Thrillseekers heading to the UK’s first Universal Studios theme park will be able to travel to a brand new railway station near the site.
East West Rail (EWR) announced that a new train hub in Stewartby, Bedfordshire, will “help cater for people wanting to travel to the Universal Studios theme park” – set to open in the early 2030s.
The station will sit on the Marston Vale line, an existing section of the East West Rail line project.
The East West Rail scheme will connect Oxford to Cambridge via Milton Keynes and Bedford at a cost of between £5.7bn and £6.6bn.
A Department for Transport (DfT) consultation revealed that existing “outdated” stations on the Marston Vale Line are among the “least used in the country”.
Consolidating the current nine stations into “four modern, larger and better-located stations” will provide safer, more accessible facilities, said EWR.
Universal expects to attract 8.5 million annual visitors during its opening year.
Planning documents show the Studios could build structures in the theme park reaching up to 377ft (115m), including rides.
According to EWR’s “You Said, We Did” report, the consolidated Stewartby-Kempston Hardwick station would “allow people to travel to the Universal resort without negatively impacting other users”.
As Universal’s proposals are “still emerging”, EWR said it is working with the company to “determine the design and exact position of the station”.
EWR said in a statement: “We now plan to deliver more passenger rail services, up to a maximum of five trains per hour during peak times, to help cater for people wanting to travel to Universal Studios theme park. This is an increase on the three trains per hour previously planned.”
However, commuters on the western part of the line, from Oxford to Milton Keynes, have had their rail plans disrupted.
In March, the DfT said the link would open this year. But as The Independent reported this week, Chiltern Railways now concedes that services will not run in 2025 as a row about train crew size rumbles on.
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