Rail commuters heading to London will get to the capital quicker than ever before, Chiltern Railways said.

A £250m upgrade on the line between Moor Street in Birmingham and Marylebone will offer a faster service for passengers in north Oxfordshire.

For the quickest services, which will see the trains running at 100mph for most of the trip, journey times from Banbury to London will drop from an hour and a quarter to 51 minutes. Commuters from Bicester can expect a 46-minute journey instead of the current 60.

The new timetable will come into effect from May and will coincide with the introduction of Mk3 trains.

A spokesman said the trains would have wider seats, power sockets, plenty of table seats and wireless internet connection.

Weekday post-midnight services from London to Banbury will also be added to the timetable.

Thomas Ableman, the marketing director of Chiltern Railways, said the new timetable would “deliver passengers some of the biggest improvements in the history of Chiltern Railways.”