Pete Brunskill from Oxfordshire County Council, writes:

"Thank you for sharing your thoughts on railway development in Oxfordshire and hopefully, the following will be of some interest/use.

The Council has, historically, focussed considerable resources on improving connections to rail services by bus from Chipping Norton.  Complementing the main S3 route to Oxford station, route X8 ran directly to Kingham station as a dedicated rail feeder bus service for many years, providing a much quicker journey time to access train services compared to the S3 route.  However, ultimately the route proved unsustainable with insufficient passenger numbers and a high cost to Oxfordshire County Council.  Sadly, the route ended in 2017.  An attempt to re-establish the route in 2020 proved unsuccessful as well.

In 2024 Pulham’s Coaches extended their 801 Cheltenham to Moreton-in-Marsh route to Chipping Norton, creating new opportunity to access the rail network from Chipping Norton at Moreton-in-Marsh.  Route 801 provides good connections to train services with a journey time of 20 minutes, which is not much longer than that of the old X8 service, but with a much more comprehensive timetable and at no cost to the Council.  This route will hopefully prove a more sustainable link to the rail network for Chipping Norton as unlike the X8 route, which primarily only served rail passengers, the 801 route also provides direct bus connections from Chipping Norton to the centre of Moreton-in-Marsh and several other Cotswolds towns and villages, which should encourage sustainable levels of use.

With the Monday to Saturday 801 service provided at no cost to the Council, we have recently reached agreement with Pulham’s to provide funding for the route to extend to Chipping Norton on Sundays as well from 27 July, to ensure that an hourly service is provided throughout the week (https://www.pulhams.co.uk/improvements-to-services-606-and-801-from-27th-july-2025/ . Our operator colleague Go-Ahead (Oxford Bus Company who own Pulham’s) hope to be able to announce some further improvements to evening journeys later in the year once funding from Gloucestershire County Council has been confirmed.

With the newly enhanced 801 service and the long established S3 service, access to the rail network from Chipping Norton is the best it has been for many years, with both routes operating roughly hourly, seven days a week, providing many opportunities to connect with the national rail network from Chipping Norton.

GWR and Gloucestershire County Council colleagues are working on plans to improve and upgrade Moreton-in-Marsh station and we are working at pace with GWR colleagues on the ‘Green Railway for Growth’ new rolling stock proposition which could see new, state-of-the art AC battery electric multiple units operating on the North Cotswold Line (through Oxfordshire) to Moreton-in-Marsh. These would replace elderly two-car DMUs and complement the five/nine-car IET units which currently operate between Worcester (Hereford) and London Paddington via Oxford.

We are drafting a new OxRAIL 2040: Plan for Rail that will be subject to widespread public consultation from 28 August – 28 September, prior to formal adoption by the Council’s Cabinet on 18 November. This will include inter alia commitments to upgrading all twenty-three existing railway stations and delivering five new stations, introduction of new and additional rolling stock, increased frequencies and new services as part of an ‘Oxfordshire Metro’ offer, a focus on freight and proposals for electrification. I would encourage you to engage and respond with the public consultation.

Enjoy your evening.

Take care

Pete"

(Pete Brunskill MRTPI)
(Rail Development Lead, Oxfordshire County Council)