COUNCIL bosses said they have been left disappointed by Network Rail's attempts to break the promise of using a Silent Track to protect hundreds of residents in North Oxford.

The rail firm wants to abandon plans to install specially-designed tracks to reduce noise and vibrations on the line between Oxford and Oxford Parkway ahead of its opening in December.

Trains using the line will become faster and much more frequent when it opens as a new link between central Oxford and London Marylebone will be created.

Oxford City Council is set to refuse the move but admitted it may be powerless to force Network Rail to fit the dampers onto the track.

Council leader Bob Price said: "We were disappointed to hear they wanted to withdraw the condition.

"We felt we had reached an understanding with them and for them to then go back on that is disappointing - especially as we are trying to establish a relationship with them for the duration of the whole of the Oxford corridor works.

He added: "But one of the issues is what local authorities' powers are to protect residents in this case."

At a technical briefing on Tuesday night ahead of a decision on the application next week city council planning officers revealed it intended it refuse to allow Network Rail to renege on their Silent Track promises.

Officers have said: "It has not been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the council that the provision of rail damping is not reasonably practicable."

The firm had said the mitigation, which would reduce noise by three decibels, was not value for money.

A Network Rail spokesman said: "We promised to look into whether any additional benefits that ‘silent track’ could provide would justify the significant extra cost required to install it.

"We established it wouldn’t deliver any recognisable noise reduction beyond the £10m of trackside sound-reducing barriers we’re already putting in.

"We are not prepared to waste £2.5m of taxpayers’ money on a solution that would offer no discernible benefit."

But council planning officer Fiona Bartholomew bluntly dismissed the claims as irrelevant.

She said: "It is not a question of whether the sponsor is willing to pay but whether the project can and should bear the cost of rail damping.

"We don't believe they have proved its not reasonably practicable."

Councillors are also set to allow Network Rail to scale down monitoring of noise and vibration mitigation along the line from six years to 18 months - at the meeting on Wednesday.

Nicola Blackwood MP for Oxford West and Abingdon previously wrote to the city council expressing her "deep concern" over the rail firm's attempts to go back on its commitment.

She called on council planners to properly investigate Network Rail's claims the innovative technology did not represent "value for money."

Jonathan Finnerty, a director of residents group Oxford Waterside Management Company, previously said their biggest disappointment was the lack of communication from the firm.