There will be an important conference/event: https://
East-West Rail tell me they will be doing more consultations in due course 2021 and the route between Bedford-Tempsford-Cambridge via North Bedfordshire and Cambourne will be in the frame for feedback. Will Ravensden get a station out of it? Or a vibration from a 3 mile tunnel? The access from Girder Bridge where the Midland Main Line crosses the Great River Ouse north of Bedford to reach the south of Clapham side of a hill raises some engineering gradient and clearance challenges which again, raises whether for all the hassle and cost, the old route via St John's out of Bedford having reversed at Bedford Midland would be better/cheaper/less hassle? Yes, deviations around Willington have to be done but apart from issues of crossing road accesses and new construction south-west to Tempsford direction contrast the northern route which has to engage Black Cat Roundabout and the Great Ouse/Ivel convergence to the east of it on a flood plain, means our route has probably the edge in keeping costs and engineering challenges down if politics can be kind to it.
Parishes, what is your view? Happy to discuss. I think Bedford needs a rail link to Cambridge. Old route is now lost to development. So using what is available with deviations where blockages exist with some new interpretations may be a way forward. The new northern route seems far less straightforward. Alas, we don't get a local newspaper anymore, so it's hard to know what people think these days in the community. I don't think we need forensics to get a general idea. Whilst Victorians have to take lie of the land more into construction consideration, none-the-less principal ideas and some idea of geographical lie of the land can surely be useful? If we don't get and bid for the delivery in a timely manner, we throw more development to roads only by default and that makes, in normal times, for more congestion at junctions and urban interfaces. The legacy of the closures is an environmental issue our country is grappling with 50+ years on and still pluralism is the answer, whereas we need focused projects which can deliver bulk off roads (passengers and freight) through choice and rail links which connect to principal places inclusive of audiences in between. Serving Bedford Midland is a plus, but it will need rails, platforms and capacity reconfiguration to ensure linkages and competition with other services can all be slotted in. Thus disposing of lands west of the station which could serve for more parking may be short sighted, ditto if we let go of the old Bedford St John's Station site, blocking access to the east, locking in a north Bedford route only option. There is a lot at stake and one suspects post lock-down, it will either be a lot of things happen at once, or we hold conferences on environmental issues, but long grass or develop options away?
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