Rail inquiry to hear concerns over noise (From Bicester Advertiser)

sooo..will this noise really be that much worse than occurs on the line already ?

if you buy a house next to a rail line surely you can expect to hear trains ?

So many Nimby's in Oxford, the rail link is a great idea.

Chiltern Railways are offering a service that takes 66 mins into London Marylebone. However, the current Oxford service can be only an hour or less, according to the timetable. Marylebone is only a small station, so there will be significantly increased crowding there, and is only serviced by the Bakerloo tube line unlike Paddington, which has 4 tube lines for getting commuters to their destinations in London.

Building a station at Water Eaton will increase the current grid lock round the Peartree, Wolvercote and Cutteslowe roundabouts.

Chiltern Railways already has admitted that there will be increased noise levels, even after they have put in "solutions" to try to reduce this. The trains will be significantly longer than the existing trains, traveling at much higher speeds than at present, which all add up individually to increase the noise level per train, and happening more frequently per hour. This isn't just a daytime thing as the proposal includes moving to a 4-fold increase in freight trains at night, which rattle the houses and will disturb sleep.

Those that think this is such a good idea would, most likely, be complaining too if this was happening outside their homes.

yes but I didn't buy a house next to a railway line...and this doesn't take into account the decreased commuting traffic into and out of Oxford that a decent rail service will bring.

I imagine the noise level will still be much less than when the line was in full use between Oxford and Cambridge orginally.

Of course we could just close down all those noisy rail lines and increase road traffic everywhere else as well as around Water Eaton !

Regardless of the journey time to Central London, it offers improved/new rail links between Oxford and Bicester, Princes Risborough, High Wycombe, and NW London.

From where I live outside of Oxford with limited transport in and out, I'd much prefer to drive to a park and ride and get the train direct to London from there, rather than having to drive, bus and then train it - the extra few minutes on the rail journey are fine if I have to avoid a 25min bus journey into Oxford centre!

But, it's correct that the traffic in that part of Oxford is pretty bad. I think a trick was missed in not putting in an A34/A40 link during the recent bridge replacement...

Clarendon wrote:
Chiltern Railways are offering a service that takes 66 mins into London Marylebone. However, the current Oxford service can be only an hour or less, according to the timetable. Marylebone is only a small station, so there will be significantly increased crowding there, and is only serviced by the Bakerloo tube line unlike Paddington, which has 4 tube lines for getting commuters to their destinations in London.

Building a station at Water Eaton will increase the current grid lock round the Peartree, Wolvercote and Cutteslowe roundabouts.

Chiltern Railways already has admitted that there will be increased noise levels, even after they have put in "solutions" to try to reduce this. The trains will be significantly longer than the existing trains, traveling at much higher speeds than at present, which all add up individually to increase the noise level per train, and happening more frequently per hour. This isn't just a daytime thing as the proposal includes moving to a 4-fold increase in freight trains at night, which rattle the houses and will disturb sleep.

Those that think this is such a good idea would, most likely, be complaining too if this was happening outside their homes.

66 Minutes to Marylebone Vs 63 Minutes to Paddington isn't much of a difference but it is also 2 stops (3 minutes) closer to Central London on the Bakerloo. Marylebone can cope with the additional patronage quite readily, it is but a brief walk to Baker Street Station for other underground lines and is 10 mins closer to the centre on foot. People parking at Water Eaton to start work in High Wycombe, Central London, Reading, and Milton Keynes (eventually) will more than likely be arriving/departing 40-60 minutes before/after the main Oxford peak. Instead of whining, why not make a positive contribution by demanding that the new line be built to allow straightfoward electrication when funding permits? This would cut the engine noise, the at-rail noise is going to be significantly cut anyway when upgraded continuously welded track is put in place as part of the improvement works.