Of course D(a)fT aren't going to allow any scheme even Chiltern's so don't hold your breath.
If Chiltern is to qualify for its full 20-year franchise, it has to provide a number of enhancements. Involvement in East-West itself and the Aylesbury-Verney Junction link to the East-West route are other possibilities. Chiltern has so far delivered all the enhancements it has promised, so why not this one? And even DafT isn't stupid enough not to like schemes it doesn't have to pay for!
And if Chiltern's plan gets the go-ahead, I don't think
FGW▸ would be too upset to be relieved of the need to operate Bicester Town branch workings from Oxford. The speed limit on the existing track makes journey times unattractive, even with the A34 being choked with traffic, so passenger numbers are small, but it ties up a Turbo and crew for much of the day.
What I meant by "killer point" was about getting a full East West Link
But it doesn't kill the entire scheme, as the phrase suggests, and the Oxford-
MK▸ -Bedford section was always going to be the most important, and the backers of the scheme admit that.
While the idea of an Oxbridge link always looks attractive, the fact is that a recent attempt to get an air service going was dropped soon after it was launched, due to low demand. Just like the Liverpool-Norwich and Birmingham-Cambridge rail routes, there might be a number of people travelling long-distance but the majority using the train through the course of its journey will be making shorter trips, with the bulk of journeys on East-West likely to be concentrated on the sections where there are already rails in place.
Even without the rowing lake - whatever it will be used for - it was always going to be more difficult on the eastern part, because the line had been abandoned
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