RESIDENTS are stepping up their fight for speed restrictions on a fast Oxford to London Rail link.

A petition calling for a 40mph limit on the track through Wolvercote has been signed by more than 300 residents and parents with children at Wolvercote Primary School.

Tomorrow the petition will be presented outside the school to Nicola Blackwood, the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, who will pass it on to Transport Secretary Justine Greening. Residents from North Oxford claimed at an inquiry into Chiltern Railways ’ Evergreen 3 scheme that many lives would be disrupted by trains travelling at speeds of up to 75mph.

When the inquiry was resumed in May at the Kassam Stadium , it was limited to re-examining the risk to bats in Wolvercote tunnel, and looked at planning conditions to mitigate noise and vibrations and to protect air quality at Oxford Meadows, the Trap Grounds and Hook Meadow.

But residents say they are determined to keep the issue of a speed restriction alive. Petition organiser Keith Dancey said: “It amounts to a steel motorway just 10 metres from a school and people’s homes.”

No-one from Chiltern Railways was available to comment yesterday.