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NEXT BRANCH EVENT
29 April 2025. Tuesday. Thames Valley regional branch open meeting, preceded by AGM. Guest speaker: Eleanor Wills, Regional Development Manager (East), Great Western Railway. Venue: West Oxford Community Centre (Mary Town room), Botley Road, Oxford OX2 0BT. 17.00 for 17.30 start. (N.B. this meeting will NOT be anything at all about the ongoing Botley Road bridge works.)
Recent branch events:
1 December 2024. Sunday. Regional branch campaigns stall at annual Oxford Green Fair. Venue: Oxford Town Hall, St Aldate's, Oxford OX1 1BX.
7 October 2024. Monday. Regional branch open meeting. Guest speaker: Richard Gibson, Stakeholder Manager, West & Wales, Arriva CrossCountry Trains. Venue: West Oxford Community Centre, Botley Road, Oxford OX2 0BT.
Previous branch events
~ Thames Valley regional branch AGM was held on 26 March 2024. Guest speaker: Zach Bailey, Stakeholder Manager, Chiltern Railways.
~ Thames Valley regional branch had a stall at Oxford Green Fair on Saturday 25 November 2023 in Oxford Town Hall.
~ Thames Valley regional branch AGM was held on Thursday 8 December 2022 - see Chair's report. Guest speaker was Pete Brunskill, Oxford City and Oxfordshire County Councils, who gave this presentation.
~ Witney Oxford Transport Group with Railfuture Thames Valley regional branch had a Windrush Line campaign stall at Carterton's May Day Fair on Bank Holiday Monday 2 May 2022 . Venue: Carterton Recreation Ground, OX18 3JH.
~ Thames Valley regional branch annual meeting was on Saturday 4 September 2021. Speakers were John Ellis, Chair of Cotswold Line Promotion Group, and John Morgan, leading on the Restoring Your Railway project for Stratford-Honeybourne via Long Marston.
Other previous meetings
Tuesday 5th November 2019, Chipping Norton Town Hall, Market Place, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, OX7 5NA. Cotswold Line Task Force - a talk by Ian Baxter, a rail consultant and former Chairman of the Cotswold Line Promotion Group. A summary appears in our March 2020 branch newsletter no.97.
See Connecting Communities - framework assessment of new station opportunities on Western Route - July 2024. References to Witney, Carterton, and Wantage.
Projects under way
~ Witney Oxford Transport Group (WOTG) is leading a campaign for a new rail route in the A40 corridor west of Oxford to Carterton (for RAF Brize Norton) via Eynsham / Salt Cross garden village and Witney. See Dare to Imagine and Daring to Imagine - WOT Rail 2020. In December 2024 WOTG produced "Joining the dots makes sense."
~ Wantage and Grove Campaign Group and Wantage & Grove Station (WAGS) Supporters Group for a new station to serve Grove / Wantage.
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Area
Berkshire (now the six unitary authorities of Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor & Maidenhead, and Wokingham), Buckinghamshire (now the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire), Milton Keynes unitary authority, and Oxfordshire.Activities
NEXT BRANCH EVENT
29 April 2025. Tuesday. Thames Valley regional branch open meeting, preceded by AGM. Guest speaker: Eleanor Wills, Regional Development Manager (East), Great Western Railway. Venue: West Oxford Community Centre (Mary Town room), Botley Road, Oxford OX2 0BT. 17.00 for 17.30 start. (N.B. this meeting will NOT be anything at all about the ongoing Botley Road bridge works.)
Recent branch events:
1 December 2024. Sunday. Regional branch campaigns stall at annual Oxford Green Fair. Venue: Oxford Town Hall, St Aldate's, Oxford OX1 1BX.
7 October 2024. Monday. Regional branch open meeting. Guest speaker: Richard Gibson, Stakeholder Manager, West & Wales, Arriva CrossCountry Trains. Venue: West Oxford Community Centre, Botley Road, Oxford OX2 0BT.
Previous branch events
~ Thames Valley regional branch AGM was held on 26 March 2024. Guest speaker: Zach Bailey, Stakeholder Manager, Chiltern Railways.
~ Thames Valley regional branch had a stall at Oxford Green Fair on Saturday 25 November 2023 in Oxford Town Hall.
~ Thames Valley regional branch AGM was held on Thursday 8 December 2022 - see Chair's report. Guest speaker was Pete Brunskill, Oxford City and Oxfordshire County Councils, who gave this presentation.
~ Witney Oxford Transport Group with Railfuture Thames Valley regional branch had a Windrush Line campaign stall at Carterton's May Day Fair on Bank Holiday Monday 2 May 2022 . Venue: Carterton Recreation Ground, OX18 3JH.
~ Thames Valley regional branch annual meeting was on Saturday 4 September 2021. Speakers were John Ellis, Chair of Cotswold Line Promotion Group, and John Morgan, leading on the Restoring Your Railway project for Stratford-Honeybourne via Long Marston.
Other previous meetings
Tuesday 5th November 2019, Chipping Norton Town Hall, Market Place, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, OX7 5NA. Cotswold Line Task Force - a talk by Ian Baxter, a rail consultant and former Chairman of the Cotswold Line Promotion Group. A summary appears in our March 2020 branch newsletter no.97.
Newsletters
See all Thames Valley regional branch newsletters since February 2013 here.WANTED – Media help!
We are campaigning for more and better train services across the Thames Valley area but need to raise our media profile to get our messages across more effectively. Can you help?
We are looking for someone who can assist with any or all of the following, depending on your own wishes, skills and experience:-
- Be our Social Media presence
- Develop and maintain contacts in key local media across the region
- Write eye catching press releases
- Be our first contact point for media enquiries and be willing to give interviews
Knowledge of and interest in transport and related issues in the region would be very helpful but full support can be given.
We are all volunteers; how much time you give is up to you.
This would suit someone who has worked in PR/journalism/marketing etc who is about to or has recently retired.
It could also suit a student or recent graduate in a relevant discipline who is looking to gain experience in a voluntary campaigning group.
Interested? To find out more email thamesvalley at railfuture.org.uk
We are campaigning for more and better train services across the Thames Valley area but need to raise our media profile to get our messages across more effectively. Can you help?
We are looking for someone who can assist with any or all of the following, depending on your own wishes, skills and experience:-
- Be our Social Media presence
- Develop and maintain contacts in key local media across the region
- Write eye catching press releases
- Be our first contact point for media enquiries and be willing to give interviews
Knowledge of and interest in transport and related issues in the region would be very helpful but full support can be given.
We are all volunteers; how much time you give is up to you.
This would suit someone who has worked in PR/journalism/marketing etc who is about to or has recently retired.
It could also suit a student or recent graduate in a relevant discipline who is looking to gain experience in a voluntary campaigning group.
Interested? To find out more email thamesvalley at railfuture.org.uk
Thames Valley on Twitter
You can follow local news within the Thames Valley Branch at @RailfutureTV. In addition, the national Twitter feed is @Railfuture, plus the three national policy groups @RailfutureNetws, @RailfuturePsngr, and @RailfutureFret.Campaigns
- East-West Rail: (Swindon / Reading) - Didcot - Oxford / Aylesbury - Bletchley / Milton Keynes - Bedford - Cambridge - Ipswich / Norwich. Next phase: Bicester-Bletchley due December 2024. London Marylebone - Oxford Parkway (Water Eaton) opened October 2015, and London Marylebone - Oxford in December 2016. See Chiltern’s Evergreen 3 (January 2012 presentation). Find out more in the most recent Branch Newsletter (above); register your support with Railfuture by clicking Ox-Cam
- Oxford station extra capacity and accessibility - see Oxford corridor phase 2 TWAO, originally due for completion December 2024. On 14 November 2022 BBC South Today, Oxford evening news includes interview with Witney Oxford Transport Group's then Chair Charlie Maynard. Stay up-to-date via Oxfordshire Connect.
- Cowley freight-only branch line reopening to passenger services, with two new stations (initial phase of Oxford Metro) first re-named as Oxford East and Oxford South and recently as Oxford Cowley and Oxford Littlemore, target for opening in December 2026, funding for detailed design and feasibility works agreed by the City Council in December 2022. Stay up-to-date here.
- Oxford - Didcot corridor capacity enhancement, and electrification - see Oxfordshire Rail Corridor Study (ORCS). NOTE - here is the link to Network Rail's June 2021 Strategic Report (in here under Regional planning documents / Wales and Western).
- North Cotswold Line transformation, per December 2019 report commissioned by North Cotswold Line Task Force.
- Hanborough station - more services and station/car park improvements.
- Oxford - Eynsham (new Salt Cross garden village) - Witney - Carterton corridor aka The Windrush Line (later phase of Oxford Metro) - see 'Feasibility study' (Strategic Outline Business Case) published 25 May 2023. See also Virtual Politics of Planning Roundtable with Cllr Liz Leffman on 12 July 2023. On 21 November 2023 the County Council published the Strategic Outline Business Case in full. See Witney Oxford Transport Group Patron, Charlie Maynard MP, present a short introductory video.
- Quadrupling Didcot - Swindon; reintroduction of passenger services on Oxford - Bath -Bristol axis (see Autumn 2024 trial).
- Wantage & Grove station (re-opening former Wantage Road station) referenced in Oxfordshire Rail Corridor Study (ORCS) for 2028. On 12 September 2023 Oxfordshire County Council agreed unanimously to this Motion. Eventually, on 21 March 2025, the County Council announced "Council commissions rail feasibility study into Wantage and Grove Station".
- Oxford - Stratford-upon-Avon via Honeybourne and Long Marston (winning bid to DfT's Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund round 2, but no longer being taken forward).
- Maidenhead-Marlow branch - two trains per hour service.
- High Wycombe - Bourne End - Maidenhead - Heathrow re-opening.
- Enhanced connectivity Oxford - Reading - Gatwick Airport.
- New station at Aylesbury South for new Garden Town proposal, also serving Stoke Mandeville Hospital.
- Safeguarding future potential freight terminal sites.
- Additional Chiltern route to new Old Oak Common terminus, per Network Rail's West Midlands & Chilterns Route Study including Technical Appendix 4, August 2017.
See Connecting Communities - framework assessment of new station opportunities on Western Route - July 2024. References to Witney, Carterton, and Wantage.
Projects under way
- High-Speed 2 (HS2) - initially Old Oak Common to Birmingham.
- Improvements to quality of CrossCountry Trains services.
- Heathrow western rail access, between Reading and Heathrow Airport via Slough. See also Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Group.
Whats on
- Events and key Rail dates for rail campaigners
Thames Valley Rail User Groups
Rail user groups in the Thames Valley are shown on Railfuture's regional list of Rail User Groups (RUGs). The list can be viewed, or downloaded in PDF format, here.Thames Valley Rail Campaign Groups
Rail development campaign groups in the Thames Valley are shown in Railfuture's national list of Rail Reopening Campaigns (ROCs). The list can be viewed, or downloaded in PDF format, here.~ Witney Oxford Transport Group (WOTG) is leading a campaign for a new rail route in the A40 corridor west of Oxford to Carterton (for RAF Brize Norton) via Eynsham / Salt Cross garden village and Witney. See Dare to Imagine and Daring to Imagine - WOT Rail 2020. In December 2024 WOTG produced "Joining the dots makes sense."
~ Wantage and Grove Campaign Group and Wantage & Grove Station (WAGS) Supporters Group for a new station to serve Grove / Wantage.
Community Rail
See Community Rail Network and the new Oxfordshire Community Rail Partnership (under the auspices of Gloucestershire CRP).Contact
Email thamesvalley at railfuture.org.uk if you have any specific questions or comments about campaigns in the Thames Valley area.Thames Valley Branch dashboard
Full dashboard of all Thames Valley branch documents.Railfuture - Britain's leading independent campaign for a bigger better passenger and freight rail network
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