THIS is what the first railway station to be built in the county in almost 80 years will look like.

Chiltern Railways yesterday unveiled its first images of the Oxford Parkway station planned to go next to Water Eaton Park-and-Ride between Kidlington and Oxford. The station is part of its £130m Evergreen Three project to create a new rail link between Oxford and London Marylebone via Kidlington, Bicester, High Wycombe.

Oxford Parkway will be the first new station to be built in the county since 1935 and will include an 800-space car park, and cycle racks for up to 100 bicycles. A date for work to start on the single-storey station has yet to be confirmed, and whether it will include a cafe or shop has not been finalised.

The rail line from Bicester to Oxford Parkway is due to open next summer, and the section between Oxford Parkway and Oxford Station will open in spring 2016.

Rob Brighouse, managing director at Chiltern Railways, said: “Oxford Parkway will transform travel between Oxford and London when it launches in summer 2015.

“Our new station and service will provide significant economic, social and environmental benefits for people in Oxfordshire.”

The planned station, which will be built on the site of the former grain silo, has also been given the thumbs-up by community leaders.

Oxfordshire County Council’s deputy leader Rodney Rose, also acting chairman of the East West Rail Joint Delivery Board, said: “I think it’s fantastic. It fits in well with what’s already at the terminal with the park- and-ride, and has a similar sort of look.

“It will be a great rail link, not like the £40bn HS2 link. Things like the East West railway will do far more good for us.”

Michael Gibbard, Cherwell councillor for Water Eaton, said: “I feel that this modern but relatively low key design will be acceptable in this location.

“Certainly it’s a great improvement on the old grain silo.”

The current Bicester to Oxford line closed in February for a complete rebuild and the first new rail tracks were laid earlier this month.