26.08.16
East West Rail ‘no longer third most important project in country’
Council leaders along the proposed East West Rail route are seeking a meeting with Sir Peter Hendy to discuss concerns that the project may be postponed beyond 2024.
The much-delayed project was originally due to open in 2017, then 2019, before being pushed back until the end of CP6.
There were signs of progress at the end of March when Network Rail announced its preferred route for the central section, through the Bedford-Sandy-Cambridge corridor.
However, Cllr Rodney Rose, deputy leader of Oxfordshire County Council and chair of the East West Rail Consortium, which represents the councils involved, told RTM: “It’s already going up to 2024 and that might slip a bit now. I’m getting very concerned about it. It’s a bit of a blow to the local authorities that have put money in.”
The East West Rail link has been described as the third most important rail project in the country, after HS2 and Crossrail.
When asked if it was still being treated as such, Cllr Rose answered bluntly: “No.”
Cllr Rose said the issue will be discussed with Network Rail at the next meeting of the East West Rail Joint Delivery Board the week after next, and that he is seeking an additional meeting with Sir Peter Hendy, the chair of Network Rail, to discuss it.
He said he had previously asked Sir Peter about the delays when they met at the opening of Oxford Parkway station, pointing out that local authorities risk losing money they’ve invested in the project.
Cllr Rose said Hendy had promised to address the issue at the time but that it seemed “to have slipped again”.
He added that he thought the main causes of the delays were a “knock-on effect” from delays in electrification, which is intended to be introduced along key routes of the project such as Oxford-Paddington.
He said that the project could be at risk because of financial uncertainty following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union. However, he said such concerns make the project more important in order to generate growth, not less.
Phase 1 of the project between Bicester and Oxford is due to be completed in December 2016, once the line between Oxford and Oxford Parkway station is re-opened.
However, funding for Phase 2 – between Bicester to Bedford and Milton Keynes to Princes Risborough – must be sought and granted approval by the DfT if it is to be complete in CP6.
Network Rail’s senior sponsor for the project Tony Walker told the Oxford Mail that pooling the funding would be a “challenge” in the current economic climate, “but it would be good to complete in CP6”.
A spokesperson for Network Rail said: “We’re continuing our work to develop and consult on our plans to upgrade the railway line between Bicester and Bedford and Milton Keynes and Princes Risborough. By the start of the five-year funding period from 2019, this will be among the best-planned schemes in our Railway Upgrade Plan.”
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