New Oxford-London rail link takes shape
Tags: eversheds, east west rail link, ardent, erm, chiltern railways, atkins, evergreen, water eaton parkway, transport and works act
With the UK recently covered in a blanket of snow and thousands of car journeys interrupted, Oxfordshire commuters can take some comfort from the knowledge that the application process is progressing well for Evergreen 3, Chiltern Railways’ improvement scheme between Oxford and Bicester and plans to cut commuting times by 20% on the London Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street line. These plans will bring a direct train service from Oxford to London Marylebone by 2013, with the Transport and Works Act Order application that will facilitate this scheme submitted to the Secretary of State for Transport at the start of this year.
The project represents a different approach to rail infrastructure improvements, with the train operating company, Chiltern Railways, uniquely taking the risk and undertaking the development, rather than being dependent on taxpayer-funded improvements. This could be a model for future strategic rail improvements.
This is the third in the Chiltern Evergreen series of schemes. Evergreen 1, the reinstatement of double track removed by British Rail, and Evergreen 2, signalling enhancements and additional platforms at Marylebone, helped Chiltern Railways increase traffic by 250% in 15 years.
Evergreen 3 will boost this figure significantly. A major part of the project is the Transport and Works Act Order to link Oxford station with a 100mph railway via Bicester to the Chiltern Main Line, allowing a new Oxford to London Marylebone passenger service to operate. Trains will call at a new multi-modal interchange at Water Eaton Parkway, Bicester Town and High Wycombe, and give a much-anticipated alternative to the M40 and A34.
The new route will be created by installing new track and signalling between Oxford and Bicester Town and building a connecting line south east of Bicester, linking the Oxford to Bicester Town and London Marylebone to Birmingham lines. Two additional platforms will be provided at Oxford station and the existing stations at Bicester Town and Islip rebuilt. A new parkway station will also be constructed adjacent to the existing Water Eaton bus park and ride site to serve Kidlington and North Oxford.
There will be a choice of trains between Oxford and London; easy interchange between train, bus and car at Water Eaton; fast and frequent commuter trains between Bicester and Oxford; and direct trains from Oxford to High Wycombe for the first time in 40 years.
The project will also facilitate development of the East-West rail scheme, providing a strategic link between east and central England. Line speeds of up to 100mph will be possible, reducing journey times to under an hour between the new Water Eaton station being created at the north tip of Oxford and London, and 15 minutes between Bicester and Oxford.
In August 2009 Chiltern Railways appointed Ardent Property Consultants to provide a full property service, from the initial feasibility study through to the end of the Public Inquiry into the scheme. The process includes advising Chiltern Railways on compulsory purchase of land and property, public and landowner consultation work, land referencing, producing plans, serving notices, producing a land acquisition budget, managing objections to the scheme and acting as an expert witness, and draws on Ardent’s experience of using compulsory purchase for the development and implementation of infrastructure schemes.
Bringing in a strategic land assembly specialist like Ardent has smoothed the early stages of a project that wasn’t as straightforward as it might sound. Working with environmental consultant ERM, law firm Eversheds and engineering and design consultancy Atkins, the team has developed a comprehensive Transport and Works Act Order application that will facilitate this important project and addressing its major challenges – from minimising environmental and user impacts, ensuring farms will continue to be able to operate and overcoming resistance from local landowners to rationalising level crossings, introducing bridges to meet modern safety criteria and allow the line speed to be increased, and meeting Network Rail’s aspirations and conditions for the scheme.
As a result the public inquiry will follow at the end of summer this year, construction will begin in 2011 with the first trains running on the new rail link in 2013. The countdown to a faster, more efficient train service has begun.
Richard Caten is director of Ardent Property Consultants