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Exchequer secretary hails Bletchley's East-West Rail station

Aaron Chown/PA Wire Felicity Buchan MP arrives for the Conservative Party annual conference at the International Convention Centre in BirminghamAaron Chown/PA Wire
Felicity Buchan said the new station was "innovative"

The exchequer secretary to the treasury said a new train station that is part of the East-West Rail route would bring "jobs and opportunities" to the area.

Felicity Buchan, who is also the Conservative MP for Kensington, visited Bletchley station in Buckinghamshire.

The station is part of the £5bn East-West Rail scheme to connect Oxford and Cambridge.

Ms Buchan said the "innovative" station would "improve connectivity". Opponents said it would have a negative impact.

Stuart Ratcliffe/BBC East-West railway stationStuart Ratcliffe/BBC
A new station is being built in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, as part of the East-West Rail project

Services on the route will be introduced in stages, with the Bletchley station forming part of the first section, between Oxford and Milton Keynes.

Stage two involves predominantly upgrading existing infrastructure, between Bletchley and Bedford, to allow services between Oxford and Bedford.

Stage three involves building a new line, between Bedford and Cambridge, to extend the railway and facilitate services from Oxford to Cambridge.

But in July, the Infrastructure and Projects Authority said in a report that stages two and three had "major issues" over "project definition, schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery, which at this stage do not appear to be manageable or resolvable".

East West Rail East West Rail map planEast West Rail
The new line (dark blue) would connect with existing track (light blue), with new stations at Winslow, St Neots South, Cambourne and Cambridge South

Campaigners in various locations along the proposed route have voices concerns about the impact the line will have.

The campaign group, Cambridge Approaches, said: "Thousands of south Cambridgeshire residents living along the proposed 100mph (161km/h) mainline route are affected by the proposals, which will have a massive and negative impact, with no benefits."

Residents in Bedfordshire said the line would cut through homes and businesses in the Bedford Poets' area.

The last two sections from Bletchley to Bedford and from Bedford to Cambridge, which would create several new railway stations, were "still in planning, and are dependent on final government funding and approval", East West Rail Company said.

Ms Buchan said the station would bring "jobs and opportunities".

"Rail projects like East West Rail are an essential foundation of growth," she said.

"We want to accelerate vital infrastructure projects and drive forward the UK's economic growth."

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