New Oxford station design concepts

[jimm]

Story from the Oxford Mail showing designs submitted by architects for a new station for the city centre, which will be on show tomorrow and Friday.

There is a link given in the story for a consultation on the concepts, but the city council hasn't activated it yet.

SIX striking new visions of the multi-million-pound overhaul of Oxford Rail Station have been unveiled as part of a public competition.

The designs will be on display tomorrow and Saturday in Oxford Castle Quarter and in the Central Library at the Westgate Centre from Monday.

Today, the Oxford Mail can reveal the images that have been put forward, which will be judged by both the public and a panel of experts.

They have each been submitted by architects described as “world class” by project partners Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council and Network Rail.

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/14...c_Oxford_rail_station_design_would_you_pick_/

 

[Bletchleyite]

They look nice, but there seems to be a lack of provision for buses and drop-off in most of them.

 

[jimm]

They look nice, but there seems to be a lack of provision for buses and drop-off in most of them.

The mini-bus station and drop access will be moved south of Botley Road, to the area of the existing car park, the bus stops can be seen at the left-hand side of the third image in the gallery. Presumable some sort of multi-storey car park to the south of that area will also feature as part of wider redevelopment in the area, which is also likely to include a new site for the youth hostel.

 

[route:oxford]

Clearer images:-

 

[FGW_DID]

Oxford City Council weblink:

http://consultation.oxford.gov.uk/consult.ti/oxfordstationcomp/consultationHome

Has links to drawings and supplementary reports for each of the six designs.

 

[mr_jrt]

Still think they're missing a trick by not designing in 6 through platforms.

 

[Howardh]

*Slaps forehead*

Oh dear, I looked at the pix thinking it was my dear and beloved Oxford ROAD and viewed the map wondering which way was north.

Where is that completely embarrassed smiley thing when you need it?

Time I went to bed....

 

[deltic08]

Clearer images:-

Anybody who draws a train with eight-wheel bogies as in the third image doesn't deserve to win a design competition.

 

[oxoneil]

From the article

"Rail bosses have said it could make the city a major ‘rail interchange’, but it is understood project leaders now do not expect work to start until the early 2020s. "

 

[MarkRedon]

From the article

"Rail bosses have said it could make the city a major ‘rail interchange’, but it is understood project leaders now do not expect work to start until the early 2020s. "

There is a mare's nest of planning interdependencies to be sorted out at Oxford. The projects which I can identify include the following; perhaps others can add to or correct the list, and suggest sensible ordering?

1. Rehabilitation or replacement of the parcel sidings as two passenger platforms, opening of pedestrian access to main concourse, new train crew accommodation. All of these are necessary to Chiltern Railways access. Logically this step has to be undertaken first because trains from Marylebone should be running through to Oxford by September of next year.
2. Remodelling of Oxford North / Wolvercote Junction.
3. Construction of new platforms on the main line.
4. Oxford area resignalling.
5. Possible capacity enhancements, Oxford to Didcot.
6. Passenger service along the Cowley branch.
7. New station buildings, in conjunction with a new Botley Road under bridge.
8. Electrification.

That all adds up to something of a mega-project, with a significant pricetag to boot. And the dons and townsfolk of the Other Place (Cambridge) might start to become envious… Insisting at least on a new railway to Bedford! All before 2029?

 

[jimm]

Still think they're missing a trick by not designing in 6 through platforms.

These designs are simply based on the broad outline brief the architects were given, which indicated four through platforms plus a bay - which I understood was always meant to have passive provision to be a through line. And if through running on to the Cowley branch from Bicester/Banbury/Cotswold Line becomes a reality, it would probably make a fifth through platform an essential requirement anyway.

Six through platforms would eat up too much land at the east side of the station and could also pose problems with the rise in the road level from under the Botley Road bridge to Frideswide Square.

Nothing is set in stone yet in terms of the station layout or track layout through the Oxford area generally, because of various factors MarkRedon outlines. All of which undoubtedly contributed to the decision to put back electrification to Oxford, presumably to buy time to come up with a workable plan to deliver all the various pieces of work in a co-ordinated way.

The provision of two long bay platforms at the north end of the station and a new temporary staff building will indeed be the first work to be done. Agreement on exactly what will be done has now been reached by Network Rail and Oxford City Council, so work is likely to start soon.

 

[oxoneil]

Agreement on exactly what will be done has now been reached by Network Rail and Oxford City Council, so work is likely to start soon.

Well that does surprise me. Having said that, the Frideswide Square redevelopment is all but finished (not been through there for a few weeks).

 

[Oxfordblues]

work is likely to start soon.

Does anyone know when the Chiltern Railways work at Oxford station is actually going to start? Time is running out to achieve an opening next summer. The two parcels vans are still ensconced at platform 5. One of them was last maintained in 1979!

 

[oxoneil]

My interest in this stems from the fact that I've been on hold with GWR since June 2014 and was wondering if station redevelopment is a factor in them taking on new drivers there.

 

[jimm]

Does anyone know when the Chiltern Railways work at Oxford station is actually going to start? Time is running out to achieve an opening next summer. The two parcels vans are still ensconced at platform 5. One of them was last maintained in 1979!

Agreement on the temporary staff block was only finalised last week or the week before and that structure needs to be in place before demolition of the existing buildings can start. I guess Network Rail will now have given the various contractors the green light to set things in motion as fast as they can.

As I pointed out here http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=73497&page=103 September now appears to be the planned start date for Chiltern services.

 

[NickBucks]

I do wonder whether anyone at Chiltern Railways is having regrets about the money spent on this project. The line opening to Oxford station is now likely to be delayed until next September so from October 2015 to September 2016 Chiltern will have spent money on new stations, extra staff, printing timetables and leasing additional rolling stock ( much to the annoyance to the folks up north) just to run a service to Bicester village which was being serviced anyway with services to Bicester North via the shuttle bus which to my knowledge was not causing complaints. The new timetable has I believe reduced services to Birmingham which was a lucrative market and deprived passengers at Banbury of one of the Class 68 & Mk3 services . I have not paid a great deal of attention to loadings on the new service to Oxford Parkway but given that only a two car unit is being provided at times I do wonder if it is taking a while to attract passengers. The line to Oxford was a Chiltern idea but soon got absorbed into the East- West rail development. I do wonder if CR had waited and let E-W take the lead the outlay would have been less ? In any event the service will have to be relaunched in September 2016 with additional costs for marketing and publicity . I wonder if the paymasters at DB care ?

 

[swt_passenger]

I do wonder whether anyone at Chiltern Railways is having regrets about the money spent on this project. The line opening to Oxford station is now likely to be delayed until next September so from October 2015 to September 2016 Chiltern will have spent money on new stations, extra staff, printing timetables and leasing additional rolling stock ( much to the annoyance to the folks up north) just to run a service to Bicester village which was being serviced anyway with services to Bicester North via the shuttle bus which to my knowledge was not causing complaints. The new timetable has I believe reduced services to Birmingham which was a lucrative market and deprived passengers at Banbury of one of the Class 68 & Mk3 services . I have not paid a great deal of attention to loadings on the new service to Oxford Parkway but given that only a two car unit is being provided at times I do wonder if it is taking a while to attract passengers. The line to Oxford was a Chiltern idea but soon got absorbed into the East- West rail development. I do wonder if CR had waited and let E-W take the lead the outlay would have been less ? In any event the service will have to be relaunched in September 2016 with additional costs for marketing and publicity . I wonder if the paymasters at DB care ?

Chiltern aren't providing money up front though. They don't pay extra until NR hand over the route and assets, the project is paid for by NR's credit card and paid back over many years by increased access payments..

AIUI the Marylebone to Birmingham service has not been reduced. The only major impact was the removal of most through services between Marylebone and Stratford UA.

It is also quite possible that if Chiltern had not initiated Bicester to Oxford improvements then the business case for EWR would have been completely different, in the extreme case EWR might not be happening at all without Evergreen 3...

 

[jimm]

I do wonder whether anyone at Chiltern Railways is having regrets about the money spent on this project. The line opening to Oxford station is now likely to be delayed until next September so from October 2015 to September 2016 Chiltern will have spent money on new stations, extra staff, printing timetables and leasing additional rolling stock ( much to the annoyance to the folks up north) just to run a service to Bicester village which was being serviced anyway with services to Bicester North via the shuttle bus which to my knowledge was not causing complaints. The new timetable has I believe reduced services to Birmingham which was a lucrative market and deprived passengers at Banbury of one of the Class 68 & Mk3 services . I have not paid a great deal of attention to loadings on the new service to Oxford Parkway but given that only a two car unit is being provided at times I do wonder if it is taking a while to attract passengers. The line to Oxford was a Chiltern idea but soon got absorbed into the East- West rail development. I do wonder if CR had waited and let E-W take the lead the outlay would have been less ? In any event the service will have to be relaunched in September 2016 with additional costs for marketing and publicity . I wonder if the paymasters at DB care ?

Can we stick to Oxford station design here?

The long-running thread about various aspects of Chiltern's Oxford service, including where the revenue is likely to be coming from, is here http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=73497

 

[swt_passenger]

Can we stick to Oxford station design here?

The long-running thread about various aspects of Chiltern's Oxford service, including where the revenue is likely to be coming from, is here http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=73497

Probably a good idea. I shouldn't have digressed so much...

 

[MarkRedon]

There is a mare's nest of planning interdependencies to be sorted out at Oxford. The projects which I can identify include the following; perhaps others can add to or correct the list, and suggest sensible ordering?

1. Rehabilitation or replacement of the parcel sidings as two passenger platforms, opening of pedestrian access to main concourse, new train crew accommodation. All of these are necessary to Chiltern Railways access. Logically this step has to be undertaken first because trains from Marylebone should be running through to Oxford by September of next year.
2. Remodelling of Oxford North / Wolvercote Junction.
3. Construction of new platforms on the main line.
4. Oxford area resignalling.
5. Possible capacity enhancements, Oxford to Didcot.
6. Passenger service along the Cowley branch.
7. New station buildings, in conjunction with a new Botley Road under bridge.
8. Electrification.

That all adds up to something of a mega-project, with a significant pricetag to boot. And the dons and townsfolk of the Other Place (Cambridge) might start to become envious… Insisting at least on a new railway to Bedford! All before 2029?

To which add point zero:
0. Provide minimal signalled trackwork for the two new platforms, now-ish and not in some grand resignalling scheme in the early 2020s. Cos otherwise an awful lot of investment by NR and Chiltern is going to waste...

 

[jimm]

To which add point zero:
0. Provide minimal signalled trackwork for the two new platforms, now-ish and not in some grand resignalling scheme in the early 2020s. Cos otherwise an awful lot of investment by NR and Chiltern is going to waste...

Which may sound a great idea, but the current Oxford signalling kit is apparently considered to be in so fragile a condition that trying to do any work on it or plug in more signals and points, however minimal it may appear, is basically a no-no, and has been for some years now. An intermediate resignalling project to meet Chiltern's needs and commission the extended loop line up to Wolvercote is unavoidable and that's what will happen next year, irrespective of what happens in future.

Please bear in mind that the alignment of the new north bay platforms and associated points and signals has been designed with future needs in mind, so the platforms will form the northern sections of the eastern pair of new platforms in a rebuilt station, be they a bay and through line, or two through lines.

 

[MarkRedon]

What you say is largely reassuring. Although I have sought to understand the eventual thinking – which presumably includes a through line approximately where the existing station building is? – I will admit to a continuing lack of clarity about what the longer-term vision is. From what you say, the work being planned for next year (we hope!) will fit in with the eventual master plan. Clearly something needs to be done in the near term so as to begin to get a return on the existing Marylebone investment as soon as possible.

 

[MarkyT]

An intermediate resignalling project to meet Chiltern's needs and commission the extended loop line up to Wolvercote is unavoidable and that's what will happen next year, irrespective of what happens in future.

Please bear in mind that the alignment of the new north bay platforms and associated points and signals has been designed with future needs in mind, so the platforms will form the northern sections of the eastern pair of new platforms in a rebuilt station, be they a bay and through line, or two through lines.

Also remember the new signalling, once installed, will be much easier and quicker to alter in the future, with VDU control technology, computer interlocking and simple trackside datalinks rather than all the current complex multicore trackside cables, hardwired relay rooms, and the panel which I expect are the main condition problems today. Reading remodelling was carried out that way, with new computer interlockings at first first taking over the old layout. Over many stages, the layout then evolved into the finished product we have today.

 

[The Planner]

Might be easier, but if things like Westlock are put in it costs a bomb to go in and alter later.

 

[Oxfordblues]

I went to see the six station building designs on display at Oxford Central Library yesterday and I have to admit that, as a traditionalist who loves wonderful Victorian creations like St Pancras, I was disappointed. Most of them resembled nothing more that brutalist blocks of which Stalin would have approved.

It isn't a railway station any more apparently: it's a "train station" or even worse a "transportation interchange". The recently-built Youth Hostel is swept away, as indeed is the little cafe opposite on which some poor soul is currently spending a fortune on refurbishing. I haven't the heart to tell him he's wasting his money!

The designers all seem to be motorists as the current, convenient bike park disappears and the bus station is deported to the far end of Becket Street. It's served by "coaches" apparently, not buses. And in their naivety they all forgot that it sometimes rains here: all the roofs are flat and there are no canopies over walking routes.

So I didn't vote for my "favourite" design as they suggested; I voted for the least-worst.

 

[Kingsbury Jn.]

I am not a betting man, but if I was, I would go for the one that most resembles the new Northampton railway station.

 

[jimm]

I went to see the six station building designs on display at Oxford Central Library yesterday and I have to admit that, as a traditionalist who loves wonderful Victorian creations like St Pancras, I was disappointed. Most of them resembled nothing more that brutalist blocks of which Stalin would have approved.

It isn't a railway station any more apparently: it's a "train station" or even worse a "transportation interchange". The recently-built Youth Hostel is swept away, as indeed is the little cafe opposite on which some poor soul is currently spending a fortune on refurbishing. I haven't the heart to tell him he's wasting his money!

The designers all seem to be motorists as the current, convenient bike park disappears and the bus station is deported to the far end of Becket Street. It's served by "coaches" apparently, not buses. And in their naivety they all forgot that it sometimes rains here: all the roofs are flat and there are no canopies over walking routes.

So I didn't vote for my "favourite" design as they suggested; I voted for the least-worst.

Couldn't care less about the youth hostel, It should never have been built there in the first place - just another of Railtrack's demon bits of property dealing that took no account whatever of potential future needs of the railway.

Anyone taking on the cafe will be well aware of what lies ahead - the building has been subject to official notices warning of the likelihood of it being swept away for two or three years now.

One of the key points in the planning brief is to make the station 'visible' in Frideswide Square, hence the station buildings being pushed down to Botley Road - and linking through to a new western entrance where the youth hostel stands. All perfectly sensible and hardly a reason to keep a mountain of bikes, many of which never seem to move for months on end until GWR carries out a purge, cluttering up the station approaches.

The far end of Becket Street is Osney Lane - the bus station is not going to be down there. And removing all the conflicting flows of traffic at the current station entrance and the series of points where pedestrians come into conflict with vehicles in the current forecourt/bus station/taxi rank area and creating a decent pedestrian circulation area instead is definitely a good thing to my mind.

As for the designs, I'm afraid that's modern architecture for you. Though given some of the structures that have passed for Oxford's main railway station over the years, almost anything would be an improvement.

 

[jimm]

The top three designs put forward have now been chosen, according to the Oxford Mail

THE top three designs of the multi-million pound overhaul planned for Oxford Rail Station have been announced.

The striking designs give an insight into what the city centre rail station could look like in the future and will be used as inspiration for the long-awaited £75m revamp.

Six designs were put to a panel of judges and following a public consultation Entry F by architects AHR was chosen as the 'people's favourite' with 70 per cent of the vote.

A judging panel - made up of Network Rail, Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council, the Department for Transport and Great Western Railway - separately selected the design along with two others.

Full story: http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/14...lti_million_pound_Oxford_Rail_Station_revamp/

 

[route:oxford]

The top three designs put forward have now been chosen, according to the Oxford Mail

Full story: http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/14...lti_million_pound_Oxford_Rail_Station_revamp/

The arches remind me of the listed Manchester Oxford Road station. Quite fitting really.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

The recently-built Youth Hostel is swept away.

The YHA are whining about "not being consulted" now:-

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/14...y_they_still_have_not_found_alternative_site/

In a rare moment, of unity, I'm with big Jimm on this one. It was an outrageous thing for Railtrack to sell this plot and it should be swept away as quickly as possible.

If the YHA have the freehold, they'll get fair value for it and be able to find another site if they look hard enough.

 

[scuffleball]

I'm a little confused as to what the problem is exactly anyway. Doesn't Oxford do just fine with two platforms ? Also you are not going o get much more capacity while didcot-banbury is two tracks right?