Grand Central Newcastle-Brighton via Oxford and Redhill

26-04-2025

re: https://news.arriva.co.uk/news/arriva-group-submits-open-access-rail-application-to-connect-newcastle-and-brighton-via-london-gatwick

This is innovative and good news, but also more use of the North Downs Rail Link. Note where the new rail service will serve "The proposed Newcastle to Brighton service would call at: Newcastle, Durham, Darlington, Northallerton, York, Doncaster, Sheffield, Derby, Burton-on-Trent, Birmingham New Street, Warwick Parkway, Banbury, Oxford, Reading, Wokingham, Guildford, Redhill, London Gatwick, Haywards Heath and Brighton"

I recall in the formative days suggesting HS2 should link Heathrow, Oxford and Stratford upon Avon as part of the route, which was laughed at and mocked by supporters of HS2!

Clearly, there is a need to look at Redhill again. It ideally needs direct curves from Guildford and Tonbridge to the south for direct links with Gatwick, Three Bridges and South Coast plethora and vice versa without recourse to changing, reversing trains causing delay and raising issues on train length for example. Ideally, a new flyover linking the Guildford-Redhill with the Tonbridge line for direct running to Ashford should again be studied for enable more.

If you agree, please email your MP: 

https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons

Our AGM is at Guildford this year: 

Saturday 12 July 2025 2-4PM Business

Venue: Guildford United Reformed Church, 83 Portsmouth Road, Guildford, GU2 4VS

Venue Website: guildfordurc.org.uk

Phone: 07410-950207 (mobile)

12 noon lunch Wetherspoons, 1pm set up, 2-4pm business See: https://brtarail.com/events

All are welcome. Our Guildford-Horsham rail link would enable a wrap around to Gatwick from the south and give more options too.

Clearly Transport for the South East has not anticipated this, nor demand, could they also be absent on realising what a Guildford-Cranleigh-Horsham rail link could offer in connectivity terms? Likewise Guildford Station needs all the land and platform capacity it can get, so developments must be curtailed to ensure that capacity is optimal, not restricted.

Musings on East-West Rail - Feedback or information welcome

Update 28-05-25:

Our web page on East-West Rail has been remade to make accessing it simpler. Please have a perusal and feel free to share it with others: https://brtarail.com/ewrail/

It will serve the Universal Theme Park and still should retain a Stewartby Halt for Kimberley College, even with a slice of 8 million visitors per year to Universal, the local Bedford-Bletchley shuttle still needs all the loyal users it can get and 150 students from the college are useful footfall, likewise as would be a new station on the same line for Kempston Town and the Retail Park.

Public must let elected politicians know and Bedford Borough Council likewise. 

Join BRTA and that helps us do more and better potentially. Come to our forth-coming forum - details attached. It is free, open to all and we can compare notes on the exciting potential if we get the rail transport right. Think about it: 2031 we have Universal and Bedford-Oxford services, 2035 or after, potential rails to Cambridge and East Anglia, so 4 years at least until any through rail route from Bedford Midland exists going eastwards. So in any case bays will be needed and that is a window of opportunity I wish politicians grasped and included us more in genuine working together respectively. A growing membership would help indicate votes in it, so please join. 

A diversity of rail services is key to managing potential and harnessing it sustainably, rather than following events and being found to be a victim of them. I remind some, the media and political people once said bypasses would rid Bedford of traffic congestion... instead it has grown to fill the spare capacity the bypasses created. Can we learn? Likewise, I'd be very surprised if Eurostar served main line Wixams, but a diversity of services probably will. That means capacity including through Bedford Midland will need to be looked at. Thank you.

Addendum to earlier notice:

In follow up to my earlier email, which should have said 2035 not 2025!, a local media outlet has produced this bridging article and BRTA gets a mention too. Retaining the St John's option and including it in designs and consultations is crucial and Mayor Tom Wootton and the Unitary Council - Transport and Planning brought together, should find means and ways to protect it as much as possible and build coalitions which include BRTA in the loop please:

https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/is-east-west-rail-still-on-the-right-track-after-universals-announcement/

Stations North of Bedford (Oakley and Sharnbrook) would help reduce A6 traffic, free up parking at Bedford and enable more diverse services with or without EWRL Northern Route. 

As said before, interim St John's down to Cardington Road could be made into a twin-track 12 coach train washery rather than infill housing. 

Likewise, if Bedford-Cambridge won't be built or ready until 2035, bays at Bedford Midland will be needed before that for Oxford trains and more Bedford-Bletchley longer trains. 

You would find conflict with sitting trains on an already capacity station through tracks which other services and freight need e.g. Thameslink and EMR for example. 

If not already, Bedford-Bletchley should be made 'Open Access' and a diversity of services and freight made to use it.

Bedford must have an integrated traffic reduction plan now and rail must be a lion's share with station and orbital bus networks linking with each other more, including access from main station to the High Street by bus for more footfall and spending options.

Caption below, looking south on former Bedford-Hitchin remnant lines 1992 - all change now!

I muse on the following to ascertain where we are at and how some seem to be less-than clear or ducking responsibility in planning the railway, services, delivery and integration:

East-West Rail Thoughts:

1.                2 options could be tabled, either relocate Kempston Fire Station and duck under the Midland Main Line and a new route sandwiched between the Maintenance Depot and 4 tracks, new bridge over River Great Ouse and abandon routing via St Johns.

2.                OR, reroute existing Bedford-Bletchley line under Hitchin Arches of Kempston Road/Cauldwell Street Road Bridge and that of Ampthill Road and onwards with both 1 and 2 sharing new twin tracks and additional platforms at Bedford Midland Station and onwards via Northern Route.

3.                Bedford-Bletchley Railway is fully operational now, so why can’t/isn’t vehement advocacy being done by elected leaders for Bedford to be included NOW in an hourly semi-fast (exploiting end-to-end whilst the local shuttle does all stations to feed other lines and places). Instead a 5 year wait whilst the line is gold plated at cost and still no Sunday Services for a Leisure Line?

4.                In any case, Bedford-Cambridge even if Northern Route proves ‘robust’, it is about 10 years away, so the key point is interim, baying at Bedford will be needed!

5.                That is longer trains and relocation of the booking hall and early retail improvements with other public services and value-for-money services like toilets and buses calling. BRTA stands ready to talk, cooperate, but via St John’s should also be retained for rail purposes like relocating

a 12 coach washery for any trains? Watch this space!If we do not retain St John’s and Northern Route flounders, Cambridge/East Anglia is still cut off from East-West Rail etc. If we build housing on the railway site, we throw away default options that still service the town of Bedford. Bays will be needed interim, Platform 1A is inadequate, so if 2031 is when Bedford/Bedford-Bletchley gets upgraded and a look-in; then action at Bedford Midland is needed now in ANY CASE! A Can’t, won’t and don’t cultures will have no answer, whereas BRTA has, does and probably will!

Want to discuss more, please email ceo@brtarail.com

But bays will be needed, solve that and I suspect legally, East-West Rail bandwagon, could be challenged why one-per-hour Bedford-Oxford cannot be included now, not 2031? Likewise, if baying at Platform 1A is too short, longer are needed now, and by 2031 as in all probability the Northern Route will not be available before 2035 - by which time we also need, quite separately, new Parkway Stations akin to 'now' Wixams by 2035 too. The via St John's route is available, challenge needed to ORR for special dispensation for a few level crossing (automatic ones) and/or a bridge over railway at both Cardington Road and Bypass Raised (A421) for the railway to proceed.

See: https://www.bedford.gov.uk/files/bedford-ewr-station-choice-wider-impacts-final-11-01-24.pdf/download?inline

We need leadership, openness and enquiring journalism now please. Thank you.

Our next BRTA Bedford forum details are as follows: 

BRTA Bedford Area Forum

Wednesday 11^th June 2025

1pm-4pm All welcome

Venue: The Library Room, Bedford Quaker Meeting House, 5 Lansdowne Road, Bedford, MK40 2BY

 

Venue Website: www.llquakers.org.uk/bedford

Free Admission Email richard.brta@gmail.com and join our free email loop for updates. Bring cash to peruse our stall, donate or join! Together we are stronger!

Join the discussion around local transport and public transport issues around Bedford Borough with us. Topics include: Support for East-West Rail (get the route right!), Stations North of Bedford (Oakley and Sharnbrook), a new station on the Bedford-Bletchley Railway for the Retail Park Kempston, Universal Theme Park and implications/opportunities and Better Buses. For more information about BRTA, see our website: https://brtarail.com/events/ and for a good read: https://brtarailvolunteer.blogspot.com/

All welcome/free admission and help fill the gaps!

BRTA Westbury Forum 10-05-2025 All Welcome

Has happened, future meetings planned. Report in due course. Meanwhile here is a couple of shots:

Minutes of Westbury Forum in brief: 

• Chair - David Ferguson
• Apologies for absence - Richard Pill and David Start(BRTA members), Sarah Dyke (MP for Glastonbury & Somerton), Cllr.Richard Wilkins (Somerset Council), Alex Lawrie (Go-op Trains).
• Radstock-Frome - We suggest that the West Wilts Rail Users Group would be best - which includes the Bristol-Weymouth service that uses Frome and Castle Cary. Both routes to Bath (for leisure/cycling rather than commuting) and Frome need route protection.
• Barnstaple-Exeter  - Crediton Junction uses a signal token where the Okehampton line diverges from the Barnstaple Line. In the longer term the refurbished Class 175s could be used on that route which will boost capacity.
• Bristol Metro - We avidly support Pilning (on the South Wales main line close to the Severn Tunnel) which originally had 2 trains per week. That station is close to the Gloucester County Cricket ground and also some business parks. The former freight-only Tytherington branch is the proposed site of a new town at Thornbury,which neeeds a new station. A new station at North Filton (on the freight-only branch Bristol Parkway to Severn Beach) is needed since a Malaysian conglomerate is developing 1000 new homes. As regards the Portishead branch, the final business case is expected in July, and the proposed stations have only 1 platform - Pill and Portishead. On the Bristol Temple Meads-Bath route, there are line capacity issues which could affect both St.Annes Park and Saltford.
• New Stations West of England - Cullompton Station is expected to be given the go-ahead by Devon County Council fairly soon. Meanwhile Devizes Parkway is a top priority. There is an alignment at Savernake Junction which used to run to Marlborough and is only 5 miles, which is better than the present terminus at Bedwyn.
• New Stations South Wales Main Line - Grove Road Wantage is a top priority.
• New Stations South West Main Line - Chard Junction is a top priority.
• Bristol Temple Meads-Weymouth - Upgrade of Castle Cary Station very important, since it is used for the Glastonbury Festival and also the Bath & West Show at Shepton Mallet. Also Yeovil Junction-Yeovil Town should be double-tracked.
• New Bridge River Severn - The River Severn is the second largest tide in Great Britain. The Western Gateway partnership has no money at present.
• Bridport/Seaton/Lyme Regis - There is only 1 mile from the South West Main Line at Seaton Junction (between Axminster and Honiton) to the Seaton Tramway, which could be useful from road to rail access.
• Bere Alston-Tavistock - A further 260 homes are being developed, which again must be a top priority.
Courses of action are:
1. Join BRTA
2. Email your MP in support here and elsewhere
3. Attend meetings x wherever we have them.
Enquiries via ceo@brtarail.com

BRTA Westbury Forum 10-05-2025 All Welcome

I attach and list below the agenda BRTA will be tabling at the Westbury Forum. Please come and bring family and friends to gather together and explore, be open minded and help with solutions to overcome problems. 60 years since main closures, so much water under the proverbial bridge, blockages abound, but if there is a case for reopening for all the many benefits it brings, then should we urge councils, agencies and other power-platforms to engage more, study the case merits more and invest in strategies to get local rail back as much as possible for people and goods? Should we like HS2 have a "here's the cheque, move please"? or accept collateral damage, loss, disenfranchisement and estrangement to the 'now' situation on the ground? That is the choice nationwide. Bedford-Cambridge will not be an easy fight, and both old routes and new have their similar problems and power adequacy dilemmas on a budget of £6.4 billion and the Lower Thames Crossing (road only) £8-9 billion was found recently. The South West like the North needs its share and tiered approaches of 1. what can be done now, 2. what is medium term and 3. what is for someone else/wishful thinking? Faith-based realism and pragmatism is not the same as negativity, cynicism and throwing 80% market share to road upgrades which seem abundant, whilst congestion, pollution and parking demands seem endless, when the rail alternative could make a real contribution? 

BRTA can plant ideas, make requests and urge powers to invest in studying, making a case, protecting routes and deviation spaces and moving agendas towards delivery incrementally or like Bristol-Portishead as a full blown project which is all weather proof, why? Because the determinism was there and robust. 

What BRTA can do is seek to recruit a growing membership, advocate ideas in the media and other consultations and by growing our support base, delegating to Area Reps and them in turn doing the same and growing teams for project work, enabling real advocacy and progress as far as we may, to be realised, actualised and done. Often it is the absence of advocacy come rain or shine, which allows by default routes to be lost, costs to spiral and damage done. 

Ross on Wye is teaming with hotspot tourism, the case is readily discernible, the A40 evermore congested, land use for parking is land not available for other things, so talk with the town council and get a dialogue going, but needs capable people. 

BRTA seeks those people who take the proverbial 'fish' and turn it into a meal for 5000+ people! Not so much the 'miraculous' but the constant chipping away for a few basics and other things falling into place. If you do not ask, you will never get it. So we seek, ask and find incremental gains become apparent, fanning flames for more.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pill

BRTA CEO

Ps. Happy Easter and I am clearing my decks for invasive eye surgery in the coming week, which will put me out of action for a while. Thank you.

Agenda:

BRTA Westbury Forum

Saturday 10 May 2025 1pm lunch 2-4pm business
Venue: The Railway Inn, Station Road, Westbury BA13 4HW
Phone: 01373-228109

For further information please contact Simon Barber, 20 Fitzherbert House, Kingsmead, Richmond, Surrey TW10 6HT
Email address: admin@brtarail.com
Phone (landline): 020-8940-4399
Phone (mobile): 07522-374740

 

Agenda:

 

1.     Appointment of a Chair (not Simon)

2.     Apologies for absence

3.     Radstock-Frome: Can BRTA recruit and fill the gap with research, study, case building and route protection? How?

4.     Taunton-Barnstaple: Councils and agencies need to study and find solutions.

5.     Bristol Metro: LRT should be on road space, Bristol-Portishead should be conventional rail.

6.     New stations - West of England: Do a list for study and assessment on case merits

7.     New stations - South West Main Line and South West Main Line Cinderella Status via Axminster, what can be done/draw a list of ideas

8.     Bristol Temple Meads-Weymouth: How can patronage be enhanced?

9.     New bridge over River Severn

10.    Gloucester-Ross-on Wye-Hereford: needs an Area Rep to work it up.

11.    Severn Twin-Track new rail bridge linking England and Wales for more by rail capacity

12.    Bridport, Seaton, and Lyme Regis re-rail connectivity to main rail

13.    Yeovil curves enabling for example Weymouth-Exeter direct via Yeovil Junction?

14.    14. Any Other Business

15.    Day, date of next forum (scheduled and Exeter for Dr Jonathan Coghill to chair to be decided and put on website page).

BRTA is pro-rail, seeking solutions to overcome problems, not bedevilment. Any queries: ceo@brtarail.com See our website: https://brtarail.com/events/ and our Blogspot: https://brtarailvolunteer.blogspot.com/

BRTA Market Harborough Public Meeting Reflections and Musings 12-04-25

Northampton could be central to a new and emergent north-south railway linking Leicester/Gateway for the East Midlands to Old Oak Common Station with links to HS2, Elizabethan Line and Heathrow for example and if BRTA gets its way, Guildford and beyond and vice versa.

The BRTA Market Harborough Public meeting courted just 9 people! A video advocating the reopening of Northampton-Market Harborough rail link was shown followed by a talk by Professor Andrew N. Williams on it and the wider merits, history, case and emergent dynamics.

BRTA organises meetings like this to bring people together, rally support for our causes and build through membership and donations the resource base to do more and better. It is a real challenge between people using what railways we have and getting reopenings/new-builds and bridging that gap also, getting people to turn out on a Saturday afternoon to show support, give the beef and enable the proper resources we need through giving and volunteering to take things forward. 

It is not the case ‘things can only get better’, but ‘things must get better' if we are to realise our goals. The association needs YOU!

It should not be down to us in any case, but our elected representatives showing leadership, working with councils of all tiers, agencies and central government to see the case for growth underscored by sustainable public transport at its heart and this rail link among others as critical green infrastructure for people and goods off congested roads. If a can't, won't and don't culture prevails, we lack a joined-up-ness which is detrimental to goals and public/environmental well-being as people and nation goes about its business. BRTA sees the gaps and calls for 'common sense' to prevail! Email your MP and demand support for Northampton-Market Harborough rail link: https://brtarail.com/n2mh/ and https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons

Meanwhile is there a case for agencies like England's Economic Heartlands (EEH) to be made more democratic and/or merged with local or regional councils to put the public more in the driving seat and focus minds on what is needed rather than political correctness, populism or tinkering around proverbial 'elephants in the room'?

Letters about Colne-Skipton Local-Regional rail reopening

re: https://www.cravenherald.co.uk/opinion/opinion_letters/25086966.letter-skipton-colne-line---huge-cost-12-miles-track/

Clearly the same old rhetoric many pro-rail campaigners face of in-depth questions to lay people which really the officials and agencies should be examining and answering, not avoiding leaving campaigners in the lurch. Yes, there's a call to do one's homework, but that is over-killed without respect to the goals trying to be brought about. Roads abound and get massive investment from conception of "wouldn't it be nice if..." to cutting ribbons. Whereas local rail reopenings face a huge challenge to get agency started, organised, sustained and running to empower local people to advocate a rail idea for benefit and wider improvement. This line is a junior to the idea of a full-blown rebuild to modern rail use of Woodhead, but in a top 10, is a key candidate because it would:

1. provide east-west linkages by rail currently not available

2. enable footfall and spend otherwise not available minus the traffic

3. enable traffic reduction strategies for lowering emissions to be realised en-masse

4. does have a track-record of community support amidst those detractors who play the pied piper of being critical and slightly cynical, luring people away rather than encouraging investment?

BRTA supports numerous rail reopenings and improvements in the North and wants unity for a cohesive strategy to move them all towards delivery. Who pays can be answered in what are we trying to achieve? Regeneration? Land saved? better environment? cleaner air? sustainability of social, economic, environmental and moral cohesion? Modal choice for greener modal shift? One reopening can offer all this, a top 10 delivered over a 10 year period from now, could do much, much more of the goodies the government says it wants, including of course economic growth and more employment!

Please email your local MP about these things: https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons and encourage support for them and the campaign group for Colne-Skipton, SELRAP: https://www.selrap.org.uk/

re: https://www.cravenherald.co.uk/opinion/opinion_letters/25094005.letter-skipton-colne-railway---exist-fill-gaps/

Please add your voices of support to local rail reopenings like Colne-Skipton and elsewhere.  

Interesting they think I'm based in Kent (furthest south?! However, in true Midland style, BRTA is sometimes a double-header to share the load! We will continue to make in-roads whatever the setbacks or location and bridge gaps for opportunities for membership, volunteering and moving agendas forward in a difficult set of dynamics 'as ever'.

Please see our excellent website: https://brtarail.com/our-campaigns/ and other excellent pages reformed and improved by our excellent webmaster. 

BRTA is a team and is doing sterling work regardless of the shenanigans of some other organisations who act in a 'push-pull' manner sometimes, like half hearted to full-blown reopening programmes and agendas. They shy away from being bold, but the road lobby doesn't. With more people and resources, 

BRTA could do a lot more. That is the choice and challenge, but most reopenings have exceeded the expected predictions of usage and many rail journalists were sceptical about the Borders Railway as a long truncated branch or even as a through route to Carlisle, but carried about 3 million in the first 2 years! 

The Northumberland Line has performed like-wise and if Labour are serious about regeneration, growth and sustainability, rail is the way to go. MP's need reminding of this and held to account accordingly.

The 'Greener' Transport Revolution does not need 'rocket science', rather re-railing and get on with it!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-65921577 What transport-wise this country needs is a network of cycle/walk-ways alongside trunk roads and motorways across England and retain former railway corridors for re-railing wherever possible if demand can be ascertained? Instead we are clashing local rail connectivity with nature, cycling and walking, which should not be the case! We need the government to demand every agency and council to work together for traffic reduction strategies not just on paper but in delivery terms with rewards for doing it and over-ride if they do not. We desperately need modal shift from road to rail - people and goods, without the robust network a programme of local rail reopenings and select new pieces of railway cannot deliver it. Modal shift is not do-able on any scale like turning a mere 10% freight by rail to 80% by rail and off the roads. Emissions from vehicle pollution is harming people, boosting NHS waiting lists and costing everyone avarice. The 1960's local rail closures are the root of where we are today and people, places and environmental concerns need choice of transport, affordable public transport and capacity enhancements to enable the trains, the freight and more access rail routes to enable volume switch from road to rail. Switching funding from new roads to local rail reopenings can also mean in austerity times, new money is not necessarily required. All regions need their fair share! https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons Please email your local MP and request support for these things nationwide as well as local particulars. Join BRTA and offer to help: https://brtarail.com/become-a-member/ Walking and cycling is essential as is a decent and comprehensive local rail network... which is where British Steel could also be extremely useful. Join the dots, now is the time to re-rail Great Britain. Today Lewes in East Sussex; from now, the rest of the UK please!

Otherwise this is the 'norm'!

BRTA Welcomes the new Universal Development in Bedfordshire but...

https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/jobs-joy-and-jurassic-park-bedford-responds-to-universal-studios-announcement/

It seems Kimberley College, Stewartby Parish and Universal/Bedford Borough are in agreement to merge the two stations? Stewartby and Kempston Hardwick? Fair enough, but does it set a precedent like Aspley Guise and Woburn Sands?

Related rail link could arc Birmingham-Northampton-Bedford (Universal Theme Park/8 million visitors per year) and Luton, London and Brighton: 

https://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/travel/potential-game-changer-for-northampton-to-bedford-5073090?utm_source=mantis_rec&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=more_like_this 

BRTA Press Release 09-04-25

BRTA Welcomes the new Universal Development in Bedfordshire but...

British Regional Transport Association (BRTA) welcomes the news that the Universal Leisure Theme Park will be coming to Bedfordshire and near the perimeter of the Bedford area itself with easy rail access on two sides of it.

BRTA believes it will bring jobs and supply chains will get a boost, it will bring coincidental visitorship and a new wave of opportunity to exhibit what the Bedfordshire area has to offer.

However, BRTA is concerned to ensure that the rail access dynamic is properly understood. It is our view that:

1. All stations along the Bedford-Bletchley Railway must be upgraded with longer trains, infill electrification and a diversity of services including early inclusion in Oxford services. Kempston Hardwick Station (halt) will be adjacent to the theme park and needs upgrading with longer platforms, parking, a booking hall, public toilets and a coffee shop. We also want neighbouring Stewartby Station (halt) to remain where it is and be upgraded as it serves the village, sports facilities and is popular for students using the train to nearby Kimberley College.

2. Wixams will need upgrading and access on both sides on the main line between Bedford and Flitwick. We believe Ampthill Station should be studied and reopened so the Ampthill area is more accessible by rail and does not miss out on footfall and spend in a sustainable fashion.

3. East-West Rail to Cambridge should go east of Bedford via the St John's area and have physical tracks linking with Peterborough, East Bedfordshire and Stevenage direct to the Bedford area from day one. The whole Oxbridge arc could be rebranded as a leisure corridor, so the life-balance of work and play, family life and conservation are equally valued and people, places and the environment are designed in, not just green-washed.

4. Stations North of Bedford need studying and progressing to bring North Bedfordshire into the frame for easy access by rail to the theme park and cut congestion down the A6, freeing up parking nearer to where people commute from.

5. Northampton, population exceeding 200, 000 should have a new direct rail link to Bedford and make the A428 a properly sustainable corridor. Study routing options, get a roundtable and bring agencies together to work on it as an extension of Thameslink and East-West Rail. 

6. New local shuttle rail services direct between Bedford and Leicester. The electrification project calls at Leicester next, so like Wixams, new local stations at Oakley, Sharnbrook, Irchester, Desborough and Kibworth Harcourt could be reopened without impinging on faster lines and services.

BRTA CEO Richard Pill said "With an estimated 8 million visitors per year from all directions including Luton Airport as another gateway, the area needs these rail adjustments to ensure we are not seeing a proliferation of congestion, pollution and emissions. Parking alone is not the answer, we need to use this golden investment opportunity to get our local rail infrastructure and services back and leave a legacy to benefit future generations to be proud of."

End of Press Release

Further Comment​: Richard Pill, BRTA CEO 01234 225068 or richard.brta@gmail.com ​ Our recommended website page is: https://brtarail.com/bedfordshire/ and our Blogspot also: https://brtarailvolunteer.blogspot.com/

General news of the go ahead for the Theme Park: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz95n2837vgo

All welcome:

BRTA Bedford Area Forum

Wednesday 11^th June 2025

1pm-4pm All welcome

Venue: The Library Room, Bedford Quaker Meeting House, 5 Lansdowne Road, Bedford, MK40 2BY
 
Venue Website: www.llquakers.org.uk/bedford
Free Admission Email richard.brta@gmail.com and join our free email loop for updates. Bring cash to peruse our stall, donate or join! Together we are stronger!
 

Join the discussion around local transport and public transport issues around Bedford Borough with us. Topics BRTA wants support for include: East-West Rail (get the route right!), Stations North of Bedford (Oakley and Sharnbrook), a new station on the Bedford-Bletchley Railway for the Retail Park Kempston and Better Buses.

BRTA Voluntary Needs Opportunities

BRTA is voluntary and nationwide in scope and aspiration.We have a need, member or not, for the following positions, you need to be reliable, flexible and non-judgmental as well as able to fulfill the roles:1. Events and Funding Grants Officer - see to manage events, ensure they work and are peopled. Research and apply for relevant grant funding and ensure events are successful in finance, in support and outcomes.You would liaise with the BRTA CEO day-to-day Richard Pill and the Executive Committee to approve and interject projects. Some collaboration with the Treasurer is also needed.2. Research and Photographic Officer - take photos of meetings, take photos of trains, landscapes, old trackbed and as and when portfolio developments and research cases and put summary documents together with evidence for reopening local lines (specific and general). May involve travel, need to be interested and self funding.3. Assistants to Richard Pill and David J. Start to help with - ideal if you own a car - a. give lifts and enable double-up for manning stalls out and aboutb. help with storage, equipment and setting up meetingsc. fronting first contact and growing the BRTA membership and support base.d. Tasking on project work and tasks and helping to develop the revenue income and image of the association in public awareness, support and helping progress projects towards support and delivery. 

If anyone is interested, please contact Richard Pill, BRTA CEO richard.brta@gmail.com or ring 01234 225068 for more information.

Other opportunities: https://brtarail.com/get-involved-volunteering/

Government Gives London Luton Airport Expansion Plans the Go-ahead!

Related rail link could arc Birmingham-Northampton-Bedford (Universal Theme Park/8 million visitors per year) and Luton, London and Brighton: https://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/travel/potential-game-changer-for-northampton-to-bedford-5073090?utm_source=mantis_rec&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=more_like_this

05 April 2025

Press Release

Government Gives London Luton Airport Expansion Plans the Go-ahead!

BRTA is shocked by the sudden government go-ahead for London Luton Airport Expansion Plans. This is because, along with other airports around the outer M25 cordon like Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, these expansion decisions are in a context of already overheated South-East systems whereby congestion, delay, overcrowding and pollution blight, means the adjacent areas already take more than their fair share of blight and this consideration and associated NHS and other costs, are not being taken into consideration.

BRTA wants to see more and better rail links to these airports, in Luton's case the following:

1. A new 8-coach bay platform and new 'South Chiltern' service linking alternatively Heathrow and Reading via the proposed to reopen North-West London 'Dudding Hill Line'. 

2. A study and support for a new direct Luton-Dunstable/A5 Parkway Station-Milton Keynes Central via linking to the West Coast Main Line south of built Leighton Buzzard, to enable easier access sustainably to/from the airport and the principal north-south main lines to reduce traffic proliferation across the South Bedfordshire Corridor (SBC) from day-one of airport expansion.

BRTA CEO said "without more and better rail links, Luton, Stansted and Heathrow will be blighted and the environment will take a dip in quality of life experiences. Airport expansion has pros and cons, but if you are going to prescribe down development of this magnitude, then some consideration of better and more rail access from all directions should have been included, and we are left thinking it is at best an after-thought."

BRTA continues to make the need for the additional rail link understood and calls on studies, route identification and powers to be directed to delivery agency of some descript, to deliver them in a timely manner, wider nationwide benefits can boost regeneration on back of them, so a sound investment, whereas more roads upgrades and proliferation, eats land for more parking, loss of green spaces and worsening quality of life for residents across large tracts of the landscape."

Further Comment: Richard Pill, BRTA CEO 

01234 225068 or email richard.brta@gmail.com

Background: https://www.pbctoday.co.uk/news/projects/london-luton-airport-expansion-granted-consent/150090/#:~:text=The%20secretary%20of%20state%20for,year%20from%2018m%20to%2032m.

What you can do:

:

1. Join BRTA: https://brtarail.com/become-a-member/

2. Email your MP and give our views support: https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons

3. Vote with your feet, wallets and at the ballot box!

Join our free email loop via richard.brta@gmail.com