The Joint Line was completed in 1906 (with portions opening earlier) by the GWR and immediately benefited both parties. The GCR, unable to secure adequate access to its route via Aylesbury, Amersham and Harrow, gained a new and fast bypass route for its express passenger and freight trains between London and the East Midlands, while the GWR gained a faster route for its Birmingham trains, from Paddington via Gerrards Cross and Princes Risborough and then temporarily (1906–1910) on to the Wycombe Railway via Thame to regain their original route at Oxford, pending the opening of the Bicester cut-off to Banbury (see next subsection). GCR expresses non-stop between London and Rugby could now use either the Metropolitan route or the Joint Line, while the Joint Line was used by GWR expresses from Paddington to Birmingham and Wolverhampton and on to Shrewsbury and Mid/North Wales, Chester and Birkenhead.