East West Rail Connection State 2 And 3

Infrastructure and Construction

Record date: 31 March 2026

Whole-life cost: Not disclosed
Published schedule: 01/08/2014 – 31/12/2037
NISTA delivery confidence: Not disclosed
Senior responsible owner: Rosemary Hopkins

What the project is for

East West Rail (EWR) is a new railway connecting towns and cities across the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor. The Government has identified the corridor as a key pillar of its economic growth mission – by delivering new east-west connectivity and removing existing constraints to growth, EWR is projected to support up to 100,000 new homes, tens of thousands of new jobs and it is expected to add £6.7bn to regional Gross Value Added each year by 2050. The EWR programme is structured around the phased introduction of passenger services from the mid 2020s to the mid-late 2030s. The railway will deliver shorter journey times between key economic centres; provide greener public transport and new paths for rail freight; and provide interchanges with major rail lines, supporting onward travel across the country. It will provide a total of 8 new stations and redevelop existing stations unlocking opportunities for growth/regeneration along the corridor. Phases 2 to 5 of the delivery programme (formerly Connection stages 2 and 3) will deliver new stations, the new line between Bedford and Cambridge and upgrade to the Marston Vale Line (Bletchley-Bedford). The future stages include delivering a new station on the East Coast Mainline at Tempsford (with construction starting by 2030); providing four trains per hour between Oxford-Stewartby (early 2030s) and Oxford-Bedford (mid 2030s); delivering a new station at Cambridge East (mid 2030s); and delivery of the new line (between Bedford-Cambridge), unlocking the full Oxford-Cambridge service (mid-late 2030s). This new sequencing was set out in the consultation published in April 2026 and accelerates the delivery of services and benefits along the route.

Departmental delivery commentary

The assessment remains ‘Amber’. The April 2025 announcement of a Universal Destinations & Experiences (UDX) theme park to open near Bedford in 2031 has necessitated additional design work as set out in the Autumn Announcement in November 2025. Updated scope for the project has been set out in the final route-wide consultation in April 2026 and will subject to approval of the Development Consent Order and Full Business Case.

Schedule

Future stages of the railway and delivery of the full Oxford-Cambridge service are subject to an application for a Development Consent Order (DCO) - the application is targeted for submission in 2027. Full completion of the project is planned for the mid-late 2030s. In line with the Government’s ambitions to speed up delivery of major infrastructure projects, certain parts of the project will now be accelerated to be delivered ahead of the mid-2030s, including a new ECML station at Tempsford and EWR services between Oxford and Stewartby serving the new Universal Studios Theme Park in Bedfordshire.

Cost

Exempt under Section 35 - Formulation of government policy, Section 43 - Commercial interests

Benefits

Phases 2-5 of the EWR programme are in development, with benefit analysis work being undertaking to support the Outline Business case and Full Business Case being prepared to support investment decision making. Full benefits of the EWR programme will not be realised until the route to Cambridge is operational.