Bicester has "huge potential" to become a major hub on the railway network if plans for a new link between Oxford and Cambridge get the go-ahead.

The builders behind Bicester's Gavray Drive development confirmed this week they would be setting land aside for a new railway junction linking the town's two existing train lines.

And if plans for the proposed East-West rail link are approved, rail officials say a new Bicester Parkway station could be built on the edge of town.

The new station has the potential to offer direct services between Oxford, London, Birmingham and Milton Keynes.

It has been included on a map drawn up by the East West Rail Consortium, which consists of Network Rail, the South East England Development Agency and local authorities, to show how rail services could look if the new link goes ahead.

Andy Pearson, director of rail infrastructure for Chiltern Railway's parent company Laing Rail, said the connecting line would be a separate project from the proposed East-West rail link and any plans for a new station.

He said: "It's a possibility and the land has been reserved for it in the Gavray Drive area."

Deborah Stephens, a spokesman for Gallagher Estates, which is planning to build 500 houses on land just off Gavray Drive, said: "The lines cross at the corner of the site on different levels. Some land within those two lines has been reserved to put in a connecting railway track."

Oxfordshire County Council's rail development officer Adrian Saunders said there were no plans for a parkway-style station at the moment - but added proposals could be looked at if the East-West line went ahead.

He said: "It's not something we would rule out at some stage in the future. No site has been identified, it's just a spot on the map at the moment."

He said it was hard to predict whether any new parkway-style station would replace either of the town's existing stations.

But he added: "My gut feeling is we would still need to have a station at Bicester Town to serve Bicester Village and the town centre.

"In terms of Bicester, it has huge potential if the East-West rail line goes ahead in terms of its links - not only improving the links to Oxford with a higher number of trains and faster journey times, but also with trains from the east, from Milton Keynes and north Buckinghamshire.

"It would encourage investment and businesses to relocate to Bicester. In that respect it's very encouraging."

Mr Saunders added he hoped further announcements on the East-West rail link would be made before Christmas, with a definite decision sometime next spring.