£69m pledged to new Oxford railway station entrance and upgrades

The new station entrance would be based to the west of the railway tracks, opposite the current station building, which would also remain in use.

Plans to develop the revamp will be funded by cash from the Department for Transport which is mainly aimed at improving the capacity of the station.

In the future, the Government wants Oxford to be a regional rail hub, and to make way for this, Network Rail is preparing to carry out works on the railway lines through Oxford.

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A press statement from Network Rail said the works would ‘significantly improve station capacity from 2024 to accommodate new services’, which include East West Rail, the new link between Oxford and Cambridge.

A view over the planned future station, looking towards the current entrance on the east side of the railway tracks. Picture: Network Rail

New railway tracks and platforms will be added to Oxford station because of the funding, including what is described as an ‘island platform on the west-side of the station’, which will be linked to the new western station entrance by a subway.

The government agency has said the new entrance would make using Oxford station more accessible, as it could cut journey times on foot into the station by three minutes.

There are also plans to change the layout of the rail bridge over the Botley Road, lowering the road so double decker buses can easily pass under it, and so there are wide shared paths for pedestrians and cyclists either side.

How the Botley Road rail bridge may look once upgraded. In the background is Said Business School on the east side of the railway tracks. Picture: Network Rail

Oxford City Council will have final planning approval over the works.

In November last year, Network Rail had bid for £160m of Government money for the upgrades.

It is not clear yet if the cash announced is the result of this bid, but if it is the newly announced amount falls short of what was hoped for.

READ AGAIN: The £160m bid for Oxford station and railway upgrades

Either way, Network Rail plans to bid for more cash soon, and has said: “Further funding is required for the full implementation of the scheme and the full business case for the project will be submitted to DfT later this year, with a decision on final funding expected in spring 2022.”

Capacity works at Oxford Station have been discussed for years as the solution to local rail projects like the Cowley Branch Line and a new line between Witney and Oxford.

There have also been long-held ambitions to upgrade Oxford’s train station entrance, which has been described as ugly and uninviting in the past.

Welcoming the announcement of the funding, Susan Brown, the city council’s leader said she would continue to work with other organisations to make sure ‘Oxford’s station is a worthy gateway to our city’.

She added the station was ‘central to unlocking the transformation of the west end of Oxford’.

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The city council has plans to regenerate large swathes of west end of the city with new housing and office space, including at a mixed development at Oxpens which it is hoping to build in partnership with Nuffield College.

The railway works in Oxford are a small part of a much wider announcement for rail funding across the UK, made by the Department for Transport today.

The Government has said it is investing £401 million into upgrades, which includes making journeys faster on the Trans-Pennine route across the North of England.

Government rail minister Chris Heaton-Harris said: “Our investment in Oxford’s rail infrastructure will enable major improvements to freight links between the Port of Southampton and the Midlands, and pave the way for improved passenger services.

“Modernising and upgrading our vital transport links is critical to levelling up every part of this country, unleashing our economy and spreading opportunity.”