TWO years, four million journeys at more than 1.5m passengers.

This week, Oxford's newest rail service celebrated its second birthday and looked forward to many more.

Chiltern Railways first started running services from Oxford Parkway and Bicester Village on October 25, 2015, and yesterday the company held a small party to celebrate.

Managing director Dave Penney said: "It is two years since we launched services between Oxford Parkway, Bicester Village station and London Marylebone, and passenger numbers continue to grow.

"The route is performing ahead of expectations and is a demonstration of the value that rail can bring to regional communities and businesses such as Bicester Village.

"The £320 million investment made by Chiltern Railways and Network Rail has resulted in a rail line that provides real choice and delivers meaningful benefits for those living and working in the region."

Since the new service started running, Bicester Village station, has seen 2.5m passengers pass through.

Just 18 months on from opening, the number of overall visitors arriving by train at the shopping destination had soared from three per cent to more than 10 per cent.

Chiltern Railways now says it believes the 'net economic impact' to the area could be over £456m.

Whatever the economic boost is, journeys to both Oxford and Bicester are set to soar even more following the opening of the multi-million pound expansion to Bicester Village which opened last week, and the £440m new Westgate Centre in Oxford.

Bicester Village business director Sarah-Jane Curtis said: "Working in partnership with Chiltern allows us to continue to enhance the overall experience for our guests as well as easing congestion on local roads.

"The new service is now the preferred option for many of the visitors to Bicester Village."