CHILTERN Railways is making more changes to its timetables in May to try to drive punctuality and reliability back to levels seen before its speeded-up Mainline timetable was launched last year.

Following a number of alterations in December, the firm will add extra coaches to some of its busiest services and drop some station stops from other trains.

The train operator is adding an extra coach each to the weekday 3.07pm and 7.37pm services from London Marylebone to Birmingham via Bicester North and Banbury.

The 7.15pm from London to Birmingham on Fridays will have seven coaches from May, instead of four, and more coaches are being overhauled to allow longer trains to operate on the 7.11am and 8.16am trains from Banbury to London later in the year.

However, from May, the current 6.16pm weekday train from London to Bicester North will be diverted at Princes Risborough to run to Aylesbury. Passengers for Haddenham & Thame Parkway and Bicester North will need to use the 6.13pm service to Banbury.

In addition, the Bicester North call at 9.18am by the 7.30am Kidderminster to London service will be removed to improve performance and stop knock-on delays. Bicester passengers will be able to use a train to London at 9.24am instead.

Customer services director Ian Baxter said: “Since the launch of our new timetable last September we have monitored its efficiency and the capacity of our trains. We made changes in December and these further revisions aim to improve the service further.”

The new timetable, which starts on May 14, can be seen online at chilternrailways.co.uk.