Passengers travelling from Hanborough will have a fresh start to their journeys as a brand new station building provides a waiting room, customer toilets, and a staff presence for the first time in 53 years.
The £315,000 building, which will be managed and staffed by Great Western Railway (GWR), is funded by West Oxfordshire District Council, the Cotswold Line Promotion Group (CLPG), and the National Station Improvement Programme, which has been set up by Network Rail to improve stations across England and Wales.
The completion of the building comes at a time where passenger journeys at the station have increased from 95,000 in 2009/10 to 232,000 in 2017/18 and is ready in time for the timetable change in December 2019; GWR’s biggest in 40 years. The timetable change will allow GWR to provide a regular hourly service on the line, with additional services at peak times and faster journeys.
This is the start of a long-term development of Hanborough station which will provide additional station facilities including cycle parking, bus / rail integration, and at least 400 additional car parking spaces.
The new station building will be staffed in the mornings every Monday to Saturday and will have a waiting room and customer toilet, to ensure that passengers get a comfortable and safe start to their journey.
These enhancements will also support the wider community by encouraging development in West Oxfordshire and reducing pressure on the A40.
Robert said: “I am very pleased to have been asked to open the new station building at Hanborough. Investing in the railway is good for business, it is good for the environment and it is good for the communities of West Oxfordshire - and it is great to see local and national Government joining with customers to secure the new building.
"I have long campaigned for upgrades to the facilities and services at Hanborough so it is great to see huge leaps forward being taken in terms of improved performance, better trains, improved station facilities and the new timetable due in December which will deliver more frequent services.”
