Rail campaigners have welcomed news that the Government has approved funding for a new railway line linking Oxford with the east of the country.
The East West Rail link will restore rail services from Oxford to Bedford, linking Oxford with Reading, Didcot, Bicester, Aylesbury and Milton Keynes. Oxfordshire County Council, part of the East West Rail consortium, said the rail project would be a major boost for businesses and residents in the county, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire.
The project was confirmed in Chancellor George Osborne's autumn statement on Tuesday. MP Osborne included the rail link in the National Infrastructure Plan, and the line could be up and running by 2017. If so, it will be the first railway in England to be reopened since the 1960s. But the £270m project is dependent on a 'sound business case' and significant local contributions to costs. It is hoped the scheme will reduce pressure on the A34, and aid economic growth in the Science Vale and Bicester areas.
Hugh Jaeger, the Thames Valley spokesman for passenger group Railfuture, said: "We've been been campaigning for the East West rail link since the mid-1990s, so we're delighted that it's finally been approved. We've had enough of studies that have consistently shown it's worth doing. We know that this is a busy passenger corridor where there is plenty of demand. It represents fantastic value for money for the taxpayer, as research has predicted £6 returned for every £1 spent."
Completing the full line would mean restoring the line all the way to Cambridge, which is not part of the Government's proposals. But Hugh Jaeger said: "This is not just a passenger line, it can be used for freight too. Once it reaches Cambridge, that opens up the link to Felixstowe and Harwich which gives us huge potential for taking freight off the roads.
"Why 2017 when the route is already a railway? Railway works will stop during the Olympics and Paralympics next year and rail engineers will have less work to do – how about making a start on the works then when the machinery is under-utilised?"
Councillor David Robertson, the deputy leader of Oxfordshire County Council, also welcomed the news. "It is so rare for new railway lines to be constructed and especially in a time of severe economic restraint," said Cllr Robertson. "This decision today is a local reversal of one of the famous cuts to railway lines that happened in the UK between during and after the 1950s and 1960s.
"There are many people who are absolutely overjoyed. This will mean less traffic on our roads and opens up the possibility of yet more freight being put on to the railways. It means Oxfordshire will have rail links with neighbouring areas to the east once more and it means our county becomes more open to investment.
"I look forward to work beginning on this railway line being brought back to life and to seeing it go from strength to strength in future times. This is one of those moments when many people who have put in long hours of hard work can now feel rewarded in the knowledge that they have achieved something that will be of great value to local people for generations to come."
