Wixams Station Plans Derailed As Universal Studios United Kingdom May Cause Drastic Expansion

The existing plans for Wixams Station have been put on hold, as new government information has suggested a much larger plan because of Universal Studios United Kingdom.

As per the BBC, the Conservative Mayor of Bedford, Tom Wootton, spoke to Bedford Borough Council’s Executive Committee this past Wednesday (23rd April) and stated that the government had ordered the council to stop any construction on the Wixams site while there are plans afoot for a larger station.

Wootton had stated the order to pause construction would help the council on the financial front in the immediate future, although it would mean that residents of Wixams would be subject to a small pause while ‘they get a very, very large four-platform train station – that may even have a roof.’

The Mayor also suggested that he had heard rumours concerning the potential for trains to arrive from Europe – ‘further afield from London, possibly even from abroad’ – although he stressed these were just rumours, and that nothing concrete was confirmed, including the plans for the station itself.

The idea of Eurostar services running north of London St Pancras International was initially mooted when services began in 1994, as part of the ‘Regional Eurostar’ initiative that never got off the ground, allegedly due to Eurostar not wishing to put border security further north of London. Some users of the Inside Universal forum have suggested that European trains could run to Wixams based on there being room for more competition on the Channel Tunnel services with Virgin eyeing up plans that could lead to a direct service. It is, of course, all speculation at the moment.

In comments to the BBC, the Mayor had also stated that the government were taking over the Wixams project, given the finances involved, and the scale of the project to involve more than just a ‘village station’.

In addition, a spokesperson from the government’s Department for Transport told the BBC that the government ‘will commit to a major investment in infrastructure around the site to support the delivery of the project and ensure it is well connected and easily accessible’ with more information in due course.

It had previously been noted that the Universal project looked to have two train stations, with a two-platform Wixams station that had the option to expand to four platforms, as well as the revamped Kempston Hardwick station on the proposed East-West rail link between Oxford and Cambridge.

A recent article in Rail Magazine had also confirmed that the station at Wixams is intended for trains every 15 minutes, with up to 774,000 annual journeys.

Read on to find out everything we know about Universal Studios United Kingdom.