Rachel Reeves announces investment in a major new rail project
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Watch LIVE: Rachel Reeves set to make transport announcement
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Rachel Reeves has announced a ￡2.5 billion investment in a major new rail project connecting Oxford and Cambridge. The funding will support the continued delivery of the East-West Rail line, aimed at boosting travel and economic links between the two historic cities.
The Chancellor, delivering her spending review in the Commons, described the project as a key part of the government’s transport strategy to modernise the country’s rail network. The announcement came during her spending review statement in the Commons today. This funding forms part of a wider push to upgrade infrastructure outside London, she told MPs.
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READ MORE: Rachel Reeves makes huge announcement with ￡15bn promised
A new rail line has received Rachel Reeves backing (Image: GETTY)
Rachel Reeves leaves Number 11 Downing Street prior to her statement (Image: Getty)
The government is also investing in other rail projects around the country, including ￡3.5bn for the Transpennine Route Upgrade - the "backbone of rail travel in the North", linking York, Leeds and Manchester.
Earlier in her speech, she told the Commons: "I can announce a further ￡3.5 billion of investment for that route (TransPennine).
"But my ambition and the ambition of people across the north is greater still and so in the coming weeks I will set out this Government's plans to take forward our ambitions on Northern Powerhouse Rail.
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"I have also heard the representations of ... members for Milton Keynes North, Milton Keynes Central, and Buckingham & Bletchley.
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'And I can tell the House today, to connect Oxford and Cambridge, and to back Milton Keynes' leading tech sector, I am providing a further ￡2.5 billion for the continued delivery of East-West rail."
The East West Rail project aims to reconnect Oxford and Cambridge by rail for the first time since the original Varsity Line was closed in the 1960s.
The scheme will eventually provide a direct route between the two cities via Bletchley, Milton Keynes and Bedford.
The line is being delivered in three stages. The first – linking Oxford and Bletchley – is already under construction and expected to open to passengers in 2025.
The second stage, connecting Bletchley and Bedford, is set to follow shortly afterwards.
The final section, running from Bedford to Cambridge, was given the green light this week.
East West Rail says the full route will cut journey times, ease pressure on overcrowded north-south lines, and help support job creation and housing development along the so-called “brain belt”.
Once complete, the line is expected to carry two trains per hour in each direction, with significant upgrades planned at Bedford and a new station to be built at Tempsford.
Critics have warned the final leg of the scheme will damage the countryside, increase noise pollution and offer little benefit to local communities.
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The Transpennine Route Upgrade is a major rail project aimed at improving the line between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York, with electrification, faster trains and better reliability.
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Work is already underway, with full completion expected in the 2030s.
Northern Powerhouse Rail is a separate long-term plan to build a new high-speed line between Manchester and Leeds via Bradford.
The Government says both schemes will boost capacity and unlock economic growth across the North of England.
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