The start of passenger services on the new East West Rail line will be delayed until at least 2026 with no start date confirmed, the operator has said, partly due to a row over guards on the trains.
Passenger trains were supposed to come into service between Oxford and Milton Keynes this autumn, the first stage on the new railway along the Oxford-Cambridge arc where the government hopes for rapid economic growth.
However, the operator, Chiltern Railways, has yet to formally notify authorities of the start of services – meaning trains on the flagship project will not be timetabled for several months.
The track and infrastructure has been completed and passenger trains have been leased but stand idle. More than a year has elapsed since Network Rail finished work on the line and the first test trains ran, and freight trains are running on the route.
A looming row over how trains are staffed is understood to be the main stumbling block. An existing agreement is understood to only allow Chiltern to operate trains without guards on certain parts of its network.
Both the RMT union, representing guards, and Aslef, representing train drivers, formally oppose any extension to driver-only operated trains on the UK railway – a position that is likely to have been reinforced by the recent knife attack on a train in Cambridgeshire.
Unions said Chiltern only recently notified them of plans to run the East-West trains without guards. An RMT spokesperson confirmed that Chiltern management had written spelling out the plans and the union was seeking talks. Aslef said it was approached last month but was awaiting the outcome of the RMT negotiations.
The single new station so far built on the route, Winslow, has also yet to be completed. Work is continuing.
A Chiltern Railways spokesperson said: “We are working with the Department for Transport, trade unions and other industry partners to deliver the first stage of East West Rail for customers and businesses.
“As well as creating nearly 100 new permanent jobs at Chiltern, this new service will deliver immense benefits across the region, so we are eager to ensure that these benefits are realised for the community as soon as possible.”
A DfT spokesperson said: “We are supporting Chiltern Railways as they work closely with unions and other industry partners to get services on the first phase of East West Rail up and running as soon as possible.”
The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said East West Rail would be a “catalyst for growth, more jobs and opportunity, and this project will make rail travel faster, greener and more reliable for millions of passengers … laying the foundations for long-term prosperity in one of the UK’s most dynamic regions.”
East-West Rail will eventually be a critical component of the Oxford-Cambridge corridor that ministers have earmarked as “Europe’s Silicon Valley”, delivering economic growth and tens of thousands of new homes, including a possible new town on the route at Tempsford.
The phased opening of the railway will next involve upgrades to the line from Milton Keynes and Bletchley to Bedford, and then a new line built east of Bedford to Cambridge.
The full opening is also likely to be pushed further back into the 2030s after the government confirmed changes to the scope and route to allow more trains and another station to serve the planned Universal theme park near Bedford.
The East West Railway Company building the multibillion-pound line said it hoped to run up to five trains per hour, with up to 70% more seating across the route, due to greater forecast demand.
Its chief executive, David Hughes, said the updates “reflect our commitment to listening to communities while designing a railway that delivers long-term benefits for the region. Our latest proposals better reflect what matters most to people and will deliver better outcomes for passengers, local communities and the environment”.
