Sir – The number of people using the railway to commute between Bicester and Oxford has risen dramatically over the last few years.


They now face the loss of this amenity for two and, perhaps, up to four, years. The alternatives all employ roads that are heavily congested at peak times and will thus impose an extra hour a day, at least, wasted in travel.
Bicester and Islip commuters can thus be calculated to bear a cost of £3-400,000 per year of closure (about £2,500 each).


This is not a letter complaining about that cost, however. The people concerned will eventually gain an even faster means of getting to work and back, together with new destinations, where, perhaps, more lucrative work might lie.


My concern is for all those other people who work in Oxford who have no alternative but to sit in ever-worsening jams every working day and who will thus bear a similar cost with no hope of relief. (It makes little difference whether they are in a bus or a car; the traffic will be the same).
Traffic levels continue to rise inexorably. Congestion will continue to grow worse with each passing year. New roads just bring new traffic (Downs’ Law). Buses are slow, lack capacity and pollute the town. Just how bad does it have to get before those who are supposed to govern our country do the only thing possible and rebuild the rail network, including local stations and services.
The benefit to those along the Bicester line is accidental, as the operator seeks to sell only long-distance travel, out of Oxford. Others cannot expect such a windfall.
Dr Ian East, Chairman, Oxford-Bicester Rail Action Group, Islip