Make of this what you will: https://www.express.co.
However, by now, 2.5 years into Government and given Cop 26 and a Climate Emergency, a practical need for modal shift from road to rail and rail filling gaps in haulage and logistics more, we should be seeing the PLAN now, with a timescale and costing mechanism going forward. Alas it is talk at a Party Conference, so could again be wishful thinking or opportunism with random 'stuff happens' whereby it is claimed x or y is a result of Government will, but may be per chance. As some of you may have seen, the letter from Chris Heaton-Harris MP held little if any support for Guilford-Horsham-Shoreham and many other lines not mentioned.
Due to many urban sites, junctions and other pieces of infrastructure being lost, redeveloped over and so forth, critical decision beyond government, i.e. delegated to third party agencies as we see with HS2 and East-West Rail to tackle thorny issues of routing where there is not route and the upheavals involved, remains the hard railroad ahead. It is essential for national well-being, but does the Government have the grit, determination and coherence to push it through or be faithful to former routes and move what is in the way or find deviations to reduce impacts?
Yes, we need more detail and in what timescale will we get it? It should be top priority, electrify as you go by all means, but we need a line plan for every railway line to generate and contribute to logistical modalshift now. Bedford-Bletchley is bus substituted lion's share, getting through Bedford Midland 'box' is another deterrent to running traffic along the branch and onwards and the long wait for joined up rails between Bletchley and Calvert means HS2 stone trains - about 18+ per day from Derbyshire, are going on existing lines to London Willesden and up the Chiltern Line contrast saving 50 miles extra journey is they went via Bedford-Bletchley-Calvert. This is but one example, lines not there, roads are both lead and default context we operate in. Please give ERTA your support to help inform a sea-change to the current theatre pro affirma for better and more local-conventional rail links. Thanks.
Bedford like many places has chronic congestion and has had for over 2 decades in parts. Bypasses come and go and the road building agenda is a political and media sop to be seen to do something, whereas the historical root is the closures of local rail links of the 1960's which locked-in road dependency. We need choice. ERTA does not support the northern route E for a variety of reasons, but crucially you get more for the £1 by going on the old route to the Willington area, then north of Blunham to the Tempsford Plains and thence physical rail connections with the principal north-south main line the East Coast Main Line (ECML). Instead we have Network Rail Reports espousing this connectivity for Southampton-Midlands Multi Modal Studies and 2019 consultations onwards advocating segregation where the east-west and north-south lines cross with a station complex.
Route E may seem logical on a map, but is not a straight line, rather a camel's back shape! It would be a steep gradient contrast the flat old route along the River Great Ouse Valley basin and is longer and more intrusive. Suffice to say, were the spend on studies to examine how to push the line north of Bedford on or off existing tracks been committed to solutions to Cardington Road and Priory entrance, we may be seeing the old route in a more happier context. Instead housing on the old St John's is in the ings, destroying and locking in either no rail service Bedford (east of) or bypassing Bedford with a load more upheaval. I feel some campaigners are in denial and we have a political fix, which whilst a need for delivery is urgent, if not fit for purpose, will again be a 'wrong type of railway'. A steady speed of 25 mph - 60 mph with no obstruction gets you to Cambridge quicker than anything roads, parking and bus riding can offer, so why do we need 100 mph plus? It must cater for freight as well as passenger needs. But here is the rub, if you come through Bedford Midland from Route E, you push all passenger and freight through the platforms interfaces and given capacity issues now with passenger services held up outside the station 'box' and Bedford-Bletchley suppressed to be optimized to full pelt operations due to pathing through Bedford, our route suggestion offers east-west to avoid Bedford Midland freight-wise whilst also pointing east-north freight in the right direction. Route E does not offer this and that should be taken back to Whitehall to 'think again'/what are we trying to achieve?
Please peruse and tap into our meetings and network with us: https://ertarail.co.uk/
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