Callum Anderson says East West Rail passengers still cannot board 2025 line
Callum Anderson said people near east west rail can see freight trains at Winslow station, but they still cannot use the route for passenger trips. The Buckingham and Bletchley MP said, “It’s unfortunate,” and added, “People can see it and hear it but they can’t use it.”
The first phase of the Oxford-to-Milton Keynes line was finished in 2024, and freight trains have been running through Winslow station since late 2024. Passenger services had been expected after January 2025, but the opening has slipped from March 2025 to autumn 2025, then to the end of 2025, and now carries no target date.
Anderson and Winslow
Anderson said it was “important not to speculate or lay blame at any one door.” His comments reflect a delay that has left a completed railway in use for freight while passenger services remain out of reach for people near Winslow and Buckingham and Bletchley.
Diana Blamires, an independent councillor in Winslow, organised petitions and a protest last weekend at Bletchley station. She said the Department for Transport’s reasoning was “nonsense, pathetic, laughable … How come they could set up a freight train service?”
Peter Hendy Letter
Peter Hendy said in a March letter that the main reason services had not started was that negotiations over contracts with Chiltern were interrupted by the unexpected general election of July 2024. Chiltern Railways was officially due to take over in March 2025, but the timetable moved again after that point.
Heidi Alexander told the House of Commons that Chiltern was pursuing rolling stock modifications, the completion of the intermediate station, and staffing and training for service introduction. Those steps describe what still has to be done before passengers can board the line.
Oxford to Cambridge Route
The delay sits inside a bigger railway plan that has been discussed for well over a decade: a line linking Oxford to Cambridge via Milton Keynes. Rachel Reeves called it a “transport link needed to make the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor a success” in January 2025, but the finished first phase still has no passenger opening date.
Winslow has 4,500 people living there, and some new-build homes near the station were sold on the promise of commuter services via Milton Keynes or Oxford to London. For those residents, the practical result is simple: the track is there, freight is moving, and passenger trains are still not.
