What is the East West Rail Upgrade?
The East West Rail Upgrade is a large railway project that is aiming to deliver much needed connections for transport between communities by upgrading routes between Oxford and Cambridge.
With the vibrant communities between Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge there are globally renowned centres of business, education technology and more. With more reasons than ever for this area to be a fantastic place to live and work, the only thing missing is an excellent and reliable transport link to give people access to everything the area has to offer.
This area contributes around £111 billion to the UK national economy each year, and by providing an improved rail service connecting the important hotspots in the area, the upgrade programme will provide easier than ever opportunities to commute to work and for days out with family and friends.
By creating an investment into the community, the East West Rail Upgrade will see this area become more popular as work goes on, and hopes to give people a chance to travel the area while taking in the beautiful landscapes and rich cultural heritage the communities are known for.
These routes are being upgraded in the following ways:
- Upgrades to an existing section of railway between Oxford and Bicester
- Recommissioning a section of railway between Bicester and Bletchley
- Refurbishments to existing railway between Bletchley and Bedford
- Creating brand new railway infrastructure between Bedford and Cambridge.
Over the course of the project, the new services will be introduced in three different connection stages.
Connection Stage One:
East West Rail services will be running from Oxford to Bletchley / Milton Keynes
A major upgrade of the existing railway line from Oxford to Bicester was completed in December 2016, and services are already running on this section of the line (operated by Chiltern Railways). However, we’ve needed to construct the section of railway between Bicester and Bletchley, plus associated works, and this is almost complete with the aim of the first passenger services starting from 2025. EWR services will better connect businesses and academia in Oxford with their current and future workforce and help people in Oxford to access opportunities across the region.
Connection Stage Two:
In a continuation of work completed in Connection Stage One, East West Rail services will extend from Oxford to Bedford.
Connection Stage Three:
The final connection stage completes the full East West Rail connection and the services will run the full route of the East West Rail upgrade from Oxford to Cambridge via Bedford and Bletchley.
With the aim to have the first trains running between Oxford and Milton Keynes by 2025, the East West Rail Upgrade will be introducing a service that is extremely reliable from day one and will not cause delays elsewhere on the railway network.
The second and third stages of East West Rail, from Oxford to Bedford and Oxford to Cambridge are still in planning, and are dependent on final government funding and approval.
In the Chancellor’s Spring Budget announcement, it was announced that work on the Marston Vale Line will be accelerated in order to accommodate one train per hour between Oxford and Bedford from 2030.
Rail BI are proud to be the Business Intelligence application that powered the initial cost estimation and scenario analysis activities that helped to determine the viability of the East West Rail Upgrade.
For more information on this project, please visit https://eastwestrail.co.uk