Following two community drop-in sessions, Network Rail has provided an update on the Oxford rail station upgrade works, referred to as the Oxfordshire Connect programme.
In a statement, Network Rail said: “We appreciate that there is a lot of anxiety amongst the community related to the work, especially towards the bus and emergency service access.
“We want to assure you, though, that we are listening and working hard to find solutions to the issues which have been raised”.
The programme will upgrade Oxford Station, expand the railway infrastructure in the area and improve the local road network.
YHA building demolition
Work next to the bridge is ongoing with the demolition of the former YHA building and alterations to the road layout.
And on the night of Tuesday, 21 March, there’ll be some more ground investigation work under the bridge. Due to the work being very close to the road, the work will be carried out during the night for safety reasons, as traffic levels will be low.
One lane under the bridge will be closed, with traffic lights in place to control traffic while the investigation work is carried out. Additionally, the work may be noisy at times, but Network Rail has said it will “do everything we can to minimise disruption”.
Planned railway closures
There will be work on the railway over two weekends to relocate signalling and our telecoms cable that passes under the tracks in preparation for track layout changes.
A large engineering train will be used to assist with this work, and materials will be delivered to the site by lorry using a redundant siding to the rear of Westgate Hotel.
The railway will be closed on Sunday, 26 March, and Sunday, 02 April, while the work is carried out.
Whilst these works happen, buses will replace Great Western and CrossCountry services between Didcot Parkway, Oxford and Banbury on Sundays, 26 March and 02 April. Visit nationalrail.co.uk/engineering to find out more.
This initial work will be followed by a further series of overnight closures to allow for track preparation works ahead of a nine-day closure at the end of July. These closures will are scheduled for 03, 10, 17 & 24 June and 01, 08 & 15 July – from 11.05pm to 8.40am the following day.
A core nine-day track upgrade closure will begin at 2.00am on Saturday, 29 July, and continue until 4.45am on Monday, 07 August.
The nine-day closure will be followed by weekend closures on 13 August and 10 September (from 12.50am to 4.45am the following day), 16 September (from 11.05pm to 8.40am the day after), and 15 October (from 12.50am to 4.45am the next day) for track follow-up works.
If you have any questions about the improvement work, kindly contact Network rail on 03457 114141 quoting Oxfordshire Connect or by email to OxfordPhase2@networkrail.co.uk.
