Skip to main content

UK plans fully integrated transport network to high tech hot spots

The UK government’s plans to support the country’s burgeoning high-tech industry, centred on London, Cambridge and Oxford, are being facilitated by the Department for Transport (DfT) and its plans for a fully integrated transport network linking each of the three core technical clusters, as well as the wider technical community. The DfT is developing proposals for the construction of a new railway line from Bedford to Cambridge. This would build on the ongoing work on the east-west rail project and compl
December 9, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
The UK government’s plans to support the country’s burgeoning high-tech industry, centred on London, Cambridge and Oxford, are being facilitated by the 1837 Department for Transport (DfT) and its plans for a fully integrated transport network linking each of the three core technical clusters, as well as the wider technical community.

The DfT is developing proposals for the construction of a new railway line from Bedford to Cambridge. This would build on the ongoing work on the east-west rail project and complete the London-Cambridge-Oxford tech triangle.

Once both of these lines are completed they will allow for fast direct rail services between Cambridge and Oxford for the first time in a generation.

The government is already committed to a huge expansion of the existing railway; a US$62 billion spending programme between 2014 and 2019 will improve and maintain the national network.

From 2019 the new Thameslink and Crossrail services will improve access from London to the other tech clusters but also to Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airports; a proposed new station in Cambridge will provide access to the SciencePark and tech locations cutting journey times; in Oxford the total rebuild and expansion of the existing station and new bus station will again significantly improve access to tech locations within the city; from 2018 the Thameslink scheme allows for direct trains between Farringdon and City Thameslink within London and Cambridge and improves service to 3249 Gatwick Airport; and the electrification of the Great Western Mainline which allows for the new Super Express to be operational by 2017 will reduce journey times and improve services between London to Oxford and beyond.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • UK Government Air Quality Plan – call for funding for FCEVs
    July 27, 2017
    Following the release of the UK Government’s final Air Quality Plan, in which it announced that it will ban all petrol and diesel vehicles (including hybrids) from 2040, ITM Power says this represents an historic first step towards cleaner and greener transport in the UK. However, it is calling on the UK Government to provide equivalent financial support for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) infrastructure as it has already provided for plug-in battery electric vehicle (BEV) infrastructure. The company, wh
  • Urban.Mass to roll out autonomous pods 
    October 21, 2021
    Pods can “flock” together into connected trains or run individually 
  • Mitsubishi consortium receives letter of conditional acceptance for Doha Metro
    February 23, 2015
    A consortium of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corporation; Hitachi, The Kinki Sharyo and Thales has received a Letter of Conditional Acceptance from the Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail) for a systems package for the Doha Metro, the first metro system to be constructed in the State of Qatar. It is said to be one of the world’s largest projects for a single metro system. Construction is scheduled for completion by October 2019. Qatar Rail is the owner and manager of Qatar’s rail network and respo
  • Government support for Australian infrastructure projects
    April 12, 2016
    The Australian Government has announced plans to invest in Australia’s infrastructure, spending US$370.27 million (AU$490 million) in Western Australia infrastructure in 2016-2017 and US$1.2 billion (AU$1.5 billion) on road and rail projects in Victoria. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull stated that the federal government and the Western Australia state government will work together to identify the appropriate projects for the additional investment. A spokeswoman for West Australian Premier Colin Barnett,