Plans for the Wixams railway station have been put on hold, as new information from the government suggests a significantly larger vision for rail links connected to the proposed Universal Studios Theme Park.
Bedford mayor Tom Wootton (Conservative) told last night’s Executive (Wednesday) that the government has asked the council to stop work on the original Wixams station plans.
“We have had word from the government… they want us to stop work on the Wixams railway station,” he said, “This is probably some great news for [councillor] Frost and the finance team that we’re not paying out for 65 million quid of train station.
“So, it might make one or two things easier on the financial front in the next year or so. But, it does mean for the residents of Wixams a small pause while they get a very, very large four-platform train station – that may even have a roof.”
Eurostar stop?
The Mayor then suggested we may even get trains coming from Europe to Wixams.
“I’ve also been told that they’re probably thinking of trying to bring trains from further afield than London, possibly even from abroad. That would ease a lot of the air-mile worries that the Greens have.
“That’s the rumours I’ve heard, we haven’t had anything confirmed, and we haven’t had the plans of the station confirmed yet. We’re still in very early days,” he said.
The mayor added that buses, active travel, and trains are the “heart” of plans to deliver “large amounts” of people to the site.
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
