Banbury railway station

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Banbury National Rail
Banbury railway station MMB 06 165012 168005 165003.jpg
Location
Place Banbury
Local authority District of Cherwell
Grid reference SP462404
Operations
Station code BAN
Managed by Chiltern Railways
Number of platforms 4[1][2]
DfT category C1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2008/09 Increase 1.580 million
2009/10 Increase 1.706 million
2010/11 Increase 1.857 million
2011/12 Increase 1.943 million
- Interchange 0.317 million
2012/13 Increase 2.055 million
- Interchange Increase 0.355 million
2013/14 Increase 2.181 million
- Interchange Decrease 0.350 million
2014/15 Increase 2.337 million
History
Original company Great Western Railway
Pre-grouping GWR
Post-grouping GWR
2 September 1850[3] Opened as Banbury
after July 1938 Renamed Banbury General
1958[3] Rebuilt by BR
after 1961 Renamed Banbury
National Rail – UK railway stations

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Banbury from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
Portal icon UK Railways portal

Banbury railway station serves the town of Banbury in Oxfordshire, England. The station is operated by Chiltern Railways, on the Chiltern Main Line, and has four platforms in use.

History

A 1911 Railway Clearing House map of railways in the vicinity of Banbury.

Banbury Bridge Street station opened on 2 September 1850,[4] some four months after the Buckinghamshire Railway (L&NWR) opened its Banbury Merton Street terminus. When meadows and the recently disused racecourse at Grimsbury were sold to the Great Western Railway in about 1850, the owner also sold the other part of his land, north of the Middleton road to the Banbury Freehold Land Society, which was financially backed by Cobb's Bank, on which to build middle-class houses, but development was slow at the time and some plots were never built upon.[5]

The station was going to be part of the GWR's Oxford and Rugby Railway, before the problems with changing gauges at Rugby prevented it. The 24 miles (39 km) single track extension from Oxford to Banbury did open, and at first Banbury was just a single platform through station (works were continuing to Birmingham) however the popularity of the line meant that the route was soon double tracked barely two years later, and the station was given an extra platform in an up and down configuration. In 1884 an extra up line was added, and by 1903 Banbury had the extra up line converted into up and down bays, along with an extra bay on the downside, and freight loops to cope with traffic from the Great Central Main Line joining at Banbury Junction to the north. The inclusion of terminating bays and freight loops reflected Banbury's increasing strategic position in the national network. The Station was rebuilt into its present form in 1958.[3]

Banbury was once a junction for the line to Buckingham, however that closed in the 1960s. There was also another station very nearby at Banbury Merton Street. Banbury Bridge Street station occupied one of the most strategic and important locations in the entire rail network in Britain. For example, the Aberdeen to Penzance Express used the Woodford Halse branch of the GCR through Banbury as part of its journey[6] and the "Ports to Ports Express" between the North-East (Newcastle upon Tyne, Middlesbrough etc.) and South Wales (Cardiff, Newport) used the Great Central Railway branch line and the Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway, and passed though Banbury[6] as well as Newcastle — Bournemouth, Newcastle — Southampton, York — Swindon Sleeper, Bournemouth — Birkenhead Woodside/Manchester Piccadilly, etc.[6] Most Cross Country Services in Britain passed through Banbury, which helped the station become just as, if not more, important than the London termini,[citation needed] and also helped the growth of the town and its cattle market.

The station was renamed Banbury General after nationalisation in 1948 to distinguish it from Merton Street station. The suffix was officially discontinued by 1974,[7] but remained on tickets until the Edmondson type ticket machines were replaced in the early 1980s.[citation needed]

The current railway station is on the site of the Great Western Railway line that opened to Banbury in 1850. The original station's overall roof survived until 1953, five years before a rebuild in 1958. The rebuilding of the station was delayed due to the Second World War,[3] and could have been based on the GWR's new station at Leamington Spa, which was finished just before war commenced.[8]

Passenger traffic at Banbury has grown rapidly: between 2003 and 2010, the number of passengers using the station increased by 85%.[9]

Former services through Banbury

  • "Ports to Ports" Middlesbrough/Hull/Sunderland — Cardiff/Newport/Swansea/Barry Island/Barry
  • Bournemouth — Birkenhead
  • Birkenhead — Dover[clarification needed] Margate and Brighton via Reading and Redhill. This was operated jointly by the GWR and the SR, southbound once daily by one company and northbound by the other.

The station

Layout

[ ]
Railway lines which served Banbury
Great Western Railway(present Chiltern Main Line)
Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway(now closed)
GCR link from Woodford Halse(now closed)
Banbury Bridge Street(now Banbury Station)
Banbury Merton Street(now closed)
Banbury to Verney Junction Branch Line(now closed)
Kings Sutton
GWR Banbury & Cheltenham Direct Railway(now closed)
Aynho Junction
GWR Cherwell Valley Line(Oxford Canal Line)
Great Western Railway(Chiltern Main Line)
Map of the platforms at Banbury station.

After the rebuilding of the station in 1956–58 there were six numbered platforms: these were formed into two islands, the western one having two through tracks and a single bay at its northern end, whilst the eastern island had a single through platform, but two bays, one at each end. The two islands were connected to each other, and to the station entrance hall, by a footbridge.

At that time, the three through platforms were numbered 1, 3 & 4 from west to east, whilst the three bays were 2, 5 & 6. All but one have been re-designated since — the present-day platform 2 was formerly platform 3, whilst the un-numbered bay at its northern end was originally platform 2;[10] and present-day platforms 3 & 4 were formerly 4 & 6 respectively.[11] Platform 5, at the northern end of the present platform 3, has lost both its track and its number.

The present station has four numbered platforms (plus one active bay not numbered), numbered 1 to 4 from west to east, and are grouped as two island platforms.

Platform 1 is a through platform used as a bay platform by First Great Western's terminating local trains to Oxford and commuter trains beyond to Reading and Paddington, and by Chiltern Railways through and terminating services from the south — all terminating trains at this platform travel a short distance up the line before reversing back to the same platform and boarding outbound passengers, unless a train has since occupied the platform, which then means the train reverses to platform 3 to board passengers, It is also used as an emergency through platform if one of the others is out of use for any reason.

Platforms 2 and 3 are through platforms: platform 2 is for Chiltern services north to Leamington Spa, CrossCountry services to Birmingham New Street, Manchester, The North West and Scotland; platform 3 is for Chiltern services to London via Bicester and Cross Country services to Oxford, Reading and the South Coast.

There are also two terminal platforms: platform 4 is for terminating Chiltern services to and from London; An unnumbered bay platform (trains stopping here are classified as either or both Platforms 1 & 2, usually 1) is used by terminating Chiltern services to and from Birmingham and Stratford. Freight loops serve as main through lines for non-stopping freight trains. Most passenger services passing Banbury stop at the station, and heritage trains stop here to fill up on water.

Many redundant loops and sidings surround the station: most of these were for goods services stopping at Banbury, which have all disappeared. Two goods loops survive to allow the stoppage of goods trains for the uninterrupted passage of passenger trains.

The station is being considered for remodelling to improve operational flexibility by Network Rail[12]

Two new lower-quadrant semaphore signals were installed in late 2010 to allow passenger trains in platforms 1 & 2 to depart in the up direction. Their numbers are BS27 and BS33, and are controlled from Banbury South signal box.[13]

Services

Chiltern Railways provide most trains to Banbury, with trains between London Marylebone and Birmingham Snow Hill, Stratford-upon-Avon and Kidderminster, as well as trains from London terminating there.

It is the northern terminus of First Great Western's local services from Oxford which operate Mondays to Saturdays only.

Banbury is also served by CrossCountry services between Birmingham New Street and Reading.

2008 train fire

On 14 March 2008 a CrossCountry Voyager forming the 1625 hrs service to Derby had a fire in the air vents while standing at platform 2 at Banbury. Passengers in both trains at the station and the station itself were evacuated. Fire crews arrived and the fire was extinguished. No one perished in the blaze, which was only a minor fire.[14]

2015 Harbury Tunnel Landslip

All services north of Banbury were suspended & replaced by buses after 31 January 2015 due to a major landslide at Harbury Tunnel, north of Fenny Compton.[15][16] Over 100,000 tons of earth & rock subsided on the western side of the line during ongoing work to stabilise the cutting, which has been a known problem area for some years (and had suffered a similar but smaller collapse in February 2014). The line remained closed for several weeks until remedial work to remove more than 350,000 tons of material, re-profile the cutting walls and improve drainage was completed. In the meantime Chiltern services from London and CrossCountry services from Reading and the South Coast all terminated at Banbury and a rail replacement bus service was run to Leamington Spa for onward connections to Birmingham New Street, Manchester, the East Midlands and the North East. Network Rail reopened the line open again on 13 March 2015 (three weeks earlier than originally estimated)[17][18]

Services and operators

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Leamington Spa   Chiltern Railways
London to Birmingham		   Kings Sutton
  Chiltern Railways
Birmingham to Oxford		   Oxford or Kings Sutton
  Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Main Line
fast services		   Bicester North
or
London Marylebone
Leamington Spa   CrossCountry
Manchester — Bournemouth		   Oxford
  CrossCountry
Newcastle — Reading		  
Terminus   Great Western Railway
Cherwell Valley Line		   Kings Sutton
Historical railways
Cropredy
Line open, station closed		   Great Western Railway
Oxford and Rugby Railway		   Kings Sutton
Line and station open
Disused railways
Chalcombe Road Halt
Line and station closed		   Great Central Railway
Banbury branch		   Terminus

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Office of the Rail Regulator data: see infobox at head of article.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ BBC News - Landslip stops Chiltern Line trains at Harbury TunnelBBC News article 02-02-2015; Retrieved 2015-02-19
  16. ↑ Harbury Landslip; Network Rail Press Release 19-02-2015; Retrieved 2015-02-19
  17. ↑ Harbury landslip line to reopenRailnews news article 4 March 2015; Retrieved 5 March 2015
  18. ↑ Network Rail Website Retrieved 20 April 2015

External links

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Banbury_railway_station&oldid=4720829"