BUILDING a London to Birmingham high-speed railway line will make it easier to provide a train service between Oxford, Bicester and Milton Keynes, according to a new report.

Removing long-distance expresses from the West Coast main line through Milton Keynes would free capacity there, making it easier to operate trains from Oxford into the Buckinghamshire town’s Central station, said Greengauge 21, a group set up to campaign for high-speed lines.

Milton Keynes Central is three miles north of Bletchley, the junction station where the mothballed route from Bicester joins the busy main line and the line to Bedford, which would also form part of the East West Rail project.

A new high-speed line – called HS2 – which would cut across the north-east corner of Oxfordshire near Finmere and Mixbury, is a key part of the Government’s transport strategy but is bitterly opposed by some groups as the proposed route passes through the Chiltern Hills and is not seen as offering value for money.

Greengauge 21 director Jim Steer said yesterday: “Services which simply cannot be fitted on today’s network will become viable once HS2 is built.

“Non-stop inter-city services from the North of England and the Midlands to London will transfer to HS2, making space on the West Coast main line for more freight on rail and more local passenger services.

“So, East West Rail – the project long sought-after between Oxford and Milton Keynes – becomes possible.”

Passenger trains last ran between Oxford and Bletchley in 1967. Freight services continued until the early 1990s but the line has been mothballed since then between Bletchley and Claydon Junction, east of Bicester.