Railtrack blamed for loss A Rail company which runs services through Oxfordshire is cutting its peak-time services by ten per cent.

Chiltern Railways, which runs trains from Marylebone to Thame and Haddenham Parkway, Bicester North and Banbury, has blamed Railtrack for the decision.

The company said the cuts would take effect from January and were necessary because of a lack of capacity on the network.

It said that Railtrack, which owns the track, signalling and stations, urgently needed to tackle bottlenecks in the system. A statement was being issued later today.

Last summer, Chiltern was ordered to carry out £2.5m worth of improvements after breaking its franchise agreement by cancelling trains.

Railtrack recently completed a scheme to double the track between Bicester North and Princes Risborough so that more trains could run between London and Birmingham, although one line is temporarily out of action due to a landslide. Work is also being carried out at Princes Risborough station.

Chiltern's announcement coincided with an attack on Railtrack by Euan Cameron, the managing director of another rail company, Thameslink.

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