WEST Oxford residents are calling for a rethink of a plan to expand the city’s railway station which does nothing to tackle traffic problems caused by the Botley Road bridge.

They say the £12.5m project to build an extra platform and covered footbridge over Botley Road provides the perfect chance to replace the narrow bridge under the railway tracks.

But the idea has been dismissed by Oxfordshire County Council,which said such a project would cost tens of millions of pounds and cause huge disruption.

Mill Street residents are also calling for reassurances that their lives will not be blighted by noise from the new platform, which will be built on the far side of the line from their homes, on part of the station’s long-stay car park off Becket Street.

Last week Jericho and Osney councillor Colin Cook, the city council’s executive member for development, called the project a “missed opportunity” as it did nothing to remove the bottleneck for traffic and cyclists at the bridge.

Anne James, 62, of Barrett Street, Osney, said: “If they’re going to spend all this money, for another bit more, they could improve the problem.

“It isn’t beyond the wit of engineering to tackle it.

“My understanding is now the plans have been passed, the broad design is pretty much set in stone.

“But there are opportunities for local people to try to work with Network Rail and the county council to improve the margins of the design and to look again at incorporating all traffic under the railway bridge to improve the design and make the whole place safer.”

There have been 11 accidents involving cyclists around the bridge since 1979, including one death.

Mrs James has organised a public meeting of the community planning group West Oxford Matters to discuss the project at West Oxford Community Centre, in Botley Road, at 6pm tomorrow.

She has challenged council and rail officials to attend.

Dr Rosemary Preston, of Mill Street, said she and neighbours were worried about noise from the new platform. She added: “There’s inadequate information about measures to reduce the noise from passengers, loudspeakers and trains, especially if there’s a back wall to the platform, which will project all the noise at us.”

Network Rail and the council hope work will be completed early in 2012.

Council spokesman Owen Morton said: “Any proposal to widen the road and replace the rail bridge could only ever work as part of a much wider project costing tens of millions of pounds.

“Quite apart from the huge cost, this would require the road and a major rail route to be closed, causing extreme disruption. By any reasonable, common sense analysis, this is not a realistic proposal for the foreseeable future.”

A Network Rail spokesman said: “We’re aware of some residents’ concerns regarding additional noise and light from the proposed platform and have introduced measures to ensure these are reduced as much as possible.

“Service announcements will be made using small speakers designed to minimise noise spillage, directed at the platform area, and lighting will be designed sympathetically.”