Arriva Group's Chiltern Railways has been chosen to operate the initial phase of the East West Rail project, which will connect Oxford and Cambridge.
The Department for Transport (DfT) announced on Tuesday that it anticipates services to commence later this year, marking the first connection between Milton Keynes and Oxford in six decades, as reported by City AM.
East West Rail, a proposed billion-pound railway line, is a key component of the government's strategy to establish a £78bn growth corridor between the two university cities, renowned for their concentration of tech, life science and AI companies.
Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy stated on Tuesday: "Appointing Chiltern Railways to run the first East West Rail services is one of the crucial last steps in getting the line up and running later this year and means local people in the area are closer to experiencing the benefits of this transformative project."
"This milestone demonstrates that we are serious about unlocking the potential of the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor, providing greater connectivity across the region and delivering on our Plan for Change mission to drive economic growth."
The inauguration of the first stage of East West Rail will generate approximately 100 new positions at Chiltern. Once fully operational, the project is expected to contribute around £6.7bn of annual growth to the Oxford-Cambridge region by 2050 and support up to 28,000 jobs, based on government projections.
Initially, the new line will connect Oxford and Milton Keynes, serving six stations.
Amanda Furlong, Interim Managing Director of Arriva UK Trains, expressed her pride that Chiltern has been selected to operate the initial phase of the new East West Rail line, describing it as a "We are incredibly proud that Chiltern has been chosen to operate the first phase of the new East West Rail line, a transformative infrastructure project that will drive long-term benefits for communities, businesses and the wider economy."
She stated: "Arriva has a track record of delivering high-quality, reliable passenger transport and our plans to start services later this year are already underway."
