6:09pm Monday 20th July 2009
By William Crossley
RAILWAY engineers have begun work on the first major phase of the project to restore double track on 20 miles of the Cotswold Line from Oxford to Worcester.
Network Rail staff and contractors will reposition almost 10 miles of existing track, complete installation of more than 20 miles of signal cable ducts, lay 30 miles of new cable and reposition signals to prepare the way for extra track to be laid next year.
The six-week closure of all or parts of the 50-mile route started on Saturday.
First Great Western project manager Martin Barnett said: “This is a particularly congested part of the railway, which means small delays tend to have more of an effect on our customers than they should.”
He added: “The redoubling of the track will provide extra capacity for more trains to carry more customers, should demand continue to increase, and help sustain improved performance in the area.” The work will include about four miles of extra track from Ascott-under-Wychwood, near Charlbury, where engineers were at work yesterday.
New signals, to be controlled from Network Rail’s new Thames Valley signalling centre, at Didcot, will also be installed next year.
The remaining new track will be laid in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, between Moreton-in-Marsh and Evesham.
The whole line is closed for the next two weeks and again from August 24-September 1, with buses replacing trains.
Trains will be running on the sections between Oxford and Moreton-in-Marsh, and Evesham and Worcester, from August 3-23.
Once the redoubling project is completed in early 2011, there will be two sections of single track left, between Charlbury and Wolvercot junction, north of Oxford, and from Evesham to Worcester.
news@oxfordmail.co.uk For more information about the project, call 08457 484950 or go to the website firstgreatwestern.co.uk/ northcotswolds
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