New London rail link will cut village service (From The Oxford Times)

New London rail link will cut village service

1:20pm Thursday 11th November 2010 in News By Chris Walker

Dr Ian East at Islip station

A RURAL Oxfordshire train station could have its services cut.

Lobbying by Islip villagers resulted in the number of trains calling at the station increasing from seven to 11 a day.

But they would be cut to eight if plans for an Oxford-London Rail link via Bicester go ahead, a public inquiry into the scheme heard.

Chiltern Railways is planning to spend £250m so trains can run from Oxford to London Marylebone via Bicester. But fewer services would stop at Islip to keep journey times down.

The extra services, paid for by Oxfordshire County Council, saw passengers boarding at the station rise from 14,929 to 19,833 in the first nine months of last year.

Dr Ian East, an Islip resident and chairman of the Oxford-Bicester Rail Action Group, said the change would also hit neighbouring villages such as Charlton-on-Otmoor and Fencott.

He said: “Chiltern have offered eight but we want the 11 we have at the moment.

“A train operator will want to run the fastest possible service between the two furthest points. But it doesn’t make sense not to make proper use of an asset we have.

“We’re worried if you lose three trains a day we’ll be faced with a decline in passenger numbers.

“If there are more options to travel, people start taking it more seriously. Stopping at Islip only adds a couple of minutes to the timetable to and from London.”

Chiltern Railways spokesman Nicola Clark said: “We believe that eight trains per day is the right level for Islip.

“The services that we will be no longer be running are those currently subsidised by Oxfordshire County Council – very lightly used off-peak services with two to three people boarding per train.

“Services from Islip will actually be improved in that there will be a direct service to London.

“The station will have more trains than the Passenger Service Requirement and will also have trains calling on a Sunday.”

If the new link goes ahead, the number of trains from Bicester to Oxford would rise from 11 to 36 a day. A new station would also be built at Water Eaton, near Kidlington.