A 53-year-old woman was struck and killed by a train near Wolvercote in North Oxford yesterday afternoon.

Thames Valley Police, South Central Ambulance Service and the British Transport Police were called after the body was found on the line beneath Wolvercote Bridge, on Godstow Road, at 2.15pm.

Police remained at the scene for several hours afterwards.

At Oxford Rail Station a sign was put up warning people to expect severe delays as a result of the incident.

Services to London and Banbury were delayed by up to 90 minutes, and trains between Oxford and Hanborough were also disrupted.

A British Transport Police spokesman said: "Police are treating it as not suspicious. Trains were running again by 3.37pm and services were back to normal."

An ambulance spokesman said: "We were asked by the railway authorities to attend an incident on the line at Wolvercote Green.

"A person was struck by a train."

Trains to Manchester were severely delayed. Retail worker Cathy Shaw, 27, was going home to Birmingham on a Manchester bound train after coming to a conference in Oxford.

She had expected to get an earlier train, but had to wait for one which was supposed to leave at 6.34pm.

She said: "That was delayed by five to 10 minutes. After a day at work you just want to get home, but if there is an incident like this there is not a lot you can do about it.

"I have been on a train before which was delayed because someone had been hit, and there were people involved that were more severely affected than me."