Trains to Universal resort in 'first few years'

Trains will call at a station serving the new Universal theme park within the resort's "first few years", according to a rail company.

East West Rail (EWR), which is planning a new rail line connecting Oxford and Cambridge, said it was accelerating some of its plans in part because of the proposed visitor attraction in Bedfordshire.

More frequent and longer trains will run on the line because of expected higher demand. A new station built on the site of one of the government's new towns could also be brought forward by five years.

But some of those living along EWR's route said they were "fed up" with the plans. An eight-week consultation into the £6bn railway is opening today.

It will be the final consultation before EWR applies to government for permission to build the line in 2027.

Universal has said it wants to open its first European theme park and resort on land at Kempston Hardwick, south of Bedford, in 2031.

More than eight million visitors are expected to head to the attraction in its first year.

According to EWR, Universal initially plans to run shuttle buses from Milton Keynes to the theme park.

But the rail company said by "fast-tracking" an upgrade of the existing rail line between Bletchley and Bedford – known as the Marston Vale Line – EWR trains could "serve the park within its first few years".

The nine current Marston Vale stations will be closed with four new replacement stations built at Woburn Sands, Ridgmont, Lidlington and Stewartby.

Stewartby station will serve Universal, with four trains an hour running between there and Oxford "by the early 2030s", EWR said.

Up to five trains an hour will eventually run along the line.

They will be hybrid battery-electric, although diesel engines will initially run from Oxford to Stewartby while overhead power lines are installed.

EWR said trains would be five carriages long – rather than four – because of the anticipated "increased demand".

Gidon Freeman, vice-president of external affairs at Universal Destinations and Experiences, said EWR would "further improve" the Kempston site's connectivity and the "proposed station by Universal would enhance guest and team member arrival".

The theme park will also be served by another station at the village of Wixams, which will be on the north-south Midland Main Line, which carries Thameslink services.

EWR also said that new stations and sections of the railway would open "as soon as they are ready, rather than waiting for the whole route to be completed".

East West Railway Company CEO David Hughes said: "These updated proposals mark a major step forward for East West Rail to help ensure communities see the benefits of the project sooner as we finalise the design.

"By bringing forward key elements of the railway and planning for increased demand, we are helping to ensure the infrastructure is in place to support future growth and opportunities for our communities."

A new station at Tempsford, Bedfordshire, would be "brought forward by five years" and construction could start "by 2030".

Tempsford, a village of a few hundred homes which sits next to the East Coast Main Line and the A1 dual carriageway, has been earmarked as the location for one of the government's new towns and could see 40,000 homes built.

The new station would initially have two platforms on the East Coast Main Line, with two East West Rail platforms added "in the mid to late 2030s".

David Sutton, chair of Tempsford Parish council and landlord of the Wheatsheaf Pub in the village, said he felt that the "new town is the driver for the station".

"There's 300 houses in Tempsford – we don't need a station," he added.

Referring to the upgrade of the A428 dual carriageway between the nearby Black Cat roundabout on the A1 and Caxton Gibbet services, he said: "Why don't we see what impact that has on whether we actually need a railway line?

"Why don't we wait a little bit, instead of rushing?"

He said there was a mood of "inevitability" among villagers, with many believing "we can't do anything about it".

EWR was also planning new stations for Bedford Midland, Bedford St Johns, Cambourne in Cambridgeshire, and at Cambridge East. A new entrance for Cambridge's central station was proposed.

To make way for new tracks in the north of Bedford, several homes could need to be demolished in the Poets part of the town.

Julia Virdee, who lives on one of the affected roads, said many neighbours were "fed up" with the EWR plans.

She lives at one end of a terrace of houses with her family. The other end of the terrace might be demolished.

"We don't know how they're going to safeguard ours if they're putting a bulldozer through the properties at the other end of the terrace," she said.

"I don't know what damage it will do to them."

The consultation is open until 9 June.

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