East West Rail
We’re campaigning for a properly interlinked railway, high quality local and regional services with opportunity for more freight by rail.
RE-LINKING OXFORD, BEDFORD AND CAMBRIDGE
BRTA personnel have been active in bringing East West Rail about since 1985.
Many leaps forward have been made.
Now let’s make sure that East West Rail gets done right.
- Get behind the original and best route through Bedford.
- Proper interlinks with north-south routes.
- Incremental improvements to Bedford – Bletchley – Milton Keynes.
- Oxford – Bedford services ASAP.
- Sustainable transport for Universal Theme Park visitors and staff.
BACKGROUND
Despite the fact that Dr Beeching reported that Bedford-Cambridge should remain open, the Oxford-Cambridge railway closed in 1967.
Over many years we’ve campaigned tirelessly for reinstatement. In 1985 BRTA’s Richard Pill was active in the Bedford-Bletchley Rail Users Association (BBRUA). In 1986 splinter groups and individuals formed an umbrella organisation called Oxon and Bucks Rail Action Committee (OBRAC). October 1987: Richard Pill formed the Bedford and Sandy Rail Reopening Association (BASRRA) to protect the old Bedford-Sandy rail route and deviation spaces around Blunham and Sandy. In 1990 BASRRA morphed into Transport 2000 Bedfordshire Branch with Bedford-Sandy at its core.
In 1995 the East-West Consortium was formed and the formal project and professional-led campaign was launched with significant funds for studies and case-making over a number of years.
Oxford-Bicester was reopened between 1987 and 1989. Tracks east of Bicester were mothballed. Bedford-Bletchley went up the scale from threats of closure to investment in modernisation and renewal.
In 1998 Steer Davis Gleave (now Steer Group) confirmed Bedford-Sandy via Bedford St John’s could be achieved with our proposed deviations around development at Blunham and north of Sandy. It would reach Cambridge via an Ickleford Curve to the Hitchin-Royston-Cambridge rail link and, possibly, a reopened Cambridge-St Ives-Huntingdon line.
By 2015 Cambridge-St Ives was turned into a guided busway, the A421 Bypass at Bedford did not get a bridge over the old railway trackbed, other development north of Sunderland Road at Sandy was built and things looked even gloomier when Office for Road Rail (ORR) stipulated no new level crossings on reopening or new-build railways meaning costly duck-unders or bridges must be planned.
Network Rail in 2017 abandoned the old route on that basis and a 2019 consultation on routes east of Bedford did not include “east of Bedford via St John’s”. The drive was to link with Bedford Midland Station and proceed northwards via a new-build railway to a new intersection at Tempsford.
The “northern route” soon had a lot of opposition, partly because some 60 houses would have to be demolished and major upheaval works would be needed in a hilly, gas-field laden area. Added to potential blockages of Black Cat Roundabout on the A1/A421/A428 intersection, it makes putting a rail link to the Tempsford flood plains north of Station Road, Tempsford very hazardous and costly.
THE BRTA VIEW
To solve the problem, BRTA believes the old route of the railway should be given ‘special dispensations’ and, in certain circumstances like the Priory Park entrance at Bedford, should have level crossings allowed. In Cardington Road’s case, the route must be road-bridged for trains to go underneath.
Willington can be bypassed by the railway. East of Willington, a route along the River Ouse to approach the Tempsford Plains from the south westerly direction, crossing the A1 and descending to the plains either side of Station Road, Tempsford.
We are campaigning for physical rail linkages with the slow lines on the East Coast Main Line for direct running from the Oxford-Bedford corridor to places like Peterborough, East Bedfordshire, Stevenage as well as Cambridge – both passenger trains and freight by rail too.
Bedford Borough Council seems to stop short on championing our rail route and no-one else backs it formally, as far as we are aware. The Northern Route doesn’t just have opposition – its design leaves much to be desired with steep gradients from the river-basin to higher ground and then descending to the same river basin at Tempsford.
Whether the east-west rail will go above or below the East Coast Main Line (ECML) remains uncertain and the EWRC still wants segregated rails and an interchange station at Tempsford. Our vision is for physical rail connectivity.
In order to carefully consider all options, we are proposing that development in certain zones be curtailed until a viable route for this vital railway is confirmed.
THE CURRENT SITUATION
The “northern route” is opposed and objected to, but no alternative is entertained, except in this 2024 Systra report.
Three routes and few conclusions, except for objections to the northern route the East West Rail Company (derivative of the Consortium) favoured.
BRTA is closely monitoring things as they unwind. We won’t oppose the railway – the entire corridor is far too important – but we have widely publicised our views and alternative ideas. For now, the EW Rail Consortium seems to be in a state of inertia, as well as Government and the ORR.
Kempston Hardwick is likely to become a major part of a sustainable transport link to Universal’s new theme park at Stewartby, announced in April 2025.
This internationally significant project requires sustainable transport solutions fit for the 21st century.
MK TO BEDFORD – WHY SHOULD BEDFORD WAIT?
Oxford-Milton Keynes starts August 2025, we are told. Bedford-Bletchley has automated signalling and could accommodate an hourly Bedford-Oxford semi-fast service, with Sunday services too. We believe demand exists.
Must Bedford wait 5 years whilst bridges replace level crossings, smaller halt-stations are reformed or closed and the railway is virtually gold-plated? We say it can’t afford the delay.
We believe in incremental improvements including extending local shuttle Bedford-Bletchley services to Milton Keynes Central Railway Station. The trackwork was improved over a decade ago but capacity constraints into and through MK Central will mean curtailment of some services. Clearly more tracks and platform capacity at MK is needed and that means widening the railway and improvements to bridges and other structures rebuilt to a new specification.
EAST-WEST RAIL: QUALITY LOCAL AND REGIONAL SERVICES
BRTA is campaigning that all stations on the Bedford-Bletchley Railway should be retained plus a new one at Kempston for the Retail Park.
A shuttle service would serve all stations as a feeder and Oxford-Bedford and beyond should be semi-fast, exploiting the end-to-end market. A Corby-Bedford-Bletchley-Watford has also been mooted.
HOW TO ADD YOUR VOICE
Write in support of reopening and routing to your local councillors and MP:
members.parliament.uk/members/commons
or www.writetothem.com
It’s powerful to write to your MP or councillor in your own words, telling your representative about your own beliefs and experiences and how they relate to this area. See below.
Join BRTA as a member to support this and other reopening campaigns
Volunteer with BRTA if you share our vision and want to help bring it about.
Could you help push this campaign forward?
Donate to BRTA to help us advocate for a rail link fit for the 21st century!
Think about the following questions when composing your letter to MPs / councillors:
- What journeys do you make? Work? Leisure? Appointments / visits?
How could this link improve the journeys you make? - Do you actively choose road over rail or bus? Why?
- Do you consider where you live to be well served by public transport?
- Do you have experience of new areas of housing and public transport?
- What are your experiences of the road journeys you make in the region?
- Have you made employment, school or relocation decisions based on journey times or access to public transport? Or on the lack of access to public transport?
- What are your thoughts on the environmental impact of your journeys?
- Do you have accessibility needs that affect journey decisions you make?
- What do you think about air pollution in your area?
- What are the most important transport related issues to you? Why? Journey times? Road congestion reduction? Pollution reduction? Accessibility? Taking freight off the roads in your area? A better connected region?
- What should be done next to make this happen?
Our tips: - Even if your MP is not in this region, your letter provides them with an opportunity to learn about the issue and take action themselves.
- Aim for your letter to be no longer than one and a half sides of A4.
- Engage. Get your representative’s attention with a dramatic fact or short statement.
- State the problem. Present the causes of the problem you just introduced. How widespread or serious is the problem?
- Inform them about the solutions that reopening would bring.
- Call to Action. Let them know what you want them to do about it.
- Ask for a response.
