HS2

Huguenot   11/07/2017 at 10:57

So, if "it is an essential piece of infrastructure which will unlock the region’s huge economic potential", why is it taking so long? The Bicester-Bletchley trackbed is still in place, so it's not like opening up a completely new route. If this section were accelerated, Aylesbury-Calvert could follow on later. Also, it is rumoured that the Central Section will bypass Bedford. How crazy is that?

Malcolm Dymott   11/07/2017 at 12:38

Unfortunately it's not just a "clear the weeds and re-open the railway" job. A glance out of the window between Bicester and Oxford on the newly upgraded line reveals that all the accommodation crossings have been replaced with bridges, footpaths with footbridges and more than a little work on the earth structures. Re-opening Calvert to Bletchley will need some real civil engineering with real impacts on local residents. Unfortunately all will have real costs, to add to those for track, trains, stations and signals. Perhaps not surprising that very little has happened on the ground yet. Even if you find some funding, finding the project mangers to translate plans into a functioning railway won't be easy. It all looks so simple, until you start to try to do it . . . just look at the apparently easy 'Croxley Link' . . . the route is now fenced and cleared of vegetation. Getting the sums right and funding to add the railway is proving rather more difficult, even with a County and Town Council who really wants to finish the work.

Mark Hare   11/07/2017 at 12:42

The first line of this article is rather misleading - the next phase of East West Rail is not 'connecting Milton Keynes, Winslow and Bedford' but rather Bicester, Aylesbury, Winslow and Bletchley. @Huguenot - the line is still in use from Bicester to the current limit of NR operations at Claydon LNE Jn with the trackbed still in situ albeit in very poor condition from here to Bletchley. As I understand it major earthworks are required to bring the trackbed up to high speed main line standard with only minor work such as vegetation clearance having been carried out so far. However with the Transport and Works Act order in place since April I see no reason why work on the line between Claydon and Bletchley shouldn't now begin in earnest.

Brian   11/07/2017 at 13:04

Re - Croxley Link I believe the county and local councils now do not have any involvement as it is the full responsibility of TFL.

Andrew Gwilt   11/07/2017 at 22:24

Via Sandy is a better option because Sandy is midway between Cambridge and Bedford. And it could be a better option to build the East West rail line with Sandy having a 2nd station as the current Sandy station is on the East Coast Main Line with Great Northern providing the Great Northern route between London Kings Cross and Peterborough. Whilst via Hitchin is a lot more difficult and the new flyover has taken parts of the former Bedford line since the flyover was opened in 2013 which has improved the bottleneck and Great Northern King's Linn & Cambridge trains from London Kings Cross do use the flyover. Hope that the East West Rail Link does reopen and will provide a better railway link between the East of England and the West of England and Cotswolds.

Chrism   12/07/2017 at 03:39

Truth be told this old railway formation isn't quite right for the 21st century. Ideally it would go through Milton Keynes heading north and Bedford going south. How very thoughtless of the Victorians not to anticipate Milton Keynes! But what a strange world of crazy we live in where this moribund link through almost empty Buckinghamshire countryside is so important, yet we can't even manage to electrify the existing bust MML and TPE routes. I predict the opening date will keep going backwards. I travelled on the last ever charter train in 1993 over this route, 'The Mothball'. Will I live long enough to repeat that trip?

Chrism   12/07/2017 at 03:43

Sorry, should say the existing busy MML and TPE routes. The only thing bust is the NR budget!

Mark Hare   12/07/2017 at 14:46

@Andrew Gwilt - via Sandy has already been identified as the preferred route, with one main reason being that it will connect with the ECML so why would it be better to build another station at Sandy which wouldn't make that connection?

Temuco   13/07/2017 at 16:26

Chrism - yes, it should go into a tunnel West of Milton Keynes, loop north to new interchange platforms under MKC station, continue east to a new genuinely central MK station under the city centre, then curve back round to join the BBM line near Bow Brickhill. MK Crossrail! Expensive but it gets you out of all sorts of problems at Bletchley and also gives a real benefit to MK. Bit like the Merseyrail underground. If MK are serious about growth this could be a huge enabler.

Trevor Mumby   15/07/2017 at 10:35

Re Sandy The old,still visible, east/west route passes north of Sandy whereas the ECML station is south of Sandy. Laying new track to the South would appear to be the most expensive option. A new station to the north looks the best one. No doubt I will be corrected.

Andrew JG   16/07/2017 at 09:50

Sandy is halfway (midway) between Cambridge and Bedford. Sandy is about 20 miles from Cambridge and about 15 miles from Bedford. So the East-West Rail Line that will divert north of Sandy is a better option as it's the preferred route of the East-West Rail Link (Varsity Line). Plus a new station could also be planned to be built in Sandy as Sandy has one station on the ECML that Great Northern trains stops & serves Sandy on the London KX-Peterborough route.

Andrew Gwilt   16/07/2017 at 09:53

@Mark Hare. I understand that. For goodness sake.

DAVID FIELD   04/11/2017 at 22:12

Is there a (rough) figure for the costing of completion for the rail link over the whole of the route Oxford to Cambridge ? Currently there is a £3+ billion costing to build the Oxford to Cambridge (road) expressway which would mean far more misery, for far more people than the reinstatement of the rail link.