East West Rail Company (EWR) is proposing a nationally significant infrastructure project intended to deliver a new rail connection between Oxford and Cambridge.
Within Bedford Borough, the current proposals include:
These proposals are still emerging and have not yet been finalised. You can find out more about the proposal by visiting the EWR website.
East West Rail is being progressed through a Development Consent Order (DCO), which is the planning process used for nationally significant infrastructure projects.
Through this process:
The Council will participate as a statutory consultee throughout this process. Residents and businesses will not be statutory consultees, but we encourage anyone who lives, works, or studies in Bedford Borough to respond to EWR's consultations opportunities.
The most recent non-statutory consultation (Consultation 3) took place between 14 November 2024 and 24 January 2025.
On 19 November 2025, EWR published its “You Said, We Did” report, setting out how feedback from that consultation had been considered.
Following publication of that report:
EWR has indicated the following anticipated next stages:
These dates are indicative and subject to change.
Bedford Borough Council recognises the strategic importance of improved rail connectivity. However, the Council has consistently challenged elements of the current proposals where they would have significant impacts on residents and communities.
The Council’s role is to:
Residents can:
The Council will continue to provide updates as further information becomes available.
East West Rail briefs local councillors through a set of local representative groups. Read about these groups and their meetings on the East West Rail website.
Bedford Borough Council has been holding engagement sessions with specific residents that will be impacted by demolitions, as well as open (borough-wide) engagement sessions to hear directly from residents about the emerging EWR proposals.
The purpose of these sessions are to:
Sessions facilitated by Bedford Borough Council do not replace EWR’s statutory consultation process. Residents are strongly encouraged to respond directly to EWR when its consultation opens and to copy communities@bedfrord.gov.uk into communications to inform us.
East West Rail has indicated a preferred alignment (Route E), however the project has not yet been submitted for Development Consent Order (DCO) approval.
Further consultation is expected in spring 2026 before a final DCO application is submitted. The route and detailed designs are not formally approved until the DCO process is completed and a decision is made by the Secretary of State.
EWR’s current proposals include expanding parts of the railway corridor to accommodate six tracks.
Bedford Borough Council has formally challenged the justification for this expansion and continues to seek clarity on whether alternative designs could reduce impacts on residents and businesses.
Some properties fall within the amended safeguarding boundary and have been identified as potentially being subject to demolition.
The Council has formally opposed the demolition of properties in the Poets and Ashburnham Road areas.
Residents who believe their property may be affected should:
EWR publishes safeguarding maps on its website. If you are unsure:
Residents living on or near the safeguarding boundary are encouraged to seek clarity as early as possible.
The Council does not determine compensation. Instead, it is governed by national legislation.
EWR is responsible for providing information about:
Bedford Borough Council can signpost residents to appropriate information and ensure concerns are raised with EWR.
The Council is:
Residents can contact communities@bedford.gov.uk to ensure their concerns are captured.
EWR’s proposals include relocating main station parking to the Queens Park area.
Residents have raised concerns about:
The Council has requested further clarity and impact assessments from EWR.
Residents have raised concerns about:
The Council has requested detailed modelling and mitigation plans from EWR. Further information is expected to be shared as consultation approaches.
Concerns have been raised about:
The Council has requested assurances that adequate replacement parking and emergency access will be in place before works begin.
Residents have raised concerns regarding:
EWR will be required to publish environmental assessments as part of the DCO process. The Council will scrutinise these carefully.
The DCO is the planning process used for nationally significant infrastructure projects.
The expected stages are:
Residents will have the opportunity to submit formal representations during the consultation and examination stages.
You can:
The Council encourages residents to submit their own responses to EWR as part of the formal consultation process.
East West Rail project information is available at: www.eastwestrail.co.uk
The Council will continue to publish updates on this webpage as further information becomes available.
In accordance with our commitment to be transparent about our dealings with East West Rail Company, notes and agendas from meetings are included here. All documents are PDFs.
A range of public meetings, attended by local residents, have taken place in Bedford to discuss the East West Railway Company’s recent Route Update Announcement.
The meetings have been hosted by Mayor Tom Wootton.
Notes from the meetings are included here. All documents are PDFs:
Documents from internal and other Council meetings regarding EWR. All documents are PDFs:
East West Rail issued a public consultation on 14 November 2024, running to 24 January 2025. Bedford Borough Council made a formal response, which was approved by Full Council.
Read more about the consultation at www.eastwestrail.co.uk/consultation2024.
East West Rail issued an update on its plans and the feedback it received in November 2025.
Read our assessment of EWR response to Bedford Borough Council’s recommendations (PDF) for how EWR’s updated plans relate to the feedback we provided in the non-statutory consultation completed in January 2025.
In May 2023, the East West Rail Company (EWRCo) published an update on its proposals. For the first time, the proposals showed a single preferred route on the section between Bedford and Cambridge.
You can read more about this on www.eastwestrail.co.uk/routeupdate.
An East West Rail briefing was held on 6 February 2024 in the Council Chamber.
View the presentations and documents (PDFs):
Please send any follow-up questions to rail@bedford.gov.uk.
Or write to: Transport Policy, Borough Hall, Cauldwell Street, Bedford MK42 9AP.
East West Rail (EWR) undertook a consultation on its proposals for the route its railway will take through Bedford Borough. The consultation closed on 9 June 2021.
After consideration of all the EWR proposals and listening to residents’ views, the Council formulated its response which was debated at an informal meeting of Full Council on 2 June 2021.
Our formal response to the East West Rail consultation can be found here.
Bedford Borough Council commissioned SLC Rail, specialists in rail projects, to conduct a technical review of this section of the route in response to EWR's current consultation proposing six tracks to run north of the station.
The report looked at options around the East West Rail route north of Bedford Midland (PDF) has shown that the service could run effectively using just the existing four lines, and avoid the need to demolish any homes in the Poets area.
We held two virtual public meetings to hear views from residents and businesses on what they wished to see in the Council’s response to the 2021 East West Rail consultation. These meetings were held on:
Recordings of the public meetings can be found here: (12 May) and here (13 May).
We asked members of the public to submit questions for the meetings, not all of which could be answered during the meetings.
You can view questions from the public here.
Written answers to all questions have been provided. We have grouped the questions into 12 categories according to their subject matter. Answers to the questions can be found here:
Each of the categories will be uploaded as they become available.
You can view the presentation by the Chief Officer for Planning, Infrastructure and Development in relation to the East West Rail Consultation as delivered at the recent EWR public meetings.
EWR carried out its consultation into route corridor options for the section of railway between Bedford and Cambridge in early 2019. You can read our response to that consultation and view technical documents here:
You can also print out and read the East West Rail information leaflet (PDF).