East West Rail – How to Save Billions of Pounds

We are calling for an urgent independent review of the East West Rail proposed ‘Route E’ option

The East West Rail Company is still determined to run the East West Rail project through the centre of Bedford. This ‘Route E’ option, opposed by many, will lead to the destruction of homes and travel congestion in Bedford and a disaster for rural communities and the countryside north of the town.

CPRE Bedfordshire has written to the Secretary of State for Transport calling for a review of the East West Rail proposals. You can read the letter:

Letter the the Secretary of State for Transport, The Rt Hon Heidi Alexander MP.

Route B – saving billions

Opting for Route B would still be cheaper. In construction costs alone it could save at least 1 billion pounds.

The Route B option would facilitate a Bedford Parkway station, as originally suggested by Network Rail. The southern Midland Mainline and Thameslink connection would reduce the traffic congestion within Bedford town centre and present better transport options for Universal United Kingdom Park.

Where is Bedford Parkway?

Bedford will be the only major town or city along the East West Rail route that will not have a Parkway Station. Oxford will have Oxford North Parkway, Milton Keynes will have Bletchley and Cambridge will have Cambridge South.

The East West Rail Company and those promoting the Bedford town centre route seem to be ignoring the adverse environmental impact of their route choice.

The Bedford town centre Route E will cause:

• Development chaos across the town that will last for years.
• The demolition of around 70 private homes in the town, causing great personal hardship, and a further 30 commercial buildings.
• Increased pollution to central Bedford and the approaches due to a huge increase in traffic.
• Further congestion and travel delays on the surrounding, already slow, town road network.
• An increase in noise pollution due to the additional and higher speed train movements through the town particularly in the southern part of Bedford.
• Destruction of the North Bedfordshire countryside.

To date, no detailed Environmental Impact Assessment has been undertaken comparing the Bedford town route to the southern “Parkway Station” alternative.

Saving on Construction Costs

The chosen route faces two major construction considerations with costly implications.

• Taking the line through the town will require millions of pounds to clear the route and reconfigure the existing station. It requires the acquisition and demolition of around 100 properties, the relocation of St John’s station and new access to Bedford station with a new town centre multi storey carpark. These all involve considerable costs.
• Crossing the hilly terrain north of Bedford requires a number of hugely expensive viaducts and some very deep and extensive cuttings, for example through the Clapham Hills and beyond.

The southern Route B follows a much flatter terrain with fewer and cheaper viaducts and cuttings. Consultants for campaign group against the north route, Bedford For a Re Consultation (BFARe), have calculated that by using the southern Route B, or a modification of it, the rail line construction costs alone would be around £1 billion lower.

The BFARe website has useful visuals showing the proposed Route E cutting through the countryside.

What is the cost and benefit? 

There have been calls for the Business Plan for East West Rail to be made public.

Richard Fuller (MP for North Bedfordshire) asked in Spring 2026 whether a Business Plan would be available prior to the planning application to the government. The response was that the “Business Case for East West Rail will progress as East West Rail Company continues to develop and refine the project. The Full Business Case will be submitted for approval and then published, once planning consent has been secured, which is standard for this type of project.”

This suggests that there will be no opportunity for stakeholders to consider or respond to the cost benefit of different routes prior to the final planning submission to the government.

A transport project or a housing project?

The northern Route E would take the rail line through rural parts of north Bedfordshire.

There are concerns that this route is being promoted to allow future major housing developments (despite the already planned new town at Tempsford to the east of the county). A new town development of 6,000 houses (Twinwoods Garden Village) in open countryside, to the north of Bedford, was put forward for the last Bedford Borough Local Plan draft but dismissed due to transport issues.

The northern Route E would potentially allow for a, not yet officially proposed, Bedford North Station to service this area.

It has to be asked, are there other commercial arrangements for the expensive and disrupting Route E, that are not in the public arena?

The Way Forward – An Independent Review

An independent review should determine how and why the East West Rail Company chose the northern route and also consider the cheaper southern Route B option. The review should compare the costs of both, and include a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment of the two alternatives.

Time is running out with the application for a Development Consent Order expected to be submitted in 2027.

With Government budgets under pressure, it is extremely important to ensure that the most cost effective and environmentally sustainable route for the Bedford to Cambridge section of the East West Rail project is chosen.

Taking the East West Rail through Bedford will be an economic and environmental disaster. The Government should seriously consider the cheaper and more effective southern route option.

Supporting the concept of East West Rail

CPRE supports the balanced, transparent and environmentally ambitious strategy for the future development of England. It calls on government to work within the area’s land and water system capacity and deliver improved rail transport across the Oxford Cambridge Arc that the East West Rail project sits within.

The East West Rail would close a gap in the national rail network and offer the potential to remove car and freight traffic from the Oxford Cambridge Arc road network and reduce pressure for new road construction. However, there are still many issues – the route from Bedford to Cambridge being a significant one.

We do not want to see East West Rail destroying and congesting the centre of Bedford or used as an opportunity to urbanise the countryside and farmland across a huge area of north of Bedford.