East West Rail & Eco Town Transport proposals

Quote from recent Oxford County Council report on Transport Proposals
by developer for proposed Eco town at Weston Otmoor:

"East West Rail discussions are now at an advanced stage with DfT and
Network Rail on
their longer-term vision for this section of railway. They include:
· an increasing use by north-south freight traffic from Southampton
(avoiding the
congested rail network around the West Midlands) which might also help
release
capacity for a new station at Kidlington;
· greater use of the Midland Main Line for freight (accessed from EWR
at Bedford)
instead of the West Coast Main Line;
· routeing some north-south Cross Country passenger trains via
Bicester and Milton
Keynes to reduce journey times.
Once these have been clarified, tendering for GRIP Stage 4 is expected
to commence in
July 2008 with the contract award by September. The development work
will take around
one year to complete and will lead to procurement of the scheme in
2010. A re-opening in
2012/13 is still thought to be realistic."

My question: "Why do they refer to 'East West' when every reference is
to Oxford- Milton Keynes/Bedford and North-South when referring to
'from Southampton to ...'?"
JohnG

On Jul 18, 2:33 pm, JohnG <jpgree...@aol.com> wrote:
> Quote from recent Oxford County Council report on Transport Proposals
> by developer for proposed Eco town at Weston Otmoor:
>
>  "East West Rail discussions are now at an advanced stage with DfT and
> Network Rail on
> their longer-term vision for this section of railway. They include:
> · an increasing use by north-south freight traffic from Southampton
> (avoiding the
> congested rail network around the West Midlands) which might also help
> release"

This seem very sensible to me. IIRC @ one time the Midland north of
Bedford was four tracks, paired as passenger and freight. At return
to this arrangement is overdue/
>
> My question: "Why do they refer to 'East West' when every reference is
> to Oxford- Milton Keynes/Bedford and North-South when referring to
> 'from Southampton to ...'?"

The destination is north of the point of origin? I don’t know! :-)

> This seem very sensible to me.  IIRC @ one time the Midland north of
> Bedford was four tracks, paired as passenger and freight.  At return
> to this arrangement is overdue/

Going on the imagery available on Google Maps, the MML is still 4
track until the vicinity of Shambrook, quite a considerable distance
north of Bedford.