New signals controlled from Didcot could form part of the project to reinstate double track on much of the Cotswold Line rail route between Oxford and Worcester.

The news was revealed by Transport Minister Lord Adonis when he visited Oxfordshire to learn about preparations for the work, which will take place over the next two years.

Modern electric signals and points would be operated by staff at Network Rail’s new Thames Valley signalling centre, which is under construction at Didcot.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “We started the final design work for the scheme early this year and we’re evaluating a number of options.

“An option has now emerged that allows us to manage the signalling of the route through the new state-of-the-art signalling centre in Didcot.

"This will significantly improve service reliability, as the signalling equipment will be modernised as a result.

“This will also provide the opportunity for better quality and timely passenger information.”

If approved, the change would mean the end of the line for the Great Western Railway signalbox at Ascott-under-Wychwood, built in 1883, which controls the start of the existing double-track section of the line to Moreton-in-Marsh, in Gloucestershire, and supervises the village’s level crossing.

The Cotswold Line would be one of the first routes to be controlled from the Didcot centre, due to be commissioned late next year to replace Reading signalbox, and which will eventually control the routes from London to Oxford, Swindon and Westbury.

The work on the Cotswold Line will see double track relaid from Ascott-under–Wychwood to just east of Charlbury, where a new junction will allow trains to run at 70mph when entering or leaving the remaining single-track section from Wolvercot junction, north of Oxford.

More new rails will be laid from Moreton-in-Marsh to Evesham, in Worcestershire, creating a 31-mile stretch of double track.

The second track was removed on much of the line in 1971 as a cost-cutting measure but a rise in the number of trains using the route in recent years has seen reliability suffer.

The redoubling, expected to be completed early in 2011, is intended to ensure services are punctual, and prevent knock-on delays affecting other services.

Lord Adonis, a former Oxford city councillor, was a member of the committee of the Cotswold Line Promotion Group, which represents passengers using the route, in the mid-1980s and met CLPG members at Charlbury station on Friday evening.

He said: “This redoubling project is great news for Cotswold Line users. It will improve journeys for thousands of passengers by reducing delays.

“Performance on the line is very much improved – it is now well above the national average – and this project has the potential to boost this further.”