Details unveiled on landmark new rail route

Trains have been tested on the stretch of line between Oxford and Milton Keynes, but the Cambridgeshire part of the route has yet to be started

More details about a railway line linking Oxford to Cambridge have been unveiled.

In Cambridgeshire, two new tunnels are being proposed and artist impressions of the new stations at Cambourne and Cambridge South have been released.

East West Rail (EWR) stated Cambridge station would be renovated, but said trains would turn around at nearby Cherry Hinton "to ease pressure".

A public consultation on the proposals has been launched, with people encouraged to share their views.

EWR aims to create a railway connecting the university cities via Milton Keynes and Bedford. The section between Oxford and Bletchley is due to open next year.

The project has been criticised by many local residents and politicians, but was given its backing by the government in the autumn Budget.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said the scheme would create "more than £6bn in economic growth", 28,000 new jobs and tens of thousands of new homes.

"Today marks a major milestone for the project as we encourage communities to have their say on this transformational line that will offer so much more than simply getting people from A to B," she added.

Some sections of the line will be working from next year - but not the parts in Cambridgeshire

Designs showed trains would run from 06:00 to 00:00 on Monday to Thursday, ending an hour later on Fridays and Saturdays.

On Sundays, services were planned for between 07:00 and 23:00.

EWR said it expected up to four trains per hour to run along the route.

Following a previous consultation, plans were drawn up to build a tunnel east of Cambourne, beneath the A428 and the proposed Bourne Airfield development and Highfields Road.

If approved, another tunnel would be built through Chapel Hill near Haslingfield.

But some stations along the Marston Vale section, between Bletchley and Bedford, could be closed under the plans.

EWR argued there would be "a three fold increase in services" along this stretch if it consolidated these stations and built new ones.

'Expensive'

The scheme has not come without criticism.

Among those to have raised concerns include the Lib Dem MP for South Cambridgeshire, Pippa Heylings.

Speaking prior to being elected in July, she told the BBC it was a "botched job" and "hugely environmentally damaging".

Stephen Mallinson, from Little Eversden, said there should be an independent inquiry into the route.

He added: "EWR have chosen the most disruptive, the most expensive, the most environmentally-damaging route into Cambridge that we could have found".

The consultation on the updated proposals runs for 10 weeks, from 14 November to 24 January.