Five day line closure - Saturday 27 - Wednesday 31 July:
- For five days at the end of July, Network Rail are carrying out improvement works at various locations between Bicester and Leamington Spa.
- This means that from Saturday 27 July through to the end of Wednesday 31 July rail replacement buses will operate between Leamington Spa and Bicester and also between Leamington Spa and Oxford, in both directions.
- The line closure affects the last five days of July, including three weekdays. Most journeys through the affected area will take considerably longer than usual and will involve travelling on a rail replacement bus service. Please allow plenty of time for your journey.
- The route map below shows the affected parts of our network:
What work is happening?
Several essential pieces of maintenance works have been scheduled across the month of July and has been planned to coincide over the five day period, to minimise the overall long-term disruption to passengers.
The work includes:
- Track renewal work in the Kings Sutton area.
- Bridge renewal work over the River Cherwell, near Banbury
- Drainage works in the Harbury area, south of Leamington Spa.
In addition, the railway will be closed between Didcot and Oxford over the weekend of 27 & 28 July. While this work does not directly affect Chiltern Railways, it does mean that Chiltern Railways will be the only train company running services to / from Oxford over the weekend, so services will be much busier than usual.
Saturday 27- Wednesday 31 July 2024 (inclusive):
Rail replacement buses will operate as follows, connecting with trains to/from Marylebone at Bicester Village, and connecting with trains to/from Birmingham Moor Street at Leamington Spa:
- Bicester Village - Banbury - Leamington Spa.
- Bicester Village - Banbury - Stratford Upon Avon.
- Bicester Village - Kings Sutton - Banbury.
Most journeys will take considerably longer and will involve travelling on a rail replacement bus service, please allow plenty of time to make your journey.
Impact on station facilities:
Bicester North station will be closed for this period of engineering works , customers travelling from this area should travel from Bicester Village station instead.
Customers that plan to travel from Banbury station are advised that the Westside car park will be closed during this time, due to the operation of the bus replacement services from Friday 19 July until Wednesday 31 July (inclusive). During this time, customers are advised to use the Eastside multi-storey car park (RingGo location code 2625).
Journey planners have been updated. For accurate journey planning information, please use the Chiltern Railways App or check your journey at chilternrailways.co.uk.
For live journey updates, please visit our JourneyCheck page.
For our live service information route map and links to individual station departure boards, please click here.