East West Rail
As the start date for the next phase of reinstating the former Varsity Line edges ever closer, East West Rail Alliance Director DOMINIC BALDWIN tells PAUL STEPHEN what happens next
East West Rail Alliance Director DOMINIC BALDWIN reports on progress to reinstate the former Varsity Line.
support the introduction of two new train paths between Oxford and Milton Keynes each hour, one between Oxford and Bedford and one between Milton Keynes and Aylesbury as a core service. No additional freight paths are planned above existing requirements.
As part of the consultation, which ran from June 10-August 11, ten drop-in events were held by the Alliance at various venues along the route that drew almost 2,000 attendees. A mobile app and website were also launched, to facilitate instant feedback from local residents that will help refine the development of the EWR2 plans. Alliance Director Dominic Baldwin tells
RAIL that the consultation was initially due to start at the end of 2016, but several external factors conspired to delay the process.
At the top of this list was the Department for Transport’s controversial instruction to remove electrification from the scope of the scheme ( RAIL 833), as it continues to draw back from a national policy of erecting more overhead wires in favour of either procuring bi-mode trains or maintaining the diesel-only status quo on unelectrified routes.
He adds: “We intended to hold the consultation at the tail end of last year. But due to a change in the scope, namely the removal of the overhead line, we needed to rework our assessment on the back of that. Furthermore, we had a snap General Election that caused further delay. So we eventually got to start in June, six months later than originally planned.
“The DfT opted to remove electrification so we could focus on the earliest possible delivery timescale. But with that, added complexity has come as we need to reassess the noise levels along the route from diesel trains vs electric. That has the potential to increase the quantity of noise barriers required, and we are doing the modelling to fully understand the implications of that.
“It does create noise, but in terms of changes to the rest of the scope it isn’t deemed to be too considerable. We are still looking to provide passive provision for overhead wires, but we don’t need to modify the scope where we don’t need to do it. We’re not going to over-engineer for it unless it’s a new build.” (For example, a new bridge replacing a closed level crossing.)
Baldwin is one of 80 staff based at the Alliance’s central offices in Birmingham city centre. They have brought the scheme to its current GRIP stage 4 status (outline design), and are now fully engaged in preparing the EWR2 application under the Transport and Works Act (TWA).
On the face of it, gaining the myriad planning permissions required to upgrade lines that either remain in operation or were never formally closed seems bureaucratic. But this is the legal framework that Baldwin and his team must work within, despite the near universal support that EWR2 commands from local authorities along the route, who have vigorously promoted it under the guise of the East West Rail Consortium since 1995.
Baldwin explains: “We are reinstating some previously disused sections of railway. When the original railway was constructed, some of it was in wartime conditions and was done outside of agreed plans. I think there are seven different acts [of Parliament] that we have to align and work to.
“Obviously, Network Rail can undertake some activities within its permitted development rights, but the scale of the work requires it to have an Environmental Impact Assessment, and that comes with other conditions.
“The other purpose of the consultation, as demonstrated with previous projects, is that good consultation can help design and develop your scheme to its optimum outcome. It’s really important to listen to what you’re being told because the more information you get, the better your understanding. You can’t avoid these issues. You still need to manage them, so the more you understand them the better you can deal with them.”
He adds: “We have more than 600 stakeholders, including nine local authorities, who are all very supportive of the scheme. But obviously we need to comply with all the requirements around that. The East West Rail Consortium is contributing £46 million, which was one of the things that appealed to me about this project when I joined it at the end of last year. Having stakeholders like that who
Good consultation can help design and develop your scheme to its optimum outcome. It’s really important to listen to what you’re being told because the more information you get, the better your understanding. Dominic Baldwin, East West Rail Alliance Director
are so passionately promoting the scheme doesn’t take away from the complexities of it, but it’s a nice place to be.”
The Consortium was responsible for compiling the original business case for East West’s Western Section that gained Government approval in 2011, in recognition of the enormous strategic value that a northern orbital route for London represented and its potential to stimulate economic growth. The National Infrastructure Commission has subsequently estimated that reinstating both East West’s Western (Oxford-Bedford) and Central (Bedford-Cambridge) sections could unlock 100,000 new homes in the vicinity of the line, 120,000 additional jobs, and an extra £163bn for the economy by 2050.
EWR2 was duly earmarked for construction during Control Period 5 (CP5, April 2014March 2019), before being deferred to CP6 as a result of the Hendy review in November 2015.
With construction put on hold, EWR2 was given a lift in November 2016 when Chancellor Philip Hammond allocated £100m towards accelerating its delivery. This figure has subsequently been bolstered by the £46m contribution from the East West Rail Consortium.
An additional £10m was allocated to a separate team which is developing a route for East West’s Central Section between Bedford and Cambridge, which was lifted since closure in 1967.
It is from here where delivery of East West Rail becomes less straightforward, as the remainder of the £1bn price tag for EWR2 remains the subject of a scoping report commissioned by Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling last December.
This report has been written by former Chiltern Railways MD Rob Brighouse, whom Grayling also appointed chairman of a new organisation named East West Rail ( RAIL 822). This organisation will oversee the design, build and then operation of not just East West’s Western section, but also its Central and Eastern constituent parts.
Brighouse’s brief was to analyse different methods of reducing the cost of building all sections of the line, how to accelerate its delivery, and identify ways to bring in private finance.
He is also expected to recommend how best to turn EWR into an independent vertically integrated organisation to own and operate the line, in a departure from the current national model of Network Rail being the track authority and trains being run by a franchisee.
Until the report is published, the final funding and operation of the line (including its Western Section and what rolling stock will be used) cannot be known. Nor can an accurate timetable be established for the delivery of the Central and Eastern sections.
Baldwin says that despite questions marks remaining over the funding of the project, his team needed to press on with the design and permissions stage of EWR2 - there was simply no time to wait for the outcome of Brighouse’s report.
This is because EWR2 crosses an area covered by HS2 near Calvert, in Buckinghamshire. Broadly following the route of the ex-Great Central Main Line, the route of HS2 runs parallel with EWR2’s branch to Aylesbury and Princes Risborough, before crossing under the main Oxford-Bletchley line. Therefore, 12.5km (7.8 miles) of EWR2 work has been authorised under the High Speed Rail (London-Birmingham) Act 2017, and must be commenced first to fit into HS2’s delivery timetable.
Baldwin explains: “With HS2 we share a footprint and corridor. We did an engineering study and identified that there were lots of efficiencies to be had by building within the same corridor.
“On the back of that, we identified that our schedule would need to be accelerated to be within the HS2 blockades of that part of our route next year. If it wasn’t, then the delivery of this project would probably have been deferred back to CP7. Furthermore, it would cost both projects a lot more money as it’s far more efficient to do both works at once. Both parties agreed, and it was subsequently agreed to find additional funding out of current commitments.
“The issue we have is that we have significant dependencies on each other where HS2 intersects with our railway. They have an obligation to do the civils work, and we the railway systems on our bit. It’s a very clean handover and design, and construction responsibility is all very clearly documented and all signed off by the DfT.”
Until Brighouse’s report is published, the Alliance will press ahead under existing NR rules and oversight, and will continue to play its part where necessary in informing its recommendations.
Far from operating under an unhelpful cloud of uncertainty, Baldwin says he embraces his involvement in a scheme that promises to have a lasting impact on how large infrastructure projects in rail are delivered in future, and on the future prosperity of the regions it will serve.
He concludes: “I can’t comment on the funding model, that’s for Rob [Brighouse]. We are in discussions with the EWR company on our requirements together with the funding envelope, but the scheme is currently within the authority of Network Rail. EWR is not fully formed yet as a company, so we are working to NR governance as is, and then when Rob understands more about the programme and the different mechanisms around that, that will kick in.
“Otherwise we’re in danger of being caught in limbo and risk other people needing to do things, so we’re working to traditional DfT and NR approaches.
“There is obviously ongoing dialogue between the EWR company and the SoS, and we have been actively involved with Phil Verster [EWR MD] and his team to help communicate it. All the design and development work has been generated through the Alliance and NR, and the decision-making will be down to Rob, the DfT and the SoS, providing they have the information they need.
“Considering all the conversation and announcements that have gone on within the industry of things being scaled back, the fact that we have lots of interest from the SoS and that he has introduced an EWR company to oversee and take responsibility for all aspects of the line, and released funding at the tail end of last year to accelerate the scheme, is really good news.
“There’s a number of studies that have been undertaken recently in terms of what it will do to GDP in certain areas, and the involvement of the Consortium of local authorities has been key in this as it will support commercial and residential developments along the line of the route. There are lots of conversations they are entertaining at the moment in terms of the development of separate infrastructure, so they see this as a key enabler to support that.
“It’s good to be in that space. We’ve seen the industry change a few times over the decade, and if this is the next great opportunity to do something bigger and better, then we want to be part of that.”
For more information and to see the EWR2 plans in greater depth, visit: http:// ewrconsultation.co.uk/
With HS2 we share a footprint and corridor. We did an engineering study and identified that there were lots of efficiencies to be had by building within the same corridor. Dominic Baldwin, East West Rail Alliance Director