THE electrification of the Oxford to London Rail route is an ideal opportunity to remodel Oxford station, according to the boss of train operator First Great Western.

Mark Hopwood, the firm’s managing director, said: “There are a lot of things coming up that will make a difference at Oxford – electrification, resignalling, new IEP [Intercity Express Project] trains and electric stock for commuter services.

“We are looking at the development of the station along with the local authorities.

“The first stage is Chiltern Railways’ plan for the north end of the station, in connection with their proposal for a London service, but the station has to be resignalled alongside the electrification scheme, so this presents an opportunity to review how the whole station works.”

In January, a draft rail strategy document drawn up by Oxfordshire County Council said that once the current £850m expansion of Reading station was completed, Oxford station would “become the biggest single capacity bottleneck in the Thames Valley”.

The council’s cabinet member for transport, Rodney Rose, said he believed a complete redesign of the station was needed to cope with projected growth in services once electrification is completed and the East West rail route via Bicester to Milton Keynes opens in 2017.