A PLANNED rail strike is set to cause disruption on some of the county’s trains throughout today. 

First Great Western has been forced to run its London fast services from Oxford on 'Turbo trains' instead of the normal high speed trains due to the action. 

CrossCountry will accept FGW tickets on services between Oxford, Reading and Basingstoke. 

There will be also be a reduced service on the North Cotswolds line between Oxford and Hanborough with a three hourly service being operated at major stations on the line.

The service will stop at Worcester and there will be no train between Worcester and Hereford.

Transport union RMT planned the industrial action due to concerns over the introduction of a new fleet of Hitachi inter-city trains and what it will mean for jobs, safety, services, and changes to buffet cars.

Strikes are also planned from Saturday, August 29 to Monday, August 31.

Rail passengers travelling through Banbury today could face further disruption as the line is closed for improvement works.

The line between Banbury and Warwick Parkway will be closed all day today.

It is part of a £76m project, which began in May, to upgrade the signalling in the Banbury region to modernise the signalling and make changes to track layout.

Managing director at Chiltern Railways Rob Brighouse said: “This investment is essential in ensuring that we can continue to provide the best possible service for our customers with improved infrastructure. We apologise to customers who are travelling on a Sunday for the temporary disruption which they will face and we look forward to unveiling these improvements to our customers next year.”

Not every station will be affected each Sunday but the report shows that the project will affect a further eight days over the next two months including next Sunday for the day.

Replacement bus services between Banbury, Warwick Parkway and Stratford-upon-Avon will be available.