Rail bosses have shared their ‘You Said, We Did - Autumn Update’ about the East West Rail (EWR) project this week, the latest publication on the multi-billion pound scheme that is linking Oxford to Cambridge with Bedford at its centre.
Bedford Borough Council is not responsible for EWR, as the East West Rail Company (EWR Co) is a government-owned company. However, the Council is sharing key information about the project on its own website, including EWR’s consultations, notes and agendas from meetings between EWR and the Council, and public meetings by the Mayor. These can be found here.
- Here are some of the key takeaways from the document, which can be read in full on the Council’s website here.
- 6,218 people took part in an EWR consultation between November 2024 and January 2025; this document is the first time EWR has publicly shared its findings in detail
- There is no mention of EWR deviating from its “northern” route to any of the alternative routes which would go south of Bedford
- EWR has new and “more ambitious” design proposals to remodel Bedford Midland station. These include
- Improvements to sustainable and active travel
- The new multi-storey car park would be accessed from accessed from Ford End Road instead of Ashburnham Road
- A new pedestrian plaza in front of the station.
- Highways works may now include
- Realigning the A6 Great Ouse Way “to help the design fit better in the surrounding area and reduce local impacts”
- Abandoning plans for permanent turning heads and cul-de-sac arrangements impacting Chaucer Road, Spenser Road, Milton Road and Sidney Road.
- The current Marston Vale Line, between Bedford and Bletchley, is now likely to lose four intermediate stations. Stations will remain at Woburn Sands, Ridgmont, Lidlington, Stewartby, with Bedford St Johns at a new location
- This was despite an almost-identical number of people who took part in the consultation saying that they would prefer to retain all of the existing stations
- The Stewartby station would be moved and expanded to serve the proposed Universal leisure resort
- More details of this are due in 2026.
- A multi-storey car park is planned for the new Bedford St Johns station, on railway land between Ampthill Road and Cauldwell Street bridges. EWR still needs to do more checks to see if they can stay in place while the track is lowered.
The controversial plans to demolish an additional 53 homes and businesses in Ashburnham Road are covered over two paragraphs in the report.
EWR state; “Our updated plans now include additional land at Ashburnham Road for the construction compound, which would allow for the safer and more efficient construction of the upgrades to Bedford station, reducing our construction programme significantly. This means we could reduce disruption in Bedford town centre caused by construction by up to three years.
“We recognise that this is a significant change to what we shared at our most recent consultation. We fully understand that the updated plans may cause concern for residents and businesses on Ashburnham Road who are now within the boundary for the project and so could be impacted, and we do not make these changes lightly. We’re committed to engaging with those who could be impacted openly and honestly to explain the reasons behind the changes, to listen to their views, and to work with them to understand and, wherever possible, reduce the impacts.”