Seeking Westminster Support for a Rolling Programme of Local Line Rebuilds and Reopenings

Please: 1 Write to your MP and give support

2. PDF free copy of the pamphlet via richard.erta@gmail.com

3. Modal shift and environmental protection are just 2 items which this exercise seeks to address.

https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/

Cambridge Forum Notes – Saturday 17 August

Cambridge Forum Notes – Saturday 17 August 2:00pm – Food and Social; 3:00 – 5:00pm – Business, Prince Regent Pub, 91 Regent Street, Cambridge, CB2 1AW

Present: Richard Pill, David Ferguson, Simon Barber, Mike Cockerill, Leonard Lean

1. Chairman’s welcome: Simon chaired the meeting

2. Apologies: Tony Bush, Colin Crawford, Cllr James Palmer, Cllr Ian Murray.

3. Bedford-Sandy-Cambridge: We remain open minded. The new route is expected to be announced in the end of the year but we are working up a number of alternatives with the traditional route being one such candidate, the route to Shepreth another and still a third northern arc via St Neots was discussed. None are problem free. However, all have their own unique selling points. Whoever takes the lead Government-wise needs arcing authority and power to make tough decisions on what gives, moves or takes.

Actions: David to contact RSPB and Wimpole Hall, Simon to contact John O’ Gaunts Golf Course and sound them out whether a cut and cover tunnel could be an option. The old route into Potton is blocked beyond reasonable recovery. Gamlingay on layman’s inspection can be bypassed with a new P&R Station the two towns could share. Richard to do a list on what he needs on Bedford-Cambridge and the principles can be applicable to every rebuild scheme we/others entertain.

4. Cambridge-Haverhill-Sudbury-Colchester: There is a group advocating this, but like some other routes it is being peppered with development and encroachment threats. A new orbital route to the south of Haverhill would be required, ditto new stations for Sheldon and Linton for example. Simon to contact the group and offer collaboration.

5. March-Spalding: It needs more volunteers and there is a view we need to hang in there and be faithful to former route albeit with modest deviations like around sprawling Cowbit. David to notify Simon of a date for his Forum at Peterborough and March now for 2020 listing. Google to find relevant Wetherspoon and go for 2pm start with 3-5 pm business to avoid lunchtime crowds.

6. Cambridge Congestion/what should be done? Park and Ride is well used, new sites further out offering fast and meandering services may be one idea. X5 coach well used, but subject to traffic delays. Rail developments needed like the 3 schemes we discussed today. Soham Station is being progressed and hopefully a new curve onto the Newmarket-Cambridge line for alternative route commute south of Ely for example. Roads alone solutions can’t cope!

7. AOB: Guided Busway collapsing at Dry Drayton due to Fenland Marshes and soft ground with heavy pounding vibrations. Re-railing Cambridge-St Ives/Huntingdon would be a boost.

Meeting finished 4.20pm

richard.erta@gmail.com 

English Regional Transport Association (ERTA) believes the expected rise in rail fares is unwarranted

As we walked the fields of gold!

Looking at the area in August 2019 one can see that with realignments via adjacent fields and a southern bypass of built Gamlingay – pretty much from the M11 to east of Potton is recoverable/new build-able. However, at Potton the old formation is heavily built on as is at Gamlingay but much more severely. To go to the south of Potton from a southern bypass of Gamlingay meets further complications whereby notwithstanding the old route is lost any new route to the south faces the significant blockage of John O’ Gaunt Golf Course which is prestigious attracting well-heeled people who can read, write and command lawyers. Who would want to ruffle their feathers by suggesting a railway blights their facility and landscape? Moreover, from south of Sandy to east of Gamlingay the railway rises out of the Ivel Valley to higher ground. So, any tunnelling or cut and cover solution would have to be on a gradient. Go further south and you face the hills of Wrestlingworth and Hateley, further south and you enter another valley altogether going north of Eyeworth for example. So getting from Sandy to east of Gamlingay is a pinch point which could have done with some positive consideration If the case and justification for the railway outweighs the pain or cost, then it is imperative things like this are looked at with a view to options of what could be done, not rule it out at the stroke of a pen. In this caption by Jeremy Harvey looking westwards you have Gamlingay and Sandy Heath on your right, a wind turbine on your left. Key question is, can we get a local railway through here with a park and ride station or do we accept development with no sustainable transport and send it all on local roads? That is the stark choice here and elsewhere plethora and tough choices have to be made. To pretend expanded Gamlingay will not expand further over the next decade is to put one’s head in the sand! 

Consultations Galore!

This consultation by the English Economic Heartlands is critical to get right as transport affects us all directly and indirectly from congestion to space for parking, to choice to air pollution and much more locked-in or out. Please peruse the document and give them your feedback. In particular from ERTA's perspective we very much want support for a Bedford-Sandy-Cambridge rail route to be looked at, especially the origional route for all the reasons given in our Cambridge Press Release sent yesterday and more please. No route is cost or problem free and so far no golden nugget has emerged which will please everyone. But the rail link is crucial as is Bedford-Northampton - plugging Northampton into Bedford for onwards to Cambridge and vice versa East Anglia to the West Midlands via the sub region of South Midlands!

Please have a perusal and respond. Any questions, I may not have all the answers, but happy to discuss and I do try and be helpful. Thank you.

http://www.englandseconomicheartland.com/Documents/Outline%20Transport%20Strategy%20Framework%20for%20Engagement.pdf  

You may also find this of interest advocating rail schemes: https://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/consultations/525

Next newsletter should be out around 1st September. All events to tap into on our web page: https://ertarail.com/events/

English Regional Transport Association (ERTA) believes the East-West Rail is paramount and needs a fundamental rethink to get it right for Cambridge and further afield.

6 August 2019

Press Release

English Regional Transport Association (ERTA) believes the East-West Rail is paramount and needs a fundamental rethink to get it right for Cambridge and further afield.

The English Regional Transport Association (ERTA) support the principle and notion of a fully restored direct rail link between Oxford-Bedford-Cambridge for improving east-west travel options.

However, we believe that the original route was the best and should never have been closed and that the intermittent 50 years of abandonment has been too long for this glaring gap to go unaddressed in physical infrastructure terms. Moreover, whilst blockages exist on the old route (Bedford-Sandy-Cambridge) any new route will have its own issues and cost more to negotiate with and so a trade off back to the old route should be tabled and considered alongside any new options. In summary:

1. The old route enables segregation allowing more trains off existing lines to plough east and west respectively.

2. The old route must have deviations where considerable blockages exist such as around Potton and Gamlingay but the access at Trumpington also needs careful consideration.

3. If the new route links in at Shepreth for example, it overloads Shepreth Junction where the Bishops Stortford and Royston lines converge into Cambridge. This could cause delays to existing services and/or restrict what frequency east-west could offer.

4. The railway must be rebuilt to cater for more passengers and freight to go by rail. Merely providing choice is not enough, there must be encouragement and incentive for modal shift to unlock gridlock congestion across the regions.

The ERTA will continue to make these points known to elected representatives at all tiers and locations and expects tough decision pro-affirma to be made for the greater good of humanity and the environment.

End of Press Release

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