The section of route between Cambridge and Bedford includes the "missing link" between Sandy and Bedford. Within the overall scheme, this is the most difficult and costly part of the route to reinstate.
Following public consultation in 1998, the East West Rail Consortium, Bedfordshire County Council and Bedford Borough Council established a preferred route that would use existing infrastructure from Cambridge to Hitchin via Letchworth. A new curve would be built to give a connection with the East Coast Main Line towards Sandy.
The line between Sandy and Bedford was closed in the 1960s and some of the land has been sold and developed for other uses. Many bridges have either been removed or are in a poor state of repair and the Bedford bypass severs the line. However, a clear line of route still exists across the "missing link".
In November 2000, the East West Rail Consortium advertised in the Official Journal of the European Communities (OJEC) for an investment partner to take forward development of the "missing link". Skanska Construction was appointed in March 2001 to review the route and put forward proposals that could be taken through the Transport & Works Act process. Along with detailed traffic and demand modelling, a business case for the "missing link" was submitted to the Strategic Rail Authority in 2002.
The SRA announced in 2003 that they had no plans for taking forward the "missing link" but agreed to take responsibility, with the East West Rail Consortium, to identify and protect a preferred alignment.
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