With Chiltern Railways’ route into Oxford complete, managing director Dave Penney is looking to new opportunities for growth, he tells William Crossley

Riding on board the first 07.20 Oxford Flyer, full of commuters bound for London Marylebone, Dave Penney is a happy man.

The journey marks the completion of the second rail route from the centre of Oxford to London, just over eight years after the company revealed its proposal to turn the Oxford-Bicester branch line into a main line link to the capital.

But Chiltern has never been a company to rest on its laurels and Mr Penney, who was promoted from engineering director to managing director at the start of this year, is already looking to the future.

He said that the idea of extending services south from Oxford station to reach Oxford Science Park and Cowley along the freight-only branch line that services the BMW Mini car plant remains on the agenda, but is a longer-term project.

Mr Penney added: “When we ran a trial train last year it was in order to stimulate interest – to show something could be done – and get the Local Enterprise Partnership and the councils involved, to see if it could be woven into local development plans.

“At the moment we’re awaiting the next moves in that planning process. If there’s a desire for it and it fits with what Chiltern Railways could offer, then we’d be more than interested.”

One investment already under way in Oxfordshire is the construction of a new maintenance depot at Banbury, easing the pressure on sites at Aylesbury and Wembley.

Mr Penney said: “Originally this depot was focused on accommodating the extra trains we have taken on for the Oxford line and making it easier to have trains close to Oxford. This makes the service more reliable by having trains in the right locations, but the footprint of the Banbury site allows for growth. The idea is that if we have any additional services in the future, to Cowley for example, then we will have a depot able to accommodate that.

“We’re doing the work at the site in phases - the first tracks became available at the weekend, as part of the Oxford opening – and we’re adding additional track and facilities between now and next May.”

Chiltern also sees opportunities in the creation of the East West Rail route from Oxford to Milton Keynes and Bedford, which will also connect with its network at Aylesbury, and the opening of London’s Crossrail route, taking main line trains under central London in an east-west tunnel and serving Heathrow airport.

Mr Penney said: “We’re really keen to see what will happen with East West Rail. If there’s a role for Chiltern in that, we’d be interested, definitely. We see there’s quite a good overlap with both the Oxford line and our Aylesbury line and have ideas about how we can integrate into East West Rail.”

Adding extra capacity, by lengthening trains and extending station platforms to accommodate them, is also on the agenda for Chiltern, but Mr Penney acknowledges this will only take the company so far, given that its London terminus at Marylebone is on a cramped site that cannot be expanded.

As a result his attention has turned to a little-used link from the Chiltern Line at Ruislip to the Great Western Main Line at Old Oak Common, a location that is set to become a key rail hub over the next decade. A new station will be built there to connect the HS2 high-speed line to Birmingham and the North, due to open in 2026, with Crossrail.

Mr Penney wants the new station to have platforms for Chiltern as well, allowing the company to run extra trains into the capital.

He said: “At its best, we’d love to see services direct from Banbury, Bicester and Aylesbury direct to Old Oak Common. Network Rail’s Route Utilisation Strategy shows that aspiration, so if the railway is built in a way that allows us to do that, we’d absolutely love to, because the benefits are obvious - being able to take people from Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and the Chilterns to Old Oak Common to connect for the City of London, HS2 and Heathrow.

“Old Oak Common is a big opportunity for us. We’re looking forward to it and trying to find the levers to make it happen.”