East West Rail January 2024 Update 

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Glad this is being done but I find it infuriating and that brand new track is being laid without wires. Utter madness, especially when we're already so far behind on electrification compared to our neighbours.

Glad to see it going well, even if non-electrification is still a disappointment. Hopefully this progress will extend to the Bedford - Cambridge section in the future.

The East West Rail line from Bedford to Cambridge should still be given the go ahead and to pass north of Sandy.

My flabber is gasted that this isn’t being electrified from the outset - nevertheless, it’s good to see that things are moving on - hopefully I can travel on it one day!

Thank you for a fascinating and informative video. Amazing to see the new Winslow station, arisen from what I remember as a muddy field more than five years ago; appreciate your hard work - and the EXCELLENT graphics which support your presentation. "generic, modern, off-the-shelf rail structure" (2:23) should be exactly what is needed - design, test, prove, knock out in the dozens... "Build to the cost" (get it opened) and the future can always invest further... Roll on 2025!

How exciting. New stations look more and more like they're from a Hornby catalog but I can't argue with new stations being built and reopening of old lines. Also, did you call that station Wilmslow instead of Winslow? 2:01

For a second I thought this was the project in Massachusetts (US). We have a proposed project of the same name

this is very good news - thank you for sharing

Have you considered giving us an update of progress at the Oxford station upgrade. I recall this being necessary to handle the additional trains from Milton Keynes.

Wonderful. That's another route MK can cancel all trains on every other day.

Nice update, should be a nice route once it opens

Good to see it opening again, at the time also sad as I often walked this line many years ago.

And still no connection to Aylesbury, even though most of the infrastructure is already there and would only require some re-widening in places What a waste of the potential of some much needed traffic relief on both the A41 Bicester Road and the A413 Buckingham Road. To be able to travel by train direct to and from Aylesbury to both Oxford and Milton Keynes would be a Godsend.

Looks good, only missing is the OLE. Cheapskates.

Only in the UK. The Bedford to Cambridge section is still not started and will be years away.

It really is bonkers how against electrification the British government is. The overall cost of East West Rail (after the electrification is retrofitted) is now going to be higher. And it's going to take more time to get the electrification in. So that is going to slow down the electrification of other railways around Britain. A railway line that is not actually open, is an open goal for additional engineering, as you don't have to appease public opposition to closures on something that is not yet open. And ultimately, if we are going to have electrified rail freight, we need to have an entire network of overhead electrification. So it's really important that we do not have gaps that force freight trains to use diesel traction for the entire journey. I saw a TV show on Marlybone Station and local people were complaining about the diesel pollution it causes. A couple of MPs were interviewed and they were both talking about "How to get rid of diesel trains, without putting in overhead electrification" instead of saying that "Overhead electrification should be installed on all the railway lines that feed into Marylebone. And the lines into Marylebone all cross the East West Rail route. Clearly the entire area is blighted and needs work.

have you considered providing an update on work at Oxford station. I understand this forms part of the project to have trains running from Milton Keynes.

They've also laid rails on the HS2 bit of Calvert too, haven't they?

Please go back to Curzon St if you get a chance it's really kicking off.

All in all it's great to see projects like this going on as they seem to be a lot better then corporatist, big government vanity projects like HS2 (In my view, anyway). However, as an almost life-long Bicester resident I just wish that my local station's name wasn't changed from Bicester Town. (Although I still refer to it as such) Chiltern Railways claimed that they conducted a survey on what to call the rebuilt station but neither I no anyone I know knew anything about any survey, and we reckon that they did it just to please the nearby hoyty toyty designer outlet that bares that name and get more tourists on their trains instead of commuters!

Note that the car park at Winslow station is going to be multi level.

East -West Rail Link. I don’t see much “East”.

When did they phase out the yellow warning panels, on the front of trains?

A Blind Eye to Soaring Costs The NAO’s conclusions about EWR are negative, even without recognising the full effect of inflation on project costs. The estimated cost to completion of the EWR CS1 section (Bicester to Bletchley) is now £1.24 billion. This is 63% higher than the original 2020 cost. The NAO makes no comment on this overspend. The estimated cost for the EWR CS2/3 sections (Bletchley to Bedford and Bedford to Cambridge) have been updated from 2010 to Q2 2021 and exclude a 20% rise in infrastructure inflation that has since occurred[vi]. The NAO and DfT have not included this recent inflation increase. EWR will have to be electrified and the NAO points out that an additional £1 billion needs to be added to the quoted construction cost for this.Local Representatives including MPs, parliamentary candidates , district, borough and county councillors parish councils and environmental and other campaign groups, have signed the declaration of opposition to the proposals for the East West Rail between Bedford and Cambridge. The final route together with some implications of its business case were announced by East West Rail Company in May this year.

I don’t understand why Chiltern Railways are leasing 196s from WMR for EWR. Wouldn’t it make more sense to lease back the 172s they gave up a few years back and gain a few extras, since there were drivers familiar with those and would only need minor touch up training? And how do WMR plan to cover the stock shortage? Is somebody else going to lease them some older stock and in turn that other operator bring back a few unwanted 153s out of storage? Or perhaps a few 156s from Scotrail since East Kilbride is being electrified now? Again I have no idea where they’ll source extra electric stock for that

4 car you're optomistic, likely be 2 car sets running

Will they be added more platforms at Milton Keynes for east west rail?

Shame it takes so long to deliver rail in the UK. Its not on schedule if you change the schedule multiple times, was the scope reduced too? No aylesbury link? I think the consultation phase took longer than the build?

Still surprise this is a diesel line rather than a electrical line.

The line should have been electrified before it opens. Whenever someone talks about saving money it always costs more in the long term

Not sure of the relevance of a train arriving at Shrewsbury from Birmingham has to do with EW rail?

Why shots from Shrewsbury?😊

very informative diolch! though i dont live anywhere nearby its nice to see atleast some rail work getting work done by our questionable goverment

Yet in Wales it is still not possible to travel from North to South without travelling outside of the country and also in Northern England the fabled East West upgrade has yet to enter the planning stage. In addition the Waverley Line has yet to reach Carlisle from Edinburgh. Great how the English southern shires get the cash

Closing school hill has produced a lot of problems for me now long way round

Public transport (ie buses) hardly exist in rural areas. No chance of people catching a bus from a village to Winslow.

Wait so Chiltern give WMR 171/2s (can’t remember which) and then WMR give Chiltern 196s *visible confusion*

This section originally due to open 2017.

Pity nobody can afford to use trains.

In the future, trains will be bimode on the not so busy lines - battery charged by pantagraph at stations, and overhead lines where available.

Winslow, not Wilmslow

IT will never be built to BEDFORD,NOR TO CAMBRIDGE.

What a disparaging comment of Winslow station. Just criticize, why don't ya?

It’s a fantastic waste of public money seeing as the line already existed. The new bit is getting rid of the flyover at Bletchley but then again, it is in the South of England and having multiple lines renewed annually is a divine right isn’t it?