Swindon to Lowestoft

The East/West Rail Route – Update

March 28th 2001 - GB Railways and East West Rail Consortium select Skanska Construction as Infrastructure Development Partner

GB Railways Group Plc and the East West Rail Consortium (EWRC) have announced that they have selected Skanska Construction as preferred bidder to develop the £200 million “missing link” in the East West Rail scheme. This is the first decisive move from the industry to meet the challenge set out by Sir Alastair Morton, Chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority, in his “Agenda” published earlier this month.

The East West Rail scheme involves the creation of a new direct rail route from East Anglia via Milton Keynes to Oxford. Freight and passenger trains will be able to avoid congested lines through London. At present there is no direct passenger rail service linking the "high-technology crescent" of Norwich, Ipswich, Cambridge, Milton Keynes and Oxford. Felixstowe is Britain's largest container port, but most traffic moves inland by road on the A14.

Skanska will develop the project to allow the submission of a Transport & Works Order, and will, if public approval is forthcoming, construct a new railway line, approximately 15 miles in length, between Cambridge and Bedford. This will close the gap in the existing network of track between East Anglia and Oxford. It is envisaged that this new line will be developed by a Special Purpose Company sponsored by GB Railways and Skanska, working closely with the East West Rail Consortium and the SRA. Upon completion, expected in 2006, the line will be operated as part of Railtrack’s national network. Some upgrading will also be necessary to existing lines, which form part of the East West Rail scheme.

Laurence Collins, Chair of the East West Rail Consortium said:

“We are delighted that Skanska, one of Britain’s largest civil engineering companies with a strong portfolio of railway projects, has decided to join us in implementing this important scheme. East West Rail will provide a much-needed link between some of England’s fastest growing communities and our largest container port, and make a major contribution to the strategic rail network. The innovative public private partnership model we will be using reflects and develops the new approaches advocated by the SRA in their recent Strategic Agenda.”

Keith Clarke, Chief Executive Skanska Construction Group said:

“Together with GB Railways and the East West Rail consortium, we look forward to working with the Strategic Rail Authority and Railtrack in a true public private partnership. This will be the first new railway to be promoted since establishment of the new Strategic Rail Authority.”

Tim Clarke, Managing Director, Anglia Railways said:

“East West Rail can strengthen passenger rail links between Anglia and other parts of England. By allowing freight trains to avoid London, it can relieve our mainline into Liverpool Street and may also allow us to run more trains on our Crosslink service, which runs from Chelmsford via West Hampstead and Woking to Basingstoke.

Michael Schabas, Director GB Railways said:

“We have been working with the SRA for over a year to get the structure right for development of this important scheme. Now that the Strategic Agenda is published, setting out the framework for promoting and funding new projects, the way is clear to move forward and get on with delivery.”

East Anglia regional press/railway press queries
Jonathan Denby or Peter Meades, Anglia Railways press office 01473 693929

National press queries
Michael Schabas 07973 241 214
EWRC Contact
Laurence Collins 01473 432 012 or Max Stocker 01473 432 035

Skanska Contact
Cheryl Eaton 01923 423 030

Background Information
1. East West Rail Consortium brings together 30 local authorities and other stakeholders. The Consortium is led by Ipswich Borough Council. Other members include Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils; Aylesbury Vale, Breckland, Cherwell, Forest Heath, Mid Suffolk, Mid Beds, North Herts, South Oxfordshire, South Cambridgeshire, South Norfolk, Suffolk Coastal, Vale of White Horse and Waveney District Councils; Bedford, Great Yarmouth, Swindon, and St Edmundsbury Borough Councils; Cambridge, Norwich and Oxford City Councils; Milton Keynes Council; London Borough of Hackney; Great Yarmouth Port; Port of Felixstowe; Railtrack; SEEDA, and EEDA. See www.eastwestrail.org

2. GB Railways Group Plc operates Anglia Railways, Hull Trains, and GB Railfreight.

Anglia Railways was recently named Train Operator of the Year and is consistently rated among the best performing train operators by the Strategic Rail Authority’s Passenger Performance Measure. Since privatisation, passenger volumes on Anglia have increased almost 50% with new through services and investment of £40 million in trains, stations and car parks.
Hull Trains is Britain’s newest train company, operating fast direct services and offering low fares between London Kings Cross, east Yorkshire and Humberside.

GB Railfreight is the new force in rail freight, and has recently taken delivery of seven new locomotives. GB Railways Group is the first train company, since British Rail was privatised, to operate both freight and passenger services.
3. Skanska Construction ranks amongst the top two civil engineering contractors in Britain, and is part of the worldwide Skanska AB group. Currently, Skanska is completing the 17 km Ashford section of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, a £140 million partnership contract, and has recently been awarded three further CTRL contracts with a value of £470 million. Two of these are being done in joint ventures.

Skanska Construction was selected by GB Railways and EWRC after an international competition conducted in accordance with European Union procurement rules.

See www.Skanska.co.uk

4. Prior to 1968, regular through trains operated between Oxford and Cambridge via Bletchley.

The line between Cambridge and Bedford (via Sandy) was closed in 1968, in the aftermath of the "Beeching" cuts. Part of the route is now used by a “travelling telescope”.

Silverlink operates local passenger services between Bletchley and Bedford.

The line between Bletchley and Oxford is partially disused, although the right of way is intact. Thames Trains operates a service from Oxford to Bicester, and there is a daily freight service from the west as far as Claydon Junction.
GB Railways, through its Anglia Railways subsidiary, operates trains over the Cambridge - Felixstowe line, and from Norwich to Great Yarmouth, which form the eastern ends of the East West Rail scheme.

It is envisaged that the completed East West Rail route, from Oxford to East Anglia, would be used by several passenger operators, providing a range of local and long distance services. This could include other services such as Aylesbury - Milton Keynes which has been proposed by Chiltern Railways as part of its new franchise. The line is also expected to carry substantial freight traffic, which currently uses the congested North London Line.

5. Railtrack have estimated the capital cost of the entire East West Railway scheme at £237 million.

6. See map above.

7. GB Railways and the East West Rail Consortium also await decisions by the SRA, on two further applications for funding under the Rail Passenger Partnership programme, which will deliver early benefits from the East West Rail scheme. These are:

Phase I of the East West Rail scheme would see the Bicester - Bletchley line re-opened with an hourly passenger service between Oxford and Bletchley (Milton Keynes) commencing in winter 2002. Currently there is no rail service between Oxford and Milton Keynes. The new service is expected to attract motorists off the congested single carriageway A421.

The Anglia Service Improvement Package includes enhancements to services on several routes served by Anglia Railways, and establishment of a new hourly direct passenger service between Norwich and Cambridge. Currently most passengers between these two cities must change trains at Ely.
For further details about this press release and the proposed new services, please ring the Hull Trains press office on 01473 693929 and ask for Jonathan Denby or Peter Meades. Alternatively, contact them by email
The first idea of when all the plans are likely to become reality. The timescale is

Upgraded construction in 18 months (early 2001)
First rail service in 30 months (April 2002)
Whole scheme complete in 5 years (Summer 2004)

Although described as primarily a passenger line members of the consortium include EWS (Freight) and the Ports of Felixstowe, Ipswich and Yarmouth.

Other facts included;

Most of the route will be two tracks
There will be two through passenger trains per hour – local service (all stations) less sure
Railtrack committed to put in place Sound barriers / double glazing to homes affected?
We should view the TGV (French Railways) as the model for environmental / safety and residential property protection

You may be interested to learn that a majority of residents voted for the inner route in Bedford with either a forwards in/ reverse out from Midland Road, or the re-opening of the old St Johns Station as a main line link with a rapid transit link to Midland Road connection.

Latest News


ALL NEW DEVELOPMENTS WILL BE PLACED HERE WITH THE DATE OF THE UPDATE. THE RELEVANT WEBPAGE WILL BE UPDATED AT A LATER DATE.

Friday 12th January 2001: The Strategic Rail Authority, in clarifying their current position with regard to Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) and other matters associated with this project, issued the following statement:

"We have discussed with the Consortium and GB [Railways] the ways in which the East West [Rail] scheme might be taken forward, including the possibility of SPV structures, but have not agreed to support any particular approach nor agreed any funding package for the scheme. We are, however, considering the RPP applications for the Western End and Norwich - Cambridge that GB resubmitted to us late last year. It should therefore be understood, as has always been the case, that any development work done on the route at this stage is entirely at the risk of the Consortium, GB and bidders."



Tuesday 16th January 2001: The Consortium recognises this position and has always understood the risks in developing the scheme. The statement therefore underlines the importance of the political and financial support the Consortium has received over the last 6 years from it's members. In particular the work of the 2 Regional Development Agencies (EEDA and SEEDA) and Government Offices (Go-East and GOSE) in attracting Planning and Government recognition of the value of the scheme has been vital. That DETR mentions the scheme specifically in two 'Transport 2010' Regional Factsheets is a demonstration of how effective the work of the Consortium has been to date.

The Consortium has worked hard with the SRA and with OPRAF, it's predecessor, to deliver the scheme into the national operating railway. It is now for the SRA to recognise this extensive Public and Government body of support and convert it's own stated support for the scheme into financial reality by agreeing the two RPP Bids as presented without further delay.

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