Railfuture is an independent, voluntary group representing rail users in the UK with 20,000 affiliated and individual members. It is not funded by train companies, political parties or trade unions and uses the principle of one-member one-vote democracy.

Visit our main web-site at www.railfuture.org.uk.

Railfuture campaigns for cheap and convenient rail services for everyone; better links for buses, bikes and pedestrians; policies to get more heavy lorries on to rail; new lines, stations and freight terminals. In short, a better rail service and a bigger rail system for both passengers and freight.

Oxford and Cambridge are world famous for their universities and high-tech industries. But the area between them runs for 70 miles and in it you will find fast growing towns and cities, such as Milton Keynes, and growing industries such as the motorsport companies based around Oxford and Bicester. However, travelling through this 'arc' is not easy. There is no direct road and the railway linking Oxford to Cambridge closed some years ago. There is a bus service but it is very slow.

Railfuture is campaigning to re-open the railway so that all the centres of excellence along the arc can be linked by trains - a fast but environmentally-friendly solution. But re-joining Oxford and Cambridge by rail levers an even greater benefit: by using the existing tracks to the east of Cambridge and to the west of Oxford, an inter-regional East-West Link can be created. The East West Rail Link is a railway project that will link East Anglia to the South Midlands and the West Country using the re-opened Oxford to Cambridge section as its centrepiece. The EWRL will have interchanges with most of the radial routes from London, creating many other journey opportunities.

You have opened up the link to Railfuture's proposal for this project and hopefully to see what you can do to help...

Let us get cracking and resolve this issue and quickly build it.

When you have read this and the leaflet (PDF 1.13MB), take action.
(leaflet photography by Brian Forbes and Jeffray Wotherspoon)

It would help us immensely if we knew who our supporters are.

Please click Register Support to enter your details so that Railfuture knows who supports the scheme.