Between 14 November 2024 and 24 January 2025, East West Rail (EWR) ran a third non-statutory consultation on the proposal for a new rail route between Oxford and Cambridge with a link to Milton Keynes.
EWR is a proposal to effectively re-establish a potentially strategic route between the two major university towns of Oxford and Cambridge. The old Varsity line, as it was known, was closed in 1966. Since then, significant redevelopment along the route has taken place, especially east of Bedford. The reintroduction is intended to support growth between the various ‘knowledge centres’ along the route and thus support growth in the economy as a whole.
The route is divided into a number of subsections which are currently at different stages of implementation. Coming east from Oxford the first section to Bicester is already in use as a two-track railway with services provided by trains between London Marylebone and Oxford. The second section from Bicester to Bletchley was a railway with some sections in use, for occasional freight, and others mothballed. This has been comprehensively rebuilt again as a two-track railway and should start providing a regular train service from Oxford to Milton Keynes later in 2025. It will also open up opportunities for freight services from the port of Southampton to inland distribution depots around Northampton.