Didcot Parkway and neighbouring railway stations could face severe cuts in services from next year, a passenger pressure group has warned.

Reductions in services are outlined in a Strategic Rail Authority consultation document, inviting tenders to operate the new Greater Western franchise from next April.

Didcot, Radley, Culham and Appleford could be among the main losers, claims the Railfuture campaign group.

The news comes a week after it was revealed the SRA was proposing to cut the lightly used Oxford-Islip-Bicester Town service to a handful of peak-hour trains

But the SRA has hit back at the campaigners, labelling them melodramatic.

The SRA document suggests only one off-peak fast train per hour should call at Didcot, instead of the current two. The change is being suggested to speed up journey times between London and Swindon, Bath and Bristol.

Railfuture said the proposal made no sense at a time when Didcot was expanding, with thousands of new homes being built or planned.

Martin Smith, secretary of Railfuture's Thames Valley branch, said: "In recent years, Didcot has suffered the loss of services from Virgin CrossCountry and the Oxford-Bristol service and the omission of calls by fast Oxford-London trains. Didcot is an expanding town and one would expect that services should be improved, rather than reduced."

Railfuture says that users of the stations between Didcot and Oxford will also suffer. At Radley -- the nearest station to Abingdon, with frequent connecting buses -- the service could be reduced from 20 trains in each direction to to 14.

Mr Smith added: "There seems to be total disconnection between the decisions of Government departments. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister decrees thousands of new homes must be built in the South East, which will not be sustainable without substantial investment in public transport, yet the SRA, backed by the Department of Transport, is only interested in supporting rail services where they are most profitable and not most needed."

An SRA spokesman said the proposals were set out in what was only a consultation document and that the SRA was prepared to listen to the views of passengers.

He said: "We encourage people to be as vociferous as they like, to give us their opinions and try to persuade us."

But he had harsh words for the campaigners. "Railfuture should really be called Railprehistoric. They're only interested in their own agenda. Their aim is to make a melodrama out of consultation. That's a fact of life."