Our approach to freight

East West Rail’s primary purpose is to provide connectivity between communities and support economic growth as a  passenger service. 

Alongside this, and noting that freight already runs on sections of our route, government has  asked us to consider how we:

• Maintain existing freight services that already run through commuter hubs  including Oxford, Bicester, the Marston Vale and Bedford.
• Plan for increased future freight demandto enable wider economic growth.

As part of this, the impact of any freight  services on local communities will be assessed, managed and mitigated in the same way as  passenger services would. We are working  closely with the rail freight industry to optimise the benefits and opportunities. 

The benefits of freight include:

• Reducing CO₂ emissions by up to 76% compared to transporting freight by road.  
• Reducing congestion on local roads, as one bulk freight train can remove up to  76 lorries from the road.  
• Improving safety by taking lorries off the road – rail freight prevents an estimated  600 casualties every year. 
• Bringing benefits to the UK economy  estimated at £1.6 billion every year in UK business productivity gains.

We have sought to understand what the  demand for freight on East West Rail could be, including the immediate potential uptake, future growth considerations, and constraints on other parts of the railway network. 

Infrastructure considerations to support freight

There are several factors to consider when  seeking to enable the running of freight  services. These include connectivity to the wider network and the nature of the  infrastructure required to accommodate freight trains, and availability of freight paths. A freight path is a space in the timetable  between passenger services, where freight  could run without risk of affecting the reliability of passenger services, and vice versa.  

In some cases, we propose including passing  loops along the route to enable this mixed  traffic to run. Passing loops provide additional sections of track which make it possible for  passenger trains to overtake freight or slower trains. 

We will design the railway to an appropriate  gradient, gauging and weight specification, in order to accommodate freight trains.

Maintaining existing and  planning for new rail freight services  

Most freight trains would start and/or finish  their journeys outside the East West Rail  network, so suitable connections are required to the other main lines. The existing sections of East West Rail between Oxford and Calvert,  Bletchley and Bedford already carry freight  trains every day, and East West Rail would  continue to provide capacity for these services.

Connections already exist to the Oxford Main Line, West Coast Main Line (WCML) (east to  south only) and the Midland Main Line. 

There are opportunities, particularly to and  from the ports of Felixstowe in the east, and Southampton in the south, to provide  alternative and efficient routes for existing  freight to use East West Rail. The new railway would provide a new connection from these  sections to the WCML from west to north and the Cambridge area. We have been  investigating these options and what the  implications and requirements would be,  including consideration of local communities  and the potential investment that would  be needed.

Our work indicates that the likely demand for  these additional freight services would depend on further investment in infrastructure beyond East West Rail. Within our current proposals,  and without additional investment beyond the project, East West Rail would allow for: 

• Up to two new freight services per dayin each direction from Felixstowe via  Cambridge through to Oxford and  beyond.  
• Up to two new freight services per day in each direction from Southampton viaOxford, Bletchley and onto the West  Coast Main Line once the first phase of  East West Rail is complete.  
• Up to ten additional freight services per day in each direction between Oxford andMilton Keynes and beyond once East West Rail is fully operational.

Despite the limited uplift in freight services,  this could still replace up to an estimated  250,000 lorry journeys every year, which  would be around 980 lorry journeys per day.

Additional services from the east of England  could use the route in future, but this would only be possible with additional investment and enhancements both on the East West Rail  and the national network. While the demand is  mostly for containerized traffic from ports, there may be opportunities for other construction or  aggregates traffic to run as well.