Residents slam 'silly' delays preventing opening of finished Winslow Railway Station under £1.3bn project
A new 41-mile-long rail-line and station near Milton Keynes have not seen a single passenger despite being completed more than a year ago due to a row over staffing.
The £1.3 billion rail link between Oxford and Milton Keynes is the first phase of the East West Rail line, a £7bn corridor to Cambridge.
It was completed in October 2024 after construction began four years earlier - but, despite plans to run passenger services from late 2025, is only open for freight trains.
The delays have been blamed on numerous issues such as a dispute between Chiltern Railways and the RMT union over whether the trains should have guards to open and close the doors.
The union is against the use of Driver Only Operation trains, saying they are unsafe.
A new station with a £5m investment in the town of Winslow, also remains out of operation despite being completed in 2024. Resident Diana Blamires said residents were fed up of the wait for services to begin.
Diana, who is also a town councillor, said: “Never mind rolling stock, it has become laughing stock. No-one involved has shown any signs of getting this sorted. Residents are fed up.
“It’s very lucrative to have ‘fake’ trains rattling through the day and night but there are consequences for the people here. It is catastrophic that people have moved to Winslow or any of these places between Milton Keynes and Oxford, thinking it’s a great place to get the train.
“The biggest failing here is the Government. The taxpayer are dishing out £1m for security each year for a station which isn’t even open.”
Roy and Bridget Kelsey have lived in Winslow for nine years and said while they thought the station would be beneficial, the lack of progress was concerning.
Roy, in his 80s, said: “Two years ago we were all invited to a meeting when the construction was taking place and they had quite a lot of managerial types painting a wonderful, rosy picture of how everything was going to go.
“Now it has come to a full stop. I hear it’s because they’ve got to extend the length of the platform but why wasn’t that foreseen?”
Ray Dewberry, 72, has lived next to Winslow station for three years and said “nobody seems to know what’s going on”.
He said: “It’s silly how much money they’ve spent and it’s still not open.”
Natalie Wheble from East West Rail said: “Chiltern had hoped to begin services in December 2025 and they are currently working closely with the Department of Transport and industry colleagues with the aim of introducing services on the new line as soon as possible.
“To meet increasing demand for passenger services, we recently announced our intention to increase the frequency of services and also to extend the number of carriages on each train.”