East West Railway granted Transport and Works Act Order
Construction work can now begin on the section west of Bedford and Bletchley to Bicester and Oxford.
CONSTRUCTION of the East West Railway between Bicester and Bedford has received legal authorisation, enabling construction to begin on what is described as the western section of the route.
A decision has also been announced about the preferred choice of route between Bedford and Cambridge, which – unlike earlier phases of the project – will involve providing a new railway alignment as the original route has been lost to building development. As yet, the detailed positioning of this line is to be finalised, which will be necessary before a Development Consent Order is agreed by the Government.
Restoration of the initial section of what was known as the ‘Varsity
Line’, which closed as a through route in 1967, has already taken place as part of Chiltern Railways’ Evergreen project. This provided a new chord at Bicester to connect the line for Oxford to the former Great Western main line between Aynho Junction (south of Banbury) and Princes Risborough. This has allowed through services to operate between Oxford and
London Marylebone.
From Bicester to Bletchley the track, which in the past was reduced to a single line, is out of use as far as Swanbourne (west of Bletchley), beyond which the route is operational to allow access to the line still in use for passenger services between Bletchley and Bedford.
SERVICE PATTERN
As part of the future service pattern, trains are to be provided beyond Bletchley to reach Milton Keynes, and the route will also be available to allow freight trains from Oxford to access the West Coast Main Line, which will improve pathing for intermodal services to/from Southampton.
Beyond Bedford, the options
for providing the central section of the route have been the subject of extensive stakeholder consultation. Following these, EWR has announced that the northerly corridor is preferred, which will provide an interchange with the East Coast Main Line at Tempsford, to the north of the original connecting station at Sandy.
From Tempsford, a newlyconstructed formation will reach Cambourne, which is an area where new housing development has taken place that is not currently served by the rail network. To reach Cambridge, there will be a junction with the existing Hitchin to Cambridge branch in the Foxton area, and the project is to include a new Cambridge South station. There is also the intention to enhance operations, with an upgraded eastern section of the route that would see services extended through to Norwich and Ipswich.
Although the line will be built to the standards necessary to allow 100mph running, giving an anticipated journey time of 82 minutes between Oxford and Cambridge, the original intention for the route to be electrified was abandoned as a result of the cost escalation of the Great Western Main Line electrification project. It is likely this decision will be revisited, however, given the ambition to have a carbon neutral rail network by 2040.