HS2 meets EWR, Calvert, May 2023

Aerial footage where East-West Rail (EWR) meets High Speed 2 (HS2) at Calvert in Buckinghamshire, taken in May 2023

EWR is a new (though mostly existed up until the 1960s) route between Oxford and Cambridge via Milton Keynes and Bedford, which have no other viable rail services between them. The section between Bedford and Cambridge still looks to be in jeopardy, along with the promised link to Aylesbury (and onwards to London).

HS2 is the controversial project, that's been hugely scaled back due to massive cost overruns and all independent reports repeating it does not offer value for money, or has any green credentials, and links cities (London, Birmingham and maybe Manchester later) that already have good, underutilised rail links between them already.