Oxford to Bicester Line

Oxford–Bicester line
Overview
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Oxfordshire South East England
Stations	3
Services	1
Operation
Opened	1850
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Chiltern Railways
Character	Rural
Technical
Number of tracks	Two
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) standard gauge
Operating speed	100 mph (160 km/h)

The Oxford–Bicester line is a railway line linking Oxford and Bicester in Oxfordshire, England. Opened in 1850, later becoming part of a through route to Cambridge, it closed in 1967 along with much of the rest of the original line. The section between Oxford and Bicester was reopened in 1987 as a branch line, and closed in 2014 for a substantial upgrade in which it became part of a new route between Oxford and London Marylebone via High Wycombe. In addition, it is intended that by 2024 the original route eastwards will be restored as far as Bletchley allowing services to run to Bedford.

The line was opened in 1850 as part of the Buckinghamshire Railway, which in 1879 became part of the London and North Western Railway. In the grouping of Britain's railways in 1923 the L&NWR became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and in the nationalisation of Britain's railways in 1948 the LMS became part of British Railways. Both the LMS and BR ran passenger services between Oxford and Cambridge via the Buckinghamshire Railway, Marston Vale line and Bedford and Cambridge Railway. This led to the Oxford - Cambridge route being informally called the Varsity line.

In 1967 British Railways withdrew Oxford - Cambridge services and closed the section of line between Oxford and Bletchley. In 1987 Network SouthEast restored passenger services on the Oxford - Bicester Town railway station section on the initiative of Oxfordshire County Council. In 1988, Network SouthEast rebuilt and reopened Islip station, again with Oxfordshire County Council support.

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