Varsity Line

Varsity Line
Bletchley station, at the midpoint of the line, in 1962
Overview
Status	see East West Rail
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	South East England
Termini	Oxford Cambridge
Stations	13 open 2 planned
Service
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	Chiltern Railways (Oxford–Bicester) West Midlands Trains (Bletchley–Bedford)
History
Opened	1846–1851
Closed	1968: Bedford to Cambridge; Oxford–Bletchley (to passengers) 1993: mothballed Claydon Junction–Bletchley (to all traffic)
Technical
Number of tracks	1–2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge

v t e Varsity Line
Legend
Cherwell Valley line to Didcot Oxford Rewley Road Oxford Sheepwash Channel Port Meadow Halt Cotswold line to Hereford Oxford Canal Cherwell Valley line to Banbury Wolvercote Halt Wolvercote tunnel Bucks Jn Rly Oxford Road Halt Oxford Parkway Islip Oddington Halt Charlton Halt Wendlebury Halt Bicester Military Rly Bicester London Road Bicester chord GWR to High Wycombe GWR Bicester cut-off to Banbury Launton Marsh Gibbon and Poundon GCML to Aylesbury GCML to Rugby Central Claydon curve Freight traffic reversing siding Claydon Banbury–Verney Jn line to Banbury Verney Junction Metropolitan Rly to Aylesbury Winslow Swanbourne WCML to Euston Swanbourne Siding Bletchley Flyover Bletchley WCML to Milton Keynes C. Bletchley TMD Fenny Stratford Grand Union Canal Bow Brickhill Woburn Sands Aspley Guise Husborne Crawley Marston Vale line Ridgmont Lidlington Millbrook Stewartby Wootton Broadmead Kempston Hardwick Midland Main Line to St Pancras Kempston & Elstow Bedford–Hitchin line to Hitchin Bedford St Johns Bedford St Johns (former) Bedford Willington Midland Main Line to Leicester Blunham River Ivel Girtford Halt ECML to Peterborough Sandy curve Sandy ECML to Hitchin Potton Gamlingay Old North Road Lord's Bridge Mullard Observatory Cambridge line to Hitchin WAML to London Cambridge Ipswich–Ely line to Ipswich GER to Mildenhall GER to St Ives Fen line to King's Lynn

The Varsity Line was the main railway line that linked the English university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, operated by the London and North Western Railway.

In World War II, the line became a strategic route for freight avoiding London, and additional connections were made to nearby lines to improve it, but was not greatly used for its intended purpose. After the war, the line was again scheduled to be developed as a strategic route, but that scheme was never fully implemented either.

Passenger services were withdrawn from most of the line on 1 January 1968, and only the Bletchley–Bedford section remained open for passenger traffic.

In 1987, the section between Oxford and Bicester was reopened, followed in 2015 by a connection to the Chiltern Main Line at Bicester, enabling Chiltern Railways to operate an Oxford to London passenger service. There are funded plans for the entire line to be re-established by the mid 2020s, partly on a new route and under a new name  – East West Rail.