Oxford folk demand wider walkway at Botley Road rail bridge

The busy road is currently closed to traffic at the rail bridge as the rail authority works on a £160m upgrade to Oxford station which includes providing a new western entrance.

Since April the road has been closed for work in the Botley Road area and although rail bosses initially pledged to reopen the road for four months from the end of October it will now remain close until all work is completed in October 2024.

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At a recent residents' meeting with Network Rail representatives people living in the area raised a number of concerns, including the cramped walkway beneath the rail bridge.

Often people have to queue to get through the busy route and residents have asked Network Rail to widen the walkway by moving barriers to the other side of railings.

But rail bosses said this would not be possible.

A spokesman said: "We understand that with the walkway and tunnel being narrow, people feel even more restricted with the addition of safety barriers.

"The barriers are there to help maintain the safety of the work site, both for the workforce and people using the walkway.

"Having the barriers located in front of the railings means they can be securely fastened to them, helping them to form a solid barrier.

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"If the barriers were on the other side of the metal railings people would be able to climb up onto the fence or try to push them down onto the site below.

"As I'm sure you can appreciate we can't do anything that would risk the overall safety of the site."

Network Rail bosses have also been asked if their marshals can do more to stop people cycling along the walkway, smoking, not turning off their motorcycle engines, and not keeping to one side of the walkway and tunnel.

A spokesman for the rail authority added: "We appreciate that the walkway and tunnel can be unpleasant during rush hour periods.

"Clearly it wasn't designed to have such a high footfall but unfortunately there are no other workable alternatives available.

"Our marshals don't have any legal powers to stop people doing specific things in the walkway and tunnel.

"They can only request people to do things which they attempt to do in difficult circumstances but unfortunately there are a minority who refuse to cooperate.

"We have now added some additional signs to make the message clearer."

Network Rail bosses apologised after backtracking on their decision to have a break from the closure.

They said the project was taking longer than expected due to the discovery of a brick-built arch beneath the road.

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About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

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