ONCE again this summer, Network Rail has thrown countless commutes into disarray by suspending services into and out of Oxford Station.

This year, the company is upgrading track and signals between Oxford and Wolvercote.

Nearly all services in and out of the city have been suspended since the weekend and the situation will remain the same until Sunday, July 22, causing no small amount of frustration.

Bernard O’Neill, 72, a senior procurement manager for Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said his daily commute from Bracknell in Berkshire had been derailed.

He said: “This is having a drastic effect on my journey to and from work – there’s no way I can make my 9am meetings and I am having to do some of work from home.

“At the end of the day I have to get the replacement bus to Didcot Parkway.”

GWR staff have been handing out free bottles of water to passengers queuing for replacement buses.

Network Rail senior programme manager Rob Mashford earlier thanked passengers for their patience.

He added: “We are conscious that there are people that live close to us and we do try our best to make sure everyone understand what we are doing.

“With the noise and disruption we do take into account what the locals have been saying and do our best to minimise disruption.”

But halfway through the station closure, and Network Rail has said the project is going well.

The works are all part of £200billion project of improvements and include completely replacing the track through Oxford and putting in new signalling from Heyford, near Bicester, to Didcot Parkway.

Mr Mashford said the work could ultimately make way for more services in the future.

He added: “There have been lots of small projects going on around the place and this is a relatively significant in terms of the route it is on.”

The works include improving the route north of Oxford station to allow for more flexibility with freight trains passing through, and improvements to the platforms.

While no trains are able to travel through Oxford rail station, Great Western Railway has been providing replacement buses for passengers to Banbury, Didcot Parkway and Hanborough as workers continue to work on the track around the station.

The workers have taken steps on site to avoid making unnecessary noise and disruption including the removal of diesel generators in favour of ‘silent’ ones and planting 300 trees to soften the noise.

They have also been using machines to spray mist across the work site to minimise dust.

Trains from Oxford will also be suspended on July 28 and 29.