The wait continues
There is no sign of the passenger services coming any time soon on the East-West Rail line, in spite of it being completed and freight trains running through the new station since late 2024.
While the freight trains prove that this stretch of railway is operational, the East West Rail project that links Oxford to Milton Keynes has no services yet, The Guardian writes.
Once hailed as the UK’s answer to Silicon Valley, the new railway linking Oxford to Cambridge via Milton Keynes was talked up by ministers for well over a decade.
Its goal was to accelerate the drive for housing, jobs and growth.
As she laid out her economic vision, Chancellor Rachel Reeves highlighted it again in January of last year, as she cited is as the “transport link needed to make the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor a success”.
As Chiltern Railways officially took over in March 2025, the chancellor looked forward to the start of passenger trains in the coming months.
The services failed to run, however, with little to no explanation.
The planned start date was moved to autumn and then the end of last year, but no target for opening is offered at all today.
The delay has caused massive frustration
Due to the extraordinary delay, the frustration is real, including in local MPs, would-be passengers and those who are living in the new-build homes next to the Winslow station, as the locals were sold on the promise of services.
The MP for Buckingham and Bletchley, Callum Anderson, in addition to campaigning for the line has also been pushing for an answer from his Labour colleagues.
“It’s unfortunate. People can see it and hear it but they can’t use it”, he said, adding that it was “important not to speculate or lay blame at any one door”.
The Guardian reports that what is widely believed to be the crucial stumbling block is a dispute with unions over whether the two-carriage trains require guards.
Meanwhile, this being the main reason was denied by the Department for Transport and the RMT union.
In principle, the RMT and Aslef, the drivers’ union, opposed Chiltern’s plans to start running trains with only a driver, while many driver-only operations already exist.
In March, a letter from Peter Hendy, the rail minister, to Anderson said the primary reason services had not started was that negotiations over contracts with Chiltern were “interrupted by the unexpected general election of July 2024”, according to The Guardian.
Trains would need to have been modified and driver training completed, and the new station at Winslow “fully handed over”, Hendy said, however it added that “future staffing arrangements also remain to be agreed”.
Meanwhile, according to a recent statement to the House of Commons by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, Chiltern was “pursuing rolling stock modifications, the completion of the intermediate station, and staffing and training for service introduction”.
Many are infuriated and seeking answers, as 4,500 remain stuck
In Winslow, where 4,500 people are stuck, Diana Blamires is an independent councillor.
The people are trainless halfway between Oxford and Milton Keynes, while Blamires has organised petitions and a protest at Bletchley station last weekend.
As per The Guardian, she describes the DfT’s reasoning as “nonsense, pathetic, laughable … How come they could set up a freight train service?”, adding that “there’s fury” and that lack of progress has angered people.
“People came to places like Winslow thinking they’d be able to get a train to a job in London, or Milton Keynes or Oxford, or even Bicester. Young people wanted to work at Bicester Village. Now it’s two buses in the morning to get there.
What makes responsibility more slippery is the companies at play.
East West Railway Ltd is at the outset, the private company which was up by former Transport Secretary Chris Grayling 10 years ago, so the line could “happen quicker”.
According to East West Railway Ltd, the line and station were handed over completed for Network Rail’s sign-off in 2024.
On the other hand, Chiltern Railways has cited unspecified problems with the station.
According to the RMT, one was that an emergency exit backed on to private land, which is an issue that is understood as resolved now.
“We have completed construction works at Winslow station and we are working to support Chiltern as they prepare to operate train services and manage the station”, a Network Rail spokesperson said.
“Significant progress” was made by Chiltern Railways, according to a spokesperson, who added that the station was “now in the testing and commissioning phase”, but there was “work still to finish to prepare the trains, on Winslow station and on the operating arrangements for the new route”.
As there are yet more consultations ahead for the second and third phases, the longer story of the Oxford-Cambridge line stretches further into the distance, The Guardian writes, while some locals fear the wait for a train in Winslow could still go on.
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