Botley Road: Reopening of major Oxford city centre route delayed again

Work on a major road in Oxford, which has been closed for more than a year, has been delayed.

Botley Road has been closed under the rail bridge since April 2023, so a £161 million upgrade of the railway station could take place.

Network Rail has revealed that the road will no longer reopen in October, as set out in plans last year. A new date hasn't been set yet.

The company says more time is needed to complete "highly complex" work on water mains and sewage pipes under Botley Road.

This means that the replacement of the railway bridge, which was due to take place at the end of July, has been postponed until the pipeline work is finished.

Anna Holbrook, industry programme director at Network Rail said: "Although our work is progressing well on most aspects of this major programme, including the construction of the new platform on the western side of the station, the bridge replacement has unfortunately had to be postponed as the work to divert the complex layout of utility pipes and cables under the road, including the sewer system, will not be ready in time.

"We have informed the councils that Botley Road will not now be able to be reopened in October.

"We know how important Botley Road is to Oxford and apologise to local residents and businesses for the ongoing inconvenience.

"We are working out the best way forward and will continue to engage with the local community as our plans develop.”

In a statement, Oxfordshire County Council said it is "extremely frustrated" about the postponement of the railway bridge replacement and delay to the reopening of Botley Road.

The authority says it's in discussion with Network Rail to understand the implications.

The council said: "Residents and businesses have shown incredible patience with more than a year of disruption to their lives because of this project, which has already had its timetable altered twice before and seen its closure dates extended.

"We have expressed our deep dissatisfaction to Network Rail and to the Department for Transport about this.

"The launch of the council’s traffic filters trial planned to start in November is now in question, with various options being considered as a result. The trial aims to tackle Oxford’s chronic congestion problems and dramatically improve bus journey times.

"We are calling on and working with Network Rail to find an acceptable solution to this situation quickly.

"The council remains incredibly supportive of improvements to the rail station for Oxford with improved capacity for passengers and freight, which is vital for the development of projects such as East West Rail.

"In the meantime, we will continue to do all we can to work with partners to minimise the impact on the rest of the road network."

Network Rail says once the work is complete, the upgrades will result in a bigger and improved station, more rail services and improved roads and space for cyclists and pedestrians.

The planned closure of rail lines through Oxford at the end of July will now only be for two days – Saturday 27 and Sunday 28.

Over that weekend, there will be no train services between Didcot and Oxford, with a Rail Replacement Service operating from Becket Street car park.

There is additional work to the north of Oxford, which will affect train services between Oxford and Banbury, between Saturday 27 and Wednesday 31 July.

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