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East West Railway Company (EWR) has unveiled an upgraded version of the last part of its £6.6bn scheme alongside a public consultation launched today.

The reworked plan comes after the government pledged to build EWR in full in last month’s Budget announcement with the railway connecting Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge.

The updated proposal features new links, as well as upgrades to stations and the existing rail network.

A new stretch of railway between Bedford and Cambridge, including the construction of stations at Tempsford and Cambourne, will form part of the planning application, alongside railway improvement works between Oxford and Bedford.

Meanwhile, several stations are set to undergo enhancements, with Bedford St Johns station relocated to the west to better serve Bedford Hospital, while Bedford station will receive a newly built plaza, extra platforms, footbridges and replacement car parking.

The introduction of two new tracks to Cambridge station has been drawn up under a plan to run four passenger trains per hour.

Following feedback from two previous consultations in 2019 and 2021, the project team has made adaptations to reduce the environmental impact of construction by pledging to create a 10% biodiversity net gain across the route.

It plans to build a ‘cut and cover’ tunnel beneath the A428 and the proposed Bourn Airfield development as well as a tunnel through Chapel Hill, near Haslingfield, to avoid constructing a large cutting that may affect the flight paths of Barbastelle bats inhabiting the area.

The project will be delivered in three connection stages – CS1, CS2 and CS3 - with work already underway to bring forward the first two phases.

A team including Atkins, Laing O’Rourke and Volker Rail has been carrying out the first phases of work.

It has not been confirmed when the development application for CS3 will be submitted but the first passenger services for CS1 from Oxford to Bletchley and Milton-Keynes are due to start next year.