Tag: east west rail

The East West Rail project has finally issued its route, and consultations are taking place locally. I visited the exhibition recently in Bedford.

The main points are:

The stated aim is to be primarily a freight route.

• Bromham Road in Bedford will be rebuilt (again) to make it wider to take 6 tracks.
• There will be an 8-floor multi-storey car park in Ashburnham Road to serve the station.
• St Johns Station will be moved closer to the hospital, taking over the parking area. The solution is to build a 9-storey car park of similar capacity to existing parking arrangements.
• A new route from Bedford to Cambridge, taking over the countryside to the north-east of Bedford.
• Re-aligning the Branston Way approach to the roundabout adjacent to Brewpoint.
• 1.2 km viaduct over the Ouse and A6 near Clapham

More details can be found online at here or you can visit the exhibitions in person.

With a number of clients affected by the proposed corridor for East West Rail we have been awaiting more news of the proposed route. We have today received information of a consultation on five possible routes for the line between Bedford and Cambridge. The consultation also includes details of planned changes on the Milton Keynes to Bedford route.

On the Bedford to Cambridge sections, we understand that nine initial routes have been narrowed down to five and these will now undergo public consultation. Routes 1 and 9 are currently considered the most favourable. The consultation is now open and runs until 9^th June 2021.

The five possible routes are shown on the plan below:

The current preferred options are routes 1 and 9 and the plans below show these in more detail:

If you would like to respond to the consultation it can be found here: https://eastwestrail.co.uk/consultation

If your property is affected by the scheme and you would like further advice please contact Polly Sewell on 01234 362933 or email pkts@robinsonandhall.co.uk