The Anonymous Widower

Could An Oxford And Cambridge Service Be Run Via The Lizzie Line?

This article on the BBC is entitled East-West Rail: Part Of £5bn Scheme ‘Appears To Be Unachievable’.

These are the first four paragraphs.

A £5bn rail project “appears to be unachievable” in parts, a government report said.

The East-West Rail scheme will create a link from Oxford to Cambridge, with services being introduced in stages.

Stage two, between Oxford and Bedford, and stage three, between Bedford and Cambridge, have “major issues”, the Infrastructure and Projects Authority said.

A spokesman for East-West Rail said the delivery programme was “under review”.

As someone, who used to live near Cambridge, I have seen the transport routes improve in East Anglia, but not the area’s connections to the rest of the country.

The article describes Stage 2 and 3 of the East West Railway like this.

Stage two involves predominantly upgrading existing infrastructure, between Bletchley and Bedford, to allow services between Oxford and Bedford.

Stage three involves building a new line, between Bedford and Cambridge, to extend the railway and facilitate services from Oxford to Cambridge.

So if the Government feel that the major issues and opposition should lead to cancellation of the scheme to the East of Bedford or even Bletchley, what are the problems and alternatives?

Freight

The Port of Felixstowe is the UK’s busiest container port and it handles 48% of Britain’s containerised trade.

Having lived as a teenager in Felixstowe and in Suffolk for probably half my life, there is only one certainty about the port in my mind. It will get bigger and will generate more rail and road traffic in East Anglia.

• The roads have improved greatly, since the 1960s, when I used to cycle between Ipswich and Felixstowe, along a two-lane single carriageway road.
• The renamed A14 has replaced the A45 and now connects the port to the M1 and the M6.
• Tens of long freight trains every day now connect Felixstowe with the rest of the country.
• The East West Railway will be a very useful link between Felixstowe and South Wales and the West of England.
• Global warming will mean the decarbonisation of heavy freight, with more traffic on an electrified railway.

Felixstowe’s connections to the North and Midlands may have improved greatly, but they will need to be improved a lot more.

The Port of Southampton is the UK’s second busiest container port.

• Most freight trains from Southampton go North via Basingstoke, Reading and Oxford.
• A plan some years ago was for an Electric Spine, that would have connected the Port of Southampton to the Northern cities.
• The Electric Spine would have envisaged electrification of the East West Railway to the West of Bedford and electrified connections with the West Coast Main Line and the Midland Main Line.
• The Midland Main Line is now planned to be fully electrified, under the the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands.

Southampton, like Felixstowe will be in need of improved transport connections.

In an ideal world, an electrified East West Railway, would improve freight connections between the UK’s two busiest container ports and major cities in the UK.

Problems With Freight

Could this be the major problem East of Bletchley, where the residents living along the route, don’t want to see large numbers of freight trains running close by?

In this document on the East-West Rail Consortium web site, this is said.

Note that doubling of Warren Hill Tunnel at Newmarket and
redoubling between Coldham Lane Junction and Chippenham Junction is included
in the infrastructure requirements. It is assumed that most freight would operate
via Newmarket, with a new north chord at Coldham Lane Junction, rather than
pursuing further doubling of the route via Soham.

Will the residents of Newmarket object to a double-track freight railway through the town? Freight trains and horses are not a good mix.

I do wonder, if freight trains hauled by noisy and unfriendly diesel locomotives are one of the reasons a full Oxford and Cambridge railway is losing its appeal and becoming a vote loser for the Government.

Cambridge Has An Accommodation And Commuting Problem

There is a shortage of accommodation in Cambridge for offices, laboratories, workshop and above all workers.

So it looks to the surrounding towns and cities to provide help.

London and Ely have good links, but the city needs better links to Bedford, Bury St. Edmunds, Haverhill, Ipswich, Norwich, Kings Lynn, Peterborough, Soham, Stansted Airport, Stevenage, Sudbury and Thetford.

Cambridge may be the place in the South East with the largest numbers of commuters from London.

Cambridge Needs A Decent Rail Network

In my view Cambridge needs at least the following services in trains per hour (tph)

• Colchester via Haverhill, Sudbury and Marks Tey – 2 tph
• Ipswich via Newmarket, A14 Parkway, Bury St. Edmunds, Stowmarket and Needham Market – 2 tph
• King’s Lynn via Cambridge North, Ely and Downham Market – 2 tph
• Oxford via Bedford, Milton Keynes/Bletchley and Bicester – 2 tph
• London King’s Cross via Cambridge South – 2 tph
• Norwich via Cambridge North, Ely, Thetford, Attleborough  and Wymondham – 2 tph
• Peterborough via Cambridge North, Ely and March – 2 tph
• Stansted Airport via Cambridge South and Audley End – 2 tph
• Stevenage via Royston and Hitchin – 2 tph
• Wisbech via Cambridge North, Ely and March – 2 tph

Note.

1. Some services already exist.
2. Some of these services duplicate each other to give 4 tph or even 6 tph on certain routes.
3. Some services could be back-to-back through Cambridge.
4. A 14 Parkway station is a new station proposed by the East West Railway. I wrote about it in detail in Soham Station – 14th December 2021.
5. Haverhill would be served by a rebuilt Stour Valley Railway.
6. Wisbech would be served by restoring the railway to March.

To complete the network there would be a two tph service between Peterborough and Ipswich, which would go via March, Ely, Soham, A 14 Parkway, Bury St. Edmunds, Stowmarket and Needham Market.

Oxford Could Probably Argue that It Needs A Decent Rail Network Like Cambridge

Oxford would argue this and they have a point.

The East West Railway Is The Odd Line Out

Looking at the rail networks at Cambridge and Oxford, it appears, that with the exception of Cotswold services at Oxford and a few CrossCountry services, it appears that the East West Railway is a bit of an odd line out, as everything else is a local service.

The Effects Of Not Building The Bedford And Cambridge Section Of The East-West Railway

What will it mean, if the Bedford and Cambridge Section of The East-West Railway is not built?

• Cambourne will not get the promised station.
• Bedford and Cambridge journeys will be by bus, train via London or private car.
• Commuting into Cambridge from the West will be difficult.
• Milton Keynes and Cambridge journeys will be by bus, train via London or private car.
• Oxford and Cambridge journeys will be by bus, train via London or private car.
• Train journeys between Cambridge and much of the rest of the UK, will need to go via London.

It would appear that by not building the third section of the East West Railway, a lot of potential passengers will be denied a rail service.

Could Services Be Run Using Existing Infrastructure Through London?

The Elizabeth Line will eventually be able to handle a lot more services than it does at present.

Would Extending The Elizabeth Line To Oxford Be A Good Start?

Consider.

• Oxford has two services to London; Chiltern to Marylebone and Great Western Railway (GWR) to Paddington.
• The GWR service to Paddington stops only at Reading and Slough, has a frequency of two tph and takes under an hour.
• The fastest journey between Oxford and Liverpool Street using a fast GWR train and the Elizabeth Line takes one hour and 20 minutes.
• Only 10.6 miles of the route between Oxford and Paddington is without electrification.
• There is also a two tph stopping shuttle train between Oxford and Didcot Parkway stations and a two tph stopping train between Paddington and Didcot Parkway.

I feel that combining the two Didcot Parkway services and moving them to the Elizabeth Line would be an experiment worth trying.

This would give 2 tph direct to the following stations.

• Bond Street for the West End
• Canary Wharf for finance.
• Farringdon for Cambridge, Gatwick and Brighton.
• Hayes & Harlington for Heathrow.
• Liverpool Street for the City of London, Cambridge and Stansted
• Reading for Wales and the West.

Note.

1. No-one would have a worse service than currently, but many passengers would avoid a change on their journey.
2. Services could terminate at either Abbey Wood or Shenfield stations.
3. Services could be an extension of the two tph to Reading or additional services.
4. Between Didcot Parkway and Oxford is shown on OpenRailwayMap, as proposed for electrification.
5. There may need to be some new platforms at Didcot Parkway station.
6. I estimate that between Oxford and Liverpool Street would take one hour and fifty minutes.

It certainly looks, that it would be possible to replace the current GWR service between Oxford and Paddington, with an all-electric Elizabeth Line service.

The direct stopping service between Oxford and Liverpool Street would be thirty minutes slower, than the current fastest train.

The current fastest train between Liverpool Street and Cambridge takes 71 minutes, so with a change at Liverpool Street Oxford and Cambridge  would probably be just over three hours.

Google Maps estimate a driving time of two hours between the two University Cities.

Could The Elizabeth Line Be Extended To Cambridge?

There is no train connection between the Elizabeth Line and the West Anglia Main Line at Liverpool Street station, although the walk for passengers is not that long.

In Extending The Elizabeth Line – Connecting West Anglia Main Line Services To The Central Tunnel, I describe how it could be possible to connect the West Anglia Main Line to the Elizabeth Line at Stratford station.

This connection would allow services from Cambridge, Harlow and Stansted to anywhere on the Elizabeth Line to the West of Stratford.

Oxford and Cambridge and Heathrow and Stansted would be distinct possibilities.

Could A High Speed Limited Stop Service Run Between Oxford And Cambridge?

In Extending The Elizabeth Line – High Speed Trains On The Elizabeth Line, I proposed running faster long-distance trains through the Central Tunnel of the Elizabeth Line.

• They would have to be dimensionally identical to the Class 345 trains to fit the platform edge doors.
• They would have a long-distance interiors.
• In the Central Tunnel, they would behave like 345 trains. with Paddington to Stratford taking 19 minutes.
• But on main lines like the Great Western Main Line, they could rattle along at 125 mph.

If the trains could keep up with Class 802 train performance between Oxford and Paddington and enter the Central Tunnel quickly, these times could be possible.

• Oxford and Paddington – 55 minutes
• Paddington and Stratford – 19 minutes
• Stratford and Tottenham Hale – 14 minutes
• Tottenham Hale and Cambridge – 65 minutes

Just over two-and-a-half hours, without a change of train, sounds fine to me.

What About The Trains From Great Malvern?

The fast services between Paddington and Oxford, run twice an hour, with the service formed of one hourly Paddington and Oxford service and another hourly Paddington and Great Malvern service.

• If Oxford gets electrified soon, this will mean that the Oxford and Paddington service would be all-electric.
• But the Great Malvern service would need to be able to handle 65.5 miles of line without electrification each way.
• The speed limits between Oxford and Great Malvern vary between 70 and 100 mph.

I’m certain that Stadler could design and build a train, with the following characteristics.

• Class 345 dimensions.
• 125 mph performance.
• Ninety miles range on battery power.

The trains would be charged between Paddington and Oxford and by a charger at Great Malvern.

Conclusion

Would an Oxford and Cambridge service through Central London be an alternative to the East-West Railway?

Perhaps not an alternative, but an addition?

August 3, 2022 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | A14 Parkway Station, Bedford Station, Cambridge North Station, Cambridge South Station, Cambridge Station, Class 345 Train, Class 802 Train, Didcot Parkway Station, East West Railway, Elizabeth Line, Great Western Railway, Liverpool Street Station, Oxford Station, Reading Station, Slough Station, Stratford Station, West Anglia Main Line | 3 Comments