Light rail could be the cheaper and quicker option to connect Wisbech to March- but is it the right choice for the area?

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority board approved £310,000 of funding to look at the different options for the Wisbech Rail project.

The options assessment will continue to look at heavy rail – a railway line that can link up with mainline infrastructure – but will also look at options for a light rail solution – for example a tram line.

The Wisbech Rail project aims to reopen the Wisbech to March rail line, which has been closed since 1968.

Reopening the line is hoped will better connect the town with the rest of the county.

At a meeting of Fenland District Council’s overview and scrutiny panel on December 5, Cllr Anne Hay asked if a light rail option could be converted to heavy rail in the future.

She said: “If after the options assessment it was decided to go down the route of light rail, at a later date if it was felt that we needed to go to heavy rail, how easy that would be and what the probability would be.

“I’m concerned if we go down the route of light rail, it is an inferior service to heavy rail because people would have to change and wait for another train, and I am concerned if we went down that route we would never get heavy rail from Wisbech.”

Tim Bellamy, the interim head of transport at the Combined Authority, explained that one of the parts of the options assessment would be to look at if a light rail option was chosen, whether it could be updated to heavy rail at a later date.

He said the costs associated with that conversion would also be set out in the report to show the “total picture” and inform the ultimate decision.

Cllr Gavin Booth said there had been “delays after delays” in progressing the Wisbech Rail project, and asked what sort of timeline the scheme was currently facing.

Mr Bellamy said the timescale would depend on which option was chosen for the project.

He said: “I believe a light rail or an alternative could be delivered within the next five to 10 years, but we then need to go back to the previous councillor’s point about making sure that is fit for heavy rail.

“If we are looking at heavy rail it links back to the Ely Area Capacity scheme and other issues that we have got, and that may well be a longer term aspiration to deliver something on the heavy rail.

“I think the lower cost options will obviously be more likely to be delivered, but actually is that what we want?

“As a collective, do we want to deliver something and improve that connectivity, or do we want to hold out for what is likely to be a longer term and more expensive around heavy rail, and those are decisions we need to make.”