East West Rail asked Cambridgeshire about its new rail line plans …
The East West rail project has been a contentious one since the then Chancellor, George Osborne, breathed new life into an old idea back in 2011. The scheme would see a direct train service from Oxford to Cambridge without having to change. However, there have been plenty who disagree on the merits of the project since then.
Some have said there is no business case for it, others have claimed it will destroy pleasant countryside with its circuitous route, and others argue that towns like Bedford do not stand to benefit from it.[1]
Back in March, the Chancellor announced further details on the Bedford-Cambridge[2] section with residents wondering if the service would enter the city from the north or south. In the Spring Budget, Jeremy Hunt said the contentious rail line will “support further growth in life sciences and other high-productivity sectors” in the region by connecting businesses and talent.
He said: “In May, the government will confirm the route for the new Bedford-Cambridge section, and will provide capacity funding to support local authorities to develop their plans for strategic economic growth around new stations.” Beth West, CEO of the East West Railway Company, responding to the announcement at the time said that it would provide a “level of certainty” that people have been "waiting for. But what do people in Cambridge actually think of the project? East West Rail recently asked members of the public their views on an Oxford-Cambridge train connection in Bedford and Cambridge. They said that the point of the exercise was to explore sentiment and "to discover how East West Rail will improve commutes" and how it will make "educational opportunities" better and "transform" everyday journeys. One person said: “As someone from Milton Keynes, having to go through London to come back to Milton Keynes is really inconvenient." Outside Cambridge rail station, another said: “We’re from the United States so if I have a friend who comes, I can be like you could see me in Oxford then I can take a day trip to Cambridge, for tourism it’d be great. “We ultimately had to change trains three times to get here and it was such an unexpectedly long journey especially given how far apart the cities are it really makes very little sense.”
At the Abbey stadium off Newmarket Road, a man said of the project: “My family is in Oxford so I do go home quite a lot so it would be great. Because I normally get the coach which is very long and annoying or I go there across London and up to Oxford so it would be great to have something more direct." A woman said: “My sister’s in Oxford, she doesn’t come to visit Cambridge very often, it’s not a pleasant drive I don’t think that many people think that driving to Cambridge is nice. It would make our lives easier if we could go and see your family more.” A man from Oxford at the Abbey stadium said: “If I’d got the train from Oxford to Cambridge today I could have worked on my laptop and it might be more comfortable, it would have been more direct and it also has better impact on the environment." Another at the Madingley Park and Ride in Cambridge said: “I think an East-West railway would benefit the traffic really well - it would take a lot of stress off the streets I know every morning I drive in I’m hit with a lot of people coming back and forth and they’re just like me commuting so having people be able to hop on the train and get right into the centre of Cambridge would be fantastically beneficial." It is proposed the new section of railway between Bedford and Cambridge would travel through Sandy/St Neots, to Cambourne - both of which could get new stations - then round the south of the city to Cambridge Station. The exact route this will take has not yet been decided though. However, the East West Rail company have officially thrown their support behind a new railway entering Cambridge from the south via the West Anglia Main Line.[5] The proposed southern approach has been met with backlash by some of those living in Cambridgeshire villages that would be impacted by the building of the new railway line. Some residents living in the villages of Haslingfield, Harston, Hauxton, Harlton, the Eversdens, and the Shelfords would have to have their homes demolished. To avoid such an eventuality, calls for a Northern approach have been gathered steam - with Cambridge Approaches documenting the reasons[6] why the route would be preferable, and have said it would be "less destructive" as a whole. The Northern stretch would follow the line from Cambourne North into an area serving the new town of Northstowe before heading to Cambridge North. Tom Parr, a dad from Harston who has lived in a cottage in the village for 12 years with his family, said: “I have no idea where we could go. They won’t respond to any emails we’ve written. Are they just going to turn up, give us a couple of grand and say ‘on your way’? That’s not going to cut it. What are we supposed to do? “We don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re going to be made homeless at the end of the day. What could they possibly compensate us with?” He added: “They’re saying it’s a brilliant scheme and they ‘only’ need to destroy five properties, but if they move it 30 metres away that brings it down to three [saving the neighbours too]." More details about the scheme are expected to be released at the end of May. What do you think of the East West Rail project? Please share you views in the poll below.
A woman outside the Abbey Stadium, Cambridge (Image: EWR)
Some people were asked for their view outside Cambridge station (Image: EWR)
A man at the Madingley Park and Ride (Image: EWR)
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