Varsity Line

Varsity Line
Bletchley Railway Station (1962)
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend ^ Fen Line / Ipswich-Ely Cambridge → West Anglia Main Line / Cambridge Line Lord's Bridge Old North Road Gamlingay Potton ↔ East Coast Main Line Sandy Girtford stop River Ivel Blunham Willington Bedford St John's (former location) Bedford St John's Bedford → Bedford – Hitchin Kempston and Elstow stop ↔ Midland Main Line Kempston Hardwick Wootton Broadmead stop Stewartby Millbrook Lidlington Ridgmont Husborne Crawley Aspley Guise Woburn Sands Bow Brickhill Grand Junction Canal Fenny Stratford ↔ West Coast Main Line Bletchley Newton Longville landfill Swanbourne Winslow → Metropolitan Line Verney Junction ← Branch line to Banbury Claydon ↔ Great Central Main Line Marsh Gibbon and Poundon Launton ↔ Chiltern Main Line Bicester Village → Bicester Military Railway Wendlebury stop M40 motorway Charlton stop Oddington stop Islip Oxford Parkway Oxford Road stop ← Buckinghamshire Junction Railway Wolvercote tunnel Wolvercote stop Oxford Canal ← Cherwell Valley Line / Cotswold Line Port Meadow stop Sheepwash Channel Oxford Rewley Road Oxford ↓ Cherwell Valley Line

Varsity Line is the informal name of a partially preserved railway line in the south east of England , which once connected the university cities of Oxford and Cambridge ( Varsity is an outdated word for university). It was operated successively by the railway companies London and North Western Railway , London, Midland and Scottish Railway and British Rail . It was opened in stages from 1846 to 1851. In 1967, operations on the Oxford – Bletchley and Bedford – Cambridge sections were discontinued. Only on the Bletchley – Bedford section (the so-called Marston Vale Line) continued passenger traffic.

In the early 21st century there were increasing numbers of proposals to reopen the lines, most specifically by the East West Rail consortium . In 2015 the section between Oxford and Bicester was put back into operation. The rail infrastructure company Network Rail is to repair the section from Bicester to Bletchley by 2019 .

history

The Varsity Line is made up of lines that were built by two different railway companies. The Buckinghamshire Railway opened the section between Bletchley and Bedford in 1846 ; In 1850 the section between Bletchley and Verney Junction followed (as part of the line to Banbury ), in 1851 the section between Verney Junction and Oxford . In 1862 the Bedford and Cambridge Railway (B&CR) opened the section from Bedford via Sandy to Cambridge .

Also in 1846, the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) was created from the merger of several companies . This immediately secured network access to the Buckinghamshire Railway. On July 1, 1851, LNWR took over management of the company on a 999 year lease until it completely absorbed the company on July 21, 1879. In 1865 the B&CR was also part of the LNWR. From 1891 to 1936 there was a connection to the Metropolitan Railway , a predecessor company of the London Underground , in Verney Junction .

Although the LNWR now owned and operated the entire line, it decided to split it into two sections. Trains from Bletchley ran east to Cambridge and west to Oxford. It was only when the LNWR became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSR) in 1922 that continuous trains from Oxford to Cambridge were offered. During the Second World War , numerous trains ran on the Varsity Line to and from the Bicester Military Railway , a connecting line to several military depots near Bicester .

In 1948, the LNWR was part of the state-owned British Railways (BR). A first attempt to shut down the line failed in 1959 due to local opposition. In 1963, Richard Beeching's report on the rationalization of British railways did not include the Varsity Line in the list of lines to be closed. After political pressure from Transport Minister Ernest Maples and the road traffic lobby, BR ceased passenger traffic on the Oxford – Bletchley and Bedford – Cambridge sections on January 1, 1968. Only on the Bletchley – Bedford section continued passenger trains; this was named Marston Vale Line . In the 1980s and early 1990s, isolated special trains between London and Milton Keynes used the Claydon – Bletchley section.

Freight trains have been running the short section between Bletchley and a landfill near Newton Longville since March 2006. With the support of the Oxfordshire County Council , Network SouthEast repaired the Oxford – Bicester line and began passenger services on May 11, 1987; The Islip intermediate station was reopened two years later. On February 15, 2014, the line was temporarily shut down in order to carry out the work described in the next chapter.

Current status (end of 2015)

Overgrown route near Swanbourne (2006)

After a year and a half of work, Chiltern Railways resumed passenger traffic between Bicester and the newly built Oxford Parkway station on October 26, 2015. The renewed route is double-lane and allows a top speed of 160 km / h. From December 12, 2016, the trains are to run to Oxford Central Station again.

The route between Newton Longville and Bicester has been preserved, but is in a dilapidated state. In February 2014 Network Rail began to clear the tracks of overgrown bushes. The route between Bedford and Bletchley, known as the Marston Vale Line , is operated by trains operated by the London Midland railway company .

On the section between Bedford and Cambridge all tracks have been removed, and part of the route is no longer available. For example, at Sandy and Potton, new residential areas have been created instead of the route. A 1.2 km long section between Lord's Bridge and Cambridge was the location of the Ryle Telescope , a mobile radio telescope , from 2004 to 2006 ; four of its parabolic antennas could be moved back and forth on the tracks of the Varsity Line, which here runs almost exactly in an east-west direction. Between the main station of Cambridge and Trumpington Park on the southern outskirts, the route is since 2011 the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway (Cambridgeshire Guided Busway) used.

The Stagecoach Group operates the X5 long-distance bus service from Oxford via Bicester, Buckingham , Milton Keynes, Bedford and St Neots to Cambridge; buses run every 30 to 60 minutes and take two and a half hours for the entire route.

reconstruction

In 1995, at the suggestion of the city council of Ipswich , various local authorities founded the East West Rail consortium , which aims to rebuild the entire Varsity Line. Express and regional trains will one day run from Reading via Oxford and Cambridge to Ipswich, thus relieving the rail network in London . For planning purposes, the route is divided into three sections. The eastern section already exists and was upgraded in December 2004 with the introduction of a free hourly connection from Cambridge to Ipswich. The reconstruction or expansion of the western section between Oxford and Bedford is about to be implemented, while the central section between Bedford and Cambridge is only at the beginning of the planning phase.

In April 2006, the British government announced for the first time that it fundamentally supports reconstruction between Oxford and Bletchley. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced in November 2011 that the government would invest 270 million pounds in the reconstruction or renewal of the Oxford – Bedford line. The consortium pledged an additional £ 45 million in November 2013.

On January 10, 2013, the infrastructure company Network Rail announced its intention to carry out the necessary construction work as part of its five-year strategic business plan (2014–2019). She named December 2017 as the start-up date. At the end of March 2014, Network Rail had to postpone the target date by one and a half years to March 2019. As a reason, the company cited the government's desire to electrify the entire Oxford – Bedford route (in the original project this was only envisaged between Oxford and Bletchley). The maximum speed should be 200 km / h.

After the western section has been put back into operation, the following train routes are planned:

• Bedford - Bletchley - Winslow - Bicester - Oxford - Didcot - Reading
• Milton Keynes - Bletchley - Winslow - Bicester - Oxford - Didcot - Reading
• Milton Keynes - Bletchley - Winslow - Aylesbury - High Wycombe - London Marylebone

The central section is still in the planning stage. After examining 20 possible variants, Network Rail decided at the end of March 2016 to pursue the planning in the Bedford – Sandy – Cambridge corridor. A route further south via Hitchin had also been discussed , which would have made it possible to use an existing route in part. It is planned that the Bedford – Cambridge section will start operating in the mid-2020s.

literature

• Christopher Awdry: Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies . Patrick Stephens Ltd., Yeovil 1990, ISBN 1-85260-049-7 .
• RVJ Butt: The Directory of Railway Stations . Patrick Stephens Ltd., Yeovil 1995, ISBN 1-85260-508-1 , pp. 33 .

Web links

• East West Rail (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Awdry: Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. P. 63.
2. ^ Awdry: Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. P. 60.
3. ^ Murray Brown: Class 56 special over 'doomed' Bletchley flyover line. In: RAIL, May 1993.
4. ↑ Chiltern Railways restores direct trains from High Wycombe to Oxford. Chiltern Railways, October 26, 2015, accessed May 17, 2016 . 
5. ^ Chiltern Railways announces Oxford city center to London Marylebone launch date. Chiltern Railways, January 20, 2016, accessed May 17, 2016 . 
6. ^ Work starts on clearing line for East West Rail. Buckingham Today, February 1, 2014, accessed May 17, 2016 . 
7. ↑ Stagecoach X5 - comfortable, stylish and convenient. Stagecoach Group, accessed May 17, 2016 . 
8. ^ The Consortium. East West Rail, 2015, accessed May 17, 2016 . 
9. ^ East West Rail Route. East West Rail, October 15, 2015, accessed May 17, 2016 . 
10. ↑ Green light for rail link. Milton Keynes Citizen, April 18, 2006, accessed May 17, 2016 . 
11. ^ George Osborne announces major rail and road projects in autumn statement. The Guardian , November 29, 2011, accessed May 17, 2016 . 
12. ↑ Varsity rail reopening makes tracks. Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation, November 20, 2013, accessed May 17, 2016 . 
13. ^ Network Rail Announce Plans to Construct Western Section of East West Rail Link. East West Rail, January 10, 2013, accessed May 17, 2016 . 
14. ^ Disappointment as East West Rail delayed by two years. The Bucks Herald, April 2, 2014, accessed May 17, 2016 . 
15. ^ Train Services. (No longer available online.) East West Rail, August 2015, archived from the original on May 17, 2016 ; accessed on May 17, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
16. ^ 'Preferred corridor' for East West Rail means it could pass through Cambourne and Bourn Airfield. Cambridge News, March 30, 2016, accessed May 17, 2016 . 
17. ^ Five routes proposed for Bedford - Cambridge railway. railwaygazette, January 29, 2019, accessed February 10, 2019 .