THE newly approved East-West Rail link will make Bicester an even more booming town for business, according to industry leaders.

Experts predict the biggest challenge now will be finding room for new and growing firms in the town and say it could create 12,000 jobs.

The decade-long campaign to reopen a rail line linking Oxfordshire and Bedfordshire was approved by the Government on Tuesday.

Called the East-West project, the move will re-establish rail links between Reading, Oxford, Bicester and Aylesbury with Milton Keynes and Bedford, and could create thousands of jobs.

Eventually it is hoped the link could be extended to Cambridge, although part of the old track has been built on.

Infrastructure, including track between Bicester and Milton Keynes, is already in place and work could start as early as 2014 on the £250m scheme.

Bicester Chamber of Commerce chairman Ben Jackson said: “The increased frequency and accelerated journey times that the East-West Rail project would deliver will make Bicester an even more connected town and thus a more attractive location for businesses.

“The challenge, based upon current availability, will be finding locations for existing growing businesses, or relocating ones to move to.”

Bicester’s MP Tony Baldry, who has campaigned for the line, welcomed the news and said the move could create up to 12,000 jobs.

He said: “This will mean that Bicester will benefit from the M40 motorway, from the London to Birmingham Chiltern railway and shortly from new private investment to upgrade the Oxford-Bicester railway link on to London and now the East-West rail link.

“I, together with the leader of Cherwell District Council, Barry Wood, are meeting Defence minister Peter Luff to seek to persuade the Ministry of Defence to bring forward land at Bicester for commercial development. We need more commercial land in Bicester to help create more jobs.”

Oxfordshire County Council deputy leader David Robertson said: “This decision today is a local reversal of one of the famous cuts to railway lines that happened in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s. There are many people who are absolutely overjoyed.

“This will mean less traffic on our roads and opens up the possibility of yet more freight being put on to the railways.”

Chris Bates, of the Cherwell Rail Users Group, said it had been campaigning for the past decade to get the line brought back into use.

The line is set to open in 2017.

Last week we revealed problems for the Chiltern Railways-planned Oxford-Bicester-London service due to bats in Wolvercot tunnel. The East West route will also go via the tunnel, but campaigners are confident issues will be resolved by the time it is up and running.

  • Passenger services between Oxford and Bletchley ended in 1967, but remained open for freight.

The Oxford to Bicester Town section reopened for passengers in 1987.