Susan Cooklin named East West Rail chair as scheme opens delivery market engagement

East West Rail appointed Susan Cooklin as its new chair on 5 November 2026, replacing Neil Sachdev, as the Oxford to Cambridge railway opened market engagement for service providers to bid for delivery tenders.

The company said Sachdev is standing down after his term of office has come to a close. Cooklin takes the role as East West Rail moves into what it called its next phase of delivery.

Cooklin was previously managing director of Network Rail's Route Services business, according to East West Rail.

Susan Cooklin, chair of East West Rail, said: "I am delighted to join East West Rail as Chair at such an important moment for the project."

The tenders

East West Rail said the appointment coincides with the opening of market engagement for service providers to bid for tenders that would take the scheme into delivery. The company described the proposed railway as 100 miles of connected track and seven new, fully accessible stations, with connections to 10 existing stations.

The company said the scheme, linking Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge, is in the final stages of design. If approved, it said, construction would start and the first new stations would open within the next five years.

David Hughes, chief executive officer of East West Rail, said: "She brings a wealth of experience in leading large, complex organisations, delivering major transformation programmes and putting customers at the heart of decision-making."

The consent timetable

East West Rail said in September 2026 that it was working towards submitting a Development Consent Order (DCO) application to the Planning Inspectorate in 2027.

That followed what the company described as its final route-wide consultation, which it said ran for eight weeks from 14 April to 9 June 2026. A summary report of the key themes raised during the consultation is due to be published on the company's website in autumn 2026, it said.

In its April consultation release, East West Rail said it expected to open the full railway by the mid-to-late 2030s.

The outgoing chair

Sachdev's appointment as chair was announced by the Department for Transport in 2021, when GOV.UK said he had been appointed for a three-year term. East West Rail's announcement of his departure said only that his term of office has come to a close.

The company

The Department for Transport created the East West Railway Company in 2017 and is its main shareholder, according to the company's own website. GOV.UK describes it as a non-departmental public arm's length body set up by the government and sponsored by the department.

The DCO application for the railway is due to go to the Planning Inspectorate in 2027.