Call to reassess viability of new Cambridge to Oxford rail line rejected by PM
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The Prime Minister has rejected a Cambridgeshire MP’s call to reassess the business case for East West Rail in light of the pandemic.
The Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire Anthony Browne, wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, on 11 May to ask the Treasury to re-evaluate the economic case for the new railway line.
He followed up his letter with the same question to Boris Johnson at Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Mr Browne said: “I very much welcome the fact that government is investing heavily in upgrading the rail networks across the country including opening lines that have previously been closed.
“But as a Conservative government we have got a particular responsibility to the taxpayer to ensure value for money.
“East West Rail in my constituency’s business case is largely based on commuting but the pandemic means we are in the middle of a workplace revolution.
“If people work from home on average two days a week in future that means a 40 per cent reduction in commuting."
The railway line would connect Oxford with the east coast via Cambridge going through Bedford and Milton Keynes. The government’s delivery company, East West Rail, is currently consulting on its preferred route for the Bedford to Cambridge section.
Mr Brown asked the Prime Minister to commit to doing a review of the business case of East West Rail to ensure it remains value for money.
In response, Mr Johnson would not make that commitment: "My strong feeling is that it would be a mistake now to go slow on investment in infrastructure purely on the basis that we think people will start working from home.
“In my long experience of this, people need to travel, they will travel, the commuter bustle will come back Mr Speaker and it needs to come back”.
The proposed rail line has caused controversy in South Cambridgeshire with residents raising concern it could sever communities, detract from the landscape and lead to further housebuilding.
Mr Browne has also called for any re-evaluation of the business case to include provision for electrification of the line.
In his letter to Mr Sunak he wrote: “In my constituency of South Cambridgeshire, there is huge controversy around the EWR project and widespread condemnation of the prospect of diesel trains running on this brand new line.
“I know the aim of the government is not to use diesel trains, but it is not being built as an electrified line, and there is currently no other technology that will work on a high speed train.
“It is difficult to explain to voters why the government is at the same time building a diesel railway line train to start operating in 2030 and phasing out all diesel trains by 2040.
“Our government has set ambitious targets to de-carbonise the UK economy and we must back this with a firm guarantee to run our major new transport projects, including EWR, with green technology from the outset.”
East West Rail awarded £760 million to help connect Oxford and Cambridge
Preferred route for Bedford to Cambridge section of East West Rail line announced