The proposed new railway between Bedford and Cambridge is a project of national significance. This means EWR Co will apply to the Secretary of State for a Development Consent Order (DCO), which would grant consent to build and operate the new railway and the other elements that form the project.
EWR Co will take account of feedback from this consultation as it continues to develop the designs in more detail and select preferred options. Feedback from this consultation will also be used to inform the plans that are being developed to mitigate the impacts of the new railway.
After this non-statutory consultation, EWR Co will carry out further design and environmental work which, along with feedback from the consultation, will help the development of a preferred design for the project.
EWR Co has launched a non-statutory consultation to obtain feedback on the preliminary design concepts for the project, including some areas where alternative options are being considered. EWR Co encourages people to respond to the consultation. The public consultation materials – including the feedback form, should you wish to provide comments on the proposals, are available on the East West Rail Consultation 2024 web page.
EWR Co will later present this design at the statutory consultation, along with more detailed information about the proposals. This information will include the preferred solutions for the design options presented during this consultation and proposed mitigation measures for environmental and transport impacts.
The documents for the statutory consultation will include more detailed preliminary environmental information about predicted impacts and likely significant effects and proposals for environmental mitigation.
After the statutory consultation, EWR Co will consider feedback alongside the further environmental assessment work as it finalises the proposals for the project ahead of submission of the DCO application.
Stages of East West Rail
To help local communities to benefit from access to faster public transport links as quickly as possible, East West Rail is being promoted and brought into use in three phases, known as ‘connection stages’:
- Connection Stage 1 enables services to run between Oxford and Milton Keynes. The first part of this stage, the link between Oxford and Bicester, is already in place. The work to extend services further north and east to Bletchley and Milton Keynes was given planning consent in 2020 by an order made by the Secretary of State under the Transport and Works Act 1992. Construction is well under way and passenger services will start running from 2025.
- Connection Stage 2 work is ongoing to bring forward services between Oxford and Bedford from 2030. Planning consent for these works was also granted by the Transport and Works Act order in 2020.
- Connection Stage 3 would complete East West Rail and enable passenger services to operate between Oxford and Cambridge via Bletchley and Bedford. To complete this work, we will need to apply for a Development Consent Order (DCO), which would grant consent to build the new railway between Bedford and Cambridge, as well as the other upgrades between Oxford and Bedford to deliver the full proposed EWR service.
Connectivity to Aylesbury remains a longer-term aspiration, but is not currently within the scope of East West Rail and is not included in the proposals set out in this public consultation.
Accelerating Connection Stage 2
In the Spring 2024 Budget, funding was announced for the early delivery of infrastructure works by EWR Co in order to enable a new Oxford to Bedford hourly service from 2030. The accelerated works will affect nine Marston Vale Line (MVL) level crossings previously consented under the Transport and Works Act order (TWAO) which came into force on 25 February 2020. These are to be delivered alongside Network Rail works to replace Marston Road and Manor Road (Kempston Hardwick) level crossings with road bridges consented by the same TWAO. They also include track renewals and supporting works along the MVL which would be disruptive to the new service if delivered later, as well as minor safety
With the release of this accelerated funding, EWR Co is now progressing the infrastructure design work to the next level of detail to confirm the scope and construction timeline, as well as where the new service will call.
Whilst these works will bring forward an initial train service between Oxford and Bedford, there is further work in that area that will be needed to enable the operation of trains between Oxford and Cambridge as proposed for Connection Stage 3.
