Key areas of focus for the consultation include how Oxford station and its supporting infrastructure could be improved, plus Oxford Parkway and Bicester Village stations.

Views are also sought on options for new stations at Bedford and Bedford St Johns while five route alignment options for the section of the route between Bedford and Cambridge – including an emerging preference for a station at Cambourne North – are also set out.

“The consultation is another important milestone towards delivering East West Rail,” said project consortium representative Martin Tugwell, President of CIHT. “The project will transform public transport in the region, boosting our economy and providing an attractive alternative to the car.

“As a Consortium we will continue to make the case for delivery of East West Rail in full, including the core section between Aylesbury and Milton Keynes, and to the east of Cambridge on to Norwich and Ipswich.” 

The consultation which closes on 9 June will also ask for comments on plans to improve the customer experience of the new railway through better station design and more timely travel information.

East West Railway Company chief executive Simon Blanchflower said: “This rail link is vital to the future prosperity of the region so we ask people to encourage their friends, relatives and colleagues to get involved in the consultation so they can help us to bring the right connections to all of the communities who live and work in the Oxford / Cambridge arc.”

The consultation launch follows Government’s recent allocation of £760M to fund construction of the new railway line between Oxford and Bletchley / Milton Keynes.

(Photograph: Network Rail)