Between 14 November 2024 and 24 January 2025, East West Rail (EWR) ran a third non-statutory consultation on the proposal for a new rail route between Oxford and Cambridge with a link to Milton Keynes.
EWR is a proposal to effectively re-establish a potentially strategic route between the two major university towns of Oxford and Cambridge. The old Varsity line, as it was known, was closed in 1966. Since then, significant redevelopment along the route has taken place, especially east of Bedford. The reintroduction is intended to support growth between the various ‘knowledge centres’ along the route and thus support growth in the economy as a whole.
The route is divided into a number of subsections which are currently at different stages of implementation. Coming east from Oxford the first section to Bicester is already in use as a two-track railway with services provided by trains between London Marylebone and Oxford. The second section from Bicester to Bletchley was a railway with some sections in use, for occasional freight, and others mothballed. This has been comprehensively rebuilt again as a two-track railway and should start providing a regular train service from Oxford to Milton Keynes later in 2025. It will also open up opportunities for freight services from the port of Southampton to inland distribution depots around Northampton.
The next section again upgrades an existing largely two-track railway – the Marston Vale line, between Bletchley and the southern edge of Bedford. The final section is a new railway through Bedford and across to Cambridge. When complete, the route is proposed to provide an approximately 95-minute journey time between Oxford and Cambridge at half-hourly intervals with other trains providing stops at intermediate stations.
Consultations
The recent consultation precedes the statutory consultation which is due to take place later in 2025 or early 2026 with building to be complete to Bedford by 2030 and across to Cambridge by 2034, ready for the full proposed service to commence.
Previous consultations had several potential routes for the new railway, but this had been narrowed to a southern approach to Cambridge in an update published in 2023. The current consultation focuses on a single route apart from a short section near Tempsford, south of St. Neots, where two slightly different alignments are subject to optioneering.
The primary objectives of the project are to improve public transport connectivity on a broadly east-west alignment focussed on the two university cities of Oxford and Cambridge. In delivering that objective the aim is to increase the available labour market for businesses in the area and provide new housing opportunities thus helping growth in the economy. Indeed, some of these opportunities were highlighted when the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave her speech on 29 January. East West Rail and the opportunities it offers was one of the themes. Provision of a route linking several north south lines will also maintain and expand rail freight opportunities.
The consultation extended to over 450 pages in the primary technical report with a significant number of supplementary documents and diagrams in support.
Planned train service
The primary aim of the project is to provide a new passenger train service on the route. The train service is expected to support greater communications between the major centres of Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford, and Cambridge. The plan also envisages opening up the labour market with opportunities to easily travel to the hubs mentioned from new housing either already planned or at least proposed.
The expectations are for a two-trains-per-hour service from Oxford to Milton Keynes commencing later in 2025. Around 2030, once the Marston Vale line has been upgraded, it is intended to add one Oxford to Bedford service per hour and one Bletchley to Bedford service per hour. When the whole route is complete, planned for the mid 2030s, there would be two Oxford-to-
Milton Keynes and two Oxford-to-Cambridge services per hour plus one Stewartby to Cambridge and one Bletchley to either Bedford or Cambridge depending on station options on the Marston Vale line.
The Marston Vale line currently has 10 intermediate stations, several serving small communities with a few recording amongst the lowest annual entry and exits across the UK. As in previous consultations, one suggestion is to consolidate some of the stations thus reducing to five the number of intermediate calls. If the reduction is endorsed, the trains starting from Bletchley will run to Cambridge.
The aim of starting and terminating some trains at Stewartby is to provide an expanded service to Bedford St. Johns station, which is close to Bedford Hospital, and to reduce the requirement to terminate trains at Bedford Midland station. This part of the route also has a significant number of level crossings both for vehicles and non-vehicular traffic, that is pedestrians and bridleways. Several of these would be subject to closure proposals. Earlier plans suggested increasing the linespeed from 60mph to 100mph but this has now been reduced to 75mph with a consequent reduction in level crossing risk meaning fewer crossings need to be closed. Crossing closure is generally accompanied by a diversion route or by a bridge usually over the railway.
For the first time, the current consultation actively considers the role of the route as a freight carrier. No specific flows are identified but the consultation suggests locations for potential passing loops so that faster passenger trains can overtake freight traffic. It is proposed that passing loops would be a minimum of 850 metres long to accommodate a 775-metre freight train. The documents also address the potential future energy source to power the trains. In this case the proposal is for discontinuous electrification although this is unlikely to be suitable in the longer term should freight traffic become a reality and move to electric haulage.
Bedford
Some of the consultation related to the west of Bedford, where further enhancements are suggested to meet potential capacity challenges and provisions for freight. In particular, the London Road level crossing in Bicester is proposed for closure with vehicle traffic diverted and options to facilitate pedestrians to cross the railway close to the current crossing. The other part of the consultation west of Bedford concerned the upgrades to the Marston Vale line already mentioned.
A substantial part of the consultation was, of course, focussed on the new railway through and east of Bedford. Unsurprisingly, this is the area with most contention. Starting just south of Bedford centre at Bedford St. Johns station, the proposal is to move the station and significantly enlarge it. The aim is to enable it to easily serve Bedford hospital which is adjacent to the proposed new location. The route would then run to Bedford Midland station on an amended alignment resulting in the closure of Jowett Sidings where up to five Thameslink trains of 12 cars can be stored. These sidings would be relocated to an expanded Cauldwell depot.
Bedford Midland station would have two new platforms on the east side, largely using current car parking land between the station and Ashburnham Road and the current station buildings. This would reduce car parking space for which a new multi-storey car park immediately north of the station would be provided. Previous consultation had suggested three new platforms but the extension of services to Stewartby is credited with reducing this to two. Clearly, Bedford station is in for a major rebuild. It is perhaps notable that current considerations by Network Rail and East Midlands Railway to provide a platform on the up fast line are not mentioned.
Beyond
Beyond Bedford the proposal is for two additional tracks alongside and east of the midland mainline for approximately one kilometre before diverging toward the village of Clapham which it passes to the south. This work requires the expanded railway to pass close to existing housing known locally as The Poets area. Indeed, some houses would be demolished, and others would have their gardens reduced. Unsurprisingly this feature is causing significant local objection, including objections from Bedford Council.
Given that Thameslink traffic terminates at Bedford, the prime traffic on the slow lines north of Bedford is freight, often aggregate, traffic. The other current constraint is the Corby connect service which in the up direction has to cross to the slow line north of Bedford to serve the station. If the platform was established on the fast line this move could be removed making it more practicable to reliably run the service on the existing track and facilitating freight access to EWR with minimal point work. This would remove one source of significant objection.
Beyond Clapham the route runs through rolling countryside involving several cuttings and embankments, and intersects a number of roads and other non-vehicular crossing points. Replacement bridges will be provided in some cases with diversion of paths to link to the built crossing points. The proposed route then passes north of Roxton before splitting into two options – one just north of the Black Cat roundabout where the A1, A428, and A421 currently meet, and one a little further south. Both then align with the currently under construction A428 dual carriageway.
Tempsford station would serve EWR and provide two platforms on the slow lines of the East Coast Main Line. There are two potential locations for this station depending on the final route option selected. If recent government statements are to be believed, a ‘new town’ is anticipated with the new station toward its northern end. The final route will be decided taking account of the consultation.
Beyond Tempsford the line follows the new A428 alignment to Cambourne where a second new station would be built, north of the A428, to serve a relatively new and substantial residential development and administrative centre for the county of Cambridge. The proposed route then enters the second area of significant dispute with local residents and politicians. The route heads south east to eventually join the existing Hitchin to Cambridge route at Harston. Vociferous campaigning has advocated a northern approach to Cambridge which could serve another substantial new development at Northstowe between Cambridge and Waterbeach.
Leaving Cambourne, the railway would drop in to a cutting and then a cut and cover tunnel of approximately one mile beneath the A428 and the former Bourne airfield which is now part of another planned housing development. The cutting and tunnel are a response to the previous consultations which highlighted the visual impact of embankments and the negative effect on the planned housing. One long tunnel was the preferred option of the three studied.
The route would then pass the villages of Comberton, the Eversdens, and Harlton to reach the junction with the existing Hitchin to Shelford railway, passing under Chapel Hill in tunnel enroute. Again, tunnelling here is a response to previous consultations when the route would have been above ground. Harston to Shelford junction on the West Anglia route is a distance of about three miles. It is then a further three miles from Shelford to Cambridge, with Cambridge South station in between. The route proposes a flying junction at Harston with the existing Hitchin line being diverted off the current route and going over the west bound EWR track. It is also proposed to quadruple the track between Shepreth Branch Junction and Cambridge where this is not already the case.
Alleviating concerns?
The extent to which the now-proposed route, with the significantly lower elevations, reduces the concerns of local people is currently unknown. A key objective of the project was to link the biomedical centre at Cambridge South and from a wider railway perspective arriving from the south opens many more opportunities than arrival from the north unless significantly more railway was built. So, the proposals made do have significant logic.
The plans then propose an additional platform at Cambridge and the need for a suitable turn back facility. The Cambridge station site is constrained and it would not be practicable to turn all the trains round within the platforms and deliver a reliable service. Hence the final part of the proposal suggests allowing terminating trains to proceed to Coldham Lane junction and continue for a mile or so toward Newmarket to a turn back facility at Cherry Hinton just under two miles from Cambridge, this involves laying a length of double track, upgrading one level crossing and potential electrification.
The consultation documentation covers a significant number of areas including environmental impact, arrangements for any existing route diversions, and analysis of the local effects of construction and how those will be minimised.
The next stage in the re-establishment of a rail route between Oxford and Cambridge will be the statutory consultation followed by granting of permission to build by Government. Given recent statements about the need for economic growth, and the expectations for this to be partly driven by the Oxford-Cambridge corridor becoming the UK Silicon Valley, one anticipates this project will be a significant priority.
Image credit: East West Rail
