On 15th January 2010 Chiltern Railways submitted an application for a Transport & Works Act (TWA) order for the new 800-metre chord linking the Marylebone-Birmingham mainline with the Bicester Town-Oxford line, which will form the western-most section of the East West Rail Link. As well as leading to a major upgrade of the route between Oxford and Bicester, providing a new park and station at Water Eaton in north Oxford and second platforms at Islip and Bicester Town, which do not require TWA powers, the £250m scheme will also reinstate the Birmingham Moor Street station terminus platforms and improve line speeds. Network Rail is providing funding and will recover the money through "facility charges" over 30 years; Chiltern's franchise lasts until 2021. See link to EWRL Consortium press release: http://www.eastwestrail.org.uk/news/documents/PRESSRELEASE-EWRC150110.pdf.

The East West Rail Consortium had hoped to commence construction of the western section (linking Oxford to Bletchley) in late 2010 for opening in 2012. However, largely because of the economic recession, which has affected housing and commercial developments, it is now proposing to start construction in early 2014 for route reopening in late 2015. Obviously Railfuture and other rail campaign groups are unhappy about this and are pushing strongly for the entire project to move forward.

On 2nd September 2009 representatives of the East West Rail Consortium along with Phyllis Starkey MP and Evan Harris MP met Lord Adonis, Secretary of State for Transport, at the DfT's offices in London to discuss progress on the western section of the East West rail link.

Lord Adonis said that in his view the project was a great scheme had he wanted to know how he could help to make it happen. The Consortium representatives explained to him that there was potential to obtain around £50-60m of contributions from private developers for new housing but contributions could not be levied on housing projects that had already received planning consent. However, the transport component of the Regional Funding Advice is another potential source of funding, and the rail link has been identified as a regional priority by the Regional Transport Board, and the Consortium stressed that government support for the scheme would help to secure this funding. Network Rail's Great Western Route Utilisation Study has recognised the importance of reopening the line between Oxford and Bletchley and envisages utilisation of the Bletchley to Bedford route for freight connections to the Midland Mainline.

The cost of the western section would be reduced by £60-70m if the Chiltern Railways Evergreen 3 project, which proposes a high-quality route from Marylebone to Oxford, goes ahead.

The meeting agreed that further work needs to be conducted by 2013 in order to include the scheme within Network Rail's contractual 2014-2019 Control Period 5 funding for schemes. The Consortium intends to develop a fully-costed programme leading to a 2014 start date.

See link to summary of meeting: Consortium meeting with Lord Adonis on 02/09/2009.

More than 90% of visitors at Chiltern Railways' exhibitions in Oxford, Bicester and Kidlington, held between 17 and 25 April, expressed their overall support for the scheme to upgrade the railway from Oxford to Bicester with a new chord to the London-Birmingham Chiltern route. See link to news item: Plans for a new London to Oxford railway receive overwhelming public support and Chiltern's proposals Evergreen 3 project.

Railfuture wrote to the East West Rail Consortium with the following comments:

Various stakeholders have written to the East West Rail Consortium to comment on the Central Section options to link the East Coast Main line with the Midland Main Line to 'bridge the missing link'.

In March 2009 Herts County Council backed plans to build a rail link between Stevenage and Luton.

Derrick Ashley, executive member for planning at Herts County Council, said: "It's been a long standing ambition to improve the East-West rail links at the council. The link between Luton and Stevenage is a new idea that could provide the missing link. My concern is that anything we do does not impact on the routes in and out of London. And it is not an easy option to build a railway of course - there are a lot environmental issues. We are at a very early stage and in this economic climate where the money would even be found is questionable."

The East West Rail Consortium has issued a new report 'East West Rail Central Section Operating Case', see Report, which looks at the route options to link Milton Keynes / Bletchley with Cambridge, Stansted, Norwich, and Ipswich. The report also proposes service patterns for the whole East West route.

Please read the report, and the covering letter, and send in your comments. Send your comments by post or email as described in the covering letter. Here are some features of the report you may like to comment on:

The disused route betwene Claydon Junction (near to Bicester) and just west of Bletchley, is to be cleared of vegetation over a two week period in anaury so that the track bed can be carefully examined. Patrick O'Sullivan, East-West Rail project manager for the Milton Keynes Partnership, said: "Once the site clearance is completed, the engineers and surveyors will begin their technical surveys and ground investigations to enable the design work of the new track and associated railway engineering works for the western section of the East-West Rail project."