A team of masterplanners have been appointed to come up with a number of options for a major upgrade of Oxford railway station.

Aedas has been drafted in by Network Rail, Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council to see how the facility can be improved.

Oxford has one of the world's most famous universities and the city itself is very popular among tourists, so it is no surprise that passenger numbers at the main railway station have risen sharply in recent years.

In 2011/12, 6.3 million people used the facility, which was up from 5.8 million in 2010/11, according to figures provided by the Office of Rail Regulation.

A number of improvements are going to be made to the area's rail infrastructure in the coming years, including electrification, resignalling and the opening of new routes.

David Edwards, Oxford City Council's executive director of city regeneration, said it is important that a world-class city like Oxford has a world-class station for people to travel into.

"With passenger numbers having more than doubled in the last 15 years the current station is in need of significant upgrading," he remarked.