Urgent need for a rail corridor alternative

 re: https://www.dgwgo.com/dumfries-galloway-news/new-a75-bypass-must-be-a-dual-carriageway-say-port-operators/

As per our web page: 

https://brtarail.com/dumfries-to-stranraer/ 

We want a direct curve onto the Ayrshire coast railway and vice versa and a study into a new Solway Viaduct to bypass Carlisle for growing freight. 

The freight is growing and currently A75 is reaching a stage where expansion is being sought, when what is needed is a rail alternative parallel to the A75 to give more modal choices and modal shift to save Dumfries and Galloway from the corrosive impact of ever more road expansion, vehicle dependency cultures and rat runs.

Cairnryan is flexing its muscles as a premier sea port and so direct rail linkages into the port from A75 and other places is what is needed to give proper rail-based competition.

BRTA calls on the Scottish Government to kindly intervene and:

1. Demand for the former route of the Dumfries-Stranraer et al rail link, closed 1965 bitterly resisted by the people along its route; that the route be protected and deviation spaces or select new-build is given due consideration as to land use at a planning and national stewardship. Growth is not bad, but needs managing in a sustainable manner. The absence of rail is a glaring gap and impediment to fair competition and that of land use and the environment.

2. That it is 11th hour and timely for a proper full-blown feasibility study to be done into the business case, feasibility and engineering context of a reopened rail corridor including an arm to Kirkcudbright, where BRTA believes portal facilities could also be nurtured. 

3. BRTA intends to hold another meeting in Dumfries to bring more people together in 2026 and details will be published in due course on our website events page: https://brtarail.com/events/

4. Please write to your MP and MSP respectively as well as local councils to encourage looking at things away from piecemeal or parochial fashion and see the passenger and freight by rail benefits reopening the rail link offers.

5. Meanwhile, people can join BRTA or donate and help us grow our own Scottish Team. We welcome to liaise and work with others too and are encouraged others are stirring to reopen the rail link, which surely deserves protection and studies with a view to address the growing demand and absence of a rail solution. Thank you.

East-West Rail Northampton must have rails east too!

Updated case for supportive actions:

re: https://westnorthants.citizenspace.com/place/transport-strategy-and-action-plans-consultation/

BRTA believes things have changed to give a potential new opening of opportunity to revisit the issue of a lack of rails radiating from geographically central Northampton and that this is an 11th hour chance to set the ball rolling for potential rectification of the deficit for the betterment of built Northampton, people and surrounds.

What BRTA wants is 

1. Northampton-Bedford - a study to make the business case and look at routing options and bring other councils, agencies and investors together and ask government to consider Northampton's plight too. East-West Rail going east at design stage does not include Northampton with a direct arcing rail link to the Northern Route Bedford-Cambridge trajectory nor does it entertain access from Northampton the the twin slow lines of the Midland Main Line for access to Bedford, Wixams for Universal Theme Park and Luton Airport for example and vice versa to Northampton from all these markets except by road.

2. Northampton-Market Harborough-Leicester for East Midlands and vice versa, putting Northampton on a Nottingham-Bristol trajectory along with Milton Keynes. 

3. Northampton Main Station needs more tracks and platform capacity to entertain these rail link potentials and enable more by rail generally to get through the station alias Castle Station vicinity. Development plans therefore need amendment and tailoring to take these rail-growth plans into consideration.

4. Roade should also be studied for a Parkway Station now it has its new A508 Bypass, as it intersects the two lines from Northampton and Rugby in a growing rural 10 mile orbit of population growth (A5-A508/M1 for example).

The study, the route and land protection, the bringing other councils, agencies and interests to a roundtable coalitioning to take these projects forward more step by step. 

BRTA is willing to collaborate positively, but needs elected and professional interest and leadership. Government needs to be involved, as if we want net zero, there is a correlation to what happens in our own backyards or not! Please work with us and everyone stands to gain:

1. Northampton, sustainable footfall and spend with urban regeneration and saleable quality of life enhancements.

2. Northern Milton Keynes (North Bucks) with more paths on the main line beit non-time-critical freight looping via Bletchley and Bedford and passenger enhancement/more seats and parking spaces at MK Central Station and Bedford - pivotal interchange with north-south and east-west rail travel arcing East Anglia, South Midlands and the west/Birmingham corridor direct.

If we don't act now; piecemeal development will scupper aspiration and opportunity. If we can move these schemes forward, there's everything to gain respectively. Please do!

Media Link 4th December 2025:

https://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/community/opinion-brtas-reflections-around-recent-east-west-rail-announcements-5430107

Addition 02-12-25:

re: https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/politics/council/major-plans-unveiled-for-new-1700-home-housing-estate-as-extension-to-northampton-neighbourhood-5424920?utm_social_post_id=612041630&utm_social_handle_id=160851263979887 

This development has been speculated with others for a long time I recall? It will mean a lot more road traffic in the radial road areas it links to and from. Delays on deliveries are nothing new, it costs though and more of the same only exacerbates that. I know some do not challenge or get involved with planning matters but BRTA does sometimes. 

Although not on our supported Northampton-Bedford rail route literally, it adds a market demand for a new potential Brackmills area Park and Ride Railway Station on a reopened Northampton-Bedford rail link which could be a considerable benefit on and off the rails. Complications need to be studied, business cases need updating, but with Universal at Bedford, direct 50 minute direct rail access to Luton Airport and those audiences to the Northampton area by sustainable transport, one feels the view strongly that we would be foolish to let the rail aspiration go and bury heads in sands as to the opportunities lost if we do not act now and see the medium term choices now! 

Pragmatically in reopening local rail terms, it is an 11th hour, because junctioning and interim routing options, unless defined and studied, will vanish under these kinds of development proliferating on a nationwide basis! It is time to come together and determine a rail future for Northampton please! 

Useful web page: https://brtarail.com/b2n/

At the Bedford end, ensuring no development blocks access to East-West Rail's northern route from the Northampton direction and that Thameslink trains can enter Bedford en route southwards, does not appear in East-West Rail designs, Northampton will have no quick and direct rail access to Bedford or Cambridge unless a 1.5 hour deviation changing at Bletchley is your ideas of a panacea for travelling to Greater East Anglia, when a B2N direct rail inclusion would cut that time to Bedford down by at least half with Brackmills and a north of Olney Parkway being served on a modern railway?

Northampton is central to the heart of England. It is a major logistics centre. It has many well-attended sporting outlets (Rugby, Cricket, Football) as does Bedford (Rugby, Rowing and Athletics)! Northampton has a population growing upwards of a 250, 000 catchment. It will ultimately have access to the Milton Keynes/Bletchley to Oxford corridor and vice versa.

However 2 aspects need a consistent coalition to be built and take up the baton:

1. Northampton-Bedford/Cambridge synergies. Needs updated studies including business cases, engineering aspects, new route avoiding built-up Olney with a new Park and Ride Station for Brackmills and A428/A509 interfaces and access into existing rails and networks at both Northampton and Bedford ends. East-West Rail proposes a rail route North of Bedford to the East for Cambridge and wider East Anglia and those audiences to Bedford and onwards to Oxford and vice versa. Suitability for freight (revenue) is yet to be determined. Northampton currently will have no direct rail link to this Bedford-Cambridge rail line. It should! Northampton-Bedford would however, plug Northampton and the trajectory to the West Midlands direct to Bedford, Wixams new station for Universal Theme Park (courting 8-million people per year/opens 2031), Luton Airport, London St Pancras Eurostar and the wide South East Thameslink Rail Network and all those audiences to Northampton! What could it do (footfall and spend minus road traffic congestion and pollution?) and much more. It needs an updated study and new routing options determined. Then a coalition to bring key outlets and people together and move it towards both inclusion and delivery within a 10 year time-frame.

2. Northampton-Market Harborough for Leicester, East Midlands and beyond and those audiences to Northampton as well as a Cross Country rail route linking East Midlands say Nottingham, with Northampton, Milton Keynes Central, Bletchley for Oxford, Reading, Bristol and Cardiff and those audiences by rail, to Northampton, lifting congestion on the A43 for example and M1?

There surely must be something in it making it worth a study update and lobbying to get the government to demand designs for a new Bedford-Cambridge railway include a direct link from a Northampton to Bedford new rail link to onwards for Cambridge etc, ideally from day one?

That is what BRTA is seeking and is supporting. We welcome you to join us and help take the vision forward. Leadership and champions are called for please.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pill

CEO of the British Regional Transport Association (BRTA) For background reading:

https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/east-west-rail-plan-promises-new-bedford-station-hospital-hub-and-universal-ready-line-as-leaders-warn-big-questions-remain/ and https://brtarailvolunteer.blogspot.com/

BRTA is saddened by recent developments regarding rail links east of Bedford.

24-11-25

Letter received by my BRTA Colleague, Mr Simon Barber regarding 1000 houses on lands west of Willington Bedford. Please have a perusal The full planning application is yet to be submitted and we want BRTA and its supporters to be read for it:

1. It doubles the size of Willington - physical and population-wise.

2. We want a rail link east of Bedford via St John's and this development blocks both the old railway and deviation lands to avoid encroachment at Willington, a pittance contrasting East-West Northern Rail Route at 60+ houses to be demolished.

3. Our route was studied by a Bedford Borough Council paid for study and found to be viable. It goes north of Blunham (new-build) to Tempsford north or south of Station Road (aptly named!) with physical links to the north-south main line for direct running south of Peterborough, East Bedfordshire and north of Stevenage to Bedford County Town and beyond via the Oxford Corridor and those audiences, yes to Cambridge and East Anglia, but so much more INCLUDING freight by rail. Think of the environmental, trade and other social boosts it could offer. If Lidlington on Bedford-Bletchley is to retain its station, how much more should Willington have a new station with development tailored, the railway bridged and development made to fit what is available, not block out our rail option call?

If you agree, please email planning@bedford.gov.uk in support of our rail option (original letter included). We will aim to notify of planning submission for objections and comment, even though as a layman one cannot get a direct telephone call to the Planning Department at Bedford Borough Council, it goes to Customer Services instead and personally, as a layman I find the Borough's website daunting and feel one is seeking a needle of information in  a haystack of superbally!

Please give us your support. If Northern Route flounders for any reason, a fall-back would seem prudent to keep options open. Likewise, freight by any and all rails at design concept would seem prudent as well for modal shift 'new' potential as well as easing capacity on existing lines into, across and out of London, which needs that capacity for London centric growth by rail.

Please peruse our website for further background and please make a donation to help us with our efforts. Thank you.

20-11-25:

Also: https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/east-west-rail-plan-promises-new-bedford-station-hospital-hub-and-universal-ready-line-as-leaders-warn-big-questions-remain/

Does this mean eradication of a handful of halts like Aspley Guise and Millbrook and the end of the shuttle, which served them, to make way for semi-fast end-to-end Oxford-Cambridge passenger services and what of freight?

re: https://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/news/transport/east-west-rail-latest-updates-new-multi-storey-car-park-to-be-accessed-via-bedfords-ford-end-road-5407817

Moving faster now, but some saying it is the result of consultation when our route was not put before the public in 2019! Unless we get a champion and see off encroachment threats, this steam-roller push seems it. However, how do we bring Northampton into the frame for Northampton-Cambridge linkages and Tempsford Interchange with physical rails for main north-south running to and from Bedford and Cambridge respectively? If new station West of Cambridge is okay, why not Newton Longville 'Bletchley West'? It is a growing catchment, Winslow okay for itself and Buckingham, but too far out for MK urban areas proliferation. Likewise BRTA wants the Claydon Parkway Station and the Aylesbury rail link for South Bucks - Milton Keynes and Northampton synergies. 

No good waiting until 2050, it needs factoring in now by design, as 10 years hence, development will consume land needed for rail access and linkages? 

There's more, but we need a champion or two to get these matters better appreciated where it counts. Email ceo@brtarail.com to be on our loop.

Update 19-11-2025

re: https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2025/11/19/6-7bn-east-west-rail-plan-ramped-up-in-design-rethink/

Concerns are:

1.  Kimberley College and Village at Stewartby, 150 users per day, will they be jeopardised for merged Kempston Hardwick and abolition of Stewartby Halt. A solution can be found, but no champions or asking our views yet.

2. Tempsford Interchange Station - over or under A1 Black Cat Roundabout, under or over Great River Ouse, duck-under ECML and nil connective tracks for Peterborough, Stevenage and East Beds direct to Bedford or Cambridge = a missed connective opportunity for passenger and freight.

3. No plans for bolt-on/integration with a new arm to Northampton. 2003 LSMMMS Study by Government included Northampton-Cambridge and Atkins study 2017 showed it was a good deal on timings and potential usage as part of a modern railway plus the freight - Northampton is a chief logistic centre with very poor radial rail links.

4. Nothing on arms to Ipswich and Norwich.

5. Nothing on the Aylesbury rail link and 

6. Nothing on Bedford Midland...silent as night! Plans have been produced of design however, we know this because we know someone who has seen them.

7. Development of 1000 houses west of Willington brings the curtain down on our preferred route to Tempsford from Bedford. That locks-in the Northern Route. If not flexible and adaptable; that cuts out rails potential reaches and ranges and throws growth to the roads, with locked-in congestion and pollution bloating NHS waiting lists. 

Otherwise good as far as it goes, but a time-line would also be welcome, so we know whether bets on 7 or 10 years for ribbon cutting is realistic, meanwhile any post 2031 Oxford-Bedford and Universal demand growth will need baying at Bedford Midland = a crunch time of where to put it all and what gives, what takes. Our option is perfectly do-able, but requires champions, political will and route protection strategies. So far, no local politicians has come to our aid on it, which betrays Bedford in terms of reach, range and scope. A railway is better than no-railway, but emergent railway is an end game for many of us and what will be, will be for a very long time for successive generations!

BRTA is saddened by recent developments regarding rail links east of Bedford.

re: https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/major-development-submitted-for-1000-homes-at-bedford-river-valley-park/

The British Regional Transport Association (BRTA) is concerned that its preferred rail route east of Bedford is under threat and lacks any notable champions coming forward to advocate for it despite best efforts.

From 1995-2017 it was agreed a new Bedford-Cambridge railway would go east of Bedford via the former St John’s Station area on the course of old railway. Then in 2019 the consultation on routes, abandoned the previous consensus and did not include it in the list of options for the public to engage with. The public gave support for a Northern Route E, because of the wish to link with the principal Bedford Midland Railway Station and go north and out via a new constructed rail route to Tempsford and onwards to Cambridge. 

The reasons for the abandonment of the previous ‘old’ route were:

1. The old route is built on at Blunham and Sandy

2. The Officer for Road and Rail (ORR) stipulated no new or reopened rail links would be able to have Level Crossings and would need flyovers or duck-under bridges.

BRTA believes this should be challenged with special dispensations where no other enablement to reopening can be done unless a level crossing is provided.

Alas, despite campaigning over many years, no champions have arisen from MP’s to Mayors to other leaders, and that lack of champions has left the rail route vulnerable. 

Indeed, the Bedford Borough Council did a study looking at 3 rail routes going east of Bedford and found BRTA’s route was viable and do-able given the caveats required. However, drift has meant default to the Northern Route and now 1000 houses west of Willington, Bedford will scupper the former rail route and lock-in the Northern Route which wants at least 60 houses demolished for an extra two tracks north of Bedford and faces engineering and costly challenges getting through Black Cat Roundabout on the A1 and over the River Great Ouse at Tempsford before ducking under the main north-south main line at Tempsford to go on to Cambridge.

BRTA is disappointed, BRTA CEO Richard Pill said “we are sleep walking into the Northern Rail Route and that will mean upheaval and take 10 years to build whenever permission is granted. Meanwhile the Bedford Midland Railway Station will need more tracks and platform provisions and a new passenger booking hall. Given Oxford-Bedford trains are due 2031, waiting another 8 years for the Bedford-Tempsford-Cambridge railway to be built, means sidings at Bedford for Oxford trains will be needed. Add to which, Universal’s 8-million visitors per year from 2031, will mean things are extremely busy. BRTA is sad our route is not being supported despite our many appeals and congestion looks set to get worse for years to come.”

See also our web page: https://brtarail.com/ewrail/

Redhill Rail Reform - It could bring enormous benefits to passengers and more freight by rail too!

re: https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/land-planning-and-development/development/surrey-future/the-surrey-rail-strategy 

BRTA can email a copy of the said report dated 2021. It misses mention of Guildford-Cranleigh-Horsham and our proposed Redhill Railway Reforms - email ceo@brtarail.com for copy. We welcome interest and support for our schemes and help both with taking them forward and offers for speakers to our voluntary public meetings (see: https://brtarail.com/events/) to help generate a snowball effect of push for them to be studied and the cases built up towards courting government support. Thank you.

I attach our thinking for Redhill Track Reform and request you kindly email your MP (https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons?sort=1) and other outlets like local media to give BRTA your support and consider joining or donating to help us do more and better.

Redhill, is the key location on South East Railway Network, where ‘reform’ with investment, could bring dividends to all rail users and more freight by rail too!

The British Regional Transport Association (BRTA) wants reform of Redhill on and part of the Brighton Main Line, which has had numerous suggestions for capacity enhancement. Closures, locked-in road dependency, and growth, leaving existing lines struggling to cope with demand as people want to vote with their feet and use better public transport.
Our diagram above, done by our excellent member Iain Sear, shows the principles of our intent to speed access to principal places at Redhill for people and goods. It does not show every track that exists, it is simplified to try and convey an idea… what if?!
 
We call for:
1.    Third Rail Electrification of the North Downs Line to enable East Croydon-Guildford and Reading Thameslink network growth and wrap around. That releases diesel stock for deployment elsewhere.
2.    The flyover idea would enable Channel Tunnel-Oxford and beyond freight and passenger trains orbiting London and linking with principal places like Birmingham, freeing up capacity on existing lines.
3.    Tonbridge-Gatwick and Brighton direct, shaving time off changing at Redhill would enable more trains and reduce messing around, overcrowding and link Kent with Sussex by rail.
4.    BRTA calls for organisations to form a coalition, pool talent and resources and study these ideas, the benefits and time savings, freeing up paths and enabling transformation of the areas rail services.
5.    If you support our calls, please add your voice to our membership: https://brtarail.com/become-a-member/
6.    Other schemes over the recent decades have been numerous: Lewes-Uckfield, Brighton Main Line Mark 2, and a late comer is to abolish the Gatwick Express and amalgamate serving Gatwick Airport, a growth area, into existing services, with more of them. BRTA is not necessarily against these schemes and some like Lewes – Uckfield, we have flagged up many times, but they all seem to flounder on hitches sadly.
7.    Our suggestion of a flyover at Redhill has been around since the time of the 1955 British Railways Modernisation Plan, which was only partly implemented, intended to save the railways, instead, led preludatively to the mass closures with modernisation was more often than not being made out of economies, not government investment, which went on more roads, sadly. Getting congestion off the roads by improving rail links and access, is a top priority for BRTA and we invite the public to email their MP’s in support of what we are tabling here: https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons?sort=1
BRTA holds forums around the South East to bring people together, for recruitment purposes and to delegate roles and responsibilities to local people to roll up their sleeves and help usher the agendas along!

If you share the agenda, help bring it about. Time is running out and you can make a real difference! Watch this space for progress updates! E. info@brtarail.com

Colne-Skipton reopening of a local rail link needed!

re: https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/25593825.cross-party-support-restoration-skipton-colne-line/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1762259415

It has long awaited, and deserves a chance and the full go-ahead. Does the government want sustainable growth and local-regional regeneration? Then reopening this rail link is the way to go. BRTA supports it, our Northern Area Rep cc'd here, is also instrumentally gathering and giving support. Please add your voice by writing to your local MP: https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons?sort=1 and add your voice to SELRAP - the group leading on campaigning for the local rail reopening. It makes absolute sense and should be a top 10 of such reinstatements in the North with others similarly nationwide including Wales and Scotland too.

See: https://www.selrap.org.uk/ and our campaigns pages for other area lists too (East Anglia to be done shortly): https://brtarail.com/our-campaigns/

Up-to-date news can be posted on our Blogspot: 

https://brtarailvolunteer.blogspot.com/ If you want more on your area/region, join, do something, make news and campaign towards delivery!