Re-Opening Wantage Road Station
I have now launched a new campaign to get Wantage Road station re-opened.
I know what you are thinking. We've been down this route
before. We've talked about it for thirty years. Nothing will ever
happen.
I thought that too until a few weeks ago as well.
So why have I changed my mind? In the summer, the
Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) published a report called "Connecting Communities". It
identified just seven stations in England that could be re-opened. One
was Wantage Road. Given
that this was put forward by the train operators themselves, I decided to
investigate further and met the people who put together the report.
This is what they told me:
They identified areas where there was high growth. Given the
houses Grove is getting, plus growth in Didcot and surrounding areas, we
were on their radar.
There are four lines going through Grove. The spare
lines are currently used by coal trains for Didcot power station, which should
stop using coal in 2015.
They think a new station could be built for £4 million, and a
service run for about £600,000 a year. It would be a shuttle service running
between Didcot and Swindon, allowing Wantage and Grove commuters to get to Swindon or Didcot by train. It could start as an
hourly service, and perhaps increase with demand.
It would use the spare lines, but the trains could run between 80
and 100 mph, so would not disrupt the fast trains too much.
We could not get this service in place before 2014, because
Network Rail's investment plans are set until then.
So my aim is to get it in their 2014-2019 plans, with a view to a
service being open in 2016, though that may also depend on our
economy.
Anyway, I am excited, I think it is now a real possibility, and I’m
going to do my best to make it happen!
Posted on 8 November 2009 by Ed Vaizey