Radial rails for Bedford and Wixams

Government support, 8-million visitors per year coming to the Bedford area. How ready are we? Concerns have been raised on impacts like traffic volumes on already gridlocked roads, pollution and demand for more roads exacerbating the cycle of transport if we do not get timely delivery of RAIL-based solutions.

Now this will filter to people's particulars of other agendas, small beer and sandwiches focuses, siloed society and thread bare resource cabinets beit councils or government.

To give the go ahead to something as big as this, without evaluating the impacts and unintended consequences, is more than a leap of faith, it is courting a series of practical issues which urgently need everyone's attention. In short, 2031 opening, mid 30's the test of cohesive and coordinated preparedness or not. 

If a forum is tabled of support for BRTA's rail agenda, which is shared by some other councils and people, then inviting investors to work cases up, get map and plans inclusive (hitherto is now short of that mobility reality unfolding); protect sites and rail corridors, look and study the case merits and benefits on and off the rails and build coalitions to progress to full acceptance. Bedford will gain; Universal equally. Mitigating the costs of congestion in all ways. 

https://inrix.com/press-releases/traffic-congestion-to-cost-the-uk-economy-more-than-300-billion-over-the-next-16-years/ We cannot build our way out of it, we can foster the rail alternative as much as possible, bringing people to and from and across our area sustainably and revitalising town centres never built for the road volumes we see today.

Regeneration is increased if we support re-railing. Our diagram attached shows what we have now and what we could have then. Government needs to instruct East-West Rail Co, to change its route and enable that by instructing Office for Road and Rail (ORR) to have a more inclusive approach to dispensation granted to level crossings in designs where no other solution is feasible like Priory Park Entrance for example and ideally, Cardington Road. That is our route's Achilles heel. On the other hand, the Northern Route is not a panacea, far from it and questions around freight and electrification, cost and timescales, remain questionable to put it mildly. On the other side, Northampton-Bedford-Wixams as an extension of Thameslink needs new route identification, protection and working up the candidacy case for government support on the back of Wixams and if investors stand ready to show a willingness to invest and pro-affirma support, why not? In any case 2035-2040 seems probable.

Interim, Stations North of Bedford (Oakley and Sharnbrook) and a new service with Leicester/East Midlands and revamping Bedford-Bletchley with Oxford hourly services, or at very least Bedford-Bletchley timetables enabling scope to come back from Oxford and change to a Bedford train now and 2031 seems logical. Longer halt/station platforms, electrification infill (4 coach units) - capacity and demand will grow. 25 years ago a study showed Retail Park Station and Kempston would add 100 extra passengers daily to Bedford-Bletchley local shuttle. Object as taking ages? But the receipts for a 3 minute extra delay covers that inconvenience, and brings 20, 000 catchment to the service potentially (Kempston Town and Elstow for example with radial walkways and cycle links etc). What will be inadequate is 45 year old trains, clapped out, failing often, bus substitutions caught in congestion and people not using the service due to unreliability issues. What can we do now, what by 2031 and what and when post 2031? If East-West Rail say 2050 for 'all singing and dancing' we are right to be sceptical, and tears more likely. Today we decide the future and work with the grain greater or lesser. 

Hope of interest. Our events are open to all, so all welcome; https://brtarail.com/events/

Transport policy of who gets what is contradictory?

BRTA welcomes Government go ahead to reopen the long campaigned for and courted Portishead Rail Link for passenger services (it already has freight). This new modal choice rail-based solution will give people more options and boost inward footfall and spend sustainably.

However, the Midland Main Line electrification was cancelled, which started circa 1975, stopped for East Coast Electrification and has been very, very incremental interim and now another stoppage just outside the City of Leicester! 

Lincolnshire has to be the worst county in England, whereby the A16 sits on the former East Lincs railway which served Mablethorpe Resort and the growing town of Louth and would have been well used for freight. Unless there is a new-build plan to put the railway alongside the road, it is a rail deficit. Likewise at the southern end, March-Spalding would have enabled passenger and freight movements quicker across the Fens and freed up capacity between Ely and Peterborough. March-Spalding would have allowed a Lincoln-Cambridge direct service as well as other linkages to and from with Stansted Airport, Norwich and Ipswich. Alas, roads have been built on all old railway courses and the former rail access now has houses over the junction. 

Clearly the apprehension, consideration and appreciation of rail route protection has been lacking and no governmental involvement to consider the strategic nature of some of these rail access issues being denied for the foreseeable future 'lost' to the good of the nation as a whole, let alone local population issues.

Meanwhile, even lines which prove viability are not being supported by Government, like Colne-Skipton reopening despite a robust case and campaign and Witney in Oxfordshire likewise, government saying "no money" but then finds £9 billion for Lower Thames Road Crossing, which in BRTA's view should, like Silvertown in London of been a rail-based solution, not roads pumping more congestion, pollution and detrimental quality of life to the areas affected. Government is failing to show moral courage to put people, places, land use and the environment at the centre of its transport and planning policy and delivery plans and that is costing us dear now and going forward. We're getting hotch-potched transport, pluralism transport, not a cohesive rail-based solution to rectify past mistakes of closures, rationalisation and crippling rail's ability to inform adequate trains and lengths to stop overcrowding and stop the negative cycle of price managing demand, rather than re-railing to encourage more demand by rail, bring social, economic, environmental and moral benefits of so doing consistently.

I could go on across the nation, but these examples are what is happening or not (!) in many constituencies and MP's need to consult constituents to discover what more and better local rail solutions might look like and then switch from road spend to rail-spend. Expose vested interests, challenge pollution and fossil fuels and invest spare money in investing in cleaner solutions which can deliver more. Most local rail reopenings have exceeded predictions of use spectacularly. 

BRTA's other specific schemes can be found on our website campaigns page: https://brtarail.com/our-campaigns/ and that list is incrementally growing. 

In Scotland, Dumfries-Kirkcudbright and Stranraer with a direct west to north curve at the Stranraer end for direct running to and from the Ayrshire Coast should be protected, studied and brought forward for delivery to take-on the growing congestion on the accident A75 trunk road which has a desert deficit of rail presence.

In Wales, the struggling Cambrian Coast Railway needs the restoration of the Carmarthen-Aberystwyth and Criccieth-Bangor rail links to inform a modern upgraded through coastal route alias 'West Wales Main Line' far better than letting existing rails struggle and upgrading parallel roads whilst saying "no demand"! It is disingenuous and the funding of roads compared to ease of access for funding rail, is unequal and the need for rebalancing and to change putting people, places, land use and the environment first and that means rail!

Government says it supports and will fund the East-West Rail between Oxford-Bedford-Cambridge and yet despite the rail company putting out pretty pictures, fauna and flora matters, glacial is the delivery progress and it is screamingly putting carts before the proverbial horses! The delivery of the rail should be forefront top focus, emphasis and dated with on-time rewards, out-of-time penalties. Oxford-Milton Keynes is 'there' but still no date on passenger services (see attached about the absence of an Aylesbury link to it) and despite government giving go-ahead to Universal Theme Park anchored south-west of Bedford, there is:

1. no inclusion in even an hourly Oxford service before 2031 (when it opens with 8-million visitors per year).

2. Bedford-Bletchley Railway is perfectly operational now, but has no Sunday service, no upgrades of length of trains or platforms let alone infill electrification; any upgrades could be done by short possessions over that time, not gold-plating in the absence of the line's operational capabilities. It is a service relied on by students and lower income brackets, yet driver absence and 45 year old 'Sprinter Units' failing, means often unreliable performance, cancellations and a bus substitute which gets caught in congestion.

3. Despite the future being a leisure and work line, there is no Sunday Service and really should be a Micro Franchise for full focused development of the local service upwards, than bolted on as a burden to main line operators (London North Western) and Renationalisation, must be line-specific enablement not Whitehall prescribing down blinkered to local conditions and and what actual rail users wish for? Privatisation was botched from the start, renationalisation needs to be capable of pragmatism, not ideologically driven regardless. We have few assurances, look at Open Access seeking Leicester-Bristol via Bedford and First seeking to reopen the Fawley Rail Link - a reopening, could they be encouraged to do track and train and get more lines rebuilt where demand can be found? Very little about that, but raises the spectrum of whether our leaders really care, have diligence or have and are consulting on the ground?

4. Northampton needs more and better radial rail links and with no change, were Thameslink to have a new-build arm to Northampton from Bedford, could access the Universal Theme Park by rail easier than changing at Bletchley and likewise Oxford/Aylesbury would do more passenger and freight business, if the studied and found viable Northampton-Leicester via Market Harborough rail link were rebuilt. See: https://brtarail.com/n2mh/ It seems there is a gap between what Ministers say and do and reality and delivery in a timely manner on the ground.

Please address these issues!

Any enquiries via ceo@brtarail.com

06-08-2025 Press Release British Regional Transport Association (BRTA) calls for a reopening process for a new-build Dumfries-Kirkcudbright, Stranraer and Ayrshire Coast rail link.

 14-08-2025:

• Kirkcudbright - the old station site and the trackbed between it and the northern edge of the town are now completely built-over, mainly with residential properties. A new station would have to be built at the northern edge of the town. There never was a Royal Navy Deep Sea Portal, as Kirkcudbright was only a fishing port during the railway's lifetime.
• Castle Douglas - only part of the Kirkcudbright branch trackbed is blocked by houses, and would be impossible to reuse without the demolition of at least 11 properties. The Dumfries - Stranraer main line route is obstructed by an industrial estate (on the old station site); a Tesco's supermarket, one short row of houses: the A75 Castle Douglas bypass, and another industrial estate just north of the bypass. To clear the main-line route through Castle Douglas, the following steps would need to be taken:

1. Clear the main-line tracks alignment through the old station site (by removing part of the industrial estate, and the Tesco's supermarket). The new station could then be on the site of the original one.
2. Unblock the infilled railway bridge beneath the A745.
3. Rebuild the landscaped trackbed across the public park.
4. Clear, and widen the cutting beyond the park.
5. Realign the railway to avoid the short row of houses, pass beneath the A75 bypass further east of the existing A713 overpass, and to avoid the industrial estate just north of the bypass. The line would then swing back onto its original trackbed just north of the Stewartry Rugby Club, which currently straddles the trackbed.

• Timber transport by rail, to remove as much of it as possible from the local road network, should be the top freight priority.
• Sustainable nature - the railway would offer a much faster way to cross Dumfries and Galloway than will ever be possible by road. A direct link with the Borders Railway at Mossband Junction - by reinstating the dismantled North-East chord there, and by using the existing Carlisle - Kilmarnock - Glasgow line between Gretna Junction and Dumfries - would create a direct Edinburgh - Borders - Galloway - Stranraer/Cairnryan rail route. This has never existed before, and would effectively be the Edinburgh - Belfast/Dublin main line (via the Cairnryan - Northern Ireland ferries). Lastly, the highly scenic nature of the Port Road (as the Dumfries - Stranraer route is commonly known), its fame for this before closure, plus the fact that it would have returned from the dead, would likely attract railtours to it, especially from Carlisle which is very frequently visited by such trains. This would boost the region's image, and make it more widely known, even internationally. The former engine shed site at Stranraer is now just abandoned, not built-over, and if the original turntable pit still exists underneath infill, then it could be cleared out, and returned to use with a new turntable. This would allow visiting steam locomotives to be turned at Stranraer, greatly increasing its attractiveness to railtour operators.
• Cairnryan - a rail link to serve the 2 ferry ports there could easily be built from Stranraer by reusing the mostly intact and largely unobstructed trackbed of the former World War Two military railway.
• Scottish Parliament - I have been told that both the local SNP and Green politicians are in favour. Also, in the past few weeks, SWestrans (South West of Scotland Transport Partnership) have made a funding application for a feasibility study into reopening the Dumfries - Stranraer line. The idea of reopening the railway is growing at Holyrood.
• AOB - A direct, northward link between the Glasgow - Kilmarnock - Carlisle line and the West Coast Main Line could be built between Annan and Kirtlebridge, by reusing the mostly intact trackbed of the Solway Junction Railway (SJR). A new section in Annan; three new overbridges to replace demolished originals; the removal of the redundant pipeline from Chapelcross power station (which helped preserve the SJR route through Annan); a new bridge under the A75 Annan bypass; the digging-out of a blocked cutting, and a slight realignment of the route to join the WCML just south of the existing A74(M) overpass (as the original Kirtlebridge junction site is now directly beneath the overpass) at Kirtlebridge would be all that is needed to create that link.
• If anyone supports the railway idea and want to work with us or help lead on tackling these matters beit edge-of-town Parkway Stations, new-build, deviations and rail bypasses for end-to-end gains, then please email info@brtarail.com

06-08-2025

Press Release

British Regional Transport Association (BRTA) calls for a reopening process for a new-build Dumfries-Kirkcudbright, Stranraer and Ayrshire Coast rail link.

BRTA fully supports the idea of a rebuild of the former Port Patrick railway and the arm to Kirkcudbright. The link with a west to north curve onto the Ayrshire Coast Railway would inform a triangle rail network out of Glasgow and Edinburgh respectively and vice versa as well as a new-flow of rail-based market share for trains to and from the Galloway area with England too.

It is BRTA’s view that rebuilding this strategic rail link would:

·       Boost employment and regeneration of the corridors and places the railway would serve

·       Bring sustainable visitorship and serve many supply chains sustainably

·       Cut the volumes of traffic – people and goods along the A75 corridor and give a direct rail alternative for optimal use.

·       Help save land for other uses including farming, conservation, employment, housing and retain open spaces.

BRTA calls on councils, agencies, the Scottish Government and public-at-large to get behind this idea and support it all the way to delivery. In particular we call for pooling of resources for:

·       Studying the proposition, working it up and making the robust case it deserves

·       BRTA calls for the whole railway route, corridor and deviation spaces to be protected and safeguarded for keeping this vital strategic rail link option ‘open’ for the short to medium term.

·       That any planning proposal which may infringe the old route to be turned-down in order to retain the integrity of the route and make the reopening as easy, cost-effective, and straight-forward as possible.

·       BRTA aims to facilitate a forum based at Dumfries to which all are welcome to attend, but aims to have local people join BRTA and help as a loose team, to take the railway proposition forward: BRTA DUMFRIES FORUM

Saturday 9 August 2025 1pm lunch 2-4pm business

Venue: Robert the Bruce, 81-83 Buccleuch Street, Dumfries DG1 1DJ Venue Website: www.jdwetherspoon.com/pubs/robert-the-bruce-dumfries

 End Press Release

 Further comment: Richard Pill 01234 225068/ceo@brtarail.com

Save the Cambrian Rail Network through investment, not cuts-to-the-bone!

05-08-2025

re (link): https://nation.cymru/news/public-pack-town-hall-to-share-views-over-cuts-to-lifeline-rail-service/

The railway needs investment now! Decades of crippling closures, rationalisation and locked-in restrictions, a lack of vision, imagination for decades has crippled operations, capacity and ability to court and meet demand. Overcrowding, poor length of trains and lack-lustre frequency all takes a toll on poor image and a dis-service to areas in need of regeneration. A new deal is needed, longer trains, reinstate passing loops, reinstate a direct line from Aberystwyth-Barmouth via Dovey Junction as an end-to-end relief shuttle. Rebuilding Carmarthen-Aberystwyth and Criccieth-Bangor would enable more traffic, serve Caerarnfon and possibly bring more freight to the line. Alas, £2 billion is seen as too much, but over a 100 years longevity would probably pay for itself many time and save the railway from marginalisation as at present: https://nation.cymru/news/public-pack-town-hall-to-share-views-over-cuts-to-lifeline-rail-service/

Other link: https://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/news/west-wales-gets-nothing-reopening-railway-lines-would-cost-ps2-billion-804498

End.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pill

BRTA CEO

ceo@brtarail.com

https://trawslinkcymru.org.uk/en/

It is time to choose rail alternatives to road upgrades

 re: 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.9175064,-2.6004539,13z?hl=en&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDczMC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

The confluence of the A40 and A49 at Ross-on-Wye (population of 10, 978) is without any rail presence, locks in road dependency of access to this des-res hotspot location very popular for tourism and visitors. 

It is BRTA's view, that a rail alternative is needed for passenger workings to enable wider rail access to the area, giving a choice for access and reducing the side-effects of roads-only choices which include land-use demand for ever more parking, congestion, delay, blight, emissions, deteriorating public well-being and bloating of NHS waiting lists to name but a few. Locked-in road demand means all access by road, which synthetically inflates road statistics which are seized on to justify road upgrades, when actually, given choice, most evidence shows people will use rail where it can be reasonably accessed.

It is BRTA's view that reopening Phase 1 Gloucester-Ross-on-Wye and Phase 2 extension to Hereford, would provide a strategic rail route for people and goods more by rail, with footfall and spend on a sustainable basis highly likely sustaining local economies of where the railway would serve. It would also provide rail capacity from Southampton to Merseyside via Shrewsbury and make getting to the south easier than the hotspots of roads or existing lines like Reading-Oxford, which are reaching capacity.

BRTA calls for councils to club together, pool resources and create consortia to build and court the investment in studies, working up feasibility, engineering and case merits considerations. Most rail reopenings have exceeded predictions of use and this is likely to be a case in point too. Taking it forward, protecting what route and structures remain and consideration of deviations where blockages cannot be negotiated to relocate; needs careful consideration but is not unprecedented. 

BRTA welcomes membership, which helps with reliable volunteering to resource our endeavours more. See: https://brtarail.com/become-a-member/

Reader also: https://www.rosstc-herefordshire.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/1983_LocalPlanSurveyResult_07_Tourism.pdf

Email your local MP in support of what BRTA is advocating:

https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons

and join BRTA as a supportive member:

https://brtarail.com/become-a-member/

Switch government road spend to local rail alternative solutions and cut emissions and congestion whilst boosting sistainable growth!

The Government’s recent spending review paused Phase 3 of the Midland Mainline electrification—despite clear evidence it would deliver nearly £400 million in local economic benefit, create 5,000 skilled jobs, reduce emissions, and transform rail capacity across the East Midlands. At the same time, ministers are planning to waste hundreds of millions on the A38 Derby Junctions road expansion—an outdated, disruptive road scheme whose true costs remain unknown and whose Full Business Case won't be published until June 2026. 

Adjusted for inflation, the 2019 estimate of £250 million is already worth around £320 million today and likely far more as similar schemes like the A50 and M3 Junction 9 have doubled in cost in recent years. Despite weak and outdated economic modelling, the Government continues to back this road scheme and others, ignoring that expanding road capacity induces extra traffic and locks in more air pollution and carbon emissions. In contrast, electrified rail can reduce diesel use, improve air quality, cut operating costs, and support transport modal shift to reduce congestion on roads.

 Write Now to Demand Change Use our simple letter-writing tool to contact key decision-makers: Push them to reallocate funding to Phase 3 of the Midland Mainline electrification. Tell them to cancel the A38 road expansion. Urge full transparency: the updated A38 Full Business Case must be published Personal stories make campaigns stronger: explain why you care about clean air, jobs, reliable rail, or your local community. Politely remind politicians of the urgent climate and economic case for rail over roads. Together we can hold the Government to account and help build a future that invests in rail, jobs, public health, and a livable climate—not more traffic, pollution and tarmac.

Can you join me and write a letter? Click here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/take-action-write-to-politicians-demand-rail-investment-scrap-the-a38-expansion?source=email&

Simon makes some sound views and arguments and we encourage people to email their MP and get behind the rail agenda push and lower emissions as a result of switching funds from road to rail more please. See: 

https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons?sort=1

News article, gloomy or accurate, where next?

re: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/labour-s-great-rail-revival-has-already-hit-the-buffers/ar-AA1J7nQd?ocid=BingHp01&cvid=132afc127f534f86cb7bb535acc7e799&ei=16

This article is a bit gloomy. For many years there was a government/whitehall denial that railway reopenings were credible. Bedford-Sandy in Bedfordshire, part of Bedford - Cambridge was one such dismissed. On the one hand power said there was no case, then blockages meant could not be done and so not worth studying and as no study, there could be no support. 

Round and round we went from 1987-1995 when the East-West Consortium got going, then once professionals were in the driving seat, everything changed. 

They had the resources to pool together and invest an a study and Steer Davis Gleave 1997 showed Bedford-Sandy as part of a wider Oxford-Cambridge rail link was perfectly do-able, realignments south of Blunham and north of Sandy just as we said; but that good news was dented by the fact the two councils in Bedford, the Planning Authority and the Transport Authority could not agree on an 'Inner Route' or an 'Outer Route' (bypassing the town centre) and these routing issues plus the new-route of East-West Rail Company, is still the big issue today.

Then add to the matter that the government should be following a policy of switching from road to rail to reduce emissions, reduce pollution, save public health and cut NHS waiting lists, save land and speed up end-to-end timings - lots of benefits for choosing local rail solutions. New money not-so-much the issue, switch of priority and spend from road to rail is what is required. 

A sense of direction and lead, rail first. Taking tonnages off roads and pothole costs would be less as well as maintenance costs generally on the highways. Trouble is since the 1950's we've directed everything to road reliance and dependency and that has now come home to roost as endless congestion means delays and that is inflationary.

Those 'costs' translate to all our pockets.

Therefore, Government, for whatever reason is playing the field, trying to be all things to various demands without raising Tax from those with broader shoulders and so on the one hand plays 'make the case' knowing it is avarice expensive and time consuming, then turns even when cases are made robustly, to say "there's no money". Weird how they held a meeting in Eynsham in Oxfordshire touting support for Oxford-Bedford-Cambridge rail new-build, but very next day said "no money" for Witney and Carterton to get its local railway back despite a good case, and even Oxford-Milton Keynes has no passenger service start date as yet... glacial is the state of affairs and ultimately the public will lose faith and where that takes us is probably more chaos and uncertainty, for want of a pragmatic lead of where transport, people, places and the environment joined-up should be going - the rail-way. 

HS2 is an expensive fiasco unravelling and much ado posthumously in the media, which could not be overly critical in earlier stages of concept and design and campaigners dissenting from the plans, were hard pushed to get a word in edge-ways and sidelined in relation to wall-to-wall coverage in some Rail Magazines and other "HS2 can do no wrong" media espousals.

BRTA has had its own debates and neutral episodes. But our view is that HS2 is not enough, capacity improvements on existing rails and reopenings are also needed on a nationwide on-going basis region-by-region. It is the spits and splurts of government which is disconcerting and whilst Portishead is good news, Colne-Skipton is equally deserving, but blighted in funding by government finding £9 billion for the Lower Thames Crossing Road scheme, which really, if it were leading right, should be rail-based.

Any government of any shade may have had to make difficult decisions, but environmentally, you put rail first, not pluralism of road and rail with little coherence. M1 is 50% juggernaut lorries, A14/M6 likewise, we need the rail alternative and BRTA is a contributor to that narrative.

Please give us a donation and help fund our further efforts/join as well. https://brtarail.com/become-a-member/ Email your MP too, they need to be reminded of our efforts as well:

https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons?sort=1