Photo Above: Part of the Retail Park at Kempston, Bedford circa 2020. Bedford-Bletchley Rail Link Needs Vision, Faith and Hope beyond just East-West Rail Big Brother approaches!
A study some 22 years ago (Steer, Davis, Gleave) indicated that were a halt station to be erected on the Bedford-Bletchley Railway with a connecting footbridge between the Retail Park (which has greatly expanded to 3 larger sites over the decades), it would bring some 100 extra off-peak passengers per day. The delay would be all but 5 minutes max to the 40-minute end-to-end shuttle service. ERTA sees this as a key investment and the railways would significantly benefit as a result. However, the silence on it is noticeable. A planning application was put into Bedford Borough circa 2006 but it floundered on a handful of NIMBY objections. Meanwhile the 7-day open Retail Park is often short of land capacity for more parking, the car parks are full from opening to closing and queues from the entrance to Ampthill Road/A6 spiral to inform more congestion to other lanes and connecting roads as well. Kempston has some 18, 000 plus population, South Bedford over 36, 000. The local line will be a recipient of Oxford-Bedford east-west rail semi fast services soon. ERTA wants these positive things, but also wants the local shuttle all stopper service retained and invested in too. Local politicians say they have no money but strangely can entertain multiple road schemes, whilst insisting they can only cater for one rail scheme per time. Please give us your support to get something done. Email the local MP for Bedford and Kempston and ask him to look into the matter: office@mohammadyasin.org 01234 346525, Third Floor Front, Clifton House, 4a Goldington Road, Bedford MK40 3NF Better public transport gives more options! Meanwhile our Retail Park Station Report can be perused as a colour pdf via our webpage: https://ertarail.co.uk/publicity/ Please scroll down. If you want to support or know more, please email richard.erta@gmail.com and tap into our meetings.
Report - pdf colour - below free by email c/o richard.erta@gmail.com
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