Bicester North railway station

Bicester North
The station in 2011, after completion of widening work on the southbound platform
Location
Place	Bicester
Local authority	District of Cherwell
Grid reference	SP585231
Operations
Station code	BCS
Managed by	Chiltern Railways
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	D
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	1.228 million
2011/12	1.356 million
2012/13	1.463 million
2013/14	1.621 million
2014/15	1.696 million
History
Key dates	Opened 1 July 1910 (1 July 1910)
Original company	Great Western Railway
Pre-grouping	GWR
Post-grouping	GWR
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bicester North from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Station entrance in 1961

Bicester North ⁱ/ˈbɪstər/ is a station on the Chiltern Main Line, one of two stations serving Bicester in Oxfordshire. Services operated by Chiltern Railways run south to London Marylebone and north to Banbury, Birmingham Snow Hill and Stratford-upon-Avon.

Bicester North is one of Bicester's two stations. The other is 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.^[1]

In recent years passenger traffic at Bicester North has grown rapidly. In the seven years 2003–10 the number of passengers using the station increased by 89%.^[2]

Services

The typical off-peak weekday service consists of three or four trains per hour to and from London Marylebone. One service per hour is non-stop to Marylebone, taking around 55 minutes to cover the 55 miles (89 km). The other services call at various intermediate destinations such as Princes Risborough and High Wycombe and can take up to 15 minutes longer. Two services per hour continue northwards to Birmingham Snow Hill, taking around 1 hour 20 minutes. The remaining services either terminate at Bicester North or continue to Banbury or Stratford-upon-Avon.

At weekends, there are generally three trains per hour from London, two of which continue to Birmingham.

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.^[3]

Operator and routes

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
King's Sutton		Chiltern Railways London-Birmingham		Haddenham & Thame Parkway
Banbury		Chiltern Railways Chiltern Main Line fast services		High Wycombe
	Historical railways
Ardley Line open, station closed		Great Western Railway Bicester "cut-off"		Blackthorn Line open, station closed

References

External links

A view of Bicester North station from the footbridge in 2010

• Train times and station information for Bicester North railway station from National Rail
• Map sources for Bicester North railway station

Coordinates: 51°54′13″N 1°09′00″W / 51.9035°N 1.1500°W / 51.9035; -1.1500