Cherwell Valley Line

Cherwell Valley Line
Appleford railway station, on the Cherwell Valley Line.
Overview
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Oxfordshire, South East England
Stations	7
Operation
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	CrossCountry First Great Western
Rolling stock	Class 43/HST Class 165 "Turbo" Class 220 "Voyager" Class 221 "Super Voyager"
Technical
Track gauge	Standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)

[v · d · e]Cherwell Valley Line

Legend Chiltern Main Line to Leamington Spa Banbury former Verney Junction Branch M40 motorway King's Sutton former Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway M40 motorway Aynho Jct: Chiltern Main Line to Bicester North Aynho Fritwell & Somerton Oxford Canal Heyford Tackley Oxford Canal Bletchington Oxford Canal former Shipton cement works Oxford Canal former Blenheim & Woodstock branch line Kidlington Oxford Canal Duke's Cut former Buckinghamshire Junction Railway Cotswold Line to Worcester A34 road Wolvercot Platform Oxford North Junction: Oxford to Bicester Line Sheepwash Channel Oxford former gas works Osney Railway Bridge over River Thames Oxford (Grandpont) station Hinksey Halt former Millstream Junction Abingdon Road Halt Kennington Jct: Wycombe Railway to Mini factory Radley Abingdon Junction Abingdon Jct. with former Abingdon Railway Nuneham Railway Bridge over River Thames Culham Appleford Railway Bridge over River Thames Appleford gravel pits Didcot North Junction Didcot Railway Centre Didcot Parkway on GW Main Line ( Swindon – Reading )

The Cherwell Valley Line is the railway line between Didcot and Banbury via Oxford. 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 Oxford and Banbury.

Current and former stations served

• Banbury previously known as Banbury Bridge Street
• Kings Sutton
• Former station at Aynho
• Former station at Fritwell & Somerton
• Heyford previously known as Lower Heyford
• Tackley
• Former station for Bletchingdon previously known as Kirtlington
• Former station at Kidlington previously known as Woodstock Road
• Former halt at Wolvercote
• Oxford
• Former halt at Hinksey
• Former halt at Abingdon Road
• Radley
• Former station at Abingdon Junction
• Culham, formerly known as Abingdon Road
• Appleford
• Didcot Parkway

The former station for Bletchingdon was always spelt Bletchington. 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 & North Western Railway's adjacent Wolvercote Halt.

Services

Passenger services are provided by CrossCountry and First Great Western. First Great Western has designated the local service between Oxford and Banbury the Oxford Canal Line.

The line carries a large and increasing volume of freight between the Port of Southampton and the English Midlands.

Tilting

With the exception of the West Coast Main Line, this route is the only route on which domestic UK trains can tilt, something of which Virgin Cross Country took advantage on trains from the WCML to Reading and beyond, utilising SuperVoyager trains that can tilt.^[1]

CrossCountry's new operator, Arriva, does not run much on the WCML, and considers it not worthwhile to activate the tilt mechanism for the short stretch of the Cherwell Valley line. For this reason many SuperVoyagers have been transferred to Virgin West Coast, who can use their tilting ability on the WCML. The majority of CrossCountry services on the Cherwell Valley line are now worked by standard non-tilting Voyager trains, and any remaining tilting Voyagers have had their tilt function disabled to improve reliability and cut costs.^{[citation needed]}

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

Under the plans for the Great Western Electrification project, announced in July 2009, the section of the Cherwell Valley Line between Didcot and Oxford will be electrified.^[2]

References

1. ^ BBC News
2. ^ Department for Transport - Britain’s Transport Infrastructure - Rail Electrification - July 2009