Chiltern Railways is warning passengers to remember, remember Friday the 5th of November – and to allow extra time for their journeys that day due to the closure of the line for major engineering work.

Engineers will be installing new points and track at Princes Risborough as part of the Chiltern Mainline project to speed up services, requiring the closure of the route between Oxfordshire and London Marylebone.

Alternative arrangements have been put in place to keep passengers on the move. Stations are affected as follows:

Banbury: Chiltern trains will be diverted to run to and from Didcot Parkway for connections with First Great Western services to and from London Paddington. Chiltern tickets will be accepted on FGW services via this route during the diversions.

Bicester North: There will be a bus link to Aylesbury Vale Parkway station, or passengers can drive there, for trains to and from London Marylebone. The station is off the A41 north of Aylesbury.

Haddenham & Thame Parkway: A special bus link will operate to and from Aylesbury’s main station in the town centre for trains to and from Marylebone. Passengers can also drive there.

Ian Baxter, general manager north of Chiltern Railways, said: “In order to make the Chiltern Mainline a reality, major upgrades are being made to tracks and infrastructure to enable our trains to run faster.

“We have attempted to keep weekday closures to a minimum during the project. However, there are days where it’s unavoidable and we’re sorry for the inconvenience this may cause.”

Once work is completed in May next year, trains will be able to run at up to 100mph on most of the Chiltern route, with the journey times between London and Bicester cut to 45 minutes and London and Banbury to 53 minutes.

For full details, see the Chiltern Railways website.