Railway closure could be just two weeks
From the Oxford Mail:
Parts of the Cotswold Line will shut next summer for a long-awaited double tracking scheme.
The detailed work plan has not yet been finalised, but train operator First Great Western is giving out leaflets now, advising passengers of their expected timetable. They are advising rail users alternative bus transport will be laid on, coinciding with the school holidays, between July 18 and August 30.
But for Oxfordshire station commuters - including Charlbury through to Kingham - it could be as short as two weeks, according to the Cotswold Line Promotion Group. Chairman Derek Potter said: “We have had meetings with FGW and Network Rail and it’s possible that at the Charlbury and Hanborough end the blockade - or trains not running - will be down to just two weeks.”
Passengers to and from Oxford would board and get off trains at Hanborough and continue the rest of their journeys by bus.
The scheme involves the doubling of about five miles of track from just east of Charlbury to Ascott-under-Wychwood and another 15 miles between Moreton-in-Marsh and Evesham. The latter is expected to require a lengthier period of “blockade” because of more extensive preliminary work in realigning the existing track, ballast, drainage and other work because of a section of underground tunnel.
Richard Fairhurst · Fri 12 Dec 2008, 10:16 · Link