East –West Rail; the Spine of the O2C Arc?
Getting around the O2C Arc can be difficult! Try travelling between Oxford and Cambridge; it’s probably best to go through London and may take you the best of 3 hours (sometimes more!). Fortunately all this may be changing. The roads between Cambridge and Bedford have been up-graded (in parts!) and the East-West rail development, between Oxford and Milton Keynes, increasingly is receiving attention in the press, and in community discussions.
The impact of the rail development is likely to be very significant. The pressure on labour and housing markets in Oxford will be released; growth in and around Milton Keynes will receive a boost; and travelling around the Oxford to Cambridge Arc will be easier and smoother. The ‘East-West Grand Plan’ is important to ensure that the O2C Arc can act in unison and can become one of the world’s most important innovation hotspots!
Source: CountryLife,May10th2007.
Aylesbury Vale eco-town could fund Oxford rail link
18 January, 2008 - By Joey Gardiner of the BuildingMagazine
Planned Buckinghamshire development could contribute £15m to £150m East-West railway. Plans to use part of the profit from building an eco-town in Buckinghamshire to help pay for a rail link between Oxford and Milton Keynes are being discussed. If given the go-ahead, the development of a 5,000-home eco-town in the Aylesbury Vale, north of Winslow, could contribute about £15m towards the £150m East-West rail link, which would run through the town. The proposal for the eco-town is from developer Fox Land, and is one of a number of developments on the route of the proposed line that could help pay construction costs. Jane Hamilton, chief operating officer of housing growth delivery body, the Milton Keynes Partnership, said: “The proposals for Winslow are one of a number that are relevant to the development of the East-West rail link. The eco-town proposal is for the local authority to decide, but the growth plans for Milton Keynes are dependent on the East-West rail going ahead.” Hamilton said a report on the feasibility and funding for the link would be published within a month. Regeneration agency English Partnerships is leading a consortium of local authorities interested in the rail link, which they say can be funded without central government cash. Geoff Lansbury, director at Fox Land, said that he was in talks with EP and the central government over the eco-town proposal and the possibility of it contributing £3,000 per house to the rail line. He said: “We think we’re unique in offering the possibility of an eco-town helping the provision of major rail infrastructure.” Local MP John Bercow has raised concerns over whether the eco-town would be appropriate for the area.
What’s your view?
East-West Rail Link
This is a splendid idea, but:
1. It was closed because it was not economically viable. I really don't think that is any different now. An air link was tried (again) recently and that failed after a few months because that wasn't viable either.
2. People who keep drawing a proposed railway line where the old one used to go should really get out there and take a look. Sandy is easy to get to. Are you proposing to demolish all the houses and businesses that have been built (for quite some time) where the old line used to run? Where are you going to move the Radio Observatory to when you reopen the line at Lord's Bridge? etc, etc.
...there is a strong business and operating case
A new report, commissioned and funded by Milton Keynes Partnership on behalf of the East West Rail Consortium, has confirmed that there is a strong business and operating case for a new network of railway lines and train services linking Milton Keynes to Oxford, Aylesbury and Bedford by 2012.
You may read more at http://www.oxford2cambridge.net/node/65