Get Involved in the Cambridge Approaches East West Rail Campaign
The next East West Rail consultation on route alignments in our area has been imminent since the start of January 2021. We are currently told that it will be out before Easter. Now is a good time to step up the campaign for a fair consultation on the northern approach to Cambridge as well as the southern approach.
The EWR action group in The Eversdens is opening up to invite like-minded people from Haslingfield and Harlton to attend (but also any local village). It’s a Zoom meeting on Thursdays at 8pm on this link. All welcome. This group is well connected with other parts of the CA campaign. Through this group you can get involved with various more specialist teams working on the project.
William Harrold, Cambridge Approaches.
NEVILLE JAMES COLE
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News media have been well saturated by the container vessel wedged in the Suez
Canal. It can be presumed that vessels of this size will be regular visitors to Felixstowe? A longer term objective of the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement, perhaps.
The enormous quantity of containers discharged at Felixstowe will see onward movement by rail freight, on the EWR. This movement generating infrastucture
impact to accommodate it. The EWR is an idea to improve rail use, particularly
cross country passenger services using approriate lines/routes.
Freight could, does, arrive in Europe on such vessels. Ports receiving them include
Le Havre, Antwerp and Rotterdam/Europort. Onward movement of the containers
by high speed rail to connect with the Channel Tunnel. The tunnel has carried such
freight since its opening. Existing UK lines modified to suit this traffic. A connection
to HS2 included.
Brexit a complication? Customs requirements for third countries deliveries met
at Felixstowe would be no different to those from continental Europe. How many
giant vessels could Felixstowe comfortably handle on a regular basis, and the impact on just in time practices?
Food for thought for a possibly less fraught future?
Neville James Cole
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