Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced that the former Oxford-Princes Risborough passenger service is to be restored as far as Cowley. The cost of £120 million is part of wider funding to develop the Oxford-Cambridge corridor.
The Ellison Institute of Technology has unveiled plans for a £10 billion expansion of its Oxford base over the next decade, creating 7,000 jobs, and the Treasury said this will put Oxford ‘at the forefront of global scientific research’. The EIT deals with biology, agriculture, the causes and effects of climate change, Artificial Intelligence and robotics.
Cowley trains will also call at a second restored station at Littlemore, which will serve local housing estates and Oxford Science Park. This station will be paid for with an additional £35 million contributed by the institute and other local stakeholders.
The line to Princes Risborough via Wheatley and Thame lost its passenger trains in January 1963, although the section to Cowley has remained in use for freight trains carrying new BMW cars.
Restoring passenger trains between Oxford and Cowley has been urged for many years: the former Chiltern Railways franchise ran a demonstration train to Cowley for local business leaders in 2014, while the Campaign for Cowley Branch Line argues there could be a train from Cowley to London Marylebone via Bicester Village every thirty minutes and that more than a million passengers would use the line in its first three years.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: ‘Oxford and Cambridge are home to the two of the best universities in the world, two of the most intensive innovation clusters in the world, and the area is a hub for globally renowned science and technology. Yet thanks to years of underinvestment, they still lack the public transport, affordable housing, and infrastructure they need. That changes under this government.
‘We have massive ambitions for the Oxford-Cambridge corridor, that’s why we’re reopening the Cowley Branch railway 60 years after it closed, why we’re building more affordable housing and investing in business, and how we’ve been able to unlock £10 billion in private investment. By choosing investment and renewal over chaos and decline, we’re boosting growth and building an economy that works for working people.’
The Ellison Institute of Technology has welcomed the decision.
The Institute’s chief operating officer Lisa Flashner said: ’We’re delighted to hear the Cowley Branch Line will be reopened to passenger traffic. It’s a great example of what can happen if government and the private sector join forces and both contribute to a common goal. It will help us attract world-class talent to EIT by linking up key innovation hubs with Central London via direct train services. It will also facilitate a closer alliance between EIT and Oxford University with faster journey times.’
Professor Irene Tracey is vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford. She added: ‘This investment reconnects people with opportunity – linking Blackbird Leys and Littlemore directly to jobs, skills and cutting-edge research across our innovation ecosystem. It’s good for inclusive growth, good for sustainable transport, and good for the UK economy.
‘The Cowley Branch Line will stitch together our science parks, hospitals and new cultural spaces so that ideas, researchers and local residents can move more easily across our city – and out to London – every day. As Oxford accelerates initiatives like the Oxfordshire Strategic Innovation Taskforce, today’s decision is a practical step toward the inclusive, sustainable and fair prosperity we want to see for our communities.’
Rob Brighouse, a non-executive director of Network Rail, is also chair of the Oxford Strategic Rail Promoters' Group. He said it was a ’once-in-a-generation opportunity and represents great news for those who do, and will, live and work on the route, as well as helping to ease rail capacity constraints through Oxford’.
East Oxford Labour (Co-op) MP Anneliese Dodds said the line was ‘finally going to become a reality’. She said it would make a ‘massive difference to local residents, slashing travel times and reducing congestion’.
Oxford City Council will now be investigating what additional infrastructure will be needed along the line, such as new bridges, pedestrian and cycle routes, and better links with buses.
Council leader Susan Brown said: ‘The Cowley Branch Line is the single most important piece of infrastructure for connecting local communities and businesses in south and east Oxford. It will give access to more amenities and jobs, help to cut congestion, meet our climate targets, and unlock new homes and jobs.’
The line from Princes Risborough to Oxford was originally built as far as Thame in 1862, and extended westward to Oxford two years later. The passenger service was listed in the March 1963 Beeching report, where it was marked ‘closure already implemented’.
The line between Thame and Cowley was then dismantled, but freight trains continued to run between Princes Risborough and Thame until the 1990s.
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