Aylesbury Vale Parkway railway station

UK stations
name = Aylesbury Vale Parkway


manager = Chiltern Railways
locale = Aylesbury
borough = Aylesbury Vale
platforms = 1
starting = 2008

Aylesbury Vale Parkway railway station is under construction to serve the Berryfields and Weedon Hill housing development in the north of Aylesbury. The station will be served by Chiltern Railways. Opening is currently proposed for December 2008; the rail works are being completed by Carillion Rail and construction began in October 2007 [cite web|url=http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/news/detail.jsp?contentid=-1663702573|title=The next stop will be Aylesbury Vale Parkway|accessdate=2008-06-04|publisher=Buckinghamshire County Council] .

Background

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister announced in April 2006 that it would be providing £8.17 million for track and signalling improvements to the existing line, which is currently only used to carry freight. The line is part of the old Metropolitan line/GCR which connected London and Aylesbury with the Midlands and North.

A further £2.8 million will be invested by Chiltern Railways' owners Laing Rail and £1m from Buckinghamshire County Council.

The station is anticipated to provide parking for 400 cars and link in to existing public transport bus services along the A41 corridor.

The station was originally not due to be completed until 2010 [cite web|url=http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/news/press-releases/new-aylesbury-vale-parkway-station-to/|title=New Aylesbury Vale Parkway station to open in 2010|date=2006-04-11|accessdate=2008-06-04|publisher=Chiltern Railways] , however, it is ahead of schedule and has an opening date of 14 December 2008.

Future plans

Although at present the new station has been agreed to extend the Marylebone to Aylesbury line by a further two and a quarter miles, there has been talk of extending the line beyond the Parkway station to Quainton, Bletchley and Oxford using portions of the former Varsity Line. Whether or not this will happen is still unknown. The platform will be built to accomodate a second track if ever implemented, creating an island platform.

Expected services

The anticipated service interval will be train hourly off-peak to Marylebone via Amersham. During peak periods there will be up to three trains per hour to Marylebone [cite web|url=http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/uploads/publications/258.doc|format=Microsoft Word|publisher=Chiltern Railways|accessdate=2008-04-15|title=Aylesbury Vale Parkway] . There will be a single platform with passenger trains using the north face while trains to Calvert, Bicester or Quainton Road will pass the south side, the tracks being operated as independent single lines. The track between Aylesbury and the new station will be upgraded to continuous welded rail with a maximum line speed for DMU passenger trains of 60 mph. The journey time to Aylesbury is expected to be less than four minutes and a single ticket will cost about £1.cite web|url=http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/content/index.jsp?contentid=-1950503947|title=Aylesbury Vale Parkway|publisher=Buckinghamshire County Council|accessdate=2008-06-04]

By the year 2012 there is a possibility there would be connecting services to Milton Keynes and Oxford, see East West Rail Consortium.

References

External links

* [http://www.eastwestpassengers.8m.com East West Rail Link support group]
* [http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/EastWestrail/ East West Rail Link petition]
* [http://www.eastwestrail.org East West Rail consortium]

###@@@KEYEND@@@###