A SURPRISE announcement in Chancellor George Osborne’s financial statement today is expected to give the green light for reopening part of the Oxford to Cambridge railway that closed more than 40 years ago.

The £250m scheme would see Rail services between Oxford and Bedford — withdrawn in 1967 — back in operation by 2017.

The main part of the investment would be spent re-commissioning and upgrading track that was last used for freight in the 1990s between Bicester and Bletchley. The new line would provide a fast link from Oxford to Bicester, Leighton Buzzard, Milton Keynes, and Bedford.

The full scheme, known as East West Rail, could connect Oxford to Cambridge — but a stumbling block is the fact that houses have been built on part of the line between Bedford and Cambridge.

The East West scheme received a boost in September when Chiltern Railways opened its new 100 mph service between London Marylebone and Birmingham, calling at Bicester, after two years and £250m of work.

Chairman of Oxfordshire county council’s transport committee David Robertson told the Oxford Mail: “This will be great news if confirmed.

“I was at a meeting of the all party transport group at Westminster last week and I heard very positive views from a wide cross section of people all keen to go ahead.”