East West Rail proposes moving station as consultation into updated designs opens

East West Rail (EWR) is proposing to move a station as the consultation into its updated design plans opens.

Earlier this month it was announced that discontinuous electrification will be used between Bedford and Cambridge, which will be served hybrid battery-electric trains.

Passenger services on the western half of the route between Oxford and Bletchley will start next year, with testing now under way.

EWR’s updated proposals include moving Bedford St Johns station west to better serve Bedford Hospital, with a new plaza, platforms and footbridges planned. It also proposes a new platform, extending existing platforms and other upgrades at Cambridge station to accommodate the four-trains-per-hours schedule, as well as two new running lines alongside the West Angla Main Line between there and Shepreth Junction.

Design teams have also created two options for a new station at Tempsford, with another also planned for Cambourne.

Elsewhere, a ‘cut and cover’ tunnel will be constructed beneath the A428 and proposed Bourn Airfield development near Cambridge, with another tunnel planned through Chapel Hill near Haslingford. EWR said this avoids a large cutting which would require significant construction works and could affect the flight paths of Barbastelle bats living in the area.

EWR anticipates a passenger service between 6am and midnight Monday-Thursday, 6am-1am Friday and Saturday, and 7am-11pm on Sunday.

David Hughes, CEO, EWR Co, said: “Our updated proposals have been influenced by the huge number of conversations we’ve had with local people and businesses, and thousands of responses we have had to our last public consultation.”

The ten-week consultation will include 19 events held in towns and villages along the route between Oxford and Cambridge, including three webinars. The consultation will gather feedback on early designs and considered for when more detailed designs are put together.