Winslow Station protest after Government was warned about delays to EWR line between Oxford and Milton Keynes

Organisers are expecting up to 100 people to join a protest at Winslow Station later this month, after an investigation by a rail magazine found the Government was warned in 2024 about likely delays to services on the line between Oxford and Milton Keynes.

An investigation by specialist rail industry publication RAIL Magazine has uncovered a Department for Transport policy note labelled "for consideration by the Minister" sent in July 2024, which warned there could be a "significant delay" to the commencing of East West Rail services through the new Winslow Station.

The briefing note, published by RAIL magazine reads: "If it is not possible to agree revised terms with Chiltern or Arriva, it may be necessary to defer delivery of East West Rail services until after Chiltern are transferred to public ownership.

"This may lead to a significant delay to East West Rail service commencement, potentially into 2027, despite the infrastructure being available for passenger service from spring 2025.

"Delay in appointing a contractor to run East West Rail services risks reputational damage to the Department.

"Passenger expectations are for services to commence during 2025.

"Failure to meet that target, plus newly built infrastructure laying idle for an indeterminate length of time, would be seen as a significant delivery failure and risks losing the benefit of the mobilisation activity undertaken thus far by Chiltern."

As Winslow Station continues to remain unused by passenger services, a protest is being held by the East West Rail Action Group later this month to highlight continued delays in getting operations up and running.

Up to 100 people are expected to join the protest outside the station on Saturday November 21 between 11am and 1pm.

The action group's co-founder Diana Blamires told us: "It seems both the current and former Government have dragged their heels. The waste of taxpayers' money - some have estimated as much as £10 million - for a service that was ready to run two years ago but still has no start date, is an abomination and heads should roll.

"There is a protest this month because there are an awful lot of angry residents who have been treated as collateral.

"In some cases they've lost their jobs because the bus service doesn't get them to jobs they were expecting to get to by train."

Chiltern Railways was appointed to operate services between Oxford and Milton Keynes in March 2025, although documents seen by RAIL magazine showed that negotiations started in 2022.

A Department for Transport spokesperson told us: "We are supporting Chiltern Railways as they work with unions and other industry partners to get these services up and running as soon as possible.

“The East West Rail project will unlock thousands of jobs and homes and kickstart hundreds of thousands of pounds of economic growth across England, but we need services to be allowed to start before we can start seeing those benefits.”

One of the reasons for delays to passenger services is a dispute between Chiltern Railways and trade unions over the method of running the services, with Chiltern Railways wanting to run the services through the method of Driver Only Operation (DOO), a system where the train is run by the driver without an onboard conductor, guard or train manager.

However, the RMT union argue that this compromises safety on the trains, and are taking industrial action today (Thursday), although Chiltern Railways has said that "the vast majority of services will be running and there will be a limited impact on customers."

The Department for Transport told us it "remains committed to working with Chiltern Railways and the trade unions to reach agreement on the Method of Operation."

The Department also told us it was working "to confirm a start date for the first East West Rail services between Oxford and Milton Keynes", but that remaining driver training and final rostering arrangements needed to be completed.