Five things you need to know about East West Rail One: It supports new jobs and housing By putting towns and cities within easy reach of each other, East West Rail will transform job and housing markets and attract new businesses. Indeed, it is a fundamental part of the new infrastructure for the ‘Oxford-Milton Keynes- Cambridge growth corridor’. The National Infrastructure Commission believes that with the right investment, the region could become the UK’s answer to Silicon Valley, creating more than a million new jobs and tripling the size of its economy. Government has made realising this potential a national priority. Local plans setting out the numbers of new homes across the Western Section area have or are currently being developed by planning authorities in anticipation of East West Rail being delivered. Overall they amount to about 140,000 new homes by the mid-2030s. Two: It transforms connectivity East West Rail will transform connectivity across the region, which, as set out by the National Infrastructure Commission, is fundamental to the delivery of economic and housing growth. It will provide direct services to the region’s primary job and housing markets (alongside cultural, leisure and shopping destinations) and also provides connections to all major cross-country rail lines. For example, people will be able to connect at Bletchley/ Milton Keynes for services on the West Coast Mainline to the north and Scotland, or at Bedford to get to Luton Airport as well as stations to the north. North-south connectivity will also be transformed, with the potential in the future for direct services from Northampton, through Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire to the new Old Oak Common interchange for HS2, Crossrail and Heathrow services. Three: Provides an attractive alternative to the car East West Rail provides an attractive and viable alternative to the private car, reducing congestion on roads. This will support the delivery of growth with reduced environmental impact – or ‘net betterment’ as the National Infrastructure Commission puts it. Four: It enjoys strong local support The East West Rail Consortium, which is made up of elected politicians from local councils along the route, has campaigned for East West Rail since 1995. Local Enterprise Partnerships are represented on the Consortium, and the link enjoys good support from the business community. England’s Economic Heartland – the region’s emerging Sub-national Transport Body – has also made East West Rail a strategic priority. It is worth noting that the Western Section’s first phase - between Oxford and Bicester Village, which opened in 2015 - has enjoyed significant passenger growth. In the 18 months following its launch, three million journeys were made on the new line with over a million passengers travelling through Oxford Parkway. Bicester Village station saw two million passengers make journeys through the station. The number of overall visitors arriving by train at the shopping destination soared from 3% to more than 10%. Five : It is vital its design is future-proofed for freight East West Rail has the potential to provide an alternative for long-distance rail freight currently using London’s network, as it improves connectivity from some of the UK's major ports and inland markets. The design proposed in the TWAO protects East West Rail’s ability to accommodate rail freight in the future and this is essential in supporting economic growth going forward. Journey-times There’s no doubt that travel across the region is currently hamstrung by poor road and rail journey times. Journeys often require travelling into London first. East West Rail will change all that, as the following table shows: Journey Current time by Current time by Journey time on road (approx) public transport East West Rail (approx) Oxford to Milton 1hr 20 mins Rail: 1hr 30mins 40 mins (direct) Keynes (1 change via Coventry) Bus: 1hr 25mins (direct) Oxford to Bedford 1hr 40mins Rail: 2hrs 40mins 60 mins (direct) (2/3 changes via London) Bus: 2hrs 20mins (direct) Milton Keynes to 45mins Bus: 1hr 20mins 33 mins (direct) Aylesbury (direct) Oxford to 2hrs 25mins Rail: 2hrs 50mins 1hr 15mins* Cambridge (2/3 changes via (direct) London) Bus: 3hrs 40mins (direct) (* aspirational, dependent on central section route and service patterns) .