Re-Rail Northamptonshire! Wasting Money on Whitewash Reports which fail to grasp the nettle of what's needed - re-railing!

Reports which fail to grasp the nettle of what's needed - re-railing!

If the objectives of the Report January 2013 'Rail Strategy - Fit for Purpose' is to have any credence and substance that must incorporate route protection, recovery and a rail reopenings agenda surely? County lies east-west arcingly sandwiched between the London Southeast/Eastern Regions and East and West Midlands. The rail lines are all north-south through the county without any linking east-west lines which is perverse and absurd, made more by the fact this report seems dismissive of such an aspiration or at least as long as undefined 'others' pay for it, hiding behind an undefined 'commercial business case' as the pre-requisite to entertaining, but widening congested roads, building new roads and adding more congestion and parking/land use allocation and cost managing capacity seems fair cop, rather than solutions through choice of mode. People and communities need their rail links back, especially radial of the County Town and ERTA calls for just that progressively, starting now in aspiration mode and delivery over a 20-year period. Otherwise it is bust and hollow rhetoric and whitewash. If any want a pdf copy please email richard.erta@gmail.com and let me have any feedback or join ERTA and fight for rail's return and be part of the answer to the silent deficit: https://ertarail.com/events/

Is anyone listening to our cries to include Bedford in East-West Rail?

http://www.englandseconomicheartland.com/latest-news/Pages/realisingeastwestrailpotential1.aspx

This is intrisically laudable but misses Bedford out in article and substance of rail inclusive physical build. 

Railfuture seems divided between progressive and reductionist camps on reopenings/rebuilds/type of new builds.  

Our goal can be to welcome this north-south initiative but to stress:

1. There must be a through link between Chiltern Main Line - OOC- Heathrow-the Heathrow-Woking-Guildford line for Guildford-Northampton/Rugby (works until we get agreement for GCML restoration as a relief route bringing Daventry, Brackley and the new town of Calvert into re-railing and a new corridor in its own right.

2. Bedford. Bedford-Northampton. For Luton Airport and Cambridge. Bedford to be included in the track design and not bypassed. But it is debatable whether 2026 HS2 will mean more train paths on WCML - rather maybe some extra seats on existing services = a subtle difference. Thus the do-ability of Northampton-OCC beyond tokenism means that we need WCML relief lines - Bedford-Northampton-Bletchley looping and GCML south of Rugby some how. These must be priorities in discourses, emails and meetings in 2018. It is a critical phase. Yes, good something IS happening, good that SOMETHING is better than NOTHING, but it needs fine tuning and thinking through and the politicians seem to be ignorant of operational matters on existing lines beyond overcrowding and a development across the Oxbridge Arc of the size of Birmingham will exacerbate the capacity issues into London. 

3. Again Cambridge-Bedford-Northampton would free up Felixstowe-West Midlands freight paths through MK Central for example creating paths - so we need MP's on side along BON corridor and common agreement along GCML south of Leicester and Rugby that GCML corridor must be saved over a 20 year period and this should be their policy and intent pursuant of transport. Anything less is a dereliction to plan for a mid 21st century transport and demographic crisis. Yes we'll be gone maybe by then, but none-the-less we can use it to invite support for our ERTA modest agendas!

Glossary:

OOC = Old Oak Common

WCML = West Coast Main Line

GCML = Great Central Main Line

BON = Bedford-Olney-Northampton

Great Central Bash

You can support and follow the efforts to salvage the Great Central corridor south of Leicester-Nuneaton and north of Calvert. Follow these links:

https://ertarail.com/great-central/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReopenG8Centra

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/G8Central/

You can help by:
1. Joining ERTA
2. Offer 1 hour a week of time and talent to help and assist us in the effort
3. Write to your local MP c/o House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA
4. Encourage others likewise. Thank you.

Guildford-Horsham et al

Follow this link: http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/guildford-horsham-railway-line-reopen-13970405

Join us as a member of ERTA to cement support and action: https://ertarail.com/membership/

Everyone can contribute something.

Join us on Twitter also: https://twitter.com/L2Bnewraillink

Rail Reopenings - a trickle now, but a long queue behind

Here is the article which may be of interest. Obviously East-West Rail is a lead example - local councils and organisations working together to make the case and take it to corridors of Government which has responded. I'm not like some railway journalists who set themselves up as adjudicators on what could be in or out, but select ones I believe deserve more support including the inter-linking Northampton-Bedford rail link. The March-Cleethorpes 'East Lincs Line' may need as many bypasses and deviations as Central Section of East-West Rail, but I believe it could well be worth looking at, studying and like East-West, Councils getting organised and forming consortia. Other councils can learn from East-West Rail and "go therefore and do likewise". We welcome people to join/donate time and money to ERTA to help us continue our work, planting ideas and challenging arm chair critics - action can make a difference and many hands make light of hard work. Please click this link for our membership page on our website and encourage others to support us too please https://ertarail.com/membership/

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/axed-beeching-rail-lines-re-opened-102057347.html

ERTA Welcomes rail reopenings announcement

See link for more news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42157853#_=_

Initial Response: https://www.facebook.com/RichardPill24c

"This is welcome but I hope they will reveal the fine detail of which particular railways they have in mind. Ideally a few for each region with devolved areas having their own lists and budgets. England is lagging behind and there should be start up incentive grants to Local Authorities to incentivise them to be galvanised in the national interest. So much talk about money, so much swank about the modern railway with it's nose coned train fronts and sardine can ride experience being lauded as 'success'. We do need to re-rail Britain - conventional not #HS2 and #EastWestRail needs to have curves or redesign to ensure Bedford and East Bedfordshire have physical rail links onto the East-West physical rail and are not bypassed for Wixams or expediency on end to end fast transits for example. Personally I'd like to see Bedford-Northampton - Northampton has tripled since the early 1960's cuts and has a raw deal in network diversity terms. Others include Great Central south of Leicester-Nuneaton to Calvert linking with existing lines and #EastWestRail and Calvert-Grendon for access from Leicester to Old Oak Common/OCC for Crossrail linkage and a new line from OCC-Heathrow direct -the Woking-Guildford lines and Guildford-Shoreham informing a Leicester-Brighton 'not via London' option. London the Dudding Hill Lines could inform a Luton Airport Parkway (build a bay)-Reading 'South Chilterns Link' or Windsor and Eton (tourism). Likewise Cambridge-Haverhill and maybe even Colchester would help with #EastWestRail for more capacity if we're to have Felixstowe-West Midlands freight 'not via London' saving milage and time making rail transit more tempting contrast #A14 haulage. As more freight and logistics gets pumped into East Anglia, the March-Spalding and whole of East Lincs including Mablethorpe need regeneration and re-railing would certainly help them, Peak Rail and Woodhead for East Midlands-Manchester and North West and Hull-Liverpool land bridge connectives - Europe to the rest of the world - we need to re-rail our ports including Plymouth. No dreams if it were roads, it would be assumed as 'must have' and I declare to Lincolnshire Councils and any associated LEP type set ups "Go back to your constituencies, get organised, make a case, protect a corridor and prepare for shoe-horning railway reopening." Members of the public can join ERTA and volunteer to help us with our work like becoming an area rep and recruiting more members and support please: https://ertarail.com/membership/"

Inclusive Railways Please!

Dear Colleagues,

With these drawings I try to illustrate how we can ensure the East-West Rail, good as it may be does not bypass Bedford. Moreover that it enables a variety of services to use the rail infrastructure and diversity is the name of the game here. Freight must come from Felixstowe to the Midland Main Line for the West Midlands. Here we have had the Mayor of Bedford involved in campaigning to retain fast services for Bedford Midland but the East-West Rail will be at Wixams Interchange 4 miles south of Bedford Midland.  Won't East Midlands Trains not see potential in calling at Wixams for Oxbridge connectivity and so stagger their services as per Luton and Luton Parkway? Yes people will drive to Wixams, yes new development will enable it to serve those new audiences - the Marston Vale etc, but for poor ordinary people who use public transport, who do not drive, they and the regenerative footfall and spend minus the car are in Bedford and East Bedfordshire's case disenfranchised currently with the design of the laudable Oxbridge link. If you support these curves/make the case - remembering Northampton, Milton Keynes Central and rails into, across and out of London stand to gain if we redirect this freight via Bedford, so in their interest to cooperate. Likewise Northampton, if a Northampton-Bedford line is rebuilt, it brings footfall and spend minus the car but also Northampton-Cambridge with just one change of train at Wixams calling at Bedford en route. The perfect combination one would have thought. 

Please make these suggestions in your offices and help support an inclusive railway for all our sakes including Bedford. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pill

ERTA Chairman.