Chiltern’s new service to Oxford seems to be going from strength to strength, with good loadings at Oxford itself, significant intermediate traffic, and high volumes from London to the Bicester Village shopping complex, which has its own direct entrance to the station. Great Western Railway must have seen a significant loss of business to the Chiltern route, even though its own service is still generally quicker.
Bicester Village is a smart, attractive station, without a traditional ticket office, but with a staffed desk to help passengers use the ticket machines if they need it. However, one part of the station looks to have been driven by the industry plague of unnecessarily extravagant standards. While I didn’t measure it, the footbridge appears high enough to allow operation of a North American double stack container train, with overhead electrification on top – or at least W12 clearances, much greater than can conceivably be provided on the network as a whole. Quite apart from increasing the cost of the bridge, did anyone remember that most passengers will have to climb up and down this structure?
Is there any possibility that Network Rail, the Department for Transport and the Office of Rail and…
