Finally East West Rail announced the preferred route alignment for the Bedford to Cambridge section of the line. The preference is Route Alignment 1A (Tempsford Option), with a station at Cambourne North, the line going through Highfields Caldecote and several other villages, before approaching Cambridge South Station.
The East West Rail – Oxford to Cambridge
The route selection was part of the Life Sci Growth Package that the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced yesterday. I summarised and outlined the main points of his announcement here.
As already written in previous blog articles here and here, the East West Rail (EWR) Company was created by Government to deliver its proposed Oxford to Cambridge rail link. This was the former varsity line where much of it would be updates to existing lines. The Bedford to Cambridge section is however a completely new route which proposes to go through South Cambridgeshire villages to come into Cambridge South Station.
The new route is the curved sections in the route diagram below. This does not make sense visually and looks like the longest route option.
East West Rail – Cambourne to Cambridge
This is the section that is most concerning to Caldecote Ward residents. The non-formal consultation in March 2021 considered nine (9) alignments. EWR showed preference for Route alignments 1 and 9, both of which traverse Caldecote Ward.
My response to that consultation is here.
So the final route selection in this announcement did not come as a complete surprise, though still a shock. Route Alignment 1A – the Tempsford Option (RA-1A)is what East West Rail is going for.
The following villages are affected, all at different levels of impact:
- Cambourne
- Knapwell
- Bourn Airfield
- Highfields Caldecote
- Hardwick
- Toft
- Comberton
- Haslingfield
- Harston
- Little Shelford
East West Rail – Documentation
EWR say that since the 2021 consultation, they have undertaken further development work on the options by using the feedback received from the consultation. It states that RA-1A provides the best option for the majority of its length. The analysis also showed them that a station near Tempsford (part of Route Alignment 9) would have greater advantages compared to a station at St Neots South (part of Route Alignment 1).
There’s a lot of documentation to read as the full details of the East West Rail route update here shows. This will take time but in the meantime, those interested can start with the these:
The Route Update Report is here. Specifically focus on the Connecting Bedford and Cambourne – choosing the preferred alignment chapter from page 97 onwards.
The Economic and Technical Report is here. This is the report that makes the case for both the economic and technical case for the option selection. There is an appendix here that goes with this report. It gives more details of the analysis done – lots of tables there.
Recognising that there is potential blight to home owners, East West Rail have come up with a scheme for those that may need to sell their property. The Need to Sell Property Scheme Guide is here.
Consultation Feedback on the March 2021 non-formal consultation is comprehensive. It has been split into 13 (thirteen) chapters and 20 (twenty) appendices which are in this list here.
Conclusion
The final route selection for the East West Rail Bedford to Cambridge Section is now out. Caldecote is affected as Route Alignment 1 is the preference. However EWR claim to have done lots more analysis and feedback from consultation to revise the proposal.
Watch this space for more updates after I’ve had a chance to read and digest the documents.