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East West Rail Central Section East West Rail Central Section An enabler to regional economic growth and development. An initial summary of the development of the East West Rail Central Section. networkrail.co.uk/east-west-rail networkrail.co.uk/east-west-rail Contents Ambition East West Rail has been broken down into new direct rail services between The rail link will also provide improved three sections: The Western Section, the the Bedford area and Cambridge. connectivity in the Oxford-London- Eastern Section and the Central Section. This will interface with the Western Cambridge Golden Triangle. This This guide is designed to help you Section, providing you with a direct will unlock further growth and understand more about East West The Western Section improves services What is East West Rail? link between Oxford and Cambridge. Rail and the Central Section. between Oxford and Bedford and the development potential. What is East West Rail? 2 Eastern Section will consider services Network Rail is developing plans to the East of Cambridge. Why are we doing this? Connecting Oxford and Cambridge 4 to provide this new Central Section East West Rail is being developed to help improve transport The Central Section will build on an rail link. We are working closely with Progress to date 6 links to enable the economic development of your region. Where and what is already vibrant regional economy by the East West Rail Consortium, rail Bedford to Cambridge via Sandy 8 The aim is to provide a fast and reliable rail service to extending the strategic rail network, industry partners, regional groups, Funding and further analysis 10 connect East Anglia with Central, Southern and the Central Section? to provide a new rail link connecting and the Department of Transport Frequently asked questions 11 Western England. The Central Section will provide you to new houses, jobs, education and (DfT) to develop a scheme that can you with a new rail line providing leisure facilities in the Eastern Region. be considered as a choice for funders. The Western Section The Central Section The Eastern Section To Norwich, King’s Lynn Glossary Corridor – A wide geographical area with loosely defined boundaries To the Midlands To the North East, Cambridge encompassing a range of potential and Yorkshire Yorkshire and Scotland route and alignment options. Routeing – A method used to work towards defining a proposed railway To Ipswich path within a corridor. Alignment – The preferred railway path within a corridor. Bedford Sandy To London Node – A point or location on the Liverpool Street, existing railway network or on the King’s Cross, Stansted proposed routeing, where existing rail infrastructure connects with new rail infrastructure. East West Rail Consortium – A group of local authorities in the region who To Bletchley, To London To London have campaigned to reinstate east Bicester St Pancras King’s Cross west train services. and Oxford International 2 3 networkrail.co.uk/east-west-rail networkrail.co.uk/east-west-rail Landscape Outcomes Better access Encourage further More environmentally Connecting Oxford and Cambridge to jobs and housing investment in the region friendly travel Reduced journey times and increased Transport links are proven to drive The new rail link will provide faster, journey options will give you access to economic development. East West better and more sustainable travel. Currently, there is no direct rail connection Encouraging growth wider education and job opportunities. Rail Central Section will help people It will contribute to tackling climate between Oxford and Cambridge. The only The jobs market is growing in the Oxford, Cambridge, It also opens up access to wider and goods to move around the region change, providing low carbon transport available route through the Home Counties, Bedford, Milton Keynes and Sandy areas. But poor affordable housing. – both supporting the existing and providing an alternative to north of London, can be slow and costly. transport links between Oxford and Cambridge are economy and encouraging more travelling by car. A typical train journey between Oxford impacting this development. Our new railway link investment in the future. and Cambridge can take two and a half will connect these locations and encourage their to three hours. further growth. Predicted housing and employment growth through to 2031. New dwellings forecast New jobs forecast Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire 45,000 31,000 Bedford Bedford 17,300 15,500 Central Bedfordshire Central Bedfordshire 31,000 27,000 © AstraZeneca – Cambridge Biomedical Campus 4 5 networkrail.co.uk/east-west-rail networkrail.co.uk/east-west-rail Progress Early Central Section Work Economic Appraisal – Two Corridors Progress to date In October 2013, The East West Rail Consortium Working with our industry partners and the East West Rail undertook a study in partnership with Network Rail Consortium, we identified a number of potential corridors We are already working to complete Western Section Phase 1 between Oxford and Bicester. and DfT to assess the potential economic benefits that would accommodate the journeys you often make With Western Section Phase 2 planned to extend links to Milton Keynes, Bedford and Aylesbury. of the project, identifying key centres of population between Bedford and Cambridge. These were analysed to and economic activity and the journeys you make identify those that offered best value. With key industry This will allow passenger and freight We are currently developing plans The East West Rail Consortium between them. stakeholders and the Consortium, we agreed criteria services to run between Bedford and for the Central Section which will are starting a study to research and evaluated twenty potential corridors, before finally The East West Rail Consortium’s development Bicester and between Milton Keynes follow on from the Western Section. the potential additional benefits of selecting seven for further analysis. work concluded that the scheme was potentially and London via Aylesbury. We have identified the Bedford – enhancing the existing rail services viable and that it should be evaluated further. These seven were subject to initial economic appraisal. Sandy – Cambridge corridor as between Cambridge and Norwich From this, we identified two corridor options that offered representing the best value option. and Ipswich (The Eastern Section). Network Rail in partnership with industry partners best value for further investigation. These two options and the consortium, have continued the early were a corridor linking Bedford to Cambridge via the Sandy development work for the Central Section. area, and a corridor linking Bedford to Cambridge via the Hitchin/Letchworth area. We evaluated these options in detail, considering everything from the infrastructure requirements, construction cost and demand for travel on each route, to geographic and environmental impacts. Western Section Phase 1 – Complete work between Oxford and Bicester. Western Section Phase 2 – Provide a link between Oxford, Bicester, Milton Keynes and Bedford, and Milton Keynes and Aylesbury. Central Section – Preferred corridor identified as Bedford – Sandy – Cambridge. Eastern Section – A study to consider options to enhance rail services between Cambridge and Norwich and Ipswich. 6 7 networkrail.co.uk/east-west-rail networkrail.co.uk/east-west-rail To Norwich, Recommendation King’s Lynn “ The chosen corridor East West Rail Bedford to Cambridge via Sandy offered the best value Eastern Section in terms of economic Through our evaluation, we identified the single corridor that offers best value benefits; reduced for the Central Section. The corridor linking Bedford to Cambridge, via Sandy, journey time between was selected as the preferred corridor. Oxford and Cambridge; population growth Cambridge To the Midlands To the North East, and Yorkshire Yorkshire and Scotland and employment.” East West Rail Viability Eastern Section Our analysis demonstrates that this preferred corridor for the Central Section Midlands Main Line East Coast Main Line has the potential to develop into a To Ipswich viable scheme. Further analysis will now continue to identify a route which offers the best value within this preferred corridor. West Anglia Main Line Bedford Sandy To London Liverpool Street, King’s Cross, Stansted Why this preferred corridor? East West Rail In our evaluation we considered the regional catchment We also considered the local infrastructure and the Western Section areas very carefully. The chosen corridor offered the best wider impacts the railway would have on your area. value in terms of economic benefits; reduced journey time The chosen corridor was deemed to offer the best between Oxford and Cambridge; population growth and return on investment. To Bletchley, To London To London employment in the area; the operating costs for new Bicester and Oxford St Pancras International King’s Cross services and forecast passenger demand. 8 9 networkrail.co.uk/east-west-rail networkrail.co.uk/east-west-rail Next steps FAQs Funding and further analysis Frequently asked questions to define a specific route When could the new rail link be opened? We do not yet know the date when the Central Section rail link could open. Now that we have a preferred corridor, we will continue to work with the East West Rail Currently, we have an illustrative programme, assuming funding and consents Consortium, DfT and industry partners to progress the development and assess route approval, which shows a possible completion of the scheme in the early 2030’s. options. We anticipate that this will take between one and a half to two years. How will this affect landowners and property owners? During the next phase, we will consider broad routeings We will be working with the Consortium, local authorities As the development of the Central Section is still in the early planning stages, it is difficult within the chosen corridor. This work will help us to and key stakeholders as part of our route identification. for us to understand the potential impacts on specific land and property owners within the understand how we manage the connections with the wide geographical area of the preferred corridor area.
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