Sir – The announcement of the biggest investment in our railways for 150 years means all the pieces are in place to give Oxford the railway station and transport hub that a ‘World Class City’ requires.

This really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, not to be squandered through lack of vision or will. The process is one in which the Government sets the goals and a confusing mix of public and private service providers delivers, so it’s vital that the city and county take a lead.

The opportunity comes about for two reasons. One is the huge rise in passenger numbers, the other “the real driver in our case” is the notorious Oxford pinch-point, the criss-crossing of passenger and freight tracks which holds up numerous trains every day and costs the country millions in delayed shipments. That’s why the announcement went beyond Oxford’s expectations. As well as electrification from Paddington, the lines to Nuneaton and Milton Keynes will be electrified too, so that the new large shipping containers can get more easily and swiftly from Southampton to the Midlands and the North. This means Oxford station must have new track and electrification, and it’s very welcome that the city, in partnership with the county and Oxford Civic Society, has commissioned Arup, the consultant engineers, to revisit their 2004 plans for rebuilding the station.

They are looking both at the existing, constricted site and Oxpens, where with careful planning former railway land would allow an imaginative station as part of the wider West End regeneration. The latter must of course include a significant amount of the housing Oxford so desperately needs and the social infrastructure to go with it.

Wherever the station is built, it needs essentials like sufficient cycle parking and adequate bus transfers. While the final decision rests with Network Rail, it is to be hoped that Arup’s eventual recommendations are firmly on the table.

Graham Jones Oxford city councillor Oxford