The Cherwell Valley line is the railway line between Didcot and via . It links the Great Western Main Line and the south to the Chiltern Main Line and the Midlands. The line follows the River Cherwell for much of its route between Banbury and Oxford.

History

Oxford Railway

The line from Didcot to Oxford was promoted by the Company, and authorised by the (6 & 7 Vict. c. x).

Before it opened, the Oxford Railway became part of the Great Western Railway by the Great Western Railway Act 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. iii), and the line became the GWR Oxford branch.

Oxford and Rugby Railway

The line from Oxford to Banbury was built by the Oxford and Rugby Railway, and authorised by the Oxford and Rugby Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. clxxxviii).

Before it opened, the Oxford and Rugby Railway became part of the Great Western Railway by the Great Western Railway Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. xiv).

Current and former stations served

• , formerly called Banbury Bridge Street

• Former station at

• Former station at

• , formerly called Lower Heyford

• Former station for , previously called Kirtlington

• Former station at previously called Woodstock Road

• Former halt at

• Former halt at Hinksey

• Former halt at Abingdon Road

• Former station at

• , formerly called Abingdon Road

• Didcot Parkway, formerly called Didcot

The former station for Bletchingdon was always spelt "Bletchington", which is an alternative spelling for that village's toponym. The former halt at Wolvercote was called "Wolvercot Platform", with a deliberately different spelling of the village's name, to distinguish it from the London and North Western Railway's nearby .

The line has a maximum speed of 110 mph (177 km/h).

Services

Passenger services are provided by CrossCountry and Great Western Railway. CrossCountry call only at and on their services south to and north to and beyond, while Great Western Railway operate both local and express services on the line, with express services typically continuing onto the Cotswold Line towards and , or the Great Western main line towards .

The line carries a large and increasing volume of freight between the Port of Southampton and the Midlands, much of it container trains operated by Freightliner.

Tilting

With the exception of the West Coast Main Line, this route was the only route on which domestic UK trains could tilt, something of which Virgin CrossCountry took advantage, using Class 221 Super Voyagers from 2004. After Virgin CrossCountry's successor CrossCountry elected to remove the tilting equipment from its Class 221s to increase reliability and reduce costs, tilt running ceased in 2008.

River Thames

The line makes three crossings of the River Thames between Oxford and Didcot:

• Osney Rail Bridge

• Nuneham Railway Bridge

• Appleford Railway Bridge

Electrification

In 1977 the Parliamentary Select Committee on Nationalised Industries recommended considering electrification of more of Britain's rail network, and by 1979 BR presented a range of options to do so by 2000. Some of these options would have included the whole Cherwell Valley line and the Banbury–Birmingham section of what is now the Chiltern Main Line plus the Coventry to Leamington line. The 1979–90 Conservative governments that succeeded the 1976–79 Labour government did not implement the proposal.

Under plans for the Great Western Electrification project announced in July 2009, the Cherwell Valley line was due to be electrified from Didcot as far as Oxford. However, delays and cost overruns elsewhere caused this to be deferred indefinitely in 2016.

References