TRAIN services on the Cotswold Line between Oxford and Worcester are on track to resume as planned tomorrow after the completion of improvements between Charlbury and Ascott-under-Wychwood.

The line has been closed to trains between Oxford and Kingham for the past eight days while engineers commission four miles of double track between the Charlbury and Ascott and new signals controlled from Ascott's signalbox.

Workmen from Oxford contractor Amey were adding the finishing touches to new platforms at Charlbury and Ascott stations today to make them ready for passengers and completing work on the level crossing at Ascott, which is due to reopen to road traffic tomorrow.

Test trains running in the early hours tomorrow will make sure everything is ready for the first passenger trains.

The new platform at Charlbury will be officially opened shortly before the departure of the first train to Worcester and Great Malvern at 7.13am, while the new platform at Ascott will be unveiled ahead of the departure of the 7.44am train to Oxford.

The improvements in West Oxfordshire are part of a £67m Network Rail project to reinstate 20 miles of double track on the route, much of which was reduced to a single track in the early 1970s as a cost-cutting measure.

The rest of the new double track, in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, will be brought into use in August.

For more details, see the Network Rail website.