Winslow Railway Station faces further potential delays after latest dispute

Campaigners are speculating that RMT Union’s latest pushback against Chiltern Railways delivery of the Oxford to Milton Keynes rail line could trigger further delays to the opening of Winslow Railway Station.

Last night, an internal notice seen by The Bucks Herald shows that the leadership within the specialist transport union are upset with the latest job postings from Chiltern Railways, which was appointed to run the new service.

It was hoped that the advertisement for customer service inspectors recently posted by Chiltern Railways was a sign that the project was finally moving forward after months of delays. But a notice sent by an RMT Union official yesterday, says the “proposed role goes against the agreed policy of this union”.

Chiltern Railways did not directly answer questions about when trains may start on the line but said it has made “significant progress” in its work to ready the trains for passengers and in training up new drivers to transport customers.

“We continue to work closely with the Government, trade unions and industry partners, and will provide further updates when we are able to,” a spokesperson for the operator said.

Chiltern Railways was announced as the operator for the East West Rail project in March 2025. Previously, Network Rail said it was hoped that the new line would first start transporting customers in 2025.

Since news of the dispute was made public the Government has not set a date on when passengers might first use the new line. But a timetable had been prepared in case an agreement was reached for December of this year, Rail minister Lord Peter Hendy recently revealed.

But a dispute between RMT and Chiltern Railways over whether the trains can be operated without additional staff supporting the drivers has caused months of delays.

The union wants staff employed to protect the safety of customers and staff while Chiltern Railways proposed running trains on the route employing only drivers to work on the vehicles.

Among the residents most aggrieved by the delays are people living in the town of Winslow where a new railway station was built as part of the wider £6.7 billion East West Rail project, designed to improve transport between Oxford and Cambridge.

Town councillor Diana Blamires, who launched the East West Rail Action Group, said: “This is an absolute shambles. The Department of Transport and Chiltern were obviously going to get an angry reaction from unions by advertising a job for a second person on trains - not actually described as a guard - without consulting unions on the job spec. The Government will no doubt blame unions for this latest delay to the service opening but the Government are just as much to blame for not consulting unions.

“Bang goes any chance of the East West Rail passenger service opening in December. The entire project has been managed appallingly. Residents who bought homes in Winslow and other places along the line so they could use the train to work are left hugely inconvenienced. But no-one cares - they are just collateral.”

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “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.”

An RMT Union spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

The line serving Winslow, will also stop in Bletchley and Bicester, and is expected to take around 45 minutes to get from Oxford to Milton Keynes.

Construction was completed on the Winslow station last year and so far only customer-less trains have passed through the new site.

Within the post sent to RMT Union members, general secretary Eddie Dempsey, said of the potential customer service inspector compromise: “The proposal is nothing more than an abhorrent attempt to undermine the safety critical role of the guard and further push through the unsafe and contentious method of operation in the form of Driver Only Operation.

"The East West Rail line must have a second safety critical member of staff on board to ensure the safety of the traveling public and the railway,” he added. “There are also numerous issues with the rolling stock, and consultations on this programme remain ongoing and have yet to be concluded. Chiltern Railways are blatantly attempting to level accusations against the union, when the fact is that it is Chiltern’s own failings that are causing these issues.”

A spokesperson for Chiltern Railways told The Bucks Herald: "As operator of the first stage of East West Rail between Oxford and Milton Keynes, we’ve been working to get everything ready to begin passenger services on the new line.

“Significant progress has been made, including in the training of new drivers, completion of a new colleague hub and driver depot at Bletchley, the fit-out of Winslow Station and working through the assurance activities that go along with the safe introduction of passenger services.

“As part of this, we’ve started recruitment of station and other operational staff to support the running of services. However, there is still work to finish to prepare the trains and on the operating arrangements for the new route.

“We continue to work closely with the Government, trade unions and industry partners, and will provide further updates when we are able to.”

Editor’s note: This article was updated to include a response from the Department of Transport.