Universal Studios United Kingdom could be set for trains “within the first few years” of its operation from the longstanding East West Rail line.
As per an article from the BBC and an accompanying press release, East West Rail is accelerating some of its plans for the long-proposed line between Oxford and Cambridge because of the impending park in Kempston, such as having more frequent trains and bringing forward plans for a new EWR station by several years.
According to EWR, Universal is intending to run shuttle buses from Milton Keynes to the park while the line is constructed, although it has said it is “fast-tracking” an upgrade of the existing line between Bletchley and Bedford (the current Marston Vale local line). This means EWR trains could “serve the park within its first few years”.
As a result of the plans, nine current stations on the Marston Vale line (Bletchley, Fenny Stratford, Bow Brickhill, Woburn Sands, Aspley Guise, Ridgmont, Lidlington, Millbrook, Stewartby, Kempston Hardwick, Bedford St John’s, Bedford) will be closed, with four new replacement ‘local’ stations built at Woburn Sands, Ridgmont, Lidlington and Stewartby.
Stewartby station is the one that’ll serve Universal specifically, and EWR says there will be four trains an hour between there and Oxford “by the early 2030s”. The trains will be hybrid battery-electric, although they will initially be diesel while overhead power lines are installed, and will have five carriages instead of the originally planned four due to an increase in demand posed by Universal.
EWR has also said that the new stations and sections of the line will be open “as soon as they are ready, rather than waiting for the whole route to be completed”, presumably to help ease demand.
We’d already noted how Universal has said that the park will “unlock several longstanding transport upgrades” in a letter sent to local residents back in May 2025, such as expanding the new Wixams railway station as well as for adding direct slip roads from the A421 to the park for accommodating the sea of road traffic, and upgrading Manor Road that runs by the site. All of this current work seems to be laying the foundations for a very exciting future.
The park will be served by two train stations, with both Stewartby on EWR (if the proposal goes through without a hitch) and Wixams on the Thameslink side. Wixams is now set to be a four-platform station after the government took over the expansion plans from Bedford Borough Council, again, owing to the increase in potential demand that Universal is likely to provide.
Read more about everything we know so far about Universal Studios United Kingdom.
