Aylesbury spur still a focus for rebranded East West Main Line Partnership
The rebranding comes with focused goals for the rail line
Last updated 8th Oct 2021
The East West Rail Consortium, which has campaigned for the reinstatement of a railway between Oxford and East Anglia for more than 25 years, has relaunched as the East West Main Line Partnership.
Established by local authorities in 1995, the Consortium has played a fundamental role in establishing the basis for the scheme, on which subsequent work by the Department for Transport, Network Rail and the East West Railway Company has been built.
With construction of the Oxford-Bletchley/ Milton Keynes section of East West Rail well underway, the Partnership is championing the long term opportunity for true, coast to coast connectivity, achieved through an East West Main Line, with services running from Norfolk and Suffolk all the way through to South Wales.
The Partnership has six key areas of focus for the East West Main Line:
- Oxford-Cambridge: Working with our partners to support delivery at the earliest opportunity, and no later than 2030
- Coast-to-coast connectivity: Realising opportunities east of Cambridge to Norwich and Ipswich; and west of Oxford to Swindon, Bristol and South Wales
- North-south connectivity: Including the Aylesbury-Milton Keynes link and opportunities for new journeys using intersection with radial main lines
- Interchange and strategic transport hubs: Frictionless interchange, including with other modes
- A 21st century main line: Ensuring East West Rail supports the environment and the communities it serves. This includes making it electrified and ‘digitally-enabled’ (providing digital connectivity to nearby communities) from the start. It must also be built with communities at its heart – with appropriate mitigation during construction, and quality local connectivity to stations when it is opened
- Freight: Ensuring East West Rail contributes to the requirements of the national rail freight strategy, while also making the strongest case for prioritisation of the Felixstowe-Nuneaton corridor
Cllr Steven Broadbent, Chair of the East West Main Line Partnership, said:
“Supporting the delivery of East West Rail between Oxford and Cambridge at the earliest opportunity and making sure there is appropriate mitigation for local communities during its construction remains fundamental to the Partnership’s purpose.
“However, we have always been clear that delivery of the current East West Rail proposal should be just the beginning of the transformation in connectivity.
“That’s why we’re championing the ambition for an East West Main Line to truly realise the transformational potential of the government’s investment. The main line will boost the regional and UK economy and enable businesses to compete on a global scale, unlocking opportunities for residents, and reducing reliance on road vehicles to achieve net zero emissions."
However, a big focus of the East-West Rail discussion in Buckinghamshire continues to be the pending decision on the Aylesbury Spur.
Residents, Councillors and MP's among others continue to campaign for this stretch to be approved.
Cllr Steve Broadbent says this is something he is aware of from a Buckinghamshire Council perspective - as well as in his Chair of the Partnership role:
"In my mind the connection and the delivery of the Aylesbury Spur would play into the levelling up agenda that has been focused on by the government.
"Similarly there is a call to open the Bletchley to Bedford stretch.
"This line will not just connect East to West, it crosses 6 main lines that go into London, Therefore the opportunity to connect north to south is there.
"We don't want to be in a situation where the rest of the transport sector, roads in particular, have to connect to other stations like Winslow.
"Where we could have the connection with Aylesbury Parkway, and then of course the transport infrastructure could connect around that station."
Construction has already begun across the area on the approved stretches, which Buckinghamshire Council appointing Marshals to oversea this and HS2.