Professional services consulting firm WSP in partnership with Mott MacDonald - MWJV - has been appointed principal designer for the East West Rail project.

Plans for East West Rail (EWR) - which will connect Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge - are progressing after the government committed to delivering the railway in full in the Autumn Budget.

The appointment as principal designer by the partnership, MWJV, underlines EWR Co’s commitment to safety, collaboration, and excellence in project delivery and will help drive forward the next scheme development phase of the programme to build a new railway between Oxford and Cambridge.

In a keynote speech last month, chancellor Rachel Reeves outlined her support to EWR to allow a new station at Tempsford to be fast-tracked as part of plans to boost growth along the Oxford-Cambridge corridor.

As principal designer, MWJV will lead key responsibilities under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM).

These include planning, managing and monitoring pre-construction activities to ensure the highest safety and efficiency standards during design and survey phases.

Matthew Bailey, project director at MWJV, said: “Safety and collaboration are at the heart of this project, and MWJV’s role as principal designer will ensure we deliver infrastructure that not only meets the highest standards but also anticipates and mitigates future risks.

“This appointment allows us to apply a proactive approach to design, ensuring greater scrutiny and adaptability while prioritising long-term safety and efficiency to deliver lasting value for East West Rail and the communities it will serve.”

MWJV will provide the technical and management resources to support EWR Co as it prepares to apply for a development consent order (DCO).

This includes preliminary engineering and systems design, environmental assessment and management of the statutory processes.

A successful DCO would then authorise EWR Co to build the new infrastructure required to deliver EWR.