More trains between Peterborough and London after rail improvement agreed

The dive under will take freight trains off the East Coast Main Line and connect them with the Great Northern Great Eastern Line as part of a multi-million pound scheme.

Once completed this will help ease congestion and create capacity for more train services to run on the East Coast Main line to and from London King’s Cross in the future.

The plans were approved by the Department for Transport (DfT) following a public inquiry.

Werrington First representative at Peterborough City Council Cllr Stephen Lane said: “It’s certainly welcome and hopefully the works will be commencing soon.

“There are concerns from neighbours because of the noise but you have to go by the experts who say that it will be in the permitted range.

“It’s certainly a better solution than the flyover that was proposed early on in the process.”

Fellow Werrington First member Cllr John Fox added: “They are saying it will cause less noise - we won’t know until it starts.

“This will take the freighters off the mainline and give them a better way of crossing over so it’s got to be a good thing.”

Planning Inspectorate Alwyn Nixon recommended that planning permission be granted for the scheme following the public inquiry.

The recommendation has now been agreed by the DfT despite opposition to the plans, in particular over noise.

Temporary hoardings will be used to protect properties on Hurn Road, at Whiteley Park Homes and at Gascoigne, David’s Close and Sunnymead from construction noise, while the Planning Inspectorate stated that “potential adverse effect thresholds are not predicted to be exceeded at any location for a period of more than one month.”

DfT said this scheme is required, in combination with other schemes, in order to increase capacity on the East Coast Main Line to allow for up to two extra train paths per hour in each direction for long distance high speed trains.

Philippa Edmunds, freight on rail manager at Campaign for Better Transport, said: “The Werrington junction upgrade will improve capacity for both freight and passenger services between London, Eastern England, the North East, Yorkshire and Scotland.

“This upgrade will open up the route from Peterborough to Doncaster via Lincoln for more freight services which will further reduce road congestion, road fatalities and pollution. Longer term we would like to see it electrified.”

The report states that construction is due to take place from September 2018 until the opening of the dive under in 2021.

The Peterborough Telegraph has contacted Network Rail to ask for confirmed start and end dates for the scheme, and to find out how much it will cost.