Dear Friends & Colleagues,
I enclose attached article.
This is daft as:
a. Does it mean Bedfordians must catch a train to either Wixams or Ridgmont and change to come back and across to Cambridge?
b. Bedford is bypassed?
c. Oxford-Bedford one railway, Wixams to Cambridge another?
d. As for using Midland Main Line, surely it is a folly as Thameslink trains sit a-plenty on existing tracks awaiting a path into Bedford, sometimes beyond 10 minutes - what will extra passenger workings from the east do?
e. If you have a two tier railway with lift shafts at Wixams and a curve onto the MVR going into Bedford and coming back out on same said tracks = a 20 minute delay on over-all Oxford-Cambridge rail transits - still faster than road, but less-than an integrated modern fast railway can and should be delivering into the 21st century?
I think Bedford Borough or a power should charge the Consultants to work the definitive rail routes but also charge Central Beds Council that the favoured route following extensive consultations consistently over 30 years of asking is Bedford-Sandy-Cambridge. It can be done, it must be done. Realign where blockages exist - Willington and Cardington Road main nuts to crack, but if you go north of Blunham and swing round to a new Sandy Station on the ECML I can see the logic - avoids the Blunham pinch points and eases the curvatures on an 'S' on it's side.
I wish our Council vies for the railway to come into Bedford via Cardington Road / The Inner Route and then we can get behind their campaign. Currently the Consortium is focused on Oxford-Bedford but if no joined-up-ness at the planning stage - hence we need to see the design map of route/routes which serve Bedford-Sandy-Cambridge - not options other, then we can again get behind and support more. The undisclosed 'secrecy' of the current situation serves no-one and Government funding must be pegged to definitives alongside Government support whereby they cover mitigation costs on any blight or compulsory purchases.
Cardington Road can be resolved by making the road back to single carriageway from Longholme Road roundabout to 100 metres short of Tesco Cardington Road - one lane a turn off for Tesco anyway. Then install a level crossing bearing in mind if you serve Sandy, East Beds commutes for County Town are highly likely to lower A603 traffic anyway and if Thameslink work their loop from St Pancras Thameslink - tracks exist there currently not used - A600 Hitchin-Bedford via East Beds integration usage could also lower A600 traffic too in commute terms. So there's congestion reduction gains if we plumb for Bedford Town Centre to be served by the railway.
It is note-worthy that the railway from the West can access north-south main lines at Bletchley and Bedford, but unless we reinstate the curve at St John's or similar access from the East - again remember the bottleneck that is Bedford Midland tracks currently for through services - the railway will only be able to cater for passenger use. However the whole point apart from passenger is to transfer freight from Felixstowe - London-WCML-West Midlands runs to the quicker cross-country line Bedford-Cambridge offers saving time and money and freeing up vital capacity and paths for more trains into, across and out of London in radial and portal interface terms, let alone growth. It seems - in the absence of consultants talking to us or anyone official else, that these matters are not being thought through if we plumb for a Wixams solution. Bedford also needs the footfall and spend, Wixams may justify a main line station for London commuting (or Ampthill?) but Bedford stands to gain more, sustaining small shops and cutting the empty premises syndrome the town centre suffers from - witness Church Arcade, Harpur Street, Broadway and elsewhere/Greyfriars - change of use by all means, but there should be some plan and action to address this, as it brings down the ambiance and sense of well being.
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