Inquiry: New rail link promises Oxford to Marylebone in 66 minutes (From Oxford Mail)

Inquiry: New rail link promises Oxford to Marylebone in 66 minutes

11:10am Wednesday 3rd November 2010 in News By Amanda Williams

AN INQUIRY into a new £250m Rail service linking Oxford and London opened yesterday with the promise of an extra two trains to the capital every hour.

At the moment trains only run from Oxford to London Paddington.

But Chiltern Railways hopes by upgrading the existing route between Oxford and Bicester Town, a new additional service can be opened up connecting Oxford and London Marylebone, with trains running at speeds of up to 100mph.

If given the go ahead, it will mean a new commuter station at Water Eaton, near Kidlington and significant improvements at Oxford, Bicester and Islip stations.

But fears have been raised about the scheme and more than 300 objections have been submitted.

There are also worries about noise pollution for homes near the route and whether park-and-ride sites can cope with the increased volume of cars.

The public inquiry at the Oxford Conference Centre, in Park End Street, is expected to last nine weeks.

Timothy Straker QC, who opened the inquiry for Chiltern Railways, said the line would mean that for the first time in more than 40 years there will be a rail link between Oxford and High Wycombe.

He said: “The economic benefits march hand in hand with social benefits.

“A multitude of examples can be given of opportunities which will present themselves when there is a new means of travelling along a route which takes people for example from Oxford to Bicester to Wycombe to Beaconsfield to Marylebone.”

The scheme will also include work requested by the Department for Transport to lower the track through Wolvercote tunnel and raise bridge heights to allow international height shipping containers to be carried along the Bicester to Oxford route.

The DfT has ploughed £18m into this part of the scheme.

Graham Cross, business development director of Chiltern Railways, said the rest will be paid for out of fares.

Mr Cross said the route would offer two extra trains to and from London every hour and an attractive alternative to the often congested M40 and A34.

He said: “I would say this greatly improves public transport to London from Oxford, which will benefit everyone.”

Objections to the scheme aare to be heard from next Tuesday.

The Secretary of State will then take a decision on the scheme in early 2011, and if it is given the go ahead, the line could be in operation by 2013.

Projected journey times to Marylebone would be about 66 minutes from Oxford. The Oxford to Bicester journey would take 14 minutes.