Bicester North railway station

{{Short description|Railway station in Oxfordshire, England}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}

{{more citations needed|date=October 2010}}

{{Infobox station

| name = Bicester North

| symbol_location = gb

| symbol = rail

| image = Bicester North station high southbound.jpg

| caption = The station in 2011, after completion of widening work on the southbound platform

| borough = Bicester, District of Cherwell

| country = England

| grid_name = Grid reference

| grid_position = {{gbmapscaled|SP585231|25|SP585231}}

| manager = Chiltern Railways

| platforms = 2

| code = BCS

| classification = DfT category D

| original = Great Western Railway

| pregroup = GWR

| postgroup = GWR

| opened = 1 July 1910

| mpassengers =

{{Rail pass box |pass_year=2019/20 |passengers={{increase}} 0.839 million |interchange={{pad|1em}}{{decrease}} 32,575}}

{{Rail pass box |pass_year=2020/21 |passengers={{decrease}} 0.148 million |interchange={{pad|1em}}{{decrease}} 3,509}}

{{Rail pass box |pass_year=2021/22 |passengers={{increase}} 0.512 million |interchange={{pad|1em}}{{increase}} 19,850}}

{{Rail pass box |pass_year=2022/23 |passengers={{increase}} 0.633 million |interchange={{pad|1em}}{{decrease}} 18,563}}

{{Rail pass box |pass_year=2023/24 |passengers={{increase}} 0.758 million |interchange={{pad|1em}}{{decrease}} 3,984}}

| footnotes = Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

|mapframe=yes

|mapframe-zoom = 13

}}

File:Bicester North Station 1796471 3518a602.jpg

Bicester North ({{IPAc-en|audio=En-uk-Bicester.ogg|ˈ|b|ɪ|s|t|ər}} {{respell|BIST|ər}}) is a station on the Chiltern Main Line, one of two stations serving the market town of Bicester in Oxfordshire. Services operated by Chiltern Railways run south to {{rws|London Marylebone}} and north to {{rws|Banbury}}, {{rws|Birmingham Snow Hill}} and {{rws|Stratford-upon-Avon}}.

Bicester North is one of Bicester's two stations. The other is {{rws|Bicester Village}} on the Oxford to London Marylebone Line.

History

The 'Bicester cut-off' between Ashendon Junction and Aynho Junction was opened in 1910 - the final main-line stretch of route to be completed in Britain until the 1980s. This provided a shortening of the London-to-Birmingham GWR main rail line, and also gave Bicester a station with direct London trains for the first time.

The station was transferred from the Western Region of British Rail to the London Midland Region on 24 March 1974.{{cite journal |editor1-first=J.N. |editor1-last=Slater |date=May 1974 |title=Notes and News: Transfer of Marylebone-Banbury services |journal=Railway Magazine |volume=120 |issue=877 |publisher=IPC Transport Press Ltd |location=London |issn=0033-8923 |page=248 }}

Services

The Monday-to-Friday off-peak service consists of:

  • 2 trains per hour to {{stnlnk|London Marylebone}}, typically calling at {{rws|Haddenham & Thame Parkway}} (once per hour) and {{rws|High Wycombe}} only
  • 1 train per hour to {{rws|Birmingham Moor Street}}
  • 1 train per hour to {{rws|Banbury}}, extending to {{rws|Birmingham Snow Hill}} once every two hours and during peak times.

Improvement works

In 2010 the down line through the station was realigned for higher speeds, as part of the Evergreen 3 project. In 2011, the up (southbound) platform was widened, using the trackbed of the former through lines.{{cite news |title= Evergreen 3 progress |work= Modern Railways |location= London |page= 9 |date=December 2010 }}

Operator and routes

{{rail start}}

{{s-rail-national|toc=Chiltern Railways|route=Chiltern Main Line|rowsmid=2|previous=High Wycombe|next=Kings Sutton}}

{{s-rail-national|hidemid=yes|previous=Haddenham & Thame Parkway|next=Banbury}}

{{Historical Rail Insert}}

{{rail line|next={{rws|Blackthorn}}
Line open, station closed |previous={{rws|Ardley}}
Line open, station closed |route=Great Western Railway
Bicester "cut-off" |col={{GWR colour}} }}

{{s-end}}

References

{{reflist}}