East-West Rail: Route for £5bn Bedford to Cambridge link announced

10 comments
  1. Strange they didn’t consider just reopening Bedford-Hitchin.

    Most of the trackbed and tunnel is still there, plus RAF Henlow will shut soon, giving it more space.

  2. This looks like proper rail infrastructure progress, its good news

    Double good news for those in Cambourne. it looks like a good link into the surrounding area

  3. Hmm, another big rail project to benefit the South just a year after many Northern rail projects were cancelled or watered down to nothing.

  4. They should build it electrified, can’t believe we are building any new line that isn’t electrified from the start.

  5. Good. Hopefully, we see more beneficial routes get reopened and not just for London. That and electrify the remaining non electrified routes. E.g. the marshlink line.

  6. A fast east-west route is surely needed.

    They’ve been talking about an Oxford to Cambridge rail route for decades, but I just looked up the Milton Keynes (Bletchley) to Bedford section and the journey takes as long today as it did 40 years ago (when I took that trip every day to school).

    The Oxford to Milton Keynes and Bedford to Cambridge legs would probably each take an hour, so that’s a 3-hour train journey were they to open up the whole route. By car it’s 88 miles and takes 2 hours, so that’s scarcely better.

  7. Im glad to see the Cambridge leg confirmed, as the Oxford – Bedford leg is well under way, shame it isn’t electrified though, but my guess is that they would have electrified it had Oxford got electrified

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