Cotswold Line
AFirst Great WesternClass 180 approachesHoneybourne station in June 2017
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	South East England South West England West Midlands
Termini	Oxford Hereford
Stations	19
Service
Type	Rural,Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	Great Western Railway West Midlands Trains
Rolling stock	Class 150 Class 153 Class 158 Class 165 Class 166 Class 170 Class 172 Class 196 Class 800 Class 802
History
Opened	1851
Technical
Line length	86.3 miles (138.9 km)
Number of tracks	1–2
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Operating speed	100 mph (160 km/h) maximum
Route map (Click to expand)

v t e Cotswold Line
Legend
miles km Cherwell Valley line toDidcot Parkway 0.0 mi 0 km Oxford Sheepwash Channel 0.9 mi 1.4 km Oxford North Junction Oxford–Bicester line Wolvercot Platform A40 A34 Duke's Cut 2.9 mi 4.7 km Wolvercot Junction Cherwell Valley line toBanbury Yarnton Loop Varsity Line toBletchley 3.8 mi 6.1 km Yarnton Fairford line River Evenlode 7.0 mi 11.3 km Hanborough A4095 8.0 mi 12.9 km Combe 11.6 mi 18.7 km Finstock 13.2 mi 21.2 km Charlbury 16.9 mi 27.2 km Ascott-under-Wychwood River Evenlode A361 18.2 mi 29.3 km Shipton 19.7 mi 31.7 km Bruern Crossing 21.2 mi 34.1 km Kingham Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway A436 23.9 mi 38.5 km Adlestrop A44 28.3 mi 45.5 km Moreton-in-Marsh Stratford and Moreton Tramway (laterShipston-on-Stour branch) 31.5 mi 50.7 km Blockley Blockley Chipping Campden 34.3 mi 55.2 km Campden Tunnel Mickleton Halt Honeybourne Line toStratford-upon-Avon 38.1 mi 61.3 km (now freight only)   38.2 mi 61.5 km Honeybourne 40.2 mi 64.7 km Clayfield Littleton and Badsey A46 River Avon (Upper Avon Navigation) Malvern Junction Midland Railway line toBarnt Green 43.2 mi 69.5 km Evesham Gloucester loop line, part of MR Malvern Line toAshchurch River Avon (Lower Avon Navigation) River Avon (Lower Avon Navigation) 46.3 mi 74.5 km Fladbury Wyre Halt 49.1 mi 79 km Pershore 51.3 mi 82.6 km Stoulton 53.3 mi 85.8 km Worcestershire Parkway Cross Country Route 53.8 mi 86.6 km Norton Junction Norton Halt 54.5 mi 87.7 km M5 A4440 A44 57.0 mi 91.7 km Worcester Shrub Hill 57.3 mi 92.2 km Rainbow Hill Junction Birmingham - Worcester lines Worcester and Birmingham Canal 57.6 mi 92.7 km Worcester Foregate Street A38 freight branch River Severn A443 A44 A4440 Henwick Boughton Halt Rushwick Halt 60.3 mi 97 km River Teme Leominster Junction line to Leominster Bransford Road Newland Halt 64.4 mi 103.6 km Malvern Link A449 65.6 mi 105.6 km Great Malvern Tewkesbury & Malvern Rly, part of MR Malvern Line toEvesham Malvern Wells 67.1 mi 108 km Colwall Tunnels 68.0 mi 109.4 km 68.4 mi 110.1 km Colwall A449 72.1 mi 116 km Ledbury Tunnel 72.6 mi 116.8 km Ledbury Ledbury and Gloucester Railway Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal (disused) A417 Ashperton Stoke Edith River Frome 81.9 mi 131.8 km Withington A4103 A465 River Lugg (navigation) Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal (disused) 84.6 mi 136.2 km Shelwick Junction Welsh Marches line toCrewe A4103 Barrs Court Junction Hereford, Hay and Brecon Railway 86.3 mi 138.9 km Hereford (Barrs Court) Welsh Marches line toNewport

TheCotswold Line is an86+1⁄2-mile (139.2 km) railway line betweenOxford andHereford in England.

The line between Oxford and Worcester was built under an 1845Act of Parliament and opened in 1851 as part of theOxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway.

The Act required the line to be built toIsambard Kingdom Brunel's7 feet1⁄4 inch (2,140 mm)broad gauge but delays, disputes and increasing costs led to its being completed as4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge.^{[citation needed]}

The first stage of theWorcester and Hereford Railway opened betweenHenwick and Malvern Link on 25 July 1859. The bridge over theRiver Severn was approved for traffic the following year, and trains started running through from Malvern Link to Worcester Shrub Hill station on 17 May 1860. A short extension from Malvern Link toMalvern Wells opened on 25 May 1860.

On 1 July 1860 the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway absorbed both the Worcester & Hereford Railway and theNewport, Abergavenny & Hereford Railway to form theWest Midland Railway.

On 13 September 1861 the final stage of the railway opened between Malvern Wells and Shelwick Junction. This junction is just north of Hereford station on the line between Hereford and Shrewsbury, and it finally created a through route between Worcester and Hereford.^[1]

TheGreat Western Railway took over the West Midland Railway in 1863.

The original tunnel through the ridge of theMalvern Hills, Colwall Tunnel, was completed in July 1860. However, the tunnel was unstable, and it was closed for short periods in 1861 and again in 1907 following rock falls. Eventually the GWR decided to build a new tunnel to the south of the existing one. This opened for traffic on 2 August 1926. The old tunnel was abandoned, and duringWorld War II it was used to store torpedoes.^[2]

In the early 1970s, 25 miles from Moreton-in-Marsh to Norton Junction, Worcester were converted fromdouble tosingle track.^[3]

Following serious floods, which washed parts of embankments away, the line was closed for about a fortnight during July and August 2007 for repairs.

Network Rail completed the redoubling of 20 miles (32 km) of track from just east ofCharlbury toAscott-under-Wychwood, and fromMoreton-in-Marsh to about 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Evesham on 22 August 2011. This was intended to improve reliability, enable non-stop operations and allow an hourly off peak service to run on the line.^[4] TheOffice of Rail Regulation approved the work in June 2008, although the planned work was over-budget and had to await final approval.^{[citation needed]} In December 2008 vegetation was cleared.^[5] A six-week closure of all or part of the line between Oxford and Worcester for preparatory works took place in July and August 2009. Further weekend work planned for February 2010 was postponed by Network Rail. Initial work began in autumn of 2010, with the majority of the second track being relaid between December 2010 and May 2011 when the line was closed at 21.30 from Monday to Thursday. In March 2011 construction works were started on additional structures and signalling equipment that the new line needed, including three new platforms at Charlbury, Ascott-under-Wychwood andHoneybourne. Footbridges at Charlbury and Honeybourne as well as preparation for the upgrade of six Level Crossings.^[6] The new double track section between Charlbury and Ascott re-opened on 6 June 2011; the line between Oxford and Moreton-in-Marsh having been closed during the previous nine days. The section between Moreton and Evesham reopened as double track on 22 August 2011 with the line closed for the preceding two weeks.^[7]

The line was closed from 16 to 25 November 2018, between Moreton-In-Marsh and Worcester Shrub Hill, so that platforms could be extended to accommodateClass 800 trains.^[8]

Worcestershire Parkway railway station opened in February 2020, following a long-standing proposal for a new split-level station where the line crosses over theBirmingham and Bristol Railway route. Connecting services are provided byCrossCountry on the Cardiff to Nottingham line and there is parking for 483 cars.^[9]

The line comprises all or part of the followingNetwork Rail routes:^[10]

• GW 200 from Oxford
• GW 310 from Wolvercot Junction
• GW 300 from Norton Junction
• GW 340 from Worcester Shrub Hill
• GW 730 from Shelwick Junction to Hereford

The line is single track between the following places:

• Wolvercot Junction, (about 3 miles or 5 kilometres north of Oxford) andCharlbury.
• 1 mile or 1.6 kilometres west ofEvesham and Norton Junction (3 miles or 4.8 kilometres south east ofWorcester Shrub Hill)
• Worcester Shrub Hill throughWorcester Foregate Street to Henwick.
• Malvern Wells, (1 mile or 1.6 kilometres south ofGreat Malvern) and Shelwick Junction (1.7 miles or 2.7 kilometres north of Hereford) with a crossing place atLedbury.

Other sections are double track.

Significantcivil engineering structures on the line include Campden Tunnel (875 yards or 800 metres), theColwall Tunnels (1,567 yards or 1,433 metres), Ledbury Tunnel (1,323 yards or 1,210 metres) and viaducts at Worcester and Ledbury.

After departing Oxford station, the Cotswold Line shares track with theCherwell Valley Line toBanbury. About 220 yards (200 m) north of the station, the line crosses theSheepwash Channel which links theCastle Mill Stream andOxford Canal with theRiver Thames.^[11] Immediately east of the current line is theRewley Road Swing Bridge over the channel which used to carry theLondon and North Western Railway's (LNWR)Buckinghamshire Railway line to its terminus atOxford Rewley Road.^[12] The swing bridge is alisted building. The Rewley Road station building has been dismantled and re-erected atBuckinghamshire Railway Centre. The built up area east of the railway, visible across the Oxford Canal, isJericho, a district which originated as lodgings outside the city walls where travellers could rest if they arrived after the gates were locked. TheEagle Ironworks of William Lucy & Co. was near the first road bridge over the track onWalton Well Road.

After the bridge, the open area to the left isPort Meadow, awater meadow bordering the Thames with aBronze Ageround barrow. The former LNWR Buckinghamshire Railway branches away to the north east. The section from Oxford to Bicester has been connected to the Chiltern Main Line by a new chord at Bicester, enabling through trains from Oxford toLondon Marylebone to run from September 2015. Proposals exist for re-opening the whole line and are included in the Draft Milton Keynes & South Midlands Sub-Regional Strategy, but there are many planning and funding matters to be resolved.^[13]

The line passes throughWolvercote. To the west, Lower Wolvercote was a centre for paper making, mainly for theOxford University Press from the 17th century until 1998 and is the site ofGodstow Abbey, aBenedictine convent founded in the 12th century. The line passes under the viaduct carrying theA34 Oxford Western Bypass and 100 yards (91 m) further under theA40 road linking London andFishguard.

The line now turns west; here the formerBuckinghamshire Junction Railway link with the Buckinghamshire Railway used to converge from the east. About 4 miles (6.4 km) after Oxford station,Yarnton station was in the short stretch between here and where theWitney Railway diverged to the south-west.^[14] So far, the line has been close to the River Thames but the river now swings away to the south through a landscape dotted with gravel pits. The line now climbs the valley of theRiver Evenlode repeatedly crossing and re-crossing the river.Hanborough station serves the villages ofLong Hanborough,Church Hanborough,Freeland andBladon. TheOxford Bus Museum is next to Hanborough station.^[15]

From Hanborough the line enters the CotswoldArea of Outstanding Natural Beauty and 1 mile (1.6 km) beyond Hanborough isCombe station. Building the line through Combe was difficult with several deep cuttings, four crossings of the Evenlode, and the diversion of a length of the river. To the south, just after the third river crossing are the remains ofNorth Leigh Roman Villa. About 1 mile (1.6 km) beyond the villa the line crosses the course ofAkeman StreetRoman road. TheOxfordshire Waylong-distance footpath follows Akeman Street from the north east to a point about 0.6 miles (1 km) north of the railway before turning to run throughStonesfield and meet the line at Charlbury station. The next station isFinstock. Between Finstock and Charlbury thedeer park to the west of the line isCornbury Park, original venue for theCornbury Music Festival, which has now been replaced by the Wilderness Festival. The woodlands south west of the park are the remains ofWychwood Forest named after theHwicce, one of theAnglo-Saxon peoples of Britain. Charlbury station is the start of the redoubled track and is first stop for faster trains over the line and retains its original Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway clapperboard building.Sir Peter Parker lived nearby atMinster Lovell and was a regular user of Charlbury station while chairman of theBritish Railways Board (1976 to 1983). The patronage of the head of the organisation may have helped to save the line at a time when the Serpell Report was calling for more rail closures.^[16] This is section of track has a maximum speed of 100 mph (160 km/h)^[17]

The line is now heading south-west and the site ofAscot d'Oilly Castle is to the north-west as the train entersAscott-under-Wychwood. Few trains call atAscott-under-Wychwood station, but there is asignal box controlling thelevel crossing and thepoints that were formerly the end of the single track section from Wolvercot Junction. 1.2 miles (1.9 km) beyond Ascott isShipton station which serves the villages ofShipton-under-Wychwood,Milton-under-Wychwood andFifield.

Still following the Evenlode, the line now turns north-west. There is another level crossing nearBruern Abbey. The next junction on the line was atKingham from where theBanbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway went west toCheltenham viaStow-on-the-Wold and east toKing's Sutton nearBanbury.Kingham village is north of the station. The village west of the station isBledington. The Oxfordshire Way which has been close to the railway since Akeman Street now turns west toBourton-on-the-Water but it is replaced by another long-distance footpath, the Diamond Way. Beyond Kingham, the line passes through the site of the formerAdlestrop railway station, closed in 1966. At Moreton-in-Marsh the line crosses the course of another major Roman road, theFosse Way which linkedIsca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) andLindum Colonia (Lincoln). Moreton-in-Marsh was the headquarters of the railway spot-hire companyCotswold Rail until the company moved to Gloucester.

About 28 miles (45 km) after Oxford is Moreton-in-Marsh. This was once the southern end of theStratford and Moreton Tramway. The line then passes the corner of the Roman town ofDorn.^[18] The Cotswold Line leaves the Evenlode which drains into the Thames and enters thecatchment of theRiver Severn. The first level crossing appears. The building west of the crossing is a brick works and the neighbouring pits were the site ofJurassic clay extraction for the works. The village to the north isPaxford. The large country house to the west isNorthwick Park, former home of Edward Spencer-Churchill and site of aUnited States Army hospital duringWorld War II and afterwards a centre for Polish refugees. The line the passes the site ofChipping Campden station, about 1 mile (1.6 km) east ofChipping Campden itself. From here the line goes into cutting, then the 887 yards (811 m) Campden Tunnel under the Cotswoldescarpment. In 1851 unrest among thenavvies building the tunnel resulted in a riot – the 'Battle of Campden Tunnel'.^[19]

The next station is Honeybourne. From 1905 until 1977 this was the junction with the GWR line betweenCheltenham andStratford-upon-Avon. The track to the north remains as a link to the large former military depot atLong Marston. There is a good business case for the restoration of the Stratford-Cotswolds link.^[20] The large compound to the north with high walls, chapel, and floodlights isLong Lartin prison. There is another level crossing, whereLittleton and Badsey station used to be. The line crosses theRiver Avon into Evesham. Opposite Evesham's Cotswold Line station is the formerMidland Railway station, once on theAshchurch & Barnt Green line. The line becomes single track again about 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Evesham and then crosses the River Avon twice more and follows it towardsPershore.

West of Pershore, where the line crosses over theCross Country Route, the newWorcestershire Parkway station has been opened. Just beyond, the line passes through Norton Junction where there was formerly a station. The junction links the line to the Cross Country Route. Here double track restarts.

About 57 miles (92 km) after Oxford is Worcester Shrub Hill station. Here are connections to commuter lines going toBirmingham New Street. Worcester Foregate Street station gives connections to the city centre and other lines to Birmingham. 6 miles (10 km) later the line reaches Malvern Link station. Great Malvern station follows, and 2 miles (3 km) later is the site of the former Malvern Wells station. After Malvern Wells the line enters the 1,584 yards (1,448 m) longColwall New Tunnel. This is the second Colwall tunnel; the entrance to the original tunnel can be seen to the north. When the tunnel is below the ridge of theMalvern Hills, the line crosses the boundary betweenWorcestershire andHerefordshire. The line reachesColwall station, whereThe Coca-Cola Company plant (now demolished) next to the station used to bottleMalvern Water, a localmineral water. Next to the bridge carrying the B4218 road over the railway is an unusual five-sided cottage.^{[citation needed]} When the railway was built one corner had to be demolished and replaced by a plain wall. After passing through another tunnel, Ledbury station is passed and Hereford station ends the journey on the line.

As of 11 December 2011^[update], the previous off peak weekday service continues: roughly an hourly service between London and Worcester. Due to constraints of the former single track, there are some two-hour gaps. These services are extensions of the half-hourly Oxford fast trains. Some of the former gaps have been partly filled by three additional trains as far as Moreton-in-Marsh (running through from/toLondon Paddington).

During peak hours, both Oxford fast trains are extended to Worcester, giving a half-hourly service. Overall, about half the trains continue to/from Great Malvern and five trains a day continue to and from Hereford.

There is also an additional commuter service to and from Oxford in the morning and evening, which additionally calls at the halts (their "Parliamentary" service, preventing their closure).

The historic problem of some trains having to wait at passing loops, extending journey times, has been eliminated by the redoubling, although some still have to wait at Charlbury or Evesham.

Due to short platforms, passengers alighting at stations except Shrub Hill, Worcestershire Parkway, Oxford and Hereford should listen to onboard announcements telling them from which coaches they should alight. Normally this is from the 2–5 coaches at the country end of the train (further from the ticket barrier atLondon Paddington).

In 2007 some trains in the morning rush hour started atAbergavenny but this was discontinued from December 2008.

The busiest stations on this line are the city stations at Oxford, Worcester and Hereford, followed by Great Malvern. The busiest station served exclusively by Great Western Railway's Cotswold Line services is Moreton-in-Marsh, followed by Hanborough.^[21]

[1]

The line features in two notable poems:^{[citation needed]} "Adlestrop" byEdward Thomas and "Pershore Station, or A Liverish Journey First Class" byJohn Betjeman.

• Atterbury, Paul (1989).See Britain by Train.AA Publishing. pp. not cited.ISBN 0-86145-760-9.
• Connolly, W. Philip (1976).British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer. Shepperton:Ian Allan Publishing.ISBN 0-7110-0320-3.
• Dewick, Tony (2002).Complete Atlas of Railway Station Names. Hersham: Ian Allan Publishing.ISBN 0-7110-2798-6.
• New Adlestrop Railway Atlas.
• Baxter, Ian (17–30 June 1998). "The Cotswold and Malvern Line: a bright future".RAIL. No. 333. EMAP Apex Publications. pp. 26–31.ISSN 0953-4563.OCLC 49953699.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toCotswold Line.

• Hansard for 3 March 2004 – Record of House of Commons adjournment debate on the Cotswold Line.

• Rail transport in Oxfordshire
• Rail transport in Gloucestershire
• Rail transport in Worcestershire
• Rail transport in Herefordshire
• Railway lines in South East England
• Transport in Oxford
• Transport in Worcester, England
• Hereford
• Railway lines opened in 1851
• Railway lines in South West England
• Railway lines in the West Midlands (region)
• Cotswolds
• 1851 establishments in England

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