East West Rail Bedford to Cambridge Line updated 17 May 2021

for latest update click here

East West Rail have released their consultation on the Bedford to Cambridge section.

Although their document has a number of options only two of them cover the route from Cambourne to Cambridge.

A separate re-appraisal of a potential route into Cambridge from the North (a preference of the Parish Council) has been given several pages in their detailed route analysis document available on-line.

Their now-preferred route is via a Cambourne North station,,,, going parallel to the A428 and crossing over near Highfields Caldecote and then as an embanked line down between Toft and Comberton (near the layby) past Little Eversden, to the south west of the Royston Lane A603 It goes over A603 with a viaduct before heading to the south of Haslingfield, cutting through Chapel Hill to join the Kings Cross line near Harston.

• A detailed and large consultation pdf from EWR is here EAS060_ConDoc_310321_Digital_MASTER-1
• The short form consultation (as per the posted one) is here Summary-Document
• A overview  of the near to Comberton section is here using route 9  Consultation-Document-Clapham-Green-to-The-Eversdens
  and the alternative (to preferred route 9 below) is route 1  Route-Alignment-1-section-between-Croxton-and-Little-Eversden
• The technical (and it is technical) report appendix which includes the northern approach evaluation
  in section 2  is here Consultation-Technical-Report-Appendices-A-D-F-v2
• you should get your formal consultation booklet in the post from EWR within two weeks.

On-Line consultation

EWR have released their online consultation rooms where you can see their proposals in more detail. Click here to visit it or here to go to the area near Comberton An especially usefull addition is the online interactive map – choose the Clapham to Eversdens one !

Here’s a short cut View the Clapham Green to The Eversdens interactive map.

In addition there are Geographically based public events. The first public event, or webinar, in your area will give you an overview of the project, the consultation and a summary of the EWR proposals in the named area followed by a question and answer session. The second public event, or webinar, in May might give you greater detail of what most interests local communities in your area such as the environment, cost and the benefits of the project, followed by a question and answer session.

EWR webinars in May

It is hoped that the Parish Council will hold a consultation in May to allow you to voice comments prior to submitting your response.

Latest Update

NEW 20th May

Live chat public events

EWR will be holding weekly, two-hour live chat sessions where members of the public will be able to engage with the EWR Co project team to ask questions. All you need to do is visit any of their virtual consultation rooms and open the chat box function on the screen to chat directly to a member of the East West Rail team. The chat box appears in the bottom corner in a blue speech bubble, as shown below. Please note: Depending on your security permissions, you may need to disable pop ups in order to see and use the tool.

Public live chat week 7: Thursday 20 May, 10am – 12pm (new)

Public live chat week 7: Saturday 22 May, 10am-12pm

“Cancel EWR completely” petition online

There is a petition to stop all of the EWR project here.

To: Grant Shapps, MP (Secretary of State for Transport)
Cancel the planned East-West railway from Oxford to Cambridge

It has not been initiated by the Parish Council, but a councillor requested it be published on the website.

Please visit the Cambridge Approaches website for other local further activities

PDF of the Route-Alignment-9-section-between-Croxton-and-Little-Eversden

Comberton East West Rail Campaign

Comberton Parish Council agreed at its December meeting to set up its own working group and to join forces with Eversden’s EWR working group.

The Group’s campaign is founded on six key assumptions:

1. The threat to our local environment, communities and infrastructure, posed by the East West Rail
   project, is real and severe.
   
2. East West Railway Co’s current choice of route option E is not acceptable.
   
3. We must lobby for a full and fair evaluation of a better way: a northern approach into Cambridge.
   
4. We must act now before it is too late.
   
5. We must work with other communities to achieve a strong, united voice.
6. We can each do something to help.

If you have any questions about our campaign please read their Campaign news and information click here.

or please email our Working Group via the @ or @

CPC pledges support to Cambridge Approaches Group re EWR

see this post from CPC

Earlier Background

East West Rail (EWR) have announced the Preferred Route Alignment (option E) of this section of the Oxford to Cambridge line, which will link existing stations in Bedford and Cambridge with communities in Cambourne and the area north of Sandy, south of St Neots. Once these options are sufficiently advanced, EWR will present them as part of a second non-statutory consultation, which follows on from the first public consultation in 2019.

Click here to see their project area background.

The decision by East West Rail (EWR) to focus their attention on option E for the central section of their new railway impacts our area. Coming from a ‘Cambourne Station’ near Caxton the line moves within the area to merge/dual the north bound line into Cambridge (rather than one to the north of the A428 via Cambourne and Northstowe). This permits easier onward journeys to Ipswich/Norwich.

As EWR start detailed work on the potential railway alignments, they say they are doing their best to avoid impacting people in a negative way, and where possible will:-

• Avoid residential areas
• Reduce negative impacts to our environment
• Reduce flood risk

They produce a rough area of option E

Here it is shown (click on the image for a bigger version)

If we zoom in we can see the area to the South of Comberton .  (click on the image for a bigger version)

What do people living and working in the Preferred Route Area need to know?

At present, EWR are still working to develop the precise alignment that the railway will take within the Preferred Route Option. Crucially, before the Route Alignment is chosen, there will be more opportunities for the public to comment on the plans and EWR will continue to use feedback from communities as part of their decision-making process throughout the life of the project.

Their aim is to avoid adverse effects in residential areas and existing communities, and as the project and our design progresses, they will discuss the evolving detail with individual landowners and occupiers directly.

EWR indicated they are considering a cutting south of Haslingfield but not tunnelling, amongst other options and impact on the Mullard Radio Observatory Telescope.

Cambridge Approaches Group

Some residents of villages to the south of the A603, particularly around Haslingfield have set up the Cambridge Approaches Group to provide input to EWR on potential corridors across the Preferred Route area.

Cambridge Approaches Group (CAG) was formed after a meeting on 15th July 2020 between representatives of parish councils in the affected area from Toft to the Shelfords and the intention is to generate their own options for the possible routes of the railway and to discuss these with the community and the powers that be.

They haven’t (yet) addressed any potential corridors affecting villages to the east of Comberton like Toft, Bourn, Cambourne, Caxton, Eltisley, Longstowe, Great Gransden, Abbotsley !

They also showed another, unpublished, corridor option above the A428 which you can see here  (click on the image for a bigger version).

Comberton Parish Council discussed this at their September meeting and the following was sent to CAG

CAG are running Zoom webinars to explain their  findings to interested members of the public and, given the Covid-19 situation, the best way is via webinar. As with the parish council representatives , the routes will be presented by David Revell of Cambridge Approaches who is a civil engineer with extensive experience with railways and a resident of the area.

The schedule of these webinars is as follows:

• Monday 28th September 12pm
• Tuesday 29th September 7pm
• Saturday 3rd October 12pm

CAG expect the webinars to last about an hour and there will be opportunities to ask questions.

Please click on the links above to register for the webinar date that you would like to attend (the content will be the same in each webinar).