MORETON will become the last outpost of traditional Great Western Railway semaphore signals on the Cotswold Line under the £67 million project to modernise the route.

Revealing its final plans for the project last Thursday during a run between Worcester and Oxford by its high-speed inspection train, Network Rail said that while it would install electric colour-light signals at Evesham, Moreton station’s mechanical signals – and the 1883-built GWR signal box that controls them – would stay.

The decision means a reprieve for the signalbox, which had been under threat of closure after a proposal was made last year to pass control of the line to a new signalling centre at Didcot, in Oxfordshire.

The tokens carried by trains using the current single-track section to Evesham will be replaced by axle counters to check trains in and out of the area and a new signal will be installed at Moreton station to allow trains to arrive from Oxford then return without shunting to the other platform.

The section of the line between Moreton and Oxford will be the first to benefit from the improvements, with the opening of a four-mile section of double track between Ascott-under-Wychwood and Charlbury in May next year allowing three extra trains each way to run, giving a near hourly off-peak service between Moreton and London.

However, the change in signalling plans will hold up the opening of the 16 miles of reinstated double track west to Evesham until late summer next year.

Explaining the delay in completion of the full project, Network Rail project manager David Northey said: “We could not meet the cost of providing a new signalling system within the funding available, so we had to go back and redesign that part of the scheme with conventional signals controlled from the existing signalboxes.

“This will still deliver the same improvements in reliability and punctuality of trains on the route that we planned at the outset.”

The new digital control panel to replace the traditional signals in Evesham will be installed at Evesham signalbox. It will operate colour-light signals in Evesham and a new junction at Honeybourne for the branch line to Long Marston.

After completing renovation work in Chipping Campden tunnel and repositioning track between Mickleton and Honeybourne last year, Network Rail engineers will resume work this summer.

There will be a short closure of the line in October while a new double-track bridge is installed at Honeybourne and track repositioned at Mickleton.

The bulk of the track-laying work will begin in mid-December, with engineers working overnight to minimise disruption to passengers. This will mean an early end to train services each day, with late-evening services replaced by buses.

A two-week closure of the line between Moreton and Evesham will be needed in August next year to commission the new track and signals.

Mr Northey said: “Once we have completed the work next summer, we will be able to walk away knowing that the route is fit for the next 30 to 40 years.”