Press Release 22-02-2018

22 February 2018

Press Release

ERTA is a voluntary pro-public transport group which started originally in Bedfordshire in 1997 and has grown in reach and range to apply principles on coherent networks and foster conditions of access and service to suite a wide and diverse range of customers.

We advocate passenger and freight by rail, unblocking our roads and improving the air quality we all have to breathe! ERTA is a voluntary membership-based association seeking to restore strategic missing rail links and improve the environment as a result.

We’re seeking to grow our membership and team reach and range, to optimise chances of success. A new and growing team of dedicated individuals are required to find means and ways to deliver our projects including a railway station for the Kempston Retail Park, reopening a Bedford-Northampton rail link and ensuring the East-West Rail link serves Bedford from the East and West and is compatible for sending more freight by rail.

ERTA spokesperson Richard Pill say “The growth of development will put more traffic onto our roads and there is a crying need to bring rail access and services back to where people live and cut the journey time for commuting elsewhere.”

End of Press Release

Further comment: Mr Richard Pill, ERTA Media Spokesperson 01234 330090 /richard.erta@gmail.com

Northampton-Bedford Rail Link Committee - All Welcome

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The Bedford-Northampton rail link if restored beit East-West Rail compliment and/or Midland Main Line passenger and freight contributor and relief to current trains going into, across and out of London via MK Central Station, relieving paths for other trains. It is a mystery as to the hard sell some make on the contribution HS2 will enable. 

Will it be a clincial self contained railway with dedicated High Speed Trains going 180 mph or will it allow other trains onto it's tracks which may have 125 mph capability all mixed together - varying trains, varying speeds? This is unclear and I suspect HS will not want other trains. So it could be a shift of seats from West Coast and Midland Main Lines to HS - will there be any extra costs associated with gains of time end to end journeys? This again seems unsure. 

Hard sells and realities may differ but Bedford-Northampton could deliver real results. See letter from Hutchinson Ports for evidence on what it could offer - benefits for Bedford, Milton Keynes, London and Northampton. So this is why we desperately need a halt to expansion north of Olney, for a route alignment to be protected and set aside as greenbelt and for formal professional interest and support to grow. For this we need a growing team of helpers and volunteers, friends and networking to grow and influence organisations like East-West Rail, Railfuture, English Economic Heartlands, Dft, Chris Grayling, the media and others to take some interest and see the strategic rail opportunity here and give support, insist development be tailored to retain the rail link option and forge cross local government boundary collaboration. 

Our Council at Bedford for example may not have funds to commission a study as to the benefits and contribution the railway could make, but what does it cost to convene a round table and grow a network of support?

Join ERTA to help improve Northampton’s rail connections and give more options in transport choice. The bus link to Bedford take 1.5 hours to do 21.5 miles and this holds back the trade and job commute options our towns could be sharing with each other.

Northampton – Bedford Rail Reopenings Committee Saturday, 12th May at Friends Meeting House (Quakers) School Room, Wellington Street, Northampton NN1 3AS. 1.30pm Contact/Enquiries/Offers of help and support via: Mr Simon Barber
T. 0208 940 4399, E. simon4barber@gmail.com

https://ertarailvolunteer.blogspot.co.uk/

I look forward to seeing you there. Please feel free to invite others. People can make free-will donations to ERTA via PayPal on our website: https://ertarail.com/donate/  All donations help with our costs and informing front line flyers which reach out into communities. 

Our membership and workload expands and so together we can make a critical difference. Be part of that, as what we sow today or not, will be the issues of tomorrow. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pill

ERTA Officer.

Volunteer Opportunity

ERTA is seeking a keen, capable and enthuiastic person/s to a. maintain our existing website b. develop a website dedicated to growing membership, donations and support for our Cobbler Line project - reopening a Bedford-Northampton rail link and c. helping trouble shoot IT issues as they may arise. Most of our team are not into technology much and need ideally younger people brought up in such cultures who know it like the back of their hand. If interested contact Mr Simon Barber: T. 0208 940 4399, E. simon4barber@gmail.com

https://ertarail.com/membership/

Swings and Roundabouts do not help get inclusively ALL people from a to b or c!

Saw a senior representative of Network Rail at their HQ in MK yesterday. He was nice as can be but could not commit to what we wanted. Bedford-Northampton has no backers of big people or organisations and the values and priorities are such that at every turn we're last or second in any queue. Olney has ambitions to double in size and no regard for any railway course, so a direct conflict. On the other hand most of the rest of the route, even the NR man said was 'there'. Sandy spread blocking the old Bedford-Cambridge rail route and now East-West Rail want a brand new creation route. Into the mix for the railway they talk of a new East-West Road 'Super Highway' and development across the arc the size of Birmingham. With Brexit, I feel we're in a kind of free-fall and lack a sense of joined-up-ness. See attached for evidence the Bedford-Northampton railway could make a contribution - but it is translating that to lead support = the big issue. We at ERTA are too small and lay-people. Today is Pancake Day - something which puts Olney on the map!

11th Hour Appeal for support to salvage a proper route around Olney and reopen the line.

This letter shows that Bedford-Northampton whether via MML from London or East-West from Cambridge and East Anglia could free up paths into, across and out through London for other services and enable Milton Keynes Central to handle more trains including making Southern from West London x2 per hour instead of x1 with benefits to contra commuters for example. Please write to Milton Keynes, Northampton and Olney Councils and join our efforts for a viable re-routing around Olney to be recoverable, as we're facing expansion ambitions and piecemeal developments and nil respect for the railway and the contribution it could make. Thank you. If you want more info or to be on our loop please email richard.erta@gmail.com Thank you.

Kempston Area Rep ERTA Voluntary Appeal wanted 07-02-2018

The Retail Park Kempston has grown to three sites since inception in the early 1980’s. Today it commands a considerable patronage, the majority of which come by road to work, shop and enjoy leisure at the site. There was a view to develop a station but for some reason the idea was dropped, it was resurrected in about 2004 but a handful of objections led to it being shelved. Since then the Retail Buildings have screened off residential Kempston and shrubbery on the residential side has been allowed to grow considerably.

           

The Railway which runs adjacent to the original site is that of the Bedford-Bletchley alias Marston Vale Railway. This line has seen remarkable growth in patronage over recent years but still remains busier during peak periods am/pm and less-well-used during off peak times – the lion’s share of the day.

Ampthill Road (A6) feeds the majority of the traffic into the B530 which served the Retail Park sites. These roads and those arteries to and from them radially, get bunged up with traffic, most of which is due to the popularity and success of the Retail Park, as a wide range of traffic from about 15-mile radius seeks to access the venue. The demand for parking outstrips supply, so congestion, tail backs and some frustration is keenly felt. Standing traffic emits fumes and exhaust and residential areas have to breathe that standing traffic’s air.

The Solution to alleviate the problem of success is to provide more and better options for more people from more diverse reaches and ranges to use the Retail Park and access it. ERTA calls for and has long called for, the provision of a station adjacent to the Retail Park on the Marston Vale Railway with a footbridge cum cycle-bridge over the two tracks to enable Kempston residents to walk and cycle to the Retail Park, freeing up parking spaces.

The railway is due to be incorporated into the East-West Rail project which means the audience to the Retail Park would increase considerably and use sustainable transport to get to and from it and the surrounding area. Oxford-Bletchley-Bedford is a population catchment of some considerable numbers of people given connections at Bletchley, Bicester and Oxford let alone from the Bedford direction. In other words, the railway station would quickly pay for itself and the benefits on and off the railway would be keenly felt.

Public and Community Call to Action

Only by a growing membership can ERTA’s voice be stronger and exercise influence to get local politicians to support this station initiative. Please add your voice by joining ERTA today and get involved in helping to take this campaign forward, building a team of local people who care and want to make a difference.

Join ERTA and help us realise this essential piece of local infrastructure to help communities thrive and cope better amidst the clamour of development and its wider impact. See https://ertarail.com/ And let the journey begin!

 See our dedicated web-page: https://ertarail.com/retail-park-station-bedford-bletchley-railway-kempston/ and vote with your feet – join ERTA!

Key Benefits of Pursuing the Station

·       More customers for the Retail Park

·       Greater reach and range of shoppers

·       Easier access for work and shopping

·       More parking spaces for others to use

·       Integrated East-West Rail reaches and ranges

·       Both sides bus and rail integration: No. 42 south-side, No.1 Orchard Street Parade.

·       Boost Access to Kempston Town Population of over 19, 000 people according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kempston.

·       Benefit by bridging the two-way transport access with Bedford Town Centre

·       Cutting queues of congestion around the Ampthill Road/B530 Junction, helping everyone live, move and breathe easier.

·       Choice with more joined up networks and integrated links, putting people first.

How you can help

Join ERTA! Every member helps to make our voice stronger. When we can quote a large number of people willing to join, it adds to the representational role we are playing in advocating an asset that the communities it will be based in want. So, if you want the railway, by joining you help us help you.

Write to the following expressing your support and why the rail link station should be built:

1. Mr Mohammad Yasin M.P., (Bedford and Kempston), c/o House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA

2. Councillor Charles Roydon, Portfolio Holder for Transport and the Environment, Bedford Borough Council, Borough Hall, Cauldwell Street, Bedford, MK42 9AP

3. The Owners, c/o Property Management Office

Edgerley Simpson Howe LLP, 30 Anyards Road

Cobham, Surrey, KT11 2LA

4. Mr Keith Skeoch Chief Executive Officer, Standard Life plc, 1 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 2LL

5. Mr Nicholas Bewes, CEO, The Howard Group, 93 Regent Street, Cambridge, CB2 1AW

6. Clerk and Council, Kempston Town Council,

104 Bedford Road, Kempston, Bedford MK42 8BG

7. Join or donate to ERTA: https://ertarail.com/donate/

Worthy of Support! Re-Rail Woodhead and Burscough Curves!

It is jobs, it is environmentally friendly, it is efficiency, it is what the Northern Powerhouse should be about in support and delivery terms, not roads! Give them your support too please. GB Plc needs re-railing Mr Grayling please! Burscough Curves should be enabled to be put back as a part of planned routine maintenance, not a special condition taking decades amidst competing schemes. The framework and system of the railways, private or public, should allow reinstatement to be done as part of routine maintenance and engineering by Network Rail or other agency and income can be accrued from track access charges or auctioning of paths by passenger and/or freight users potentially. 

The builder should also be allowed to make common cause with operators to ensure usage takes place and optimally. Alas where's the rail media when you need it, where is the getting down to grassroots and shouting the case for it not drowing out on main line and cone nosed trains proliferations and handing back the keys thereof! The Northern Power House must put rail expansion and reopenings top of its priorities. It is jobs, it is environment, it is efficiency, it is transport choice, it is re-railed Britain - the long standing deficit and fragmentation which is holding potential back and locking in road-pollution-congestion-oil dependency mainia costing the earth and many human lives one way or another. What can give, what can take? 

To reform the framework to enable people just to get on with it would be a open door step in the right direction surely? Instead it is heavy going getting tracks back and many an arm chair critic, stifling the small people, proud in their status as pontificators - it is a misplaced pride. Small and incremental is the grassroots renaissance this country needs - you establish the principle or model and block replicate with local adjustments of fit and relevance. Peak Rail, Woodhead, Harrogate-Ripon-Northallerton, Keswick, York-Beverley, East Lincs Main Line and a number of others. Toll motorways and trunk roads if you need to inform a pot of money, encourage and nurture modal shift, get freight back on the rails. Hull-Liverpool land bridge Europe/North Sea - Atlantic/The World! Brexit or not, these curves would play a key role in unlocking more journeys by rail and boosting local communities in footfall and spend minus the cars and urban parking demand argie-bargie many towns and shoppers face for example. Worthy of support!

http://www.grandnorthern.co.uk/#

https://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/news/southport-news/burscough-curves-not-reinstated-west-6599184

Write to your local MP c/o House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA.

Support Coop Rail - a strategic service and link if given half a chance!

http://www.go-op.coop/train/

Diagram to show Brighton-Leicester with options and Heathrow too!

Bedford-Northampton Rail Link Rebuild is Vital and should be central plank policy!

ERTA is seeking more members and volunteers and even as we have grown, still need a lot of diverse skills, time and talent geographically and locally flexible to cover our front lines and commitments. One need we have is for a single or pool of talent to inform website development.

All enquiries or offers to my colleague Mr Simon Barber: T. 0208 940 4399,

E. simon4barber@gmail.com You can keep abreast of our main thrusts via our Blogspot which is updated regularly https://ertarailvolunteer.blogspot.co.uk/

In Bedford the vested interest of popularism, vote catching and London centricity regards the calls by us for Bedford-Northampton and even East-West Rail as periphery and non-accommodation in even more than a cursory glance relegates to the side-lines ERTA and it's fight for the majority of less well-off people disenfranchised from London commuting and who want and need diversification, wider options and to be able to succinctly choose 'other'.

What our friends who are dismissive need to realise that is if we open Bedford-Northampton we enable 2 trains per hour to clear tracks off Bedford Midland Station, allowing other trains to call. Likewise, 2-3 or more will go on to Corby. But I doubt if 5 trains per hour will all go to Corby? Midland Main Line fasts will call if capacity and business warrant it to make it appealing - any competition for platform access contrast easier for more like Luton Airport and Bedford could lose out. Stations north of Bedford - something our predecessor organisations called for over 30 years of silence, are now being included along with development of 000's of houses but direct live in countryside, make it urbanised, a shop maybe and a station for London and not much else is the way it is. Wixams is the model forerunner of new development on the cheap contrast proper towns and villages with comprehensive modern, civilised services from public lavatories to post offices, to services, health and so on. Section 106 gets you a few metres of cycle path and a school, maybe a community centre for bad times and elections, the Church is privatised and left to find its own way to establish a base - mission and pastoral support. Reality is that life can be more complex and these dumping of dwellings into a vacuum seems naive and a recipe for distress and lostness?

So, our rail schemes are relevant to connect people and give options outside just a London focus or "I'm an academic who wants to commute to X location without changing" translating to a whole plank of a campaign purported to represent many others. Yes we need fast services up and down the Midland Main Line and yes Government approach is chaotic, inadequate and unfair but we have to have a joined up, coherent, cohesive, integrated and diverse plans for the whole of what is needed, not just partisan or parochial interests vying akin to a creche for individual attention x however many there are relative to micro-managing civil servants at the Department for Transport who themselves are under the Treasury and it - a seemingly unknown quantity for power, reach, range and where does the buck stop, not Theresa May surely?!

ERTA continues to be a still small voice and seeks to relate that it is in Midland Main Line interests to have Bedford-Northampton, it is in Milton Keynes' interests to support Bedford-Northampton and it is definitely in Northampton's interest to be linked to Midland Main Line, Bedford, Luton Airport and East-West Rail at Bedford via Olney. If only they all realised, bought into that and worked with us, we could unitedly pull for a better Bedford and sustainable transport future to build quality jobs and prosperity not austerity. Currently Bedford, I feel is being systematically marginalised, it has a caring, retail, warehouse, coffee shop and charity sector economy and needs to raise its game on quality, quantity and the redistribution of wealth to make a more inclusive and even-handed society.

Please support us and help us. Our events are open to all and your support may encourage others to snowball our ideas towards those who have the means and ways to make a go of things. Thank you.

Rebuild the Great Central South of Leicester. Coming off the Leicester-Nuneaton line you serve Lutterworth, link with West Coast Main Line

Rebuild the Great Central South of Leicester. Coming off the Leicester-Nuneaton line you serve Lutterworth, link with West Coast Main Line*:

a. At Rugby (on-off links) *Do you use the old Midland line from Leicester where the two lines crossed each other for Rugby ground level access?

b. Loop to link with the Northampton loop for Rugby/Northampton direct to Leicester service capability on one core line.

c. Loop to link Daventry/Southam – shared Park and Ride Station? New town proposed for Calvert as part of East-West Rail. Links onwards with Chiltern Lines, Old Oak Common, Heathrow and elsewhere/vice versa.

d. The fast line via Catesby Tunnel (needs saving from development blockages), Woodford Halse (deviation needed to avoid housing), Brackley (new rail bypass needed), Calvert (HS2 needs to ensure it can get in). It may take 10-20 years to reverse stupid planning encroachments and devastations, but if a large backer/consortium buys into the idea, studies it and makes the case problems can be overcome pro-affirmatively.

The Benefits:

a. New railway using old trackbed in part, creates capacity end to end of Midland Main Line south of Leicester,

b. Creates capacity onto and off the West Coast Main Line at Rugby – enter via the north, exit via the south and loop round via grade separated junctions.

c. Can be used for a variety of long and short conventional passenger and freight workings.

d. Can be designed and engineered to cater for new and experimental freight flows like Roll-on, Roll-off, Piggyback and Motor-Rail as well as more capacity for growth. Blisworth freight depot, a pre-planning condition should be that it invests in reopening Northampton-Bedford to keep its freight off the busy West Coast Main Line, currently these developers have no guidance or incentive to make that contribution, and they should.

Join ERTA

The English Regional Transport Association (ERTA) is a voluntary pro-public transport group which started originally in Bedfordshire in 1997 and has grown in reach and range to apply principles on coherent networks and foster conditions of access and service to suite a wide and diverse range of customers. We advocate passenger and freight by rail, unblocking our roads and improving air quality we all have to breathe!

Our association is membership based and membership welcome is extended to all supporters. Please fill in the form and send with remittance to: Membership Secretary:

Mr Simon Barber, 20 Fitzherbert House, Kingsmead, Richmond, Surrey, TW10 6HT

T. 0208 940 4399 E. simong4barber@gmail.com

Let's have it for Guildford-Horsham-Shoreham-Brighton reopening railway please!

Dear Councillors and MP's,

The long established trend of commuting into and out of Central London and the issues of over-crowding, price managing supply and demand and the lifestyle patterns it creates in daily drive-time and parking/accessing rail means in a context of growth we need more capacity at every stage. The downside of the equation is that the London commute for a 100 mile radius of the M25 tends to dominate most other considerations and beshadow non London centric aspirations, informing more choice and diversity. 

The English Regional Transport Association (ERTA) is a small voluntary association seeking the progressive and systematic re-railing of the English Regions - Celtic fringes like Scotland are forging ahead with reopening the Borders line and Wales with the West Wales lines, but the English Regions have been lagging behind in delivery terms. Where are the queues of entrepreneurs and railway building companies to gag for reconstruction? Private or Public or combinations these elements need a glue to bring them together and focus them on tangible results - delivery being a key plank surely?

The current proposal of a direct conventional rail link into Heathrow is a laudable aim, giving direct rail access from the Guildford-Woking lines into Heathrow with obvious public transport off road benefits and freeing up parking for other users. https://heathrowrail.com/ However this rail link should serve a sub-surface station under Heathrow with through tracks to link with Old Oak Common (OOC) and the Chiltern Main Line informing an arc. This would allow Guildford-Heathrow-Milton Keynes direct rail services and all inbetween with the new EastWestRail initiative http://www.eastwestrail.org.uk/ The Brighton Main Line is overcrowded and only reguaging with Dutch proven technology style double decker trains https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Dutch+double-decker+trains&safe=active&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiPvfrDxITZAhXLAsAKHW29DecQsAQIJw&biw=1600&bih=1116 can solve the volume-capacity demand, pricing people off the rails is not acceptable and Lewes-Uckfield has had 30 years, has not been delivered and whilst we hold on in hope, there is a view that the Western flank namely Guildford-Brighton via Horsham and Shoreham has a lot to offer including a Park and Ride Station with the A24 for example.

Likewise, we support the new build of the Guildford-Cranleigh-Horsham line which would enable direct trains to link round to Gatwick from the South. A deviation would be required at Cranleigh, but better that than a road bypass! Likewise from Christ's Hospital to Shoreham informing a joined up Guildford-Brighton direct railway which could relieve the Brighton Main Line, offer more journey by rail opportunities and declutter urban areas, rural roads and free up parking capacity through more choice and options. As attached map indicates, Oxford and Heathrow-Brighton via Guildford would draw in significant footfall and spend minus the volumes of traffic places without rail choices suffer beit daily movements or seasonal booms and slumps. 

We are hoping to have a Forum and welcome any support to advocate these ideas, invest in studies and case making and advance them with potential interests once the business case is made and it seems full of potential if only delivery vehicles can be forthcoming/sourced and found to be partners with a commitment from consortia orchestrated by Local Government and LEPs and such agencies as may wish to be involved please.

REOPENINGS FORUM – SATURDAY 26 MAY, 1.00pm food and social, 2.00-4.00pm business,The Lynd Cross Weatherspoons,St John’s House,1 Springfield Road, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 2PG, 01403 272393. If you would like to receive a delegated meeting to discuss working together further please contact my colleagues Messrs Simon Barber and David Ferguson who I am sure will gladly work with any pro-affirma interest in advancing these ideas and getting others on board. Mr Simon Barber: T. 0208 940 4399, E. simon4barber@gmail.com Mr David Ferguson: T. 020 8977 4181 E. daferguson1212@gmail.com

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pill

ERTA Campaigns Coordinator
Note too: RHS Wiseley will and does attract huge visitors and is close to the Woking line - so capturing market share for rail makes environmental sense, ditto a joined up through track from Woking-Heathrow - Old Oak Common and the Chiltern Main Line - not just chaging and using Crossrail which is London centric. We must foster diversity and choice options more: https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley

Local News Article worthy of a perusal - Re-Railing Mr Grayling please! https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/guildford-horsham-railway-line-reopen-13970405

The Milton Keynes Strategic Position and Transport Dilemma

Dear Councillors and Colleagues,

The 50th anniversary of Milton Keynes, the advent of the English Economic Heartlands, the SEMLEP, East-West Rail on-coming and the growth of footfall, reach, range and diversity should indicate we need to have a robust rail system to cater for all this socio-economic activity and the weight on the landscape and environment which affects us all sooner or later. The reality is that there is little spare capacity between Rugby and Watford on the West Coast Main Line and so we have a queue of trains seeking more access to Milton Keynes Central but which cannot e.g.

1. West London Southern's restricted to 1 per hour rather than half hourly frequency due to no spare paths. Surely given the popularity of contra commuting to Milton Keynes via the Central Station should put it at the front of the queue for and were any spare paths available for a half hourly frequency? Yet it has been waiting for years! MK Central lacks baying facilities commensurate to the number of trains seeking access to it and sitting on the through tracks of Platform 2 blocks access by other trains. 

2. Others seeking paths to MK Central are the Bedford-Bletchley out of Platform 5 at Bletchley to MK Central for Virgin connections. Ideas of the Holyhead express trains stopping at Bletchley to give the area back some express services which have inevitably led to decline in status and connectivity remain just ideas unless there's a tabling of such at meetings and explorations of what can give or take to spread the wealth, the load and opportunities more, without robbing Peter to pay Paul so to speak. East-West Rail will want to access MK Central via the flyover at Bletchley from Aylesbury. Northampton Councils now table the idea of a Northampton-MK-Old Oak Common/Crossrail north-south service over East-West Tracks.

In short if these goals are to be achieved you have to create more capacity on the West Coast Main Line, you have to support alternative route options and loops commensurate to creating the slack required alongside port-London freight and so on. Something has got to give.

3. On freight, there was a view that with the East-West Rail Central Section (Bedford-Sandy-Cambridge) you could send Felixstowe - West Midlands freight via that route to the Midland Main Line through Bedford via St John's and via a curve south at Leicester to West Midlands and other destinations and vice versa. That would take a considerable amount of freight trains which currently go into, across and out of London, through MK Central to elsewhere, paths and capacity which could be used by other passenger and freight by rail services. 

The reality is that apart from a need to install a road bridge over the railway corridor at Cardington Road, Bedford, the trackbed for a rail link east of Bedford is distinguishable for 4.5 out of 10 miles east of Bedford St John's. 20 years ago Steer Davis Gleave looked at all the routes and options and little has changed since then except what nature and man does incrementally if nothing is happening. Fallow is not a static situation, whims and winds of developer eye and aspiration fuel the drive to develop and that can impact on landscapes. In 1993 the Inspector at Side Roads Order 199 Bedford Southern A421 Bypass said that in the event of pursuit of reopening the railway the DfT/Highways Authority would give favourable consideration to providing rail access over or under the said bypass. It is time to call their bluff and demand that this is the time to do so as now, unlike then, there's a consensus for reopening the railway.

4. Bedford-Olney-Northampton would benefit Milton Keynes by:

a. providing a loop between Northampton-Bedford-Bletchley/EWRL

b. By offerring seats to commuters at Olney/A509/A428 areas, freeing up parking and seats at MK Central and Bedford respectively

c. allowing some non-time critical trains to traverse the loop created, freeing up more paths at MK Central.

If you allow piecemeal housing or other development to encroach the Handley Alignment or block as to be beyond recovery the two sides of the railway east and west of Olney Northern Perimeter, you throw away and lock in a set of dysfunctional aspects which in a context of growth will compound rather than cure. The railway would enable more options on east-west freight, feed East-West Rail with more business and cut unnecessary road driving milages making commuting and drive time closer to home. We need your support and action to save the day on this one which includes:

a. stopping current and future development

b. studying a recoverable railway route and station access and parking site and protecting it as a greenbelt

c. getting Bedford and Northampton to a table and agreeing a common route policy of protection and support to the principle of reopening sooner or later

d. investing via English Economic Heartlands or other collective agency contributions to studying the case and credentials for example to go from Northampton-Bedford by rail via Bletchley takes 1.5 hours and costs about £20, No. 41 bus takes same amount of time but costs about £6. The railway would transit Northampton-Bedford in just 30 minutes, Olney commuting options with more visitors, footfall and spend reviving the ailing town economy on a sustainable basis. It is therefore much in Milton Keynes' interest to support Bedford-Northampton strategically please and grow a coalition of support to take it onwards akin to how the East-West Rail Consortium has done. Even if an afterthought, unless we crack the Olney conundrum, and act now, it will be lost.

More information about ERTA can be found on our Blogspot: https://ertarailvolunteer.blogspot.co.uk/

I attach a flyer which explains some more and a map showing what is where in basic conceptual terms. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pill

ERTA