Olney Battle - Support 'flat as a pancake'! Need big business to turn up and demand rail access!

Bedford-Northampton Rail Link: A new railway is needed, but may never serve Olney again!

Everything is in an economy of scale. If a big enough backer/s or consortium decides it wants a new rail link between Bedford/Midland Main Line and Northampton/West Coast Main Line Loop then they will study the lie of the land, decide the best course of action and set about doing it. Thus, the obliterations at Olney including new encroachments at Lavendon Road are poised to offer two solutions either 1. "here's the cheque, move" or 2. bypass Olney. If the railway goes north of the sewage works it will have to clear for juggernauts crossing the A509 at height out of a cutting from the top of a hill. To then go across fields (current status) to swing towards joining the trackbed somewhere east of Clifton Reynes, more like Newton Blossomville has to be pitted with a go north easterly from Castle Ashby lands around Piddington and go north of Lavendon and Turvey to join the old formation west of the Stevington Walk? It is a new 10 mile stretch of railway out of 21.5 miles of reconstructed railway. East-West, if not using the old formation, will be up to 20+ miles of new railway and so this region is to become physically familiar with reconstruction and new construction of local rail and so the model is proven and can be adopted and cascaded elsewhere. The credentials for Bedford-Northampton are long proven, Brighton/Cambridge to Bedford and Northampton to Birmingham and WCML Networks, Bedford-Northampton is the given growth, these trends will exacerbate, so all should be committed to keeping their options open, even Milton Keynes Council and jurisdiction. Alas they seem to have a back door 'treat Bedford-Northampton as development expedient' and chuck every developers whim at blocking it, by default of course, deliberation the jury is out!

Feeds east-west rail and Midland Main Line, relieves north-south rails considerably and cuts cross country saving time and cost, cutting congestion (A14 Inc.) and ensuring good end to end joined up rail alternatives to car culture and drive everywhere with queues for parking price managed ratcheting up everywhere because demand outstrips supply/land use conflict - do we provide housing, employment or parking - a no brainer x 3 options for same spaces often in urban areas or on urban fringes. ERTA calls for people to join and offer to help out. We're into the business of spreading the load, taking responsibility collectively and sharedly and together we increase chances of success and contrast privatised, selfish individualism and arm chair critics pouring cold water, need to reconcile with the problems on the roads, the air pollution killing people and many an accident partly underscored by the stresses and tensions around driving these days. This, when for a small sum, the wear and tear costs saved through rail alternatives could inform a more generous rolling out of a bus and rail pass for off peak travel for under 65's which would ensure more off-peak services are used and more lifestyle greener choices become more readily available. This, especially for lower income brackets for whom a vehicle on the road is a labyrinth of cost and responsibility when they just wish to be more mobile within limited fiscal means. Oddly bus networks are being slashed due to inadequate funding and inability to subsidise them, usage falls are mooted still, but the humbug is £billions are found annually for more and larger roads with pedestrians, cyclists and slower movers being brushed aside at design and actuation of schemes designed for speed rather than inclusion. Join our free email loop: richard.erta@gmail.com or go to our website: https://ertarail.com/ and have a perusal/make a contribution beit membership or a free-will donation. It all helps us help others. Thank you. Bedford-Northampton is not 'dead' it is sleeping and a new dawn awakens beckons with entrepreneurship, leadership, vision and a fresh start.

Development encroachment on the old trackbed and realignment seems the only option but for compulsory purchase.