Rail passengers are getting advance warning about closures of the Cotswold Line this summer for completion of the £67m track redoubling project.

Staff from Network Rail and train operator First Great Western are getting out and about along the line between Oxford and Worcester to explain why the closures are needed and help passengers plan ahead for periods when trains are suspended.

The extra track is being laid to improve punctuality and reliability of trains on the line, which can suffer extended delays due to long single-track sections created as a cost-cutting measure in the early 1970s.

Rail officials visited Hanborough and Charlbury stations earlier this week and travelled on afternoon commuter trains from Oxford. They will be at Kingham station between 6am and 9am on Monday.

Network Rail project manager David Northey said: “We’re doing everything we can to minimise the impact of our work on commuters. However, we will need to close parts of the railway this summer.

"We want to make sure we get the message out to the people who use the route to make sure commuters are well informed.”

The first closure will run from Saturday, May 28, until Sunday, June 5, between Oxford and Moreton-in-Marsh, in Gloucestershire, while four miles of new track and signals from Charlbury to Ascott-under-Wychwood are commissioned. Trains will use the new track from Monday, June 6.

During the closure two replacement bus services will operate, linking Oxford and Moreton-in-Marsh,from where trains will run to Worcester, and Oxford and stations along the line in west Oxfordshire.

Parts of the line will also be closed in August. From Saturday, August 6, until Sunday, August 14, trains will only operate between Oxford and Charlbury, with replacement coaches serving all other stations to Worcester.

From Monday, August 15, to Sunday, August 21, trains will run between Oxford and Moreton-in-Marsh only, with coaches providing connections to Worcestershire.

A further 16 miles of double track will open between Moreton-in-Marsh and Evesham, in Worcestershire, on Monday, August 22.

During the closures, some London Paddington to Cheltenham services which call en route at Didcot Parkway, will be extended to and from Worcester, Great Malvern and Hereford.

Full details of the replacement bus services operating in May and June will be available shortly.

  • Contractors working on improvements to Ascott-under-Wychwood’s railway station got a surprise when excavations revealed a 40ft-deep well.

The discovery was made at the rear of the station’s existing platform, when an earth bank was removed to make room for a new access ramp and steps. The well is thought to have provided a water supply to the old station building which was demolished in the 1960s.

Redoubling project manager David Northey said: “It had been capped with old rails.

“It’s about 40ft-deep, brick-lined and has a pipe coming up to the surface.

“It certainly came as a bit of a surprise.”

The well will be recapped as work continues at the station, where the existing platform is to be extended and a second platform built as part of the redoubling project.

Staff from Oxford contractors Amey were this week laying foundations for the new platform.

New digital equipment will be installed in May at Ascott’s Great Western Railway signal box, which was opened in 1883.