Cambridge Approaches and BFARe have come together to start this petition to “Pause plans for Oxford-Cambridge rail link pending a full, independent review”. It has had over 2000 signatures in its first 48 hours, but due to the snap general election it will be terminated at 00:01 on 30th May 2024. So we have until next Wednesday to send a message to the next government that we are not happy with the proposals for East West Rail. Please sign the petition and ask your friends and family to do so as well. Read more
This document summarizes some of the contributions over 80 people have made to the Heritage Ecosystems Impact Assessment of the proposed East West Rail corridor (Cambourne to Cambridge). Thank you to everyone who has participated thus far! If you are keen to contribute to the study, the project team will be hosting a meeting [TBA] to discuss these results and work with anyone interested in collaborating on the next stage of the project. This study is funded by the University of Cambridge (independent of East West Rail). [Posted on behalf of the Heritage Ecosystem Impact Assessment for EWR]
This is the best visualisation I have seen of what Chapel/Money Hill would look like during the construction of EWR. If we are lucky enough to get a cut and cover tunnel.
This is the twice postponed Haslingfield EWR Drop In Event and still the first chance villagers have had to meet EWR staff face to face and have our say about the proposed railway. In case you think it’s not happening, speaking on Look East this week, our new PM Liz Truss gave her in principle support to the railway although she would not be drawn on whether it would stop at Bedford or continue to Cambridge. Read more
EWR Co’s consultation opened yesterday. They are consulting on a single route alignment for Haslingfield and Harlton which is part of a 7km long elevated section from north of The Eversdens to somewhere east of Harston. With the exception of an up to 17m deep cutting on Chapel Hill the rest of the proposed route seems to be about at or about 10m above local ground level so at or above rooftop height. The proposed track crosses the Harlton to Haslingfield road just outside Harlton and has an underpass for road traffic. There is a map of the route here and a section plan here. The rest of the consultation can be found here.
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.
A new email group has been set up for residents Haslingfield and Harlton so that we can exchange information and views about the proposed East West Rail line and how it might affect the villages of Haslingfield and Harlton. You can of course stay in touch with wider issues on cambridgeapproaches.org and also on the excellent Haslingfield and Harlton facebook group.
It’s good to see so many “No EWR Rail Here” signs going up around the village, on the road sides and in people’s front windows. Our MP Anthony Browne picked up on it in a facebook post here. It is also good to see the opposition to Option E growing fast in neighbouring villages.
Recent discussions with local district councillors imply that EWR Co’s next consultation “early in 2021” will include options very close to The Eversdens, Harlton, Haslingfield and Harston, even if the Cambourne station is to the north rather than the south. This position is supported by survey activity here reported by the public. Even if your home is not close to the edge of the village consider the effect on access roads. Here is an image of what the crossing of the A10 might look like, it would be a similar picture for other roads (if access is restored at all).
EWR Co. have confirmed the line will be freight capable and the EWR Consortium are on record as saying that the EWR represents a huge freight opportunity – see section 2.2 of this document. Here are some freight trains in the fens. The video and especially audio gives a feeling for what they are like. Contrast this with our recent baseline noise survey in a back garden in Harlton where, over a 24 hour period the loudest noise was birdsong.
Things are not looking good.
If you have not done so already pleaseconsidersigning this petition it was started by CBRR just before the last consultation, but it is still the right question. It already has more signatures than the number of consultation responses that supported option E in the first place. Let’s push it much higher.Read more
Cambridge Approaches have made some progress since our last round of webinars back in September. We would like to do an updated webinar initially for residents of The Eversdens, Harlton, Haslingfield and Harston and in conjunction with parish councillors from these villages. Read more
