Posted 8th January 2025 | 2 Comments
East West Rail chief claims 'strong support' for project
The public consultation over plans for the next stages of East West Rail restarted yesterday, having taken a break during the Christmas and New Year holiday.
However, it is not yet clear when services will return to the newly-rebuilt section between Bicester and Bletchley, which was opened for test trains last October.
EWR Co. has released figures showing the degree of interest that had been shown between 19 November and 13 December when it had staged ten local events, with six left for this month.
The busiest event was in the village of Great Shelford, which is about 7km south of Cambridge, and which attracted 537 people, or about one in eight of the population, on 22 November.
On the other hand, a similar event in the city of Oxford on 19 November was visited by only 212 people, or one person for every 770 people in the population.
A total of 3136 people attended the ten events in 2024, and the remaining six are being held between 7 and 21 January. An online webinar is also taking place tomorrow (9 January).
The consultation is ‘non-statutory’, and is the third of its kind since the project began, with much of the attention being focused on the section between Bedford and Cambridge. This must be rebuilt on a new alignment, because the original trackbed has been blocked by development since train services were withdrawn in January 1968.
EWR Co chief executive David Hughes said: ‘Our consultation events have been attended by more than 3,000 people wanting to learn more about our updated proposals and sharing their feedback in significant numbers.
‘I have really enjoyed discussing the benefits of the new line with people at the events and hearing their views on it as this exciting project builds momentum, with passenger services between Oxford and Bletchley due to start later this year.
‘There is strong support for East West Rail and much more certainty about the project now. I would encourage people to find out more about the project by attending one of the remaining events and sharing their views to help us refine our designs further to present at our statutory consultation.’
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
John B, London
Small sections of the old trackbed have been redeveloped; as shown by the Borders Railway, this is not insurmountable. I understand the need to serve Cambourne but I disagree with the route taken and the demolition which will be required in Bedford. Continuing the line to Sandy before continuing to Cambourne via Gamlingay would have been preferable.
Philip Russell , Carlisle
We’ve seen a relatively seamless introduction of new services to Ashington, Oakhampton, Tweedbank & Kintore so presumably the delays in starting a Bletchley -Bicester service is down to complications & disagreements on the funding.