Final touches are being made to improvements at a west Oxfordshire train station - two years after plans were given the go-ahead.

Commuters have welcomed improvements at Long Hanborough station, which include doubling the number of car parking spaces to 50, new lighting and undercover cycle parking.

The £65,000 scheme has been dogged by delays since plans were agreed by Oxfordshire County Council, West Oxfordshire District Council and Thames Trains in 2003.

Work was unable to go ahead until land for extra car parking was transferred from the neighbouring Oxford Bus Museum.

Rising costs then put the scheme under threat -- until train operator First Great Western Link, which took over Thames Trains last year, stepped in with much-needed extra cash.

The station has a new car park, including two disabled bays near the platform, lighting has been fitted along the lane leading to the station to improve safety, and there are portable ramps to help wheelchair users.

The county council said the improvements would add to work already carried out on creating a cycle path along the A4095 through the village to the station.

Cyclist Lee Gibbons, 42, of Millwood End, who commutes to Oxford by train daily to get to his job as an engineer, agreed.

He said: "Traffic is very busy through the village in the morning so it's nice to have the cycle path, but then the station was always very dark at night and during the winter, and it wasn't very pleasant going down the lane to get to the platform as it's quite secluded.

"I would imagine this will make people feel safer and give people more confidence in leaving their car parked there."

Jane Simmons, who uses the station to commute to London from her home in Bladon, said: "I think the problem before was the lighting issue, so once the new lights are switched on, it will be interesting.

"I get dropped off in the mornings and I think I will continue doing that. I'm not sure I want to leave my car at the station all day."

David Robertson, county council executive member for transport, said: "I hope users of the station and nearby residents will notice a big difference and I thank them for bearing with us during construction works."