Environmental Statement volume 4 - Chiltern Evergreen3

1 INTRODUCTION1.1 PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENTChiltern Railways (CRCL) is proposing a railway improvement scheme betweenOxford and Bicester – the scheme is described in Section 1.3 below. In order to getthe necessary statutory powers to construct the scheme, CRCL will need to submitan Order application (1) to the Secretary of State for Transport, in accordance withthe Transport and Works Act (TWA) 1992. This is a standard procedure forobtaining statutory authority for new railway schemes. The procedures for TWAOrder applications are described in The Transport and Works (Applications andObjections Procedure) (England and Wales) Rules 2000 (hereafter referred to as theApplications Rules) (2) . As part of the TWA Order application process anEnvironmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will need to be undertaken and thefindings reported to the Secretary of State in an Environmental Statement (ES). TheES will assist the Secretary of State in making a consent decision as to whether tomake a TWA Order with respect to the scheme.1.1.1 This document is a Scoping Report, which sets out the proposed scope andmethodology for the EIA. Although the undertaking of a scoping study is not amandatory requirement of the Transport and Works Act 1992, it is generallyrecognised as good EIA practice. The Scoping Report has been prepared byEnvironmental Resources Management on behalf of CRCL.1.1.2 A list of those bodies and organisations which will be consulted on the ScopingReport is provided in Appendix A. The responses received from consultees on theScoping Report will feed into and inform the ongoing design of the scheme and theES that accompanies the TWA Order application.1.2 CHILTERN RAILWAYS1.2.1 CRCL operates services from London Marylebone to Aylesbury Vale Parkway, andto Bicester, Birmingham, Kidderminster and Stratford upon Avon. The companygained an initial franchise upon railway privatisation in 1996, and in 2002 wasgranted a 20-year franchise. CRCL is now owned by Deutsche Bahn – Germany’shighly-acclaimed national railway.1.2.2 The CRCL franchise requires the company to develop and invest in major worksalong the route, and over the past decade the company has both specified andmanaged a range of infrastructure projects. The Evergreen 3 project is preceded bythe Evergreen 1 project which comprised 18 miles of track doubling betweenBicester and Aynho Junction, near Banbury, and Evergreen 2 which includedvarious measures to improve line speed, extra signalling between London andBicester and two extra platforms at London Marylebone – a 50% increase in(1) The application is for the Chiltern Railways (Oxford to Bicester Improvements) Order.(2) The Transport and Works (Application and Objections Procedures) (England and Wales) Rules 2000, Statutory Instrument2000 No. 2190.ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT1CHILTERN RAILWAYS LTD