A NEW railway line through the mid-Essex countryside and the long-awaited dualling of the Great Notley bypass could become reality under ambitious plans to overhaul transport within the county.

A completely new train line is being proposed to cope with the population explosion from the 19,300 additional homes allocated for the area in the East of England Plan.

This week county highways chief Rodney Bass said he was confident cash for the dualling of the A131 bypass would be made available from £72 million allocated to Essex by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Department for Transport.

Proposals have also been unveiled to improve the accident-blighted stretch of the A12 between Hatfield Peverel and Witham.

Details for the new railway route, which would branch from Shenfield, have not been revealed.

The Department of Transport’s Eastern Regional Planning Assessment says it is vital if the county is to cater adequately for mass rail travel after 2020. The assessment also called for a new station at Springfield and a new Cressing loop which would allow twice as many trains to run between Braintree and Witham. But plans for new links to Stansted Airport from Colchester, Norfolk, Suffolk and east Essex have been dismissed as unviable.

Cllr Delmas Ashford, political head of development at Chelmsford Borough Council, is very confident a new station at Springfield will become a reality. He said the borough has already asked two consultants to start planning for it.

“This is the most positive move ever made on the new station,” he said.

“It is still some way ahead but we are working on it at last.”

The Highways Agency has also unveiled proposals to widen the existing A12 carriageway to three lanes between Hatfield Peverel and Witham.

It would also mean upgrading the junction slip roads, and closing or improving some of the direct accesses onto the A12. A continuous footpath/cycleway will also be built next to the southbound carriageway.

The work, which is subject to funding confirmation, will see the proposed new lanes utilising the existing wide central reservation and verges, and replacement of any trees which need to be removed.

An announcement on the Great Notley scheme is expected before Easter. Rodney Bass, county council cabinet member for highways and transportation, said: “We are hopeful that we will have some positive news in the near future on the Great Notley scheme.”

Mark Leslie from the Essex Federation of Rail Users is keen for the infrastructure to be brought in simultaneously to the growth in commuter. He said: “Over the next few years the county’s population will increase by more than 600,000, and rail freight will more than double in the next six to seven years.

“We should be building extra tracking at the same time.”

Last year Chelmsford Borough Council revealed its transport plans for the next 20 years as part of its Local Development Framework.

It included a new railway station, a north-east bypass and a Chelmer Valley cross route to Broomfield Hospital.

What are you views on the new transport plans for Essex? Email letters@essexchronicle.co.uk or write to Letters, Essex Chronicle, Westway, Chelmsford, CM1 3BE.