Oxfordshire Rail Strategy & Delivery Plan – Jan 2012 draft for consultation

January 22nd, 2012

OBRAG members may be interested to read this document from Oxfordshire County Council as it contains several sections about the Bicester Link service.

OBRAG AGM 2012

December 6th, 2011

The OBRAG AGM will be held at Bicester Methodist Church, starting at 18:25 on Thu 12th January 2012. All are welcome for what is an important chance to have your say, particularly given the current plans for Evergreen 3 and the recently announced East-West Rail link.
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Government support for Oxford to Bedford link

November 29th, 2011

In his Autumn Statement today, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced his support for reopening the Oxford to Bedford link.
Oxford Mail
Buckingham Today
HM Treasury
East West Rail
EWR Prospectus

Secretary of State’s views letter

November 18th, 2011

You can view the SoS’s letter here.
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Possible delays to planning decision

November 17th, 2011

It appears that the Inquiry Inspector has withheld approval of the Evergreen 3 upgrade to the Oxford-Bicester line. The main reason would seem to be that Chiltern Railways’ proposed mitigation of disturbance to the bats in the Wolvercote tunnel (using a new light system when trains approach) is seen as unproven.

The consequence of this could be a delay before the final decision while Chiltern look for alternatives.

If anyone has more information on this, please do comment below.