John Henderson, Railfuture East Anglia branch co-ordinator for the Ox-Cam campaign has provided the following news update.

We ended 2011 with the fantastic news that the Western Section of the East West Rail project is included in the government's Infrastructure Plan. At the same time, the Chancellor's Autumn Statement provided most of the funding for the Bicester to Milton Keynes section on the condition the balance is found from 'local contributions'. These local contributions are likely to come from the Community Infrastructure Levy which is paid by housing developers to the appropriate local authority.

The Oxford to Bicester section of the route is currently being developed by Chiltern Railways as part of their Evergreen 3 Project. Chiltern are upgrading this section so that it can carry trains towards London (via High Wycombe) and on the East West route. Unfortunately, the 2011 public inquiry into the project recommended against the project. Nevertheless, the Minister for Rail wrote that she is minded to approve, and a new public enquiry opens in May 2012.

Returning to the Bicester to Milton Keynes section: once funding is secured, the project will appear in the government's High Level Output Specification - expected in July 2012. This means that the project will be included in Network Rail's Strategic Business Plan (SBR). The SBR will be assessed by the Office For Rail Regulation. Full authorisation from the ORR is expected in 2014; then the project will be handed over to Network Rail to undertake the engineering and construction of the line which is expected to take three years. There is no firm news on which train companies will provide services over the line, but the train paths (slots) may well be shared between two or more operators.

In the meantime, we can expect some modest moves towards the goal. Last year, old signalling equipment near Bletchley was replaced by new equipment that is designed to handle trains to and from the Oxford direction. And at Oxford itself, approval has been given for new tracks north of the main station. The new tracks will ease the flow of passenger and freight trains through the station, including the future trains towards Milton Keynes and Cambridge.

Mention of Cambridge means that it's time to cover the Bedford to Cambridge area. Of course, to complete the Oxford to Cambridge rail link, the gap across Bedfordshire will need to be filled with a new line. Railfuture, The East West Rail Consortium, and the East West Rail All Party Parliamentary Group of MPs have all committed themselves to it. EWRC published a preliminary report on this Central Section in 2009, but things have moved on since then, and EWRC and Railfuture have started new studies.

We hope that some of you have seen Railfuture's impressive 2-metre high Display Stand, promoting the Ox-Cam link, which has been at events and public places including as Cambridge Central Library.

To our supporters who are not actually Railfuture members, we now have a facility for you to join online using PayPal. As a special offer all doing so (within the EU) will receive a free copy of our book Britain's Growing Railway (RRP £9.95).

Chiltern Railways has worked with Natural England to resolve a problem that risked derailing the new £130 million second rail link between London Marylebone and Oxford, which is a crucial element of the Oxford-Cambridge link.

The inspector's report from the Transport and Works Act public inquiry into the proposed link raised concerns about the habitat for bats in Wolvercote tunnel, to the east of Oxford. It had been claimed that additional trains passing through the tunnel, and at higher speed, would increase the risk of harm to the bats and see roosts in the tunnel "rendered unusable."

Chiltern Railways has agreed to install a ground-breaking lighting system within the tunnel to warn bats of a train's arrival. The Secretary of State for transport, Justine Greening, is now expected to give approval for the scheme in January 2012, allowing the works to upgrade the railway line to take place during 2012, with the new service opening in 2013 or 2014.

News item: http://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/news/9419694.Solution_in_sight_to_solve_rail_link_bats_bother/.

Shortly after Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne finished presenting his autumn statement to Parliament, the East Weat Rail Consortium published the following letter from the Department for Transport.

"...the Government is committed to developing the new East West rail link between Oxford, Bicester, Aylesbury, Milton Keynes and Bedford, for which the East West Consortium has demonstrated a strong case.

"Network Rail has been asked to develop the scheme further with the Consortium and other stakeholders. Subject to a satisfactory local contribution to the cost of the project and a satisfactory business case, the Government will announce how it will take forward this scheme in summer 2012.

"Provided the conditions have been met, Network Rail will then work in conjunction with the East West Rail Consortium, to deliver the scheme set out by the Consortium in its November 2011 Prospectus. The Government will provide funding to Network Rail, subject to the Consortium meeting a share of the costs, as set out in the Prospectus."

The Consortium's web-site said it is "delighted with the news that the western section of East West Rail received a significant endorsement from the Chancellor."

Railfuture is obviously also delighted but advises people to read the DfT's letter very carefully indeed as there are several caveats, and the scheme cannot be considered 100% certain yet.

See: EWRL news story.

See: Railfuture press release on major rail schemes announced by the Chancellor.

See: News story on Railfuture web-site.

The East West Rail Consortium efforts to re-open the Oxford-Cambridge Rail Link received another boost with the publication of an economic appraisal from a leading economic forecaster, Oxford Economics.

The report considers that economic benefits of £38m pa will accrue from the rail link and will provide a major boost to the travelling public, business and provide a stimulates to growth. Theresa Villiers has already suggested a bid for funds in the next round of Dft funding should be made.

Front page news in the Eastern Daily Press, Great Yarmouth MP, Brandon Lewis, recognised the potential to help the re-generation of the town, whilst other Norfolk MPs contacted, Elizabeth Truss, Chloe Smith and George Freeman, were enthusiastic in their support seeing the huge benefits the scheme would bring to Norfolk. Visit Norwich and Norfolk Chamber of Commerce see the benefits the rail link will bring.

MPs on the Bedford to Oxford section of the route continue to support the re-opening of the line. Tony Baldry, MP for Banbury and Bicester, has warmly welcomed the report as he has longed pressed for the case for the line. Meanwhile, Iian Stewart, MP for Milton Keynes SW, is seeking to re-establish an MPs support committee. The Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership and South Midlands LEP have confirmed their support. All councils along the line support re-opening.

Rail Magazine (24/08/2011 issue) had a two-page feature on the report and Modern Railways (Aug 2011) also had a report.

It is good to see the views of Railfuture, the Oxon and Bucks Rail Action Committee and the user groups are being validated. Surely after over 25 years of campaigning, the Dft will recognised this rail link has a major role to play in the national rail network.

The Bletchley Flyover, which allows trains from Bedrord to cross over the very busy West Coast Mainline just south of Bletchley station on their way to Oxford (and vice versa) is crucial for the Oxford-Cambridge rall link.

The flyover and relaid line to Newton Longville has not seem much activity in the last year or two. However, in 2011 there have been at least three Network Rail test trains that have crossed the viaduct and proceeded to the end of the line. On Tuesday 9th August a lone workman was walking along the flyover and a short while later the 2-car former Class 150 track recording train made two traversals along the line, presumably one for each of the two tracks. This follows several days when workmen appeared to be examining the line. Previously on Friday 9th July the class-37 hauled longer test train had also visited the line, as had another train in January 2011. This seems excessive given that there is no freight traffic on the line, so it may mean that traffic is planned.

East West Rail have released their final reports on the GRIP 4 Outline Business Case on the section of the rail link between Oxford and Bedford, which shows a Benefit-Cost Ratio of 6.3.

Both the summary document and the full Business Case Executive Summary can be viewed in our Documents section.

Network Rail appear confident that their plan to build a rail flyover at Hitchin will be approved following the public inquiry, which ended in late May 2010.

They produced a closing statement which stated: "All landowners whose interests would be compulsorily acquired have either withdrawn their objections or are imminently expected to; or have not appeared to pursue them. NR's assertion that no farm would go out of business has not been challenged. The objections of the statutory authorities have also been withdrawn.

"Existing long distance train journey times decrease with the scheme. In the May 2011 emerging timetable an aggregate 20 minutes of pathing time will be saved for 20 long distance ECML services with trains saving half a minute to 2 minutes. These savings generate £800k per annum of benefits using the DfT appraisal guidance.

"The Hitchin grade separation benefit:cost ratio has been calculated at 5.5 over 60 years."

A summary and the full Network Rail statement can be viewed in our Documents section.

A public inquiry into a new railway flyover at Hitchin started this week, the Hitchin Comet has reported.

The new Cambridge Junction flyover will allow frequency and journey time improvements on the East Coast Main Line and could be used by future Oxford to Cambridge trains running via Bedford. An independent inspector will examine the evidence submitted by Network Rail, supporters and objectors at the open inquiry at The Spirella Ballroom in Letchworth Garden City.

The new track, partly on embankment and partly on viaduct, would take the Hitchin to Cambridge line over the East Coast Main Line and the work is scheduled to take 27 months from September 2011.

All three major parties have said they back the East West rail plan to link the East of England with Bedford and Oxford, according to the BBC 2010 Election web site.

Baroness Shirley Williams joined Lord Adonis in supporting the plans to link Norwich and Ipswich with Bedford and Luton and beyond, while a Conservative spokesperson said they would ensure "schemes like the East-West rail link deliver the best possible value for money."

Full story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/england/8656074.stm.

On 12 March 2010 the South East of England Partnership decided to review funding options with a view to including East West Rail in the Delivering a Sustainable Transport System (DaSTS) Interim Report which will be presented to the Regional Transport Board in June 2010.

The Transport Board of the South East England Partnership has a key role in advising Government on significant transport issues in the South East. It is responsible for the Regional Transport Strategy (RTS), which ensures transport projects in the region complement and support sustainable development. The Board is made up of county and unitary councillors and other organisations such as the Highways Agency and Network Rail.

Transport Board report: http://www.se-partnershipboard.org.uk/upload/files/rtb_100312_agenda_item_8_east_west_rail.pdf.

For cost reasons it had previously been intended to retain the single track in the narrow Wolvercote Tunnel on the railway line between Oxford and Bicester. However, on 15th January 2010 the DfT announced that funding for twin tracking (involving the movement of the track from the centre to one side) and gauge clearance of the tunnel to W12+ gauge so that modern 9' 6" "high cube" container freight as part of its support for the Evergreen 3 project. This work is an essential ingredient for use of the route for long distance container freight. Its value will only be fully realised when the rest of the line to Bletchley and Bedford is restored.

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."