGER TRACK ACCESS AGREEMENT, OR AMENDMENT TO A PASSENGER TRACK ACCESS AGREEMENT UNDER SECTIONS 17-22A OF THE RAILWAYS ACT 1993 . Networkrail.co.uk . 2015-10-27 . 15 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160315194228/http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/track%20access/2%20completed%20consultations/2015/2015.08.08%20-%20chiltern%20-%20section%2022%20-%20closes%203%20september%202015/chiltern%20proposed%20form%20p%20114th%20oxp%20tt%202015.pdf . live .
  5. Chiltern Railways names new Oxfordshire station Oxford Parkway . 20 September 2013 . Chiltern Railways . 20 September 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130921060403/http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/news/chiltern-railways-names-new-oxfordshire-station-oxford-parkway . 21 September 2013 . dmy-all .
  6. Web site: Water Eaton park and ride – OX2 8HA | Oxfordshire County Council . Oxfordshire.gov.uk . 2015-09-22 . 2015-10-27 . 4 March 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304103359/https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/content/water-eaton-park-and-ride-ox2-8ha . live .
  7. Web site: New Chiltern Railways timetable from December 11th 2016. Chiltern Railways. 3 December 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161203125114/https://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/sites/default/files/files/timetables/Timetable_December_11_2016.pdf. 3 December 2016. dead. dmy-all.
  8. Web site: Oxford-Marylebone service delayed until December . 29 January 2016 . 31 January 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160131222824/http://www.railmagazine.com/news/network/2016/01/27/oxford-marylebone-service-delayed-until-december . live .
  9. Web site: Chiltern's Oxford city centre-London services pushed to December . 20 January 2016 . 24 January 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160124000816/http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/rail-news/chilterns-oxford-city-centre-london-services-pushed-to-december . live .
  10. http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/oxford-to-marylebone-track-now-complete "Oxford to Marylebone track now complete"
  11. Web site: Prospectus . . 14 December 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120303182356/http://eastwestrail.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/EWR-prospectus-web-2.pdf . 3 March 2012 . dmy-all .
  12. News: a look back at the history of the Water Eaton grain silo as wartime facility nears its end . Memory Lane . . . 21 October 2013 . 13 December 2013 . 13 December 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131213130402/http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/community/memorylane/10751298.a_look_back_at_the_history_of_the_Water_Eaton_grain_silo_as_wartime_facility_nears_its_end/ . live .
  13. News: Water Eaton grain silo is demolished . Fantato . Damian . . Newsquest . 2 November 2013 . 13 December 2013 . 13 December 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131213131047/http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/10780555.Water_Eaton_grain_silo_is_demolished/ . live .
  14. Web site: 500 : park&ride : Oxford Bus Company . Parkandride.oxfordbus.co.uk . 2015-10-22 . 2015-10-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151108212114/http://parkandride.oxfordbus.co.uk/timetables-fares/500 . 8 November 2015 . dead .
  15. Web site: Stagecoach Bus Timetable . Stagecoachbus.com . 2015-10-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150909133530/https://www.stagecoachbus.com/pdfs/XOAO700.pdf . 9 September 2015 . dead . dmy-all .
  16. Web site: Route 51 – Map . Sustrans . 2015-10-27 . 9 October 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151009032040/http://www.sustrans.org.uk/ncn/map/route/route-51 . live .
  17. Web site: National Rail Enquiries – Station facilities for Oxford Parkway . Nationalrail.co.uk . 2015-10-27 . 10 November 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151110055057/http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/OXP/details.html . live .
  18. Web site: Park and ride car parks . Voyager.oxfordshire.gov.uk . 2015-10-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150925095850/http://voyager.oxfordshire.gov.uk/Carpark.aspx . 25 September 2015 . dead . dmy-all .
  19. Web site: a look back at the history of the Water Eaton grain silo as wartime facility nears its end. Oxford Mail. 2016-12-03. 13 December 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131213130402/http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/community/memorylane/10751298.a_look_back_at_the_history_of_the_Water_Eaton_grain_silo_as_wartime_facility_nears_its_end/. live.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Oxford Parkway railway station".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.