Relief Lines needed for more by rail

Dear All

I attach a diagram which shows the 'relief' a new build Bedford-Northampton-Market Harborough Rail inclusive of Owen's Rugby-Magna-Narborough link could offer relief off existing main lines as well as key connectives. Please feel free to use it for regional connectivity purposes/illustration. The Bedford-Northampton-MH are new builds, but would enable more by rail - people and goods and give capacity relief to existing main lines. Please give support. 

Although I am not aware of any formal measure, my experience is that population catchments can be immediate, 3-5 miles and up to 10 miles in some cases. Grade by putting a compass on a map and doing a circle proportionately and the catchment size and potential can be a surprise. Do it along a line and a lot of demand potential can be realised. Even if only say 10% of 100, 000 use a line from both ends (say Bedford and Northampton) that can be 20, 000 a day plus coincidental and new flows/unexpected demand. We have to believe in ourselves and communities and environmentally as well as practically, re-railing seems the best investment for multiple rewards. That is why keeping options open is critical in terms of corridor widening and route protection. Olney may be lost requring a new build for 10 miles north from Castle Ashby Estate - Stevington Walk (or alongside) but a Parkway Station near where the A428 and A509 intercepts each other, could tap into flows of traffic for wider commuting and a 3 mile drive north of Olney for east-west connectivity is still 7 miles less than driving to MIlton Keynes Central and trying to find a parking slot. So all to play for if planners keep options open and craft/tailor development demand to keep the critical access spaces for junctioning open. 

That is where Cambridge got it wrong and now the default is complex and less-than a straight line! We can learn from these mistakes. What we need to tell Government and Whitehall, is the nation needs an on-going programme of every region inclusive rebuilds, reopenings and select pieces of new build. Great Central Corridor could play a role, but Government needs to act to protect the remains of the corridor and infrastructure and realign development to ensure a viable corridor. If not, development goes in, locks-in a roads based only impact and solution and existing infrastructure, road and rail, gets over-demand/crowded with associated exhaust pollution. We can act now, we are not helpless, but alas, we need the plan and commitment for the long haul. ERTA is ready to play its part respectively. ERTA has supported calls for the Aylesbury-Milton Keynes leg to be included in East-West Rail with new stations to spread the load at Calvert, Claydon and West Bletchley/Newton Longville. At the Bedford end, a new station on the Bedford-Bletchley Railway at Kempston Town/Retail Park with a connecting footbridge. Kempston commands upwards of 18, 000 population and is an area with a lot of industrial warehouse development along the A421 corridor. All that goes by road, unless we have a local plan to switch and invest and grow rail usage. The pattern repeats. Thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pill

ERTA Chairman

E. richard.erta@gmail.com

Let’s cut road congestion and train overcrowding through choice.

Ø Leicester has been an over-looked city, but is increasingly a place people wish to go to, visit, shop, work and live in.
Ø Leicester is both a gateway to and from the wider East Midlands, getting the rail access and capacity right for the city is crucial for more trains to and from other places and offering a comprehensive rail alternative.
Ø Roads alone cannot cope. In the 1960’s closures of local rails and building motorways seemed a good idea, but it eroded choice, locked-in dependency on roads and vehicles with air pollution, over-demand and congestion delaying everyone.
Ø English Regional Transport Association (ERTA) is a voluntary membership association and we welcome your interest, help and support to seek improvements. Join us today and help make a difference. We table forums for people to attend and make common cause with us. It is voluntary and ‘open to all’.

Ø We need inclusive, accessible and affordable public transport bus and rail. Walking and cycling only take us so far. We need modal shift from road to rail for a variety of good social, economic and environmental reasons. It should be common sense, yet we have a system which is hugely complicated, elitist and expensive. Things drastically need to change and delivery of rail choice ratcheted up as a local, regional and nationwide priority. Help us with this cause.

For further reading, please see our website Publicity Page and scroll down to find more around East-West Rail matters: https://ertarail.co.uk/publicity/