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.
Click the following link to read this article about Chiltern’s plans for the new Oxford-London route from Rail Magazine:
Rail Magazine 27 Jan 2010
At the AGM, Chiltern Railways confirmed that the Bicester-Oxford line will need to be closed for a period of 9-12 months, beginning mid 2011, in order for the track improvements for Evergreen 3 to be carried out. This will obviously be a great inconvenience to users of the service. Unfortunately this work is necessary due to the position of the existing line and the poor condition of the foundations beneath it.
In the meantime a replacement service will operate. There was some discussion at the AGM about the options for replacement services and Chiltern seem open to discussion about this. Please vote in the following poll to express your preference(s) or add a comment if you have a suggestion that is not listed:
Loading ...Minutes from the OBRAG AGM last week are now available here:
OBRAG AGM 2010 Minutes
Also, there have been more articles in the press recently about Chiltern Railways’ Evergreen 3 proposals for the Bicester-Oxford service:
Bicester Review 2010-02-01
Bicester Advertiser 2010-01-28
Oxford Mail 2010-01-28
Article from Rail Magazine, issue 4-17 Nov 2009.