East West Rail: 65 homes in Bedford on the chopping block as new rail route revealed

Sixty-five homes are on the chopping block after East West Rail announced its route today (Friday).

Residents in the Poets area of Bedford discovered that their homes were at risk in 2021 after getting a letter from the company – and now their worst fears have been confirmed.

Despite arguments that four tracks north of Bedford would be plenty for the new line, East West Rail has today revealed that it’s sticking with its six track plan.

In the documents released today it says: “After extensive work to test whether we can run services on the existing MML without building additional tracks, we’ve concluded that we need an additional two tracks north of the existing Bedford station. This is to ensure EWR could provide a reliable service which does not conflict with other trains.”

The report goes on to add that to build these new tracks, EWR needs to acquire some properties near the current railway boundary.

Read the full report here

It says: “At the last consultation we thought we might need to acquire up to 97 residential properties, but we’ve continued to challenge the design in this area and believe this figure is now reduced by a third, to 65. Even though we’ve reduced the number of impacted properties we continue to look for ways to further limit the impact of EWR in this area, and we’re launching a scheme to help homeowners in this area with immediate effect.”

Residents can find out more about the Proposed Need to Sell Property Scheme here.

On the route, it says: “We looked again at alignments that pass to the south of the town or re-use parts of the former alignment of the closed Varsity Line, but these alternatives have significant environmental impacts and cause loss of public open space. For example, a route re-using the former Varsity Line in Bedford would pass through Priory Park, which has protected status. Therefore, we’ve concluded that the preferred alignment from the 2021 consultation, passing through Bedford station

and to the north of the town along the MML, remains the best option for Bedford.”

It proposes to redevelop the station to cope with the required capacity and infrastructure that will be needed – and says it will “help support the local authority’s plans for regeneration in the Station Quarter”.

Meanwhile, Bedford St John’s station will be moved closer to Bedford Hospital, which EWR says “would provide a better location that’s more convenient for patients, hospital staff and visitors, while also allowing us to improve the alignment of the railway into Bedford station.”

It adds: “Introducing EWR services would strengthen the hub and support local aspirations for more jobs, prosperity and growth. Improvements to Bedford station would contribute to the regeneration of the area immediately around the station, as well as the centre of Bedford.”

This is a developing story – we will bring you more updates as we have them.