Varsity Line
Encyclopedia
The Varsity Line is an informal name for the railway route that formerly linked the English university cities of Oxford
and Cambridge
, operated successively by the London and North Western Railway
, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
, and British Rail
ways. A pun on the railway term main line
was sometimes employed by describing the line as the "Brain Line".
Services were withdrawn from the - section and the - section at the end of 1967, even though the line had not been listed for closure as part of the Beeching Axe
in 1963.
The only sections still in regular passenger use today are the Oxford to Bicester Line
from Oxford to , and the Marston Vale Line
operation from Bletchley to Bedford. The Bicester - section still carries freight traffic but the Calvert - Bletchley section, though still extant, is currently disused. There are well-developed plans to open a short section from Bicester Town to the Chiltern Main Line
as part of Project Evergreen 3 and from Bicester to Bedford as part of the East West Rail Link.
In the absence of a through rail service, Stagecoach East
's X5 coach service provides a passenger service by road between Oxford and Cambridge via Bicester, Milton Keynes
and Bedford.
opened the section between Bletchley and Verney Junction on 30 March 1850 as part of its line to Banbury. The Buckinghamshire Railway then opened the section between Verney Junction and Oxford on 20 May 1851. The L&NWR worked the Buckinghamshire Railway on a 999 year lease
from 1 July 1851, and absorbed the company on 21 July 1879. The Bedford and Cambridge Railway opened in 1862. The L&NWR took it over in 1865 but did not use it to operate a through service between Oxford and Cambridge. Instead it operated separate Bletchley - Oxford and Bletchley - Cambridge services.
During the Second World War
, the line carried many trains to and from the Bicester Military Railway
. A junction between the line and the Great Central Main Line
was built between Calvert and .
An attempt to close the line in 1959 failed due to large local opposition. The line was not listed for closure in Richard Beeching's 1963 report "The Reshaping of British Railways", but came under pressure from the road lobby and Minister of Transport Ernest Marples
, who had appointed Dr Beeching. Patronage of the line fell when the introduction of fast trains from London to Oxford and Cambridge made it quicker for passengers to go via London. At the end of 1967 British Rail
ways withdrew passenger services from the - section and all trains from the - section, a year after it had withdrawn passenger services north of Aylesbury on the Great Central Main Line.
In the 1980s the line between Aylesbury and Bletchley via Calvert was used for transfers of empty passenger rolling stock due to the closure of the London Marylebone depot, thus transferring the maintenance of the Chiltern Lines'
Class 115
s to Bletchley. This ceased with the opening of a new depot in Aylesbury and the introduction of the Class 165
. During 1982 the entire length of the Bletchley-Oxford section, which was still double-tracked throughout, was used for diversionary passenger services while a bridge at Hill Wooton, between and was replaced; all Birmingham-London Paddington services scheduled to stop at Coventry being diverted via this route for three days. Also in the 1980s, there were passenger specials to Milton Keynes from Marylebone via Aylesbury and High Wycombe, which picked up passengers at disused Winslow
. The last passenger train to operate on this section of the line was the Mothball Tour in 1993, just before the line was taken out of use.
Network SouthEast
, supported by Oxfordshire County Council
, reopened the Oxford - Bicester Town section to passenger traffic in 1987, and reopened Islip railway station
in 1989.
Between Oxford and Bicester
the line is open and in regular passenger and freight use (see Oxford to Bicester Line
) but limited to 25-40 mph. Since 1951 passenger trains have operated from the former Great Western Railway
Oxford station
. Between Bicester and Swanbourne
the track is in place but overgrown. Within this the stretch between Bicester and Claydon Junction is used for regular freight trains carrying refuse to the landfill
site at Calvert
. Between Swanbourne and Mursley
the track has been lifted but the trackbed remains and reinstatement is technically feasible. Between Mursley and Newton Longville
the track is in place but overgrown. The stretch between Newton Longville and Bletchley was re-laid in spring 2006 and opened on 27 March 2006 for freight traffic, carrying refuse to the Newton Longville landfill site. Between Bletchley and Bedford the track is open and in daily passenger use as the Marston Vale Line
.
Between Bedford and Cambridge all of the track has been removed and some sections of the trackbed have been lost. At Sandy
and Potton
new housing occupies the former route. Between Lord's Bridge
and Cambridge, the Ryle Telescope
of Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory
now occupies a 3 miles (4.8 km) length of the former route. Between Trumpington Park and Ride and Cambridge Station the entire route is being converted to be part of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway
.
A further problem is the lack of through platforms at Bletchley and Bedford. The current track layout at Bletchley means that, without the proposed new high-level station, through trains would have to go around the station without stopping. Similarly, Bedford St Johns station
was rebuilt on a different site, and is no longer on the through alignment towards Sandy.
In the expansion plans for Milton Keynes
, the area around Newton Longville is to be extensively developed. A new passenger station for Newton Longville is included in the "MK2031" strategic plan, with a spur to a new platform at Milton Keynes Central
. An upgraded line is already in place (see above) and a simple halt would not be expensive.
On 4 December 2006, work began at Milton Keynes Central to prepare for a service connection from the Marston Vale Line
, with completion scheduled for December 2008.
Chiltern Railways
has opened a new station, known as , 3 miles (4.8 km) north-west of Aylesbury town station, adjacent to the A41 and the major development at Berryfields. The station opened on 14 December 2008, and the station building on 1 June 2009. Existing track, previously used only by freight trains, has been upgraded and new signalling equipment installed. This line could be extended further north to reach a rebuilt Oxford-Bletchley line at Verney Junction
and Chiltern Railways has long-term aspirations to reach Milton Keynes.
It has also been announced that the line between Oxford and Bicester Town railway station
will be upgraded with funding from property developers as a condition of enlarging Bicester Village Shopping Centre
.
In March 2008, a £2 million engineering survey into the state of the existing and removed track was launched.
In his autumn 2011 budget
statement of November 2011, the Chancellor of the Exchequer
George Osborne
announced that the government would fund the re-opening of the rail link from Oxford via Milton Keynes as far as Bedford.
. As well as upgrading the track between Bicester and Bletchley, this scheme was aiming to construct a new 9 miles (14.5 km) trackbed between Bedford and Sandy on roughly the same alignment as the original. At Sandy, trains would then have joined the East Coast Main Line
to Biggleswade
- Arlesey
- Hitchin
and then switched north-east to Letchworth
- Baldock
- Ashwell and Morden - Royston
- Meldreth
- Shepreth
- Foxton
- Cambridge. However, a chord would have to be built to enable southbound trains from Sandy to reach the Hitchin-Cambridge branch, as the existing junction serves only northbound trains from London on to this branch. This would mean that trains would not actually stop at Hitchin and a new station might have to be built there unless another solution could be found.
However, little progress was made with the project, and development plans were further set back when, in 2001, the Strategic Rail Authority
rejected the option to reopen the stretch of line between Bicester and Bletchley. Then, in April 2006, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister declared itself to be in favour of the principle of re-opening the link between Bedford and Oxford but gave no indication of underwriting that opinion. Most recently, in March 2008, a £2 million engineering survey of the existing and removed tracks was launched.
An alternative alignment for the line eastwards from Sandy has been proposed in order that East Coast Main Line line capacity is not affected by the new line. This would continue from Sandy to the east along the original line, skirting Sandy Warren, before heading directly east with stations at Wrestlingworth
and Bassingbourn
before joining the existing railway network again at Foxton.
Despite growth opportunities for the rapidly developing Oxford-Cambridge Arc
, reopening of the complete Varsity Line remains uncertain. The problem of reconstructing the Bedford to Sandy route is a particular obstacle. However, hope remains that the line between Bletchley and Bicester may re-open to provide a train service between Milton Keynes Central and Oxford.
In summer 2006 it was announced that, in a bid to co-host the 2012 London Olympics
, a large rowing lake would be built near the former station site at Willington
in Bedfordshire, in return for a licence to extract gravel. The lake would cut through the route of the trackbed between Bedford and Sandy and any subsequent bridging costs would seem to be prohibitive, especially given the uninterrupted span that would be required to avoid obstructing the lake.
In March 2007, a study (funded by the councils and other interested parties along the route) declared at p. 38, 5.1 A very good operating and business case exists for [a "base case" for a] two-trains-per-hour passenger service between Oxford and Milton Keynes, and an operating case also exists for the Aylesbury spur which would bring further economic and strategic advantages to the subregion. Capital cost for the base case is between £100m - £135m. The base case and the Aylesbury options should be further considered in the next phase of work.
In January 2009 work began on clearing vegetation from the Bletchley-Claydon section of the line, to make way for a survey of the cost of reopening the line. The work is being progressed by Milton Keynes Partnership, with the intention of resuming passenger services between Oxford and Bedford via Milton Keynes Central "in three or four years".
In March 2008, those undertaking the engineering survey stated that a 100 mph link between Oxford and Bletchley could be achieved for around £190 million. Assuming construction was to start in 2009 as they then hoped, the upgraded / re-opened line could be in service by 2012.
In April 2008, the Department for Transport responded to an e-petition for support by reiterating that they would encourage private funding.
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, operated successively by the London and North Western Railway
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
, and British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
ways. A pun on the railway term main line
Main line (railway)
The Mainline or Main line of a railway is a track that is used for through trains or is the principal artery of the system from which branch lines, yards, sidings and spurs are connected....
was sometimes employed by describing the line as the "Brain Line".
Services were withdrawn from the - section and the - section at the end of 1967, even though the line had not been listed for closure as part of the Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
in 1963.
The only sections still in regular passenger use today are the Oxford to Bicester Line
Oxford to Bicester Line
The Oxford to Bicester Line is a branch line linking Oxford and Bicester in Oxfordshire, England.-History:The line was opened in 1850 as part of the Buckinghamshire Railway, which in 1879 became part of the London and North Western Railway...
from Oxford to , and the Marston Vale Line
Marston Vale Line
The Marston Vale Line is the railway line from Bletchley to Bedford in England. It is one of two surviving passenger-carrying sections of the "Varsity Line" between Oxford and Cambridge....
operation from Bletchley to Bedford. The Bicester - section still carries freight traffic but the Calvert - Bletchley section, though still extant, is currently disused. There are well-developed plans to open a short section from Bicester Town to the Chiltern Main Line
Chiltern Main Line
The Chiltern Main Line is an inter-urban, regional and commuter railway, part of the British railway system. It links London and Birmingham on a 112-mile route via the towns of High Wycombe, Banbury, and Leamington Spa...
as part of Project Evergreen 3 and from Bicester to Bedford as part of the East West Rail Link.
In the absence of a through rail service, Stagecoach East
Stagecoach East
Stagecoach East is the divisional name for the bus operations of the Stagecoach Group in eastern England.From 1999 until August 2010 the division had two trading names:*Stagecoach in Bedford which covers Stagecoach services in Bedford & Bedfordshire...
's X5 coach service provides a passenger service by road between Oxford and Cambridge via Bicester, Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
and Bedford.
Historic route
The line was built in stages, the first being that between Bletchley and Bedford which opened in 1846. The Buckinghamshire RailwayBuckinghamshire Railway
The Buckinghamshire Railway was a railway company in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, England that constructed railway lines connecting Bletchley, Banbury and Oxford...
opened the section between Bletchley and Verney Junction on 30 March 1850 as part of its line to Banbury. The Buckinghamshire Railway then opened the section between Verney Junction and Oxford on 20 May 1851. The L&NWR worked the Buckinghamshire Railway on a 999 year lease
Lease
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...
from 1 July 1851, and absorbed the company on 21 July 1879. The Bedford and Cambridge Railway opened in 1862. The L&NWR took it over in 1865 but did not use it to operate a through service between Oxford and Cambridge. Instead it operated separate Bletchley - Oxford and Bletchley - Cambridge services.
During the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the line carried many trains to and from the Bicester Military Railway
Bicester Military Railway
The Bicester Military Railway is a railway in Oxfordshire, England belonging to the Ministry of Defence. It links military depots at Piddington, Arncott and Graven Hill with the Oxford to Bicester Line.The line has no road bridges...
. A junction between the line and the Great Central Main Line
Great Central Main Line
The Great Central Main Line , also known as the London Extension of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway , is a former railway line which opened in 1899 linking Sheffield with Marylebone Station in London via Nottingham and Leicester.The GCML was the last main line railway built in...
was built between Calvert and .
An attempt to close the line in 1959 failed due to large local opposition. The line was not listed for closure in Richard Beeching's 1963 report "The Reshaping of British Railways", but came under pressure from the road lobby and Minister of Transport Ernest Marples
Ernest Marples
Alfred Ernest Marples, Baron Marples PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Postmaster General and Minister of Transport. After his retirement from active politics in 1974 Marples was elevated to the peerage...
, who had appointed Dr Beeching. Patronage of the line fell when the introduction of fast trains from London to Oxford and Cambridge made it quicker for passengers to go via London. At the end of 1967 British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
ways withdrew passenger services from the - section and all trains from the - section, a year after it had withdrawn passenger services north of Aylesbury on the Great Central Main Line.
In the 1980s the line between Aylesbury and Bletchley via Calvert was used for transfers of empty passenger rolling stock due to the closure of the London Marylebone depot, thus transferring the maintenance of the Chiltern Lines'
Network SouthEast
Network SouthEast was one of three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE principally operated commuter trains in the London area and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the network reached as far west as Exeter...
Class 115
British Rail Class 115
The British Rail Class 115 diesel multiple units were 41 high density sets which operated the outer-suburban services from Marylebone usually to destinations such as High Wycombe, Aylesbury and Banbury which are on the Chiltern Main Line and Great Central Main Line...
s to Bletchley. This ceased with the opening of a new depot in Aylesbury and the introduction of the Class 165
British Rail Class 165
The British Rail Class 165 Turbo is a fleet of suburban diesel multiple units , originally specified by and built for British Rail, the then United Kingdom state owned railway operator. They were built by BREL at York Works between 1990 and 1992...
. During 1982 the entire length of the Bletchley-Oxford section, which was still double-tracked throughout, was used for diversionary passenger services while a bridge at Hill Wooton, between and was replaced; all Birmingham-London Paddington services scheduled to stop at Coventry being diverted via this route for three days. Also in the 1980s, there were passenger specials to Milton Keynes from Marylebone via Aylesbury and High Wycombe, which picked up passengers at disused Winslow
Winslow railway station
Winslow is a disused railway station that served the town of Winslow in north Buckinghamshire, England. It is on the disused Varsity Line. A single track of the Varsity Line remains, this is rusted and overgrown far beyond use....
. The last passenger train to operate on this section of the line was the Mothball Tour in 1993, just before the line was taken out of use.
Network SouthEast
Network SouthEast
Network SouthEast was one of three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE principally operated commuter trains in the London area and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the network reached as far west as Exeter...
, supported by Oxfordshire County Council
Oxfordshire County Council
Oxfordshire County Council, established in 1889, is the county council, or upper-tier local authority, for the non-metropolitan county of Oxfordshire, in the South East of England, an elected body responsible for the most strategic local government services in the county.-History:County Councils...
, reopened the Oxford - Bicester Town section to passenger traffic in 1987, and reopened Islip railway station
Islip railway station
Islip railway station serves the village of Islip, Oxfordshire, England. Islip is north-east of Oxford. Services run south to away and north-east to .Islip is served by Chiltern Railways using Class 165 Diesel Multiple Units.-History:...
in 1989.
Present status of route
Bicester
Bicester is a town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in England.This historic market centre is one of the fastest growing towns in Oxfordshire Development has been favoured by its proximity to junction 9 of the M40 motorway linking it to London, Birmingham and...
the line is open and in regular passenger and freight use (see Oxford to Bicester Line
Oxford to Bicester Line
The Oxford to Bicester Line is a branch line linking Oxford and Bicester in Oxfordshire, England.-History:The line was opened in 1850 as part of the Buckinghamshire Railway, which in 1879 became part of the London and North Western Railway...
) but limited to 25-40 mph. Since 1951 passenger trains have operated from the former Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
Oxford station
Oxford railway station
Oxford railway station is a mainline railway station serving the city of Oxford, England. It is about west of the city centre, northwest of Frideswide Square and the eastern end of Botley Road, and on the line linking with . It is also on the line for trains between and Hereford via...
. Between Bicester and Swanbourne
Swanbourne
Swanbourne is a village and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located about two miles east of Winslow, three miles west of Stewkley, on the secondary road B4032.-History:...
the track is in place but overgrown. Within this the stretch between Bicester and Claydon Junction is used for regular freight trains carrying refuse to the landfill
Landfill
A landfill site , is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment...
site at Calvert
Calvert, Buckinghamshire
Calvert is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, near the village of Steeple Claydon.Originally named after a wealthy local family, the village was founded as a hamlet in the Victorian era to house workers for the brick works that were constructed in the area. The works have since been closed and...
. Between Swanbourne and Mursley
Mursley
Mursley is a small village in and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Vale district Buckinghamshire, England. It is located about three miles east of Winslow and four miles south west of Fenny Stratford....
the track has been lifted but the trackbed remains and reinstatement is technically feasible. Between Mursley and Newton Longville
Newton Longville
Newton Longville is a village and civil parish in Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. The village is about south-west of Bletchley.-History:...
the track is in place but overgrown. The stretch between Newton Longville and Bletchley was re-laid in spring 2006 and opened on 27 March 2006 for freight traffic, carrying refuse to the Newton Longville landfill site. Between Bletchley and Bedford the track is open and in daily passenger use as the Marston Vale Line
Marston Vale Line
The Marston Vale Line is the railway line from Bletchley to Bedford in England. It is one of two surviving passenger-carrying sections of the "Varsity Line" between Oxford and Cambridge....
.
Between Bedford and Cambridge all of the track has been removed and some sections of the trackbed have been lost. At Sandy
Sandy, Bedfordshire
Sandy is a small market town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is between Cambridge and Bedford, and on the A1 road from London to Edinburgh. The area is dominated by a range of hills known as the Sand Hills. The River Ivel runs through Sandy. The dedication of the Anglican church is to...
and Potton
Potton
Potton is a town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is 10 miles from Bedford and the population in 2001 was 4,473 people. In 1783 the 'Great Fire of Potton' destroyed a large part of the town. The parish church dates from the 13th Century and is dedicated to St Mary...
new housing occupies the former route. Between Lord's Bridge
Lord's Bridge railway station
Lord's Bridge was a railway station on the Varsity Line which ran between Oxford and Cambridge. Situated in the north of the parish of Harlton on the western outskirts of Cambridge, it was the penultimate station before the line's eastern terminus at Cambridge. The station opened in 1862 and closed...
and Cambridge, the Ryle Telescope
Ryle Telescope
The Ryle Telescope was a linear east-west radio telescope array at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory. In 2004 three of the telescopes were moved to create a compact two-dimensional array of telescopes at the east end of the interferometer. The remaining five antennas were switched off on 19...
of Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory
Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory
Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory is home to a number of large aperture synthesis radio telescopes, including the One-Mile Telescope, 5-km Ryle Telescope, and the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager...
now occupies a 3 miles (4.8 km) length of the former route. Between Trumpington Park and Ride and Cambridge Station the entire route is being converted to be part of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway
Cambridgeshire Guided Busway
The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway , branded the busway , is a public transport scheme connecting the population centres of Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives in the English county of Cambridgeshire...
.
A further problem is the lack of through platforms at Bletchley and Bedford. The current track layout at Bletchley means that, without the proposed new high-level station, through trains would have to go around the station without stopping. Similarly, Bedford St Johns station
Bedford St Johns railway station
Bedford St Johns is the smaller of two railway stations that serve the town of Bedford in Bedfordshire. It is on the Marston Vale line from Bletchley to Bedford Midland.The station is unstaffed, and is operated by London Midland....
was rebuilt on a different site, and is no longer on the through alignment towards Sandy.
Confirmed plans
In May 2006 the Department of Transport announced specific plans for Bletchley station. The document states that "it is likely" that Bletchley area renewals and network simplification will take place by 2010, "to include a high-level platform" for Bedford trains. The network will be suitable for the later addition of any 'East-West' link to and from Oxford and for the operation of through links from either Oxford or Bedford to and from Milton Keynes.In the expansion plans for Milton Keynes
Expansion plans for Milton Keynes
In January 2004, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott announced the United Kingdom government's Expansion plans for Milton KeynesHe proposed that the population of Milton Keynes should double in the subsequent 20 years...
, the area around Newton Longville is to be extensively developed. A new passenger station for Newton Longville is included in the "MK2031" strategic plan, with a spur to a new platform at Milton Keynes Central
Milton Keynes Central railway station
Milton Keynes Central railway station serves Central Milton Keynes and the surrounding area of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. The station is located on the West Coast Main Line between the stations of Bletchley and Wolverton, both of which are also within Milton Keynes. The station is served by...
. An upgraded line is already in place (see above) and a simple halt would not be expensive.
On 4 December 2006, work began at Milton Keynes Central to prepare for a service connection from the Marston Vale Line
Marston Vale Line
The Marston Vale Line is the railway line from Bletchley to Bedford in England. It is one of two surviving passenger-carrying sections of the "Varsity Line" between Oxford and Cambridge....
, with completion scheduled for December 2008.
Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways is a British train operating company. It was set up at the privatisation of British Rail in 1996, and operates local passenger trains from Marylebone station in London to Aylesbury and main-line trains on the Chiltern Main Line to Birmingham Snow Hill with its associated branches...
has opened a new station, known as , 3 miles (4.8 km) north-west of Aylesbury town station, adjacent to the A41 and the major development at Berryfields. The station opened on 14 December 2008, and the station building on 1 June 2009. Existing track, previously used only by freight trains, has been upgraded and new signalling equipment installed. This line could be extended further north to reach a rebuilt Oxford-Bletchley line at Verney Junction
Verney Junction
Verney Junction is a hamlet in the parish of Middle Claydon in north Buckinghamshire, England. It is on a disused railway line near Claydon House....
and Chiltern Railways has long-term aspirations to reach Milton Keynes.
It has also been announced that the line between Oxford and Bicester Town railway station
Bicester Town railway station
Bicester Town is the smaller of two railway stations serving the town of Bicester in Oxfordshire. The larger is . Bicester Town station is miles north-east of . It is operated by Chiltern Railways.-History:...
will be upgraded with funding from property developers as a condition of enlarging Bicester Village Shopping Centre
Bicester Village Shopping Centre
Bicester Village Shopping Centre is a designer outlet centre in Bicester in the English county of Oxfordshire, for several high-end brands, including Ted Baker, Ralph Lauren, Dolce & Gabbana, Charles Tyrwhitt, Aquascutum, Gieves & Hawkes, Gucci, Dior, Bally and Prada, as well as housing a small...
.
In March 2008, a £2 million engineering survey into the state of the existing and removed track was launched.
In his autumn 2011 budget
2011 United Kingdom budget
The 2011 United Kingdom budget, officially called 2011 Budget - A strong and stable economy, growth and fairness, was delivered by George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons on 23 March 2011....
statement of November 2011, the Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
George Osborne
George Osborne
George Gideon Oliver Osborne, MP is a British Conservative politician. He is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, a role to which he was appointed in May 2010, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001.Osborne is part of the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy, known in...
announced that the government would fund the re-opening of the rail link from Oxford via Milton Keynes as far as Bedford.
Prognosis
Hopes for a revival of the Varsity Line rested on the proposed East West Rail LinkEast West Rail Consortium
East West Rail Link is a proposed new rail route in England to provide a fast outer orbital railway to the north of London, linking the Great Western Main Line, Oxford, Bicester, Milton Keynes, Bedford, Cambridge, Ipswich and Norwich for both passenger and freight traffic...
. As well as upgrading the track between Bicester and Bletchley, this scheme was aiming to construct a new 9 miles (14.5 km) trackbed between Bedford and Sandy on roughly the same alignment as the original. At Sandy, trains would then have joined the East Coast Main Line
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh...
to Biggleswade
Biggleswade
Biggleswade is a market town and civil parish located on the River Ivel in Bedfordshire, England. It is well served by transport routes, being close to the A1 road between London and the North, as well as having a railway station on the main rail link North from London .-Geography:Located about 40...
- Arlesey
Arlesey
Arlesey is a small industrial town and civil parish in the district of Central Bedfordshire in Bedfordshire. It is located on the border with Hertfordshire, about three miles north-west of Letchworth Garden City, four miles north of Hitchin and six miles south of Biggleswade. Arlesey railway...
- Hitchin
Hitchin
Hitchin is a town in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 30,360.-History:Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people mentioned in a 7th century document, the Tribal Hidage. The tribal name is Brittonic rather than Old English and derives from *siccā, meaning...
and then switched north-east to Letchworth
Letchworth
Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The town's name is taken from one of the three villages it surrounded - all of which featured in the Domesday Book. The land used was first purchased by Quakers who had intended to farm the...
- Baldock
Baldock
Baldock is a historic market town in the local government district of North Hertfordshire in the ceremonial county of Hertfordshire, England where the River Ivel rises. It lies north of London, southeast of Bedford, and north northwest of the county town of Hertford...
- Ashwell and Morden - Royston
Royston, Hertfordshire
Royston is a town and civil parish in the District of North Hertfordshire and county of Hertfordshire in England.It is situated on the Greenwich Meridian, which brushes the towns western boundary, and at the northernmost apex of the county on the same latitude of towns such as Milton Keynes and...
- Meldreth
Meldreth
Meldreth is a village in South Cambridgeshire with about 1,600 inhabitants lying around 10 miles south-west of Cambridge.-History:The village of Meldreth grew in Saxon times, and the parish is home to Mettle Hill that was probably the original meeting place of Armingford Hundred...
- Shepreth
Shepreth
Shepreth is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, lying halfway between Cambridge and Royston.-History:The parish of Shepreth is roughly-rectangular and covers 1318 acres...
- Foxton
Foxton, Cambridgeshire
Foxton is a small village in South Cambridgeshire, England. It has a number of well-preserved fifteenth and sixteenth century houses, and a thirteenth century church dedicated to St Lawrence.-History:...
- Cambridge. However, a chord would have to be built to enable southbound trains from Sandy to reach the Hitchin-Cambridge branch, as the existing junction serves only northbound trains from London on to this branch. This would mean that trains would not actually stop at Hitchin and a new station might have to be built there unless another solution could be found.
However, little progress was made with the project, and development plans were further set back when, in 2001, the Strategic Rail Authority
Strategic Rail Authority
In existence from 2001 to 2006, the Strategic Rail Authority was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom set up under the Transport Act 2000 to provide strategic direction for the railway industry....
rejected the option to reopen the stretch of line between Bicester and Bletchley. Then, in April 2006, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister declared itself to be in favour of the principle of re-opening the link between Bedford and Oxford but gave no indication of underwriting that opinion. Most recently, in March 2008, a £2 million engineering survey of the existing and removed tracks was launched.
An alternative alignment for the line eastwards from Sandy has been proposed in order that East Coast Main Line line capacity is not affected by the new line. This would continue from Sandy to the east along the original line, skirting Sandy Warren, before heading directly east with stations at Wrestlingworth
Wrestlingworth
Wrestlingworth is a village in the English county of Bedfordshire, six miles east-north-east of Biggleswade.-Notable people:*Sydney Beaumont, a former professional football player and manager-External links:*...
and Bassingbourn
Bassingbourn cum Kneesworth
Bassingbourn cum Kneesworth is a civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England, 14 miles south-west of Cambridge. Since the 1960s the parish contains the villages of Bassingbourn and Kneesworth and is situated just north of Royston in Hertfordshire...
before joining the existing railway network again at Foxton.
Despite growth opportunities for the rapidly developing Oxford-Cambridge Arc
Oxford-Cambridge Arc
The Oxford-Cambridge Arc is a notional arc of agricultural and urban land at about 75km radius of London, southern England. It runs between the two English university towns of Oxford and Cambridge via Milton Keynes and other important settlements in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire...
, reopening of the complete Varsity Line remains uncertain. The problem of reconstructing the Bedford to Sandy route is a particular obstacle. However, hope remains that the line between Bletchley and Bicester may re-open to provide a train service between Milton Keynes Central and Oxford.
In summer 2006 it was announced that, in a bid to co-host the 2012 London Olympics
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...
, a large rowing lake would be built near the former station site at Willington
Willington, Bedfordshire
Willington is a village and civil parish located in the English county of Bedfordshire. It is west of Moggerhanger on the road from Sandy to Bedford...
in Bedfordshire, in return for a licence to extract gravel. The lake would cut through the route of the trackbed between Bedford and Sandy and any subsequent bridging costs would seem to be prohibitive, especially given the uninterrupted span that would be required to avoid obstructing the lake.
In March 2007, a study (funded by the councils and other interested parties along the route) declared at p. 38, 5.1 A very good operating and business case exists for [a "base case" for a] two-trains-per-hour passenger service between Oxford and Milton Keynes, and an operating case also exists for the Aylesbury spur which would bring further economic and strategic advantages to the subregion. Capital cost for the base case is between £100m - £135m. The base case and the Aylesbury options should be further considered in the next phase of work.
In January 2009 work began on clearing vegetation from the Bletchley-Claydon section of the line, to make way for a survey of the cost of reopening the line. The work is being progressed by Milton Keynes Partnership, with the intention of resuming passenger services between Oxford and Bedford via Milton Keynes Central "in three or four years".
In March 2008, those undertaking the engineering survey stated that a 100 mph link between Oxford and Bletchley could be achieved for around £190 million. Assuming construction was to start in 2009 as they then hoped, the upgraded / re-opened line could be in service by 2012.
In April 2008, the Department for Transport responded to an e-petition for support by reiterating that they would encourage private funding.
See also
- Rail transport in Great BritainRail transport in Great BritainThe railway system in Great Britain is the oldest in the world, with the world's first locomotive-hauled public railway opening in 1825. As of 2010, it consists of of standard gauge lines , of which are electrified. These lines range from single to double, triple, quadruple track and up to twelve...
- High Speed Two