UK to fund €190m railway station upgrade

Oxford train station is one of the busiest in the South of England (Photo: Gov UK website)

The UK’s Oxford railway station will undergo a £161 million (€190 million) transformation, to boost economic growth and business opportunities in the local area. 

The station saw 8.7 million passenger journeys a year pre-pandemic and will benefit from upgrades to the track, platform, and feature a fully accessible entrance.

Funding is also said to be used to renovate an existing road bridge to create a 4m-wide cycling and walking path and allow standard height double-decker buses to pass underneath for the ‘first time’. 

This project will be delivered through the UK government’s new scheme SPEED (Swift, Pragmatic and Efficient Enhancement Delivery) which is said to halve the time it takes to complete a rail infrastructure project and aims to slash the cost of project delivery.

Rail Minister, Wendy Morton, said, “This £161 million will truly transform the region, increasing the number of services for passengers, boosting economic growth by connecting people to new opportunities and increasing freight services between the South and Midlands.”

Morton added that the upgrades will be completed by 2024 and have been specifically designed to improve passenger experience, and better integrate the station into the local road networks.