A station for Wantage and Grove
Wantage and Grove, which have grown fast in recent years, have no railway station of their own. The nearest are Didcot Parkway and Swindon. Wantage Road station, beside the A338 north of Grove, opened in 1846 and lost its passenger trains in 1964. Reopening a station on the Great Western Main Line has been local policy for years, and the land for it is safeguarded in both the Vale Local Plan and the draft Joint Local Plan.
What studies have found
A 2018 study by SLC Rail for the county and district councils found a new station could be “high value for money”, with a benefit-cost ratio of 2.48. It assumed an hourly Oxford to Bristol service calling at Wantage and Grove, giving a journey of about 32 minutes to Oxford.
- Over 1 million trips a year forecast, 912,000 of them new to rail
- About 1,600 return journeys a day
- About £12m to £13m estimated cost in 2018, depending on the site
- Would become roughly the fifth busiest station in Oxfordshire
Three locations were shortlisted: the old station site by the A338 north of Williams F1, a site off Denchworth Road, and Bradfield Grove Farm. In 2021 the Oxfordshire Rail Corridor Study concluded that, given the housing and employment growth planned, a station would be justified by 2028.
Why it hasn’t happened yet
The county council has been clear that a station needs more than a building. The main line is busy, a new stopping service would need paths on it, and significant track investment is likely to be needed first. None of this has been funded. In 2021 the Vale council wrote to the Transport Secretary asking for the scheme to be included in the government’s new stations fund. In March 2025 the county commissioned SLC Rail to prepare a strategic outline business case, the first formal stage of a government funding bid. In November 2025 the county adopted its OxRail 2040 plan, which names Wantage and Grove as one of five proposed new stations in Oxfordshire.
What it would mean locally
A station would give residents a direct rail route to Oxford, Didcot, Swindon and Bristol without first driving to Didcot, and would support the employment growth around Williams and Grove Technology Park. The draft Joint Local Plan’s reservoir policy also asks for any rail sidings built to serve the reservoir’s construction to be designed so they could help a permanent Wantage and Grove station.
How to follow it
Updates appear on the county council’s Wantage and Grove station page and in OxRail 2040. There is no planning application yet.