NETWORK RAIL is preparing a detailed business plan to complete the long-awaited dualling of the Cotswold Line, it has been confirmed by West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin.
The rail infrastructure company has costed the project to double the line fully between Oxford and Worcester, including a crucial piece of track between Evesham and the city. The rail improvements work schedule is currently being planned for projects to run between 2019 and 2024.
Harriett has lobbied consistently to complete this vital project which will allow many more trains to run to and from London and will offer dramatic journey time improvements.
Last month Harriett formally wrote to the Department for Transport asking them to put the work in their schedule for improvements.
Transport Minister Baroness Kramer has written to Harriett confirming that the Government is formally looking at how to fund the project which will be carried out after 2019.
Harriett said: “Earlier in the year, I took Baroness Kramer on a tour of the county to see some of the infrastructure challenges that commuters face on a daily basis and she travelled to and from London along the very slow Cotswold Line.
“I wrote to the Department asking for some indication of whether we may see progress on the dualling of the Cotswold Line and I am delighted that civil servants are already working on a business case.
“With this news in place, I would hope that the Worcester Parkway development team now look at preparing plans for a doubled line through the new station rather than just the single Cotswold Line platform and make sure that the new station is ready to welcome faster, more frequent and more reliable trains.
“This dualling will allow Network Rail to add extra, new, services to the line without having to make artificial tweaks to the timetable to deliver quicker services to London.
“I am pleased that the Government is looking to develop critical projects such as this and it is crucial that we develop a long-term economic plan which will help to fund these major infrastructure plans.”