Oxford station - facilities, improvements, parking, incidents and events - merged posts

[whole diary]

[inspector_blakey]

At least they're nice and close to the panel box so it's not too far for a signaller to walk with a pair of heavy boots and some point clips 

[IndustryInsider]

All the pointwork giving access to the stabling sidings on the western side of the line north of the station, used by terminating services from London, has been renewed. I hope they have fitted super-reliable point motors, because as part of the project, Network Rail are removing the points at the north end of the sidings, so no way out in that direction in future if there's a problem at the southern end.

The layout has been changed too. An additional siding has been added which can take a longer train than the headshunt which used to be used in conjunction with shunting moves. That headshunt now shares a signal with the additional siding and has been shortened quite a lot - as far as I can see it will be used for tampers etc. to access the three sidings still remaining of the old diesel depot. As you say though, gains and losses, although not used for a few years (as far as I know) the ability to shunt out of the north end of the sidings has now gone, so there's only one way out!

[devon_metro]

Hopefully more reliable than Airport Jn!

[eightf48544]

All the pointwork giving access to the stabling sidings on the western side of the line north of the station, used by terminating services from London, has been renewed. I hope they have fitted super-reliable point motors, because as part of the project, Network Rail are removing the points at the north end of the sidings, so no way out in that direction in future if there's a problem at the southern end.

The layout has been changed too. An additional siding has been added which can take a longer train than the headshunt which used to be used in conjunction with shunting moves. That headshunt now shares a signal with the additional siding and has been shortened quite a lot - as far as I can see it will be used for tampers etc. to access the three sidings still remaining of the old diesel depot. As you say though, gains and losses, although not used for a few years (as far as I know) the ability to shunt out of the north end of the sidings has now gone, so there's only one way out!

Can anyone tell me if some form of cost benefit analysis is done to justify the removal of the North end points. It would seem to me to be a very simple sum . Cost of annual maintenance against cost of delay minutes/cancelled trains if the South end points fail say at 06:00 in the morning.

[signalandtelegraph]

Can anyone tell me if some form of cost benefit analysis is done to justify the removal of the North end points. It would seem to me to be a very simple sum . Cost of annual maintenance against cost of delay minutes/cancelled trains if the South end points fail say at 06:00 in the morning.

I doubt it very much,  there seems to be little joined up thinking on what operational facilities are required by the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) and the benefits of having a robust infrastructure to cover such situations as would have happened in BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) days.  

[Oxman]

The reason for the work is to provide protection for movements from the siding onto the down goods loop, so that the loop can be converted to passenger use. This should be completed in a few weeks time. The points at the North End have also been removed to allow this, and to allow a siding to be lengthened.

Having the loop available for passenger use will allow down Cotswold trains to be held on the loop waiting for an up train to clear the single line, instead of blocking platform 2, which is what happens now, and keeps the down main free for traffic to Banbury.

The cost is justified by the delay minutes savings.

[willc]

Thanks for explaining the protection issue. I was a bit surprised to see a brand new example of that endangered species, the catch point, fitted in the throat of the connection into the sidings.

[willc]

The down loop is now available for passenger services, as I discovered yesterday evening when the 17.51 to Worcester rolled out of Oxford along it and we were overtaken by a Birmingham-bound Freightliner on the main line - had a bit of a 'hang on, what's that doing there?' moment until I twigged what was going on.

[Electric train]

The down loop is now available for passenger services, as I discovered yesterday evening when the 17.51 to Worcester rolled out of Oxford along it and we were overtaken by a Birmingham-bound Freightliner on the main line - had a bit of a 'hang on, what's that doing there?' moment until I twigged what was going on.

Does what says on the tin ...... then

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Oxford station to get ^10m revamp

Oxford railway station is to benefit from Network Rail's ^3.25bn investment programme, the company has revealed.

More than 2,000 stations will receive a share of the money between now and 2014, with Oxford earmarked to get at least ^10m.

Some of the improvements will include new passenger information systems, new toilets and waiting rooms, as well as new and longer platforms.

A survey will be carried out to find out what passengers want at stations.

Network Rail operations and customer service director Robin Gisby said: "Stations are the railways' shop-front and they have been ignored for too long. With the punctuality of the railways now running at record levels and our major programme to boost capacity and provide more seats on trains under way, we can now look at other priorities and stations are at the top of the list."

[inspector_blakey]

Erm, unless it was all a dream, Oxford was refurbished with a shiny new information system, new loos and new waiting rooms not many months ago! Not to mention an M&S. So presumably that GBP10m is mostly targeted for new and longer platforms...

[paul7575]

Drawings in the GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about) RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy) suggest that both platforms will be islands, with four tracks through the middle, so surely a fair proportion will have to be spent relocating the station building?

Is a Banbury like layout (of the buildings, lifts and footbridge) the most probable solution?

Edit: then of course there are the new Chiltern platforms - north of the ticket office maybe?

Paul

[willc]

Nothing to do with the RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy) diagram - anything like that would have to wait for Oxford area resignalling in the 2014-19 control period. This money is to be spent in the current control period up to 2014.

More likely to be for the bay platforms on part of the car park for London services.

And Chiltern's plans have been in the public domain for monhs, see http://www.chiltern-evergreen3.co.uk/uploads/images/Chiltern%20A4%208pp%20Booklet%20V9%20Website%20v2.pdf

[paul7575]

Yes I know about Evergreen, what I was really thinking of was that if the ticket office wasn't on the back of the main up platform, it would have to be set further back, and the Chiltern platforms would be sort of on their own behind it to the north, with no level access to the main up island, but I didn't really phrase it right.

What is amazing though, is that they are thinking of spending all this money on the current plan, when it is already superseded. What I can't be sure of is whether there is still a south facing bay with the new scheme, because it would seem to create a conflicting crossing move for terminating arrivals.  Surely the better solution would be a turnback siding (or two) between the main through lines north of the station?

Paul

[willc]

The current layout has not been superseded - the RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy) diagram is no more than an ideal world exercise in wishful thinking at this stage. The south end bay has been talked about for some time, is do-able without affecting the operations of the rest of the station and will have long-term benefits, whatever may happen in some years' time, plus it would be available for use if you decided to start knocking about the rest of the station layout to achieve something like the RUS suggestion - you simply could not operate the normal timetable using one through platform while rebuilding work took place.

The approach to Oxford is already signalled to allow terminating trains - and northbound workings if platform 2 is occupied/blocked - to run into platform 1 from the south using the loop line - at quieter times of the day, especially late evening, this happens a lot anyway, as it saves people the trek over the bridge and the trains can run straight on into the stabling sidings. Any turnback, if you could fit one in without mucking up the alignment of the through lines, would still block a couple of tracks while a train was entering or leaving it, not much better than the all-line block that a movement from the west sidings into platform 1 creates now.