Hopes are high for a group campaigning to re-establish an Oxford to Carterton railway that funding will be approved for a study to determine if a new line is possible.

Oxfordshire County Council’s budget for 2022/23 contains a proposal to undertake a strategic rail feasibility study into possible new rail links to Cowley, Grove/Wantage, and Witney/Carterton, and the installation of double track on single track stretches of the North Cotswold Line. 

The £250,000 funding was agreed by cabinet in January and will now go to full council on February 8.

Charlie Maynard, chair of Witney Oxford Transport Group, said: “We’ve worked flat out on this for the last 15 months and we’re both delighted and very grateful that the County Council has included funding for a feasibility study on the Witney Line.

"It’s incredibly popular locally and that’s because everyone recognises it would be so positive for West Oxfordshire.”

Yvonne Constance, the prior administration’s cabinet member for transport, had said previous studies had shown such scheme was not financially viable.

The council has started work on a £156m A40 Transport Package to build bus and cycle lanes on the A40, so it can 'unlock' 5,050 homes to be built in West Oxfordshire. 

However, the scheme, which is intended to ease congestion on the busy road and improve bus services in the area, has been criticised for being too ‘car-orientated’ at a time when local authorities are seeking to cut back on carbon emissions.

It includes a new 850-space park-and-ride near Eynsham and two new bus lanes along the A40.

There will be a new three-metre wide A40 cycle lane between Witney and Oxford and a study is to be carried out into a bike route from Eynsham to Hanborough station.

The main work which is expected to be completed by mid-2024.

Dan Levy, who represents Eynsham on the county council, said: "A rail or light rail link from Witney and Eynsham to Oxford would be brilliant. It would take pressure of the A40 and make it much easier for people to use public transport for their journeys. 

"I hope the feasibility study is successful, and leads to the creation of the restoration of the rail link.  I am certain that it would be one of the most used railways in the country."

Witney Gazette:

Passenger services between Witney and Oxford used to operate on the Fairford Branch Line, which closed in 1962. Witney also had a goods station in Station Lane until 1970, which is now the site of Sainsbury's supermarket.

The former branch line, created in 1861, no longer exists.

Draft proposals by WOT include a 14.2 mile (22.9km) rail line from a junction on the existing Cotswold Line near Yarnton to Carterton.

New stations would be built in Eynsham's Salt Cross Garden Village, which is earmarked for 2,200 homes, in Witney by the A40 southern bypass, and in the west of Carterton.

Campaigners estimate the cost of such a railway at between £12m to £20m per mile.

Mr Maynard said the proposed line could enable journey times between Carterton and Oxford of 22 minutes.

Oxfordshire County Council has now published the planning application for the proposed A40 Smart Corridor.

You can now view and respond to the planning application on the Planning Register, under reference R3.0151/21 or https://myeplanning.oxfordshire.gov.uk/.../R3.0151/21/ by February 12.