M40 corridor

The M40 corridor is the area adjacent to the M40 motorway running through England. It is one of the main routes between London and Birmingham, the other being that followed by the M1 motorway.

This includes the Chiltern Main Line, which also runs in the same area between the two cities. The route taken by the railway line closely follows the motorway except for the central section where the railway does not serve Oxford. Unlike the motorway, the Chiltern Main Line stretches deep into both cities.

Route

The path of the M40 corridor between London and Birmingham showing other important roads and major settlements.

The area followed by the M40 includes southern Buckinghamshire, eastern Oxfordshire and central/southern Warwickshire. Despite serving London and Birmingham, the M40 does not enter either cites, instead other roads/motorways continue onwards (e.g. the A40 continues right into central London). The motorway runs from 51°33′41″N 0°29′35″W / 51.5615°N 0.4930°W / 51.5615; -0.4930 to 52°20′56″N 1°48′35″W / 52.3488°N 1.8097°W / 52.3488; -1.8097.

South

The southern end is completely within Buckinghamshire with the town served being High Wycombe. Both road and rail travel in a north west-south east direction.[1]

Central

The central section covers Oxfordshire and Bucks. The main population centre served is Oxford.[2]

North

Both rail and road now travel sharply to the north west, serving Warwickshire.[3]

Main towns/cities served

The following table only includes places situated near the motorway and those close enough to be considered 'near the motorway' (like Aylesbury). Other places that may use the motorway (for access to the north) are not included as they have other motorway access (for example Slough). Small villages are not included. Population figures are based on the 2001 census by the Office for National Statistics

Settlements on M40 corridor
Place Population Ceremonial County Main Railway station Motorway junction
Gerrards Cross/Chalfont St Peter19,622BuckinghamshireGerrards Cross 1
Beaconsfield10,679BuckinghamshireBeaconsfield2
High Wycombe Urban Area118,229BuckinghamshireHigh Wycombe3,4
Thame10,886OxfordshireHaddenham and Thame Parkway7
Oxford134,248OxfordshireOxford8,8A
Bicester28,672OxfordshireBicester North9
Aylesbury Urban Area69,021BuckinghamshireAylesbury8A,9
Banbury43,867OxfordshireBanbury11
Leamington Spa45,114WarwickshireLeamington Spa15
Warwick25,434WarwickshireWarwick15
Stratford-upon-Avon23,676WarwickshireStratford-upon-Avon15

Economy

Buckinghamshire

George Wimpey, RAF Air Command, Hyundai UK, Dreams, the UK base of Ariston (now owned by Indesit) and the UK headquarters of Staples are based in High Wycombe. The UK base of Robert Bosch is in Denham, near Gerrards Cross. Pioneer UK is in Stoke Poges and the Barracuda Group (owner of Varsity) is in Marlow, both locations being near the motorway.

Oxfordshire

Kraft Foods Banbury, Westminster group plc, Prodrive, Ascari Cars and Vodafone Limited all have offices or are based in Banbury.

Warwickshire

Stratford-upon-Avon is world-famous as Shakespeare's hometown and so tourism is a major industry. The NFU Mutual Insurance Company is also based in the town. ConocoPhillips, JET (petrol), BMW, and Volvo Group are based in Warwick.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.iht.org/motorway/m40buckox.htm In Buckinghamshire
  2. ↑ http://www.iht.org/motorway/m40m25water.htm Stokenchurch to Waterstock
  3. ↑ http://www.iht.org/motorway/m40oxfobirm.htm Waterstock to Umberslade

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.