ERTA Minutes for June 24th 15.00 hrs Great Central Corridor Rail Projects Hosted by Mr Owen O’Neill

ERTA Minutes for June 24^th 15.00 hrs Great Central Corridor Rail Projects Hosted by Mr Owen O’Neill *@oweno.info Our meetings are open to all/all welcome. 

Present: Owen O’Neill (Host), Richard Pill (Chair), John Harrison, Roger Landells, Frank Mahon, Ray Sloan and one or two others I did not capture

(Can amend or accept my apologies).

1. Apologies for absence: Cllr Vanessa McPake of Milton Keynes Council and Adrian Carter.

2. Rugby-Lutterworth-Narborough (linkage for Leicester etc) inclusive of Magna Park:

Owen reported that Warwickshire fairly supporting but Leicester City Council seemed luke warm. Leicestershire County Council more interested, but has a sliding scale of priorities.  It was felt West Northants Council, the new Unitary Authority was still finding its feet. Government Integrated Rail Plan was something to engage with. Midlands Connect Organisation another influential outlet we need onboard. Priorities seem to be Leicester-Coventry, Midland Main Line capacity issues and then Rugby-Leicester and Northampton-Market Harborough. It was accepted that we need to declutter our roads, cut congestion and emissions.

3. Rugby – Calvert/Banbury and vice versa: Concerns were raised over the rate of development. ERTA is not a forum to debate rights and wrongs of HS2, like so many outlets, it proves a divisive matter for and against and is being built like it or not. However, interim areas and areas not served by any rail facility in ERTA’s view need consideration at very least of how a domestic rail facilitation can be done and brought closer to where people and development is. An unrailed corridor is the former Great Central spinal lineage between Calvert and Rugby and whilst HS2 assumes part of it south of Brackley and Brackley old GC Station is lost, the HS2 assumes a route east of Brackley and a domestic line could run alongside or partner in close proximity to it and deviate onto old GC alignment north of Brackley whilst HS2 veers off to the north-west towards Solihull. The new domestic line would have a new East Brackley Parkway Station adjacent to the busy A43 and with either connecting buses or an LRT system to link with Silverstone, Towcester and Northampton and/or Buckingham and Milton Keynes in some shape or form. In any case, given development, given a Milton Keynes-Aylesbury domestic link served by East-West Rail or another agent operator or combined servicing, it was felt by ERTA that Calvert should have a new domestic station along with Claydon and that amidst the clamour for new development, lands at this stage need setting aside for a twin track domestic railway to deviate off the existing lines and head northwards to East of Brackley/Station and beyond bestriding the East-West Rail Line somewhere east of the former Great Central/HS2 corridor but west of Claydon. Objections to a station as another development have to be counter-balanced with all this development and no station just fuels calls for upgraded roads and urban congestion/land use parking demand conflicts when demand equally exists for housing and employment balances with farming and ecology/quality of life issues.

a. Route Survey brief intro and report: This has been done by our volunteer Richard Cooper in part and would be put on the website over a period of time.

b. Route Protection – what and where/establishing critical pinch points: This is vital and we need all hands-on deck to both make the case, protect pro-actively the corridor and court investors/interest/Government backing in some shape or form.

c. Making a case – England’s Economic Heartlands (EEH) Report/any support/next steps: Owen kindly talked us through some slides and these are available on request via richard.erta@gmail.com

d. Getting MP’s and Tiers of Councils/Governance on board: Concerns and the rail plan we proffer needs to get Buckinghamshire Unitary Council on board and concerns and support should court Cllr Martin Tett, who has the ear of Government, to trickle down to get the balances, management and rail foundations sorted properly.

e. Developers – what role and how to harness: If funding can be found for making the case/or volunteers putting credible elements together and bring to a table/meeting potential investors’, rail makes more sustainable whatever, so in their interest (or should be) to support our rail calls.

f. Calvert – new town, land capacity for domestic rails and line alongside HS2 going north over East West Rail – how feasible is it? What can be done: Calvert was a major discussion point. What happens or not there will affect everything else. The pressure is ‘on’ and we need to see the wood from the trees as well. There’s a threat of a new prison at Grendon Underwood and someone from ERTA needs to find out and make representations that it should not impinge on the former GC link between Grendon and Calvert as this re-railed would boost links from High Wycombe to Milton Keynes as well as Calvert-Rugby via the Great Central corridor re-railed. In reverse direction, these audiences and more freight by rail, could link to the Great Western Main Line, Old Oak Common and if a through connection is provided between Chiltern Main Line and the Southern Heathrow link, access to Guildford, Portsmouth and Southampton, freeing up capacity on and off the rails and alleviation residential areas of noise like Aylesbury.

g. Getting Chiltern Railways on board/wider rail industry: We need someone from ERTA to host either a Skype or Zoom Meeting to discuss and try and coerce them to take an interest in what we are suggesting. If baying is provided at Old Oak Common (OOC), Chiltern could use it as a terminal capacity extension to overcrowded Marylebone, OOC having links to the new Elizabethan Line alias Crossrail for example for accessing the City of London as well as Heathrow. There was relief the proposed Oxbridge Expressway was cancelled, but without a rail framework, roads will become increasingly busy, fuelling demand for upgrades and more of the same without rail to dent that modal lock-in and offer objective choices. Owen talked us through ‘land value capture’ and public transport – we need to capture growth to better public transport, otherwise it is roads mainly who it defaults to. Gone is just a London centric view, we need diverse rails for a more diverse audience, reach and range economy going forward. E.g., modern technology allows more working from home and flexi hours potentially, but equally the leisure, visiting and off-peak market can counter balance peak time losses if handled and catered for appropriately, reliably and attractively.

4. EEH/NR Banbury-Daventry-Northampton Arc/rail idea and can it link/rendezvous with GC somewhere e. g. South of Woodford Halse?  Discussion was had on re-railing the Banbury-Brackley-Buckingham-Bletchley line. New build v rebuild both have costs and issues including relocation packages and demolish or new deviations. Blockages exist out of Banbury, west and south of Buckingham esp. south of A421 Bypass/ring-road and Padbury between Buckingham and Verney Junction. The idea of a new line to Northampton from Banbury and inclusive of either Towcester and/or Daventry, was a one-liner indirect reference by EEH Report, but needs more expansion of where, case, how and when. What seemed clear was the Oxbridge East-West Rail, good as it can be, is inadequate and other east-west rails are needed. In all cases who gets there first wins and Bletchley-Northampton via Milton Keynes Central has capacity issues not going away any time soon with Bedford-Bletchley extensions to MK Central and the Southern hourly from West London to MK Central vying for more paths alongside existing West Coast Main Line passenger and freight operations. In 10 years hence HS2 may bring some relief, but if we want more and want to declutter the delays, costs and protractions of the M1 and associated roads, we need more and diverse rail solutions. That is where the ERTA Rugby-Calvert-OOC-South Coast through linkage idea comes into its own including decluttering London and M25 arcs.

5. Any other business: It was flagged up that the 12-mile gap between Bicester and Winslow was a large one given development in-between coming on-stream and any new towns or growth and indeed GC corridor north thereof if un-railed; means access to rail is confined to where stations exist (Winslow/Aylesbury) and that exacerbates demand for parking/distance of traffic and costs. Claydon and Calvert could mop up and service/spread the load more. The meeting seemed nuanced to an extent on what or which way to turn.

6. Date, Time and Place of Next Meeting: August 26^th 15.00 hrs Great Central Rail Corridor Projects Hosted by Mr Owen O’Neill *@oweno.info Please send requests for inclusion to the Zoom meeting to Owen at the email provided in a timely manner. For agenda items to richard.erta@gmail.com, likewise to join our email loop. Keep an eye on this page: https://ertarail.co.uk/events/ Meeting closed circa 16.00 hrs.

Please note: ERTA welcomes offers for new willing hosts for meetings and as a result bring people together. Please encourage any interested people or organisations to email Mr Owen O’Neill to register for these specific Zoom Meetings and ideally join ERTA. Every member helps us help others. https://ertarail.co.uk/become-a-member/ and perusal of our Blogspot can also be helpful/scroll down: https://ertarailvolunteer.blogspot.com/

Old Oak Common (OOC) Design and Improvement needed.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=GWfWlla7&id=9EF35C17D6942C170065E321CFB8AC74C9012CF4&thid=OIP.GWfWlla7kVzs4SFHiTihjQHaEj&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2findustrialnews.co.uk%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2020%2f09%2fthe-station-now-arriving-old-oak-common-interchange.jpg&cdnurl=https%3a%2f%2fth.bing.com%2fth%2fid%2fR1967d69656bb915cece121478938a18d%3frik%3d9CwByXSsuM8h4w%26pid%3dImgRaw&exph=630&expw=1024&q=old+oak+common+interchange+railway+station&simid=608040143709756533&ck=AF143313CF4A423420AAC6AACDD46D40&selectedIndex=0&qpvt=old+oak+common+interchange+railway+station&FORM=IRPRST&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0

This diagram doesn't show the proposed Southern Heathrow Rail Link. I need your help to ascertain:

1. Whether it would link with OOC and go on to physically link with the Chiltern Line or not please?

2. We need that through and connective interchange duality for our spinal north-south arcing rail corridor utlising spare capacity e.g. freight/night workings away from residential areas.

3. Could we set up a meeting with Chiltern to ascertain their views and on our map of intent - attached.

3. Is there time for a coalition of interests to push for more baying capacity from north and south - remembering the Cricklewood-Heathrow arc via Dudding Hill issues.

4. What if anything can we reasonably do to interject at this stage and to whom x whosoever may entertain potentially/please make a list of suggested outlets/parties to consider.

5. Does anyone have any direct general email link to TfL? My connection is poor and would like to involve them in our future London and surrounds Zoom/other agendas please.

I would welcome your kind collaboration please.

If too late and 'no' to any of our aims there, it is a. a pity and b. missed opportunity. Interchange would be max requiring a change. A Banbury/Brackley/Aylesbury - Guildford arc, would have been useful from numerous angles surely and I invite any active people to push for it still please by whatever channels.

In short, a list of all players would be useful for me to launch an 11th hour desk-top campaign. Any offers of help, information and join our loop for liaison please via requests to richard.erta@gmail.com

We need orbital and radial conventional rail links surely?

https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/recycling-waste-and-environment/planning-in-hertfordshire/transport-planning/transport-policy-and-supporting-strategies.aspx

Please have your say and encourage others to call for a joined up conventional rail spinal link including Croxley link to Watford, St Albans - Hatfield and associated links and Stansted - Braintree for Essex-Herts spinal rail solution. We need links suitable for passenger and freight. LRT must be compatible - we can't keep sending non London freight via London Lines, as it needs capacity for other services - passenger and freight. Calling for a study and identifying a route is a start. Conventional and Light Rail costs/gains/benefits/versatility must include freight by rail from parcels to containers. Modal shift means rail more surely? Join our email loop: richard.erta@gmail.com and help us forward the rail alternatives more.

ERTA Northampton Zoom Meeting, all welcome/open to all!

 

Email richard.erta@gmail.com for agendas or expressions of interest.

https://ertarail.co.uk/events/ has our forthcoming events listed. However, due to lockdown restrictions, our physical meetings are postponed and only on-line Zoom Meetings will take place until normalised circumstances improve. Please find Northampton and Great Central Zoom Meeting agendas and register with respective hosts whose details are included in the information provided. I also attach our latest diagram which shows how our re-railing part of the former Great Central Corridor with exciting pursuit of a Rugby-Leicester reinterpretation rebuild can deliver a new domestic north-south railway which brings rail to areas not served, reduces through choice road dependency cultures and informs access to new markets and linkages currently not available by rail. 

We continue to work with others to inform progress on all things Northampton in radial links terms and want the Government to set forth frameworks, incentives and nurturing of both route protections, enabling engineering flexibility more in urban cordons for example and funding more studies. £27 billion new roads, £500 million Rail Reopenings Fund - is not fair and hardly consistent with green transport credentials to reduce emissions, cut congestion and give people and freight more modal shift choices. Delivery counts in a so-called Climate Emergency as well as saving land which can be used for other things including conservation.

So please encourage others to tap into our events and take an interest, as it is an investment in our quality of life and for up and coming generations. 

Other consultations and reader material can be found on our Blogspot: https://ertarailvolunteer.blogspot.com/ including calls for a Northampton-Market Harborough rail rebuild with a north-west direct curve for direct freight from Felixstowe-Peterborough-Leicester and East Midlands itself to run direct into DIRFT Freight Terminal as well as going south via Northampton to its new depot and beyond to Milton Keynes, Oxford/Bristol/Southampton and vice versa. Loads of potential, as well as checking traffic and sustainability issues of development growth along A508 and M1 respectively. Thank you.

New Diagram and update of progress

Just thought I'd give a sneak preview of our new and latest diagram. Welcome your support. A new joined up network of local rail links informs a capacity creation north-south railway from East Midlands - South Coast including Brighton, Portsmouth and Southampton 'not via London, Birmingham or Oxford-Reading per se'. 

Hot spots are all along the corridor:

a. Calvert - needs domestic lines and station

b. OOC - needs baying capacity as well as the direct link-up between Chiltern Main Line and Heathrow Southern Rail Link

c. Guildford-Horsham/Shoreham on-going

d. Willoughby-Rugby

e. Rugby-Magna Park-Lutterworth-Narborough area link up.

But what we need is to grow our teams and recruit reliable volunteers to work at each chunk. We can aspire and direct interest where appropriate there. 

Enjoy and any support is welcome to entertain.

Benefits are:

a. more capacity on/off the rails

b. mops up communities without rail access

c. London west side orbital

d. Banbury, Brackley and Aylesbury - Guildford arc

e. more freight by rail potentially

f. connectivities and gains - including regenerative and modal shift choice as well as sustainability platforms for a balance between development and impacts.

Our newsletter will be out in 2 weeks time, but meanwhile feel free to tap into our meetings.

https://ertarail.co.uk/events/

New councils means we are progressively updating our records. ERTA needs administrative and campaign helpers/supporters. Reliability is a crucial skill as well as competence in handling electronic record keeping, transparency and basic commitment to managing a portfolio. If at all interested or know others like for example retired or students - we welcome both ends of the age spectrum and all in between.

We have turned a corner:

a. East-West Rail is being done now

b. Growing appreciation of what local rail can offer

c. diverse and plauralised appreciation of route protections

d. Government one agent, farming out elsewhere and third party delivery vehicles another - what gives, what takes, we just want the rail delivery regardless in a timely manner. 

Thank you. All offers via richard.erta@gmail.com For most people, joining and then offering is the normal proceedure.

Keeping Strategic Rail Link Options Open for wider benefits

ERTA calls for all planning decisions to adopt a policy of protecting former rail routes and keeping options open for potential benefits. This applies especially to 2 schemes we support and may well apply elsewhere, like Brighton Main Line Mark 2 https://www.bml2.co.uk/ but our focus is on Guildford-Horsham-Shoreham with a link to the direct existing Horsham-South Coast Rail link as well for the full monty of potential and use for passenger and freight to be realised. See attached flyer for more information and please do encourage supporters to join our on-line meeting: Guildford and South East Area Meeting(Zoom) Hosted by Mr Iain Sear iainsear22@hotmail.com – July 5th 14.00 hrs See: https://ertarail.co.uk/events/ Horsham physical meeting is postponed due to extended Covid restrictions limiting to just 6 people, when last time we had 20!

But another link, less the 2 miles long if that, but which could make a critical difference is that of the former Polegate-Stone Cross direct rail link avoiding Eastbourne. The benefits would be as follows:

a. more scope for more by rail - people and goods.

b. end to end time savings between Brighton-Bexhill-Hastings-Ashford with wider connections.

c. It would enable more capacity into Eastbourne with a focus more on marketing the resort via more London-Gatwick-Resort trains.

d. bring all-year-round footfall and spend sustaining/regenerative benefits.

Thus we appeal to respective councils to come together and push/demand this rail link be restored. Realignments where blockages exist need studying. But planning decisions should identify a route and protect that open land from development. If you build a development and even get a new station on existing lines, you lock-in by destruction, that direct relief line option and lock-in time delay end to end and throw away benefits/options which may otherwise be enjoyed, sustaining employment and prosperity/spend-ability.

Please can councils work together. Talk to each other and we call on umbrella agencies to identify these two projects Guildford-Shoreham and Stone Cross-Polegate as urgent for route protection, round-tabling by interested tiers of Government and seeking funding for studies to make more of the case on a formal setting and quasi scientific basis, which ERTA does not possess per se.

We appeal to you to step in at this 11th hour and realise wider regional benefits - Ashford-Brighton (Kent - West Sussex reaches), Guildford-Shoreham (South London/Heathrow Links/Reading - Gatwick from the South, Brighton, Chichester and Portsmouth as well as another link to Southampton from the north. We must not allow blockages to these rail options, locking in road competitiveness, congestion, fossil fuel wastage. Electric cars/vehicles only take us so far, only rail alternatives deliver on bulk carriages per volume and offer traffic reduction, the reduction of tyre particulate pollution we passively breathe and associated respiratory effects. Please work together and let's get a better strategic appreciation, balance and nurture with some determination a better rail deal for the South East and beyond. Thank you.

https://blog.greenflag.com/2019/tyre-particles/

East Midlands/Leicester - Brighton, Southampton, Bristol, Gatwick, Heathrow, Old Oak Common Interchange and all in between.

Recommend a read of:

https://www.hull.ac.uk/work-with-us/research/institutes/logistics-institute/our-work/lhoft

See how they identify problems and opportunities related. 

See how they bring various parties together and source funding.

Once case is made, politicians have to look at it in their overall scope and discussion and see benefits on-off rails.

If we can build such a coalition for GC Corridor by working together, we can feed into or have specific Zoom Meeting - count 6 months off and set a date, who is willing to host and pro-actively market it - let me know/have offers, can be more than one person as long as you both liaise together.

I think we're on to something:

Guildford-Horsham-Shoreham (Reading/Heathrow - Brighton/Gatwick) and all in between - domestic can do it all, High Speed by nature does differential market reaches and ranges but cannot do interim much.

2. Get in touch with the Southern Heathrow Rail Project and encourage extension and tunnel/physical linkage with the Chiltern Main Line beyond Old Oak Common/OOC - via our Westminster Team, lobby Parliament/relevant MP's and Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris (MP for Daventry and Grant Shapps (Welwyn MP/Hertfordshire boy!) try

and get them to see a bigger picture than just piecemeal projects isolated - who coordinates/harmongenises? Can they interject that thought to an arena of interests in design and inclusive joined-up network opportunity?

3. Calvert - Calvert-Grendon gets fast-tracking to OOC and beyond/London orbital/Bedford, Milton Keynes, Rugby/GC Corridor to OOC and beyond - including direct links with Portsmouth and another way in to Southampton - freeing up Reading-Oxford more and creating more capacity for more by rail/growth?

4. Calvert/new station-Brackley alongside/near the HS2 corridor (new) and thence northwards to Willoughby/Barby/Rugby (new build). 

5. Rugby-Magna-Lutterworth-Narborough-Leicester/Gateway East Midlands and vice versa them to Southampton 'not via London' and on routes with new/capacity more?

Can someone or people appetise these companies on the back of such a vision please? Offers to assist to me via this email please asap. I think politicians will be more pursuaded by evidence, we need the bigger players to invest to find and cement the evidence as per the LHOFT project for Woodhead suggests? We can do it/we can get the ball rolling whilst seeking route protection alongside. 

What do you think? Let me have feedback please?

The Banbury arm to Woodford Halse area assumes Oxford-Didcot-Reading capacity (Southampton/Bristol nodal points and all in between) and has to negotiate M40 and HS2 over or under = a challenge. Our route avoids that, albeit any kind passive inclusion from HS2 for a domestic line nearby mopping up, would be a nice thing to achieve. Land at Calvert - get down there and take some pictures for our use please - needs land set aisde for rail, station, tracks, flyover/viaduct/expansion more. On Oxford-Milton Keynes east-west we also want a Claydon Station - so the curve to the east north of Calvert should be upgraded for more and likewise a study - maybe sourced with Martin Tett of Bucks County Unitary Authority Council - could look at a new Bicester-Aylesbury curve. Grendon avoids Aylesbury, so no Chiltern conflict. Marylebone is at capacity full apparently, so OOC and beyond gives other baying and through route potential and so needs design accommodation/consideration. We plant ideas. We desperately need others to help with updates to our website, please contact Iain Sear if willing to assist - must be able to do it please. Thanks.

Meanwhile all our dates / events are on our website now: https://ertarail.co.uk/events/ Please tap in and engage.

Let's Have Better Buses for Bedford!

 re: https://www.bedford.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/have-your-say/consultations/bus-travel-consultation/

I have done this survey but found it to be inadequate for the purposes of communicating a list of concerns and cares about local buses and associated matters. One is at a loss as to where the buck stop beit operators, councils or Government or a share for all. I do not have a bus officer email for Bedford Borough and welcome this email to be forwarded to appropriate people who may take up matters in the, I believe, wider public interest and potential benefit:

1. X5 Oxford-Bedford-Cambridge now truncated with a required change to a 905 which is a double decker and takes longer, much longer. You can carry a bike anywhere on the X5 coach between Oxford and Bedford, but not the 905. There's a toilet on board the X5, not the 905. There's plenty of luggage space for variety of things on X5, not on 905. 905 may benefit Cambridge local commutes from St Neots, Cambourne and principal radial stops, but end to end is useless from a Bedford-East Anglia quick end to end timing. The excuse was that X5 coaches were too big to do the corner at Ashburnham Road/Midland Road and turn at the front of Cambridge Railway Station. Now, a double decker and still no linkage with Bedford and Cambridge Railway Stations. Whatever purposes the 905 serves, can we have our X5 Oxbridge end to end coach back, maybe missing out Great Barford (use the bypass) and St Neots (call at Tesco/incentivise local services to fill gaps/give 905 optimum local feed markets including Longsands to serve the St Neots Rail Station as a part of its route, the walk gap, especially in winter nights, is a long way to former X5 stop and deters the linkage and reliability of a joined-up transport system to be relied on).

Other related requests are:

a. reinstate the St Peters Street Bus Stop for 905 to call at - right opposite the Eagle Bookshop, which Oxbridge Arc, should be a good excuse to break journeys and explore what Bedford has to offer more).

b. Install a stop for X5 by the Biddenham/Bypass Roundabout to help people access going out of Bedford/coming in without recourse to have to go into Bus Station, change and out again. This would save time and boost patronage.

c. I note Eaton Socon Church Bus stop has been cut, please work to reinstate it as local, accessible and not-so-far-to-walk stops makes accessing local buses easier.

2. Make Grant Palmer normal services serve the Bedford Midland Railway and Bus Station as a part of their routes. Likewise the No. 7 should after Bus Station go via Midland Road, Ashburnham Road, Bromham Road (new stop for Wyvern House area) and along Bromham Road (reinstate Guild Hall Bus Stop) and via St Peter's to Kimbolton Road. Decluttering St Paul's waiting x more footfall and spend northern half of High Street is a beneficiary and time saving. Putnoe to Bedford Midland seems useful and marketable. Well done the No. 6 does Bedford Midland as a part of its route now, this should be trumpeted more to make people aware of the Bus-Rail Station links more. No. 3 could turn from River Street to Midland Road, Ashburnham Road, Bromham Road, Hassett Street to Bus Station and out via St Paul's for looping from the Fenlake, likewise No. 74 Grant Palmer Biggleswade-Bedford bus - could do more/needs marketing.

3. Someone said that you can get to the Essex Border, but places like Saffron Walden, Buntingford and Stevenage to Bedford are patchy except via Hitchin. Could more links out of Biggleswade to these places be looked at for more cross-country-travel options, avoiding main urban centres like congested Cambridge or expensive rail? Likewise, does it make sense for Sandy-Bedford-St Neots when a direct bus link could feed both town centres and plug a gap maybe giving Blunham, Tempsford and Roxton/Little Barford better links?

4. Bedford-Northampton No. 41: This takes 1.5 hours each way between two principal towns. It is too long in the saddle for disabled people and commuter potential. We need to separate out a local all stopper service round Will's Mother's and a semi fast regional Cambridge-Bedford-Northampton A428 corridor fast service, bringing end to end times down to 45 minutes and linking again, with Northampton Rail Station and Bus Station. It feeds back to Bedford, gives job-seekers more scope vice versa and is healthy for both towns economies.

5. Every day the buses bring hundreds  of people to Bedford Town Centre. We need to better value bus users and their weight in gold. Encouraging town centre quality shops like an M&S Food Hall and a Morrisons Metro style, would be for the good. 

6. Better public toilets, we have lost 3 in the town centre - former Debenhams, M&S and Beales and need kore. Likewise, near the Butterfly Bridge a toilet block could be very useful. We rightly market the town and riverside ambience, but between Town Bridge and Longholme Bridge, no toilets, which is a consideration for many including people with certain propensities, disabilities and mothers with children for example. Cambridge has blocks near both River Cam and Jesus Common.

7. Time keeping on No. 81 and 44 via Wixams needs checking up. Sometimes 2 buses come along together on a regular basis - then leave 1 hour gap for the next.

8. The Kempston Bus Stop in St Paul's Square currently has no flag, no published timetable and no Real Time Information (RTI) working. Can it be fixed or is it now closed? Many buses serve it and many people go there for all call there, whereas bus station they leave at different times from different stops scattered about and if slow moving, by the time you get from one to another, miss all.

Hope this feedback is helpful and welcome an officer for liaison to work with us on improving and shoring up to be the best it can be going forward. Government money must go into appropriate projects and schemes to enhance bus usage. One idea is to give lifestyle flexibility to choose bus over car more. There must be a cost-saving incentive and be able to do more with one card. Making criterions for more Under 65's to obtain Concessionary Bus Passes should be looked at, ability to buy one anyway akin to a Season Ticket and for it to be a Government 'greening' goal for bus-rail concessionary travel nationwide for a nominal sum with free for those with low incomes/disabilities/on benefits built in for all to enjoy and benefit from better, cleaner mobility than locked-in to car reliance and cost or stuck in a geographical location denied reasonable cost-ratio to income mobility. 

EEH Have Your Say: Call for evidence for EEH Connectivity Studies (Oxford-Milton Keynes; and Peterborough-Northampton-Oxford)

Call for evidence for EEH Connectivity Studies (Oxford-Milton Keynes; and Peterborough-Northampton-Oxford)

Good afternoon,

England’s Economic Heartland is the sub-national transport body for Swindon and 

Oxfordshire across to Cambridgeshire, and Northamptonshire down to Hertfordshire.

In February we published our Transport Strategy for the region, which sets out the 

step-change in approach required to achieve net zero by as early as 2040 and 

enable our people and businesses to realise their potentials.

We are now developing our first two connectivity studies for the region: 

Oxford-Milton Keynes; and Peterborough-Northampton-Oxford. These will turn the 

Transport Strategy’s vision into actions, as we work with our partners to identify 

the investment required along specific corridors to cut emissions while supporting 

economic growth.

 

To ensure we have a full understanding of these corridors, we are holding a call for 

evidence, which will run from June 1 to midnight on June 30.

As a valued stakeholder I’d encourage you to complete our short online survey, 

which asks for your input on:

• Key themes for the study areas
• The key movements within the study areas
• The connectivity opportunities and challenges in the study areas
• What interventions the studies should consider

Your views will be used to shape our understanding of the corridors and the 

interventions which may be required to improve connectivity.

Please see our website for more information on the connectivity studies and to 

have your say 

(https://www.englandseconomicheartland.com/our-work/connectivity-studies)

We look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you,

Adam King

Communications Manager - England’s Economic Heartland/ East West 

Rail Consortium

Tel: 01296 383401

E-mail: aking@englandseconomicheartland.com

Website: www.englandseconomicheartland.com    

EEH Business Unit c/o Buckinghamshire Council, Walton Street offices, 

Aylesbury, Bucks, HP20 1UA

Here is the link: 

https://www.englandseconomicheartland.com/our-work/connectivity-studies/

More of what ERTA would like to see - 

a joined up pro-affirma rail development plan from Government re-direction, 

intent and delivery by 2030 'nation-wide' i.e. the model repeated elsewhere. 

Too much consultation, not enough action, beef and top-slice £27 billion to new 

roads and re-direct to Rail Reopenings and New Builds.

Boris, Grant Shapps and Opposition Parties, 'over to you'?! Flag it up!

Here's what ERTA contributed - please give support:

a. Write to your local MP

b. Join our free email loop: richard.erta@gmail.com

c. reiterate what we advocate and give it outline support.

Call for evidence for EEH Connectivity Studies (Oxford-Milton Keynes; and Peterborough-Northampton-Oxford)
 
1. Oxford-Milton Keynes Connectivity Study + Peterborough-Northampton-Oxford.
 
Preliminary: I combined and overlap, as they in reality do and are not clinically separated. The presentation of an Oxford-Milton Keynes Connectivity and Peterborough-Northampton-Oxford should not be seen in isolation and will inevitably have some overlap? For example, when east-west rail gets going, one change at Bletchley will enable Northampton and Milton Keynes people to go to Oxford and/or Aylesbury (ought to) and vice versa. The connecting road between Northampton and Oxford direct is the A43 which feeds to the A43 and A421 respectively for south and south westerly links like with the M4 at Swindon for further afield. Other end, Northampton the A43 feeds into northerly M1 and A45/A14 for example. The key place on Oxford – Milton Keynes – a half way point on a map can be Calvert. Seems incongruous in itself hitherto but as a growth area with multiple transport (rail) links and yet no station?! We have to take this oversight seriously. HS2 will not entertain any station between Solihull and Old Oak Common (OOC) Interchange, so how will growing communities between Rugby and OOC access a rail link to such an interchange with potential rail links to Reading, Heathrow and Guildford let alone west London and the wider South East and vice versa in spinal core transport terms with the arm to Milton Keynes and Bedford secured? Reading-Didcot-Oxford is at capacity and waiting on the cushions at signals for clearance/pathing slows down and bottlenecks the amount of capacity for rail to cater for all the business on offer (passenger and freight). This means a variation and proliferation on a theme is required to be looked at. Yes, modal shift must be a key goal from road-based transport (passenger and freight) to rail and so we both need the rails and stations/access points nearer to where people live and filling gaps in existing networks to challenge the default assumption of roads, roads and more roads and locked-in road reliance and dependency cultures as the presumed normalised norm.
 
What we wish to see in rail infrastructure terms:
1. Study and make the case for a rail link north of Calvert (and protect/steward/ensure adequate land is allowed for) for:
a. A station at Calvert for domestic rail services (numerous) to share and utilise for rail.
2. Study and make the case for, grow parties of support and investment in and moves up and down the chain to delivery in a timely manner of a new domestic rail link north of Calvert alongside/same corridor as HS2 to serve (east of) Brackley/A43/bus link with Silverstone), Woodford Halse, Willoughby and then via a new build serve Barby and link to the West Coast Main Line (WCML) where the Northampton Loop/slow lines diverge with the Kilsby fast tracks. This spinal core, utilising perhaps, part of the old Great Central trackbed, certainly the corridor needs better rail access and would:
a. compliment growth agendas with default to rail more
b. compliment and tie in with any aspirations for a Banbury-Daventry-Northampton rail link which could connect somewhere in the Woodford area.
c. Would compliment the advancing campaign for a Rugby-Magna Park-Lutterworth-Narborough (linkage with Nuneaton-Leicester Line) and would therefore give multiple connectivity for passenger and freight by rail – capacity, choice, flexibility and more for more. The overlap with an Oxford-Milton Keynes and Peterborough-Northampton-Oxford arc is obvious. But unless you re-rail and centre north-south with east-west re-railing agendas, all development is roads based and that is unsustainable even in an electric vehicle era, because tyre friction particulates still pollute the air we breathe, volume per ratio of capacity and cost/land-use allocation demand is also self-defeating and flies in the face of a Climate Emergency which means we need to change Government agendas and policy and redirect existing forms from for example a £27 billion new roads budget to pep up the Railway Reopenings Fund to parity or favouring rail expansion projects over roads agendas. This is not happening; the proverbial juggernaut is hurling towards destruction and needs both to reduce speed and be turned around before the crash and that with immediate effect. Timescales of delivery need bringing down from 2050 assumptions to 2030 realities.
c. Calvert south, look at rebuilding a Calvert-Grendon rail link to enable freight and some express passenger services to serve OOC domestically from Milton Keynes, Rugby and Calvert and all in between to OOC and also approaching Reading for onwards to Southampton or South West from the east.
But capacity wise, the proposed Southern Rail Link from Woking-Heathrow needs to be designed to extend to OOC and via a new link or tunnel to connect with the Chiltern Main Line for direct linkages and arcing between Banbury (nodal point of reference) and Calvert and Milton Keynes to OOC, Heathrow and onwards to Guildford. This links with the Portsmouth line and also our campaign for reinstatement of the Guildford-Cranleigh-Horsham rail link, which linking with existing lines would enable approaches via Three Bridges to Gatwick from the south. Likewise, the rebuild of Horsham-Shoreham and a new direct link off the Guildford-Horsham line, would enable direct access from OOC and points north to Brighton and Shoreham itself is a port. The point being that passenger and freight would have a new north-south with east-west rail links bypassing London and via Heathrow could utilise off peak capacity to enable more by rail.
3. Northampton-Peterborough et al:
There is no direct rail link between Oxford and Northampton except the proposed east-west rail via Bletchley and change. However, mooted Banbury-Daventry -Northampton would have to negotiate M40 and HS2 but positively were that to be accommodated, could link with a re-railed GC corridor for interchange and optimum operational output flexibility and feed each other.
There is also a need for any link to consider possibly including a curve from the Leamington/Stratford lines via Southam to Daventry to Northampton via the A425 corridor to link southern West Midlands with these key, un-railed areas.
a. Northampton: Station needs rebuilding and re-modelling – the current layout is bad from a number of considerations, let alone growth on-off rail contexts. More tracks, more platform capacity and more radial routes for walking, cycling and bus and less car reliance to/from the station.
b. Re-rail the Brackmills Branch: would connect important Brackmills Industrial Estate with Castle Station. The branch itself could afford to accommodate waitover freight/passenger turns off platform, clearing through tracks for other services. Indeed, a consideration of rebuilding back to Bedford for east-west rail and Thameslink connectivity as well as MML-WCML freight. A new route needs to be found from Castle Ashby Estate to flyover and connection with the slows of the MML. Forget Olney, they don’t want the railway and have deliberately allowed development to scupper old and any close proximity rail link passing their way. Far better to look north and have a Parkway Station near to where A509 and A428 connect surely for optimum interchangeability and reach/range? Numerous studies have been done over the years and reached the Government for consideration in 2004 but was declined on cost, not case terms. Principally, the councils and other agencies had other agendas, approaching 20 years on, given growth and modal shift, we need to keep this option alive (route protection) and examine with solutions in mind, not be overcome by hurdles per se x any other rail reopening or new build.
c. Rebuild the Northampton-Market Harborough Rail Link: Study done already, was positive and should be engaged with. Needs backing and a sponsor to take it forward. M1/A508 are principal arteries to declutter as well as urban impact of volumous traffic, congestion and parking/land-use which is needed for other things like housing and employment. Leicester-Northampton, Milton Keynes and east-west to Oxford as well as existing other WCML linkages and services. Passenger and freight. The corridor needs expanding to accommodate walk/cycle paths as well as a twin track railway and some provision for the current preservation option. A key lesson to learn and work on is footpaths, cycle routes, leisure trails, linear parks, road roundabouts, road intrusion, preservation schemes and canals are just some of the blockages purported to protect a corridor which then in turn become objectors to a railway! We need to think creatively how these can make way for the bulk greener reach-range of re-railing or select domestic new build schemes for the greater good. Ponds can be moved; the railway needs specific engineering. Likewise, tracks can be lowered to make 9’6 clearances in tunnels and a north-west direct curve would allow direct running to Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) Inland Port. Likewise, freight via Peterborough could access Northampton Depots and others from the Leicester-Market Harborough-Northampton link. Whereas the Rugby-Lutterworth-Narborough rail link serves different, specific and new growth passenger and freight opportunities and the GC from Calvert new build scheme we have suggested. Plenty of scope for both. Rugby-Narborough takes on western flank of M1, Northampton-Market Harborough, takes on the eastern flank. Potential for Brixworth to have a station (A508) commuting and also a Parkway Station where rail line and A14 intersect.
d. Northampton-Bedford and Northampton-Peterborough used to share the same portal access via London Road Level Crossing and Bridge Street to Castle Station ‘box’. Therefore, any links to Brackmills, Bedford, Wellingborough and/or Peterborough (new build/interpretation) needs to lobby Office for Road and Rail (ORR) for ‘special dispensation’ to look at suitability and fit of its demands for bridges everywhere and see that a tight-fit urban location may be more in-keeping to have a new proper level crossing. Bridges are not panaceas and to rule out a whole reopening because access across a road and avoidance of knocking down Grade 2 Listed Buildings (heritage), needs a more flexible approach. Most bridge bashes and level crossing abuse come from road users who act recklessly. Education and more informing common sense should be nurtured culturally and Network Rail are well placed with other educational-local schemes to increase sensible awareness of dangers like trespassing on railway land and so forth. A new rail link to Peterborough is needed, to enable Ely-Northampton freight flows and cut time and premium pathing conflict issues of sending all via London (a great way round) and Peterborough-Leicester) which has East Midlands and West Midlands centric needs and growth. Northampton as a key area logistic hub and connections to other lines (HS2 is supposed to create default capacity on the West Coast Main Line). Such a rail link could have new arms or LRT associated links with places like Rushden, Raunds, Wellingborough suburban areas. Whilst we do not oppose any rail link per se, we have concerns about the feasibility of linking to the Midland Main Line at Wellingborough. If it can be done without conflict, we welcome to see the design. However, a new station to Parkway the new Rushden Lakes Shopping Centre and A6 links and re-railing the Thrapston and Oundle areas respectively makes good social sense. Thrapston is far out except by car and needs re-railing likewise, maybe for different socio-economic reasons Oundle also. Footfall and spend and better linkages the new interrelated railway could bring cannot be under stated. Again, how it could be worked with the Preservation outlet occupying the old course into Peterborough, needs revision and evaluation, but the link-on to the Peterborough-Ely lines for Stansted, Cambridge, Soham, Ipswich, Felixstowe and Norwich to name but a few and them direct, quick and faster by rail; good for freight, good for passengers, good for courting new markets which have arisen since closure and decluttering the A14 corridor as well as links with A45, A43, makes this a must-have consideration for a more holistic and joined up railway infrastructure.
 
We are keen to understand from interested parties:
 
What are the key themes for the study area?
a. design a railway delivery plan, make the case and roundtable/consortium develop with delivery in mind. We don’t have the resources, connections or powers.
b. re-railing and select new build, local, conventional rail to connect these arcs and corridors north-south, east-west.
c. Recognise the 1960’s closures went too far, left huge gaps in the rail network
d. Recognise plethora private interests vying for ‘their’ piece of rail connectivity, led to a lack joined-up-ness like at Thrapston where two lines crossed but no physical connection to enable more. People say Kettering-Cambridge was under-used, but the reasons for that may be circumstantial and complex, but A14 follows same axis and is overflowing and £billions spent on widening/land take. We need good planning, coordination and strategic vision with local, affordable, accessible and more by rail/modal shift built into designs, plans and timely delivery.
 
What do you consider to be the key movements in the area?
a. freight and passenger movements and a need to provide rail choices
b. growth, development and logistics on more sustainable rail-based platforms from plans, consent and designs to be rail connected. We should never have a proliferated Wixams example without rail connectivity from day one… lessons have not been learned and however informed, is lacklustre/race to the bottom planning and desperation politics of the worst kind. No railway station (passengers), no rail connection (large warehouses and freight rail served). The result? Car-legs and loads of daily lorries pounding roads proliferatedly and intruding urban access roads. Planning, systems, joined-up-ness and objectivity must look at this failed model and do better/amend retrospectively (new build) and ensure going forwards all new developments over a size have rail informed from day one/learn lessons/advocate best practise/hold up examples where this IS the case and/or can be.
c. Recycling by rail more. Local-Regional hubs, for gathering material beit household, cars, fridges, glass, cardboard and send by rail for recycling/processing and finished goods also by rail more. Make it so/design/plan and ensure is and must be the future.
d. Broaden and educate and support the fact that when we think about freight by rail, we have often been trained to think in terms of large marshalling yards, outlay, infrastructure, containers, block loads and a fight between intensive passenger demand and usage over same tracks as the ideal mooted phenomenon of ‘more freight by rail’. We need to better nurture and appreciate/apply that more freight can start small and growth strategy. So, click, collect/send parcels, post and pallets by rail, passenger stock with Guard's Van designs for more by rail like luggage, bikes, prams, buggies, people mobility scooters and more can utilise that capacity. Retain walk-on, walk off accessibility for passenger and small load consignments. Likewise, growing from small loads, pallets, wagon-loads, small to large containers, mixed goods, former model of Speedlink ideas, local-regional. If by rail is unviable for less than 100 miles, make it law that all freight over 100 miles must and should go by rail lion’s share with local deliveries door to door. A thousand miles begins with a single step and so start small, block replicate models which work, find means-ways and recycle, utilise and restore old stock and redeploy/save outlay costs. Indeed, new ideas, new railways, new thinking, rejuvenate existing railways. Niches, hubs and growth for more modal shift, less fossil fuel and demonstrate that it can work. Brackmills is a prime example. Get it right and where else can it be done? Likewise, the Forders Sidings, shunting sidings and Gantry on the Bedford-Bletchley Railway, needs a vision, a plan and action to get it fully operational, growing more by rail, doing something for rail, not just sitting there year on year doing nothing, rotting whilst roads are taking more traffic, congestion and pollution. Sidings at Swanbourne to enable priority to traverse the Bletchley Viaduct should be considered.
 
What are the key connectivity opportunities and challenges in the study area?
a. Lack of east-west links, just one, is not enough, however good.
b. Lack of protection and stewardship of rail portals and freight servicing areas to urban interfaces
c. Lack of old rail route stewardship, study and evaluation with delivery of a new railway/reopening in mind and the challenge of the mantra ‘it never paid’ when 50+ years on, everything has grown, everything has changed and we need to engage old and new markets, refresh our vision and get everything transport-wise back on the rails as much as possible. This is why developing railway lands for non-rail usage is ludicrous as we think of the old St Johns site in central Bedford as one example, similar others at Wolverton – there was once a recycling by rail/water plan, alas nothing seems rail visioned, only capacity constraints, costs and more of the same old road-based/guzzling agendas which ill-serve from a number of angles.
What interventions do you think the study should consider?
a. Government alignment and consistency of policy and investment for modal shift back to rail as much as possible/wherever possible
b. Route and access land protection/nurturing enablement for re-railing
c. Modal shift back to rail to be the foremost priority and agenda with a how to/can-do attitude and approach/overcoming problems, rather than defeated at outset by daunting prospects.
d. Need to do and act in a timely manner – seize those lands at Calvert, ensure station and new lines can be fitted in amidst HS2 and other development ‘non-rail’ interests and use of lands. Must have expansion by rail more at forefront.
e. Start with rail network and gap filling first and work back from there with timely delivery and nurture-enablement in mind and then engage, interface and grow coalitions for. Seems we pretend pluralism when we need specifics, we leave open-wide for the unexpected, but miss-out fine detail and plan for common sense. Leadership and direction start with all of us and Government must be on-side as a facilitator and enabler, not an excuse not to deliver or enable per se as long as it squares social, economic and environmental considerations, not just greening unsustainable more to the roads quick fixes at what cost elsewhere?
 
I hope these views, feedback and welcome further opportunities to discourse and work towards achieving these goals. More information is on our website: https://ertarail.co.uk/publicity/ I attach a rough diagram which shows our north-south and east-west Great Central-Brighton spinal aspiration for joined-up rail links and planning to realise. If we don’t do it, we lock in capacity constraints and stifle modal shift more. Calvert-Grendon avoiding 24x7 freight going through Aylesbury and enables more capacity respectively.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
 
 
Richard Pill
ERTA Chairman

03-06-21