Spring 2010In this special edition of Onboard, I am delighted to tell you about the exciting development work taking place this year along the Chiltern Railways route.
Evergreen 3 is the largest privately-funded passenger rail infrastructure project since before World War II. Major upgrades to track, junctions and the introduction of some new trains will revolutionise travel along the length of the M40 corridor.
By this time next year, our route will have become the Chiltern Mainline, with journey times to the capital cut by 20%. For example, the fastest train from Beaconsfield will take just 21 minutes to Marylebone compared with 27 currently, while Banbury will be less than an hour from London for the first time.
As well as reducing journey times for our existing Chiltern Railways commuters, we will also be welcoming new passengers to our railway. A new route from Oxford to London Marylebone will be the first new link to London from any major British city for 100 years.
Investment and improvements of this scale, whilst disruptive initially, will reap significant rewards – in this case, in just one year. In the meantime, I hope you agree with me that a lifetime of shorter journey times is worth some disruption in the short term.
