Great Central Corridor re-rail with new-build?

Please support our call for a new-build of the former Great Central Corridor to a modern railway twin-track solution. Going from West London alongside HS2 north of Aylesbury to east of Brackley new-build and veering north to the north of Brackley and ending up at Leicester Central (new-build) via and serving Rugby, Magna Park, Lutterworth and giving congestion relief and emissions reduction to M1 and creating passenger and freight by rail capacity more. 

It needs investors and talent bringing together with the Government to take the project forward. Magna Park is one of the biggest industrial centres without a railway serving it in Europe! 

Join BRTA and vote with your feet and wallets. 

It is only pie-in-the-sky as long as people do nothing and the rot prevails! It would link with the Oxford-Cambridge East - West Rail and enable trains from Southampton and Wales and all in-between as well as via  a new railway serving Heathrow, link with Guildford and possibly the Channel Tunnel. It starts here!

Our events, including a Public Meeting in Leicester are on our website: https://brtarail.com/events/ and our Blogspot is via a click to: https://brtarailvolunteer.blogspot.com/

Please join in with us and be part of the picture!

When we talk of the Great Central and population spread, we in my opinion need to take into account the toll of two World Wars and the cull of men in particular to those generations. However, now the population has grown significantly in the 60 years since closure and we have a situation of pushes for development everywhere without new rail infrastructure. That means the impact will go on the roads, fuelling more roads and spiralling health related pollution issues. 

Moreover the following can also be observed:

1. WCML south of Rugby will still have increased passenger and freight demand regardless of HS2. 

2. M1 doesn't take much for 10 mile tailbacks, will only exacerbate.

3. Magna Park (one of the biggest industrial parks in Europe) and new-town expanded

Lutterworth are new markets not served by any railways.

4. Leicester is expanding and the Midland Main Line has many issues which need additional rail options for more by rail.

5. We are not suggesting religiously following every inch of course of old railway, rather the corridor needs re-railing in our view with a new-build interpretation to normal, conventional rail designs of say 125 mph for passenger and goods by rail more.

6. At the southern end you have Old Oak Common Interchange, East-West Rail (Oxford for Bristol, Southampton and South Wales corridors) and more options for Aylesbury.

7. Brackley is an expanding area, HS2 has been pushed through without any provision for a station, so a new line to the east with a Parkway Station (a bus link with Silverstone too) and heading north rather than HS2 North-West, would serve Woodford Halse, Willoughby, Southam/Daventry/A425 Corridor areas and a new South Rugby Parkway, new route to link with Leicester-Nuneaton and a new route to a new terminal station Leicester Central. 

At this stage we are calling for general support, protection of route corridor space and for a study to look at it as a contingency going forwards. Relocations, compulsory purchase with compensation all has to be considered through the normal processes. This is common to most reopening of closed lines or new-builds as corridors have not been protected despite future generations potentially needing the rail-based transport choices they can offer?

If we do not act, chained to history, we ignore the future. Whatever HS2 offers end-to-end, it leaves much undone interim and enjoys £1 billion per mile investment whilst austerity seems to be for other postcodes on a range of issues including reopening restored rail links to places like Bideford, Witney, Ripon, Cranleigh, Bridport, Ross-on-Wye, Coalville and Keswick for example).  

We need people to join BRTA and help us progress it more inch by inch to governmental support and ultimately adoption as they did with Greengauge. Investment in rail transport more, must be made nationwide, otherwise politics and postcode lotteries, mean comprehgensive rail choices are curtailed.

https://brtarail.com/greatcentralcorridor/

Please do this survey and remember to support BRTA and its projects: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/BPFLGL/

https://brtarail.com/our-campaigns/

Railfuture links from Stansted to Braintree and Colchester

 Please email lead people in favour of the new-build rail links and demand a study and protection of a route and junctioning access retention. 

All this development will impact the roads and pollution, whereas the new corridor rail link would help check and balance negative impact and inform more and better footfall and spend plus access from East Essex and Norwich lines to the Airport quicker than via Cambridge? 

https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/26500346.colchester-local-plan-public-consultation-go-ahead/

I get the impression Railfuture is concentrated into the hands of too few people and in the name of East-West Rail, can put all manner of projects to sleep and one day we wake up and they are houses and no access or routes for any rail expansion whatsoever? Prove me wrong!

Lower Thames Road Tunnels are sinking £11 billion whereas a rail-based twin track tunnel in all probability would be cheaper, enable more for a wider spatial area and be clean-green transport for passenger and freight including acces direct from Colchester and Norwich to the Channel Tunnel.

People can email their MP's and demand rail solutions, not more roads, congestion and unsustainable development. Yes, people need homes, but new rail infrastructure helps absorb the impact more? Rail uses less land than new or expanded road systems too.

https://brtarail.com/east-anglia/ and https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons?sort=1

It is time to switch from roads to rails more!

 re: https://www.rha.uk.net/news/news/detail/congestion-costing-uk-30-8bn-a-year-roadbuilding-must-be-on-the-agenda

The RHA is right to identify the waste of £30 billion per year is costing at a time of record borrowing and finite resources, so cutting waste by chucking money at more roads which are known not to ease or rectify congestion, is the wrong answer. We need to see that the local rail closures have left a gap in our transport infrastructure, roads are locked-in and a major governmental courage and boldness to switch back to rail is a commitment we do need now!

The British Regional Transport Association (BRTA) has long supported a quick delivery of east-west rail links north of London.

We are sad it is proving so protracted and slow and lack-lustre in leadership, routes east of Bedford and seems disconnected to the prevailing tide of development which may obstruct any route between Bedford and Cambridge which is gateway to the rest of East Anglia  and vice versa to Bedford, connections and the Oxford corridor via Bletchley.

We believe the government, which has many demands, spiralling costs demands and so on, needs to get real as to what the foundational platform priorities should be. It needs to raise tax for the better off to pay for all the needs, but more critically, determine once and for all to go for a Renewables and Sustainable platform to inform development and growth balances with people, places, land use stewardship and critically the environment. Without these, hopeless iseems the landscape now and in the foreseeable future!

Government is wasting £11 billion on the Lower Thames Road Tunnels, whereas a rail-based alternative would be more useful for people and goods and for decluttering Essex and London.

We want a programme of local rail reopenings, new-build rail lines and existing line upgrades to enable more people and goods to use rail (modal choice) and declutter our expensive, polluting road systems.

Switch money from new roads to local rail links and people can vote more with their feet in their daily transport habits. Cutting emissions and rubber on hard surfaces helps reduce sicknesses from leukemia to cancer and lung issues for example, so that in turn saves money in the NHS for other deployments.

Blight of daily traffic and pollution informs a lot of mental health as well, so again the government could act in prevention terms, all saving money and lives and the rail agenda gives pro-affirma options.

Costs of usage need to come down, currently things are demand price-managed mainly and that is immoral as rich and poor, everyone needs transport for loads of daily needs.

Please email your MP and support BRTA!

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

and donate to BRTA: 

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

Here is a flavour of schemes which need a government push: https://brtarail.com/our-campaigns/

We are working hard, but need more practical support, donations of time and money and skills to take our agendas to policy and power corridors. Thank you.

Respond to this as well: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-planning-policy-framework

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pill

BRTA CEO

ceo@brtarail.com

Making the most of Bedford's rail and strategic opportunities

Please engage with this consultation as well - rail links need to be at the heart of new sprawl planning: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-planning-policy-framework

If we are to mitigate the impact of large scale developments like and principally Universal Theme Park at 55, 000 people per month coming to the area from 2031 (5 years away) and associated developments like more hotels, infill business and residencies, unless we think rail now going forward, it all defaults to roads. There has been much made of the emergent A421-A428 Bedford-Black Cat Roundabout/A1-Cambridge dualling and associated works and the concept of free highway access being enhanced (no more delays) at great land take and carving up of countryside (farming land and wildlife habitats) - the fact remains that more road capacity will fill up with yet more volumes of traffic and when it turns up at Cambridge and Bedford urban areas, will just gridlock, as pints into quarts, there's nowhere for it to go/park etc? 

https://eurotraffic.net/2026/06/26/do-new-roads-reduce-congestion-uk-dft-review/

That is why we need an east-west rail between Bedford and Cambridge. It gives modal choice and dilutes the pressure on local-regional roads. The cuts emissions and checks and balances of negative spin-off impacts. Then we come to rail routing:

1. BRTA wants a railway going east of Bedford via the St John's area through Willington and a new-build adjacent to the River Great Ouse south of Great Barford and via the pains of Tempsford north or south of Station Road, to have a physical connection with the main north-south main line (Peterborough/Stevenage/East Bedfordshire to Bedford and the Oxford corridor and vice versa - sustainable footfall and spend) and thence via the East-West Rail Company's route to Cambridge. Ideas of a new-build through Sandy and onward to link somewhere the Hitchin-Cambridge railway is an option and the EWRCos own route links to that very railway. The old railway went and junctioned at Trumpington Cambridge, but that is built on and the new Cambridge South (Addenbrooks) Station sits on that same land too, but has taken 110, 000 people using rail in the first month of opening, (so add Oxford-Cambridge and a new rail link to Haverhill, that would be a lot more people using rail).

2. Development is pressing in and potentially blocking all these routes, where and what options without compulsory purchase and relocation will be in 10 years time (2036) one shudders to think; but if gridlock and traffic management proves impossible and Climate Change is ever taken seriously; these blocking tactics are the wrong way to go; you get the rail choice planned and implemented and tailor development around it. 

3. Government talks about Regional Mayors, Government restructuring and localism; but without the conceptual structural infrastructures necessary to make even a modicum of sustainability, land use stewardship and balance cross-county and all tiers need to realise the railway is essential.

4. Added to this, Northampton wants to have a new direct rail link with Bedford, Universal and the expanding Luton Airport and vice versa - town centre regeneration needs more rail links to make High Streets vibrant, but sorting the competitive free parking in out of town developments, so parism with town centre parking is more equitable is required. Kempston Retail Park is landlocked by roads, it is congested with confined spaces for parking, but a new station on the Bedford to Bletchley railway would bring new footfall and spend, as well as boosting the local shuttle service on the rails. It needs an updated study and push at this stage. 

5. BRTA opposes withdrawal of the local Bedford-Bletchley shuttle railway service and wants all stations/halts to remain, be lengthened. The shuttle serves students, minimum wage workers, end-to-end users and more. East-West Rail will serve select stations and semi-fast services. We need both, as the corridor becomes ever more important and growing in population, businesses and people mobility terms. 

6. Northampton should be welcomed for a direct link to Bedford and BRTA wants the elected representatives for the area to work congenitally and embrace it. It needs updated studies and one benefit would be integrated direct Thameslink style services between Bedford and Birmingham/the West Midlands and them to us. The A428 corridor between Bedford-Northampton has poor bus services, piecemeal developments and queues of commuter traffic at both ends. Without the railway, these trends will exacerbate. Please get involved and advocate policies and support for it in your own political colours. Stop the 93 dwellings at Lower Farm Road, Bromham which will need amending as they will block access to the Midland Main Line (MML) from the West. Ideally 

7. Northampton-Bedford-Cambridge would be a South Midlands-East Anglia rail link as well, for passenger and more freight by rail as Northampton is a principal 'Golden Triangle' logistics and transport hub, but as it has no east-west rails and most lorry traffic comes from the Eastern area and vice versa, is constrained currently. We need councils, agencies, government and all tinkering of 'reforms' to be aware of these crucial rail corridors, protect, tailor and build up the importance and case for the rail to return and bear the brunt of sustainable growth, rather than road networks, rat runs and blighting people's lives. 

8. Please give them and BRTA your support. Thank you. Speak up for more rail and as per last Fridays BBC Radio 4 Any Questions Programme Panel - be able to differentiate between a pudding and a tart! The programme came from Bakewell! The point is, grasping the local situation, not being helicopter views and if you do get it, rail is key to turn challenges to more inclusive opportunities!

Happy to engage with any Zoom/Teams meetings, not to argue, but to welcome support and actions to nurture a better deal for rail in the Bedford and shire areas, pivotally central to rest-of-region interests too.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pill

BRTA CEO

https://brtarail.com/our-campaigns/

BRTA Central Bedfordshire Area Forum (Flitwick-Ampthill Area) Wednesday, September 9th 2026 1pm lunch, 2-4pm business at The Swan Inn, 1 Dunstable Road, Flitwick, Beds. MK45 1HP

BRTA Central Bedfordshire Area Forum (Flitwick-Ampthill Area) Wednesday, September 9^th 2026 1pm lunch, 2-4pm business at The Swan Inn, 1 Dunstable Road, Flitwick, Beds. MK45 1HP T. 01525–754777

Convenor Simon Barber: Email  admin@brtarail.com
Phone (landline): 020-8940-4399

Phone (mobile): 07522-374740

 

1.              Appointment of a chairperson for the meeting

2.              Appointment of a note taker for the meeting

3.              Fill in attendance list if new

4.              Apologies for absence

5.              Flitwick Public Transport, pros and cons road, rail, bus, walking, cycling and traffic management in a context of growth.

6.              Ampthill Parkway Station served by Thameslink on the slow lines, bringing an extra 3-4 minutes delay to or from Bedford, but adding more parking capacity and serving an area from East Milton Keynes/M1/A507 Corridor/Centre Parcs to A6/Wrest Park in scope. People tend to go south to catch a train to London, so plenty from Marston Vale may well prefer it and save money. Parking would be kiss and ride from the Industrial Estate and Parking off Fordfield Road. It needs land protection, studying and advocacy.

7.              Harlington – is it adequately served by bus and rail, what could be improved in a context of growth, ditto safer cycle/pedestrian access, ditto Westoning?

8.              Wixams and Universal (opportunities and impact)

9.              Central Beds Council Plans – are they adequate? Talk of a new forest, but 35 years ago Marston Vale Forest was supposed to being developed, now a basin full of development filling up to the edges of the designated ‘park’ areas? Is this a fig leaf for cluelessness?

10.       Call to join BRTA, benefits, volunteering opportunities. We need to raises funds to pay for the new Ampthill-Flitwick Flyer, but also volunteers to reliably distribute it. (Simon show flyer).

11.       Any Other Business

12.       Day, Date, Time of next meeting: See https://brtarail.com/events/ and also alternate with Dunstable, Flitwick and Sandy (East Bedfordshire) all part of Central Beds). That is one each per year!

Contact ceo@brtarail.com for enquiries.

BRTA Leicester Public Meeting 03-10-26 Leicester, UK

 

You are invited to a Public Meeting:

Guest Speakers are:

Bruce Wakley of CRIL: https://brtarail.com/ivanhoe/

“Connecting Burton to Leicester by rail – the Ivanhoe Line”, Yusuf Isat

Sustainable Travel Assistant Manager

Sustainable Travel Team

Leicestershire County Council

“Better Public Transport for the Leicester Area”

2pm Saturday 3rd October 2026

At the Leicester Quaker Meeting House, 16 Queens Road, Leicester LE2 1WP 0116 270 5003

All Welcomer, Free Admission, Mini Book Stall available including old railway magazines!

Please bring cash!

https://brtarail.com/events/

Contact Richard Pill BRTA CEO: ceo@brtarail.com

Or Simon Barber: admin@brtarail.com

Phone (landline): 020-8940-4399

Phone (mobile): 07522-374740

BRTA has other speakers potentially, but we await their response. We will be publicising the event within our means, but should be useful to learn about a local rail reopening campaign and also plans for improvements in the Leicester area. A chance to ask questions.

Please encourage others to attend and a useful networking opportunity. If any wish to donate to BRTA ort join, they can via: https://brtarail.com/become-a-member/

The meeting is open to all. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pill

BRTA CEO

Where we are at... and where we wish a sense of direction of travel was heading!

 re: https://eurotraffic.net/2026/06/26/do-new-roads-reduce-congestion-uk-dft-review/

Lower Thames Crossing costing £billions, BRTA says it should be a rail-based solution project and nationwide we need a programme of incremental local rail reopenings, select pieces of rail new-build and existing rail capacity enhancement schemes. 

That gives modal choice, lowers emissions, prevents ill-health, saves land, blight, congestion and delay and lowers costs aggregately including wear and tear maintenance costs too. 

Our country has been going the wrong way for decades and needs to turn back to local rail solutions more as part of the mix, reach and range transport, mobility choices, access and all-year-round sustainable footfall and spend regenerating people, places, the environment and opening more opportunities for all, not just the affluent.

In Northampton, a central location for England, bereft of radial rail links, the lesson is ever keenly felt of the bad legacy the closures informed subsequently. 

If we do not re-rail, more roads and upgrades with all their detrimental effects compound with development for a hellish scenario playing out. It is time for the government to stop, think and switch funding from roads to local rail solutions more.

There's jobs, associated industry supply benefits, innovation, research and enabling more in it if the government does support local rail solutions on and off the rails. 

So what is stopping it? Not new money per se, but switching in a national environmental crisis of perfect storm contextuals home and abroad. 

We are far too dependent on fossil fuels, overseas for oil and fertilisers and need to switch to renewables like tidal power, desalination plants for farm water, a national water grid and on-shore wind, on-roofs solar panelling and storage of energy - battery trains are a reality now! 

A programme of electrification could help provide easier renewal of existing rolling stock supply and cascade stock accordingly to strengthen existing trains (cut over crowding) and enable more. 

For example, if Bedford-Bletchley was electrified and double track throughout now, passenger and freight between Watford and Corby exploiting the end-to-end of the Bedford-Bletchley railway could enable a lot more by rail and quicker services with a reputation for capacity, not breakdowns (!) will commend more to try rail, than hit the roads.

Please email your MP in support of BRTA: https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons?sort=1 and join BRTA - every member makes a real difference: https://brtarail.com/become-a-member/

Please also diary our Leicester Public Meeting and share with others: 

Bruce Wakley of CRIL (link to campaigns page) A Guest Speaker at the BRTA Leicester Public Meeting:

“Connecting Burton to Leicester by rail – the Ivanhoe Line” 

2pm Saturday 3rd October 2026

Leicester Quaker Meeting House, 16 Queens Road, Leicester LE2 1WP 0116 270 5003

All Welcomer, Free Admission, Mini Book Stall available including old railway magazines!

Thank you.