English Regional Transport News Update

Dear Friends and colleagues,

The Strategic Plan - see link https://westnorthantsplan.inconsult.uk/consult.ti/WNSPIssues/consultationHome includes consultation/proposal to reopen the Northampton-Market Harborough line pegged to the reopening of the Oxford-Milton Keynes Western section of the East-West Rail https://www.eastwestrail.org.uk/

This would link main urban areas like Leicester, Northampton and Milton Keynes with access to and from radial lines to and from Oxford and Aylesbury respectively for both passenger and freight by rail. This would also enable a parallel to the M1 between Northampton and Leicester (gate way to/from the East Midlands Region) of which Northampton is traditionally Incorporated into on regional boundary allocations but is structurally disadvantaged with no direct rail link. So please do write emails/letters of support to the said Council and follow the news. This is a good new story potentially, problems and blockages to overcome doubtless, but in a Climate Emergency Crisis and a dire need to reduce congestion, give choice, cut air pollution from exhausts and frictions of rubber on hard surfaces, re-railing comprehensively is a key aspect of responsible response. 

Our meeting in Northampton tomorrow - see attached for details, all welcome to come and take part. Likewise Spalding for the March-Spalding missing link - we need to grow teams of people for our projects and welcome any time or skills or resources you may be willing to put our way for us to do more and better. It starts and stops with that front line being suitably serviced in terms of what we can reasonably do. 

We hold forums and other meetings in a variety of locations and people are welcome to tap into them, networking opportunities exist and collaboration can bring a wealth of benefit across the board. Please see our Blogspot for details and scroll down: https://ertarailvolunteer.blogspot.com/

Our next newsletter will be in November. Meanwhile thanks to all who do contribute or bother to take an interest. Our nation needs Government to commit to a rolling programme of local, conventional line reopenings, rebuilds and select new builds, not HS2 which arguably costs a lot, doesn't cater for freight and defaultive benefits are over-egged as all south of Leicester will rely on existing roads and rails with new growth and development. We must start locating warehouses by railways and ensuring they are rail connected and served lion's share including waste and recycling from day one. That is why we would welcome anyone keen to help us call for re-railing of the Northampton-Brackmills branch with a road-rail access off main lines, away from residential areas and off A45/A428. Milton Keynes Council have invested in a study recommending reopening Bedford-Northampton rail link (Northampton-Bedford-Cambridge and Luton/Airport and vice versa to Brackmills, Riverside Campus of University of Northampton, Delapre Abbey, South side of Northampton and finally the main line connection with a reconfigured Castle Track and Platform layout to accommodate more trains of whatever origin, destination and configuration. These heart of England areas are a critical test case for radial other similar rolling out of the model of intent and direction of the way our transport and environmental/land use mastery is to go. Please do write / email your MP c/o House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA.

Finally our conference in pencilled in for Saturday 25th April at Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire on the West Coast Main Line. Please see poster attached and feel free to pass on. More details in due course. Thank you. Our conferences bring people together, inform, exchange and encourage positive interest and actions commensurate to the task we face as a nation and indeed the rest of the world.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pill

ERTA Chairman. 

For pdf docs please email richard.erta@gmail.com Thanks.

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Association Chairman, Campaigns Advisor, Bedford-Cambridge and Bedford-Northampton Rail Links Liaison Officer, Membership, Bedford Area Rep., Publications, Sales, Media Spokesperson, Co-Conference Organiser and Newsletter Editor:  Mr Richard Pill, 24c St Michaels Road, Bedford,

MK40 2LT T. 01234 330090. E. richard.erta@gmail.com

Help Save The Woodhead Line from obliteration!

julian@grandnorthern.co.uk	Tue, 10 Sep, 23:42 (3 days ago)
to Diane

Dear All

It is with a heavy heart that I have to inform you that National Grid
are proceeding with their plans to install cables in the trackbed of the
defunct Woodhead railway line east of the Woodhead Tunnels at Dunford
Bridge. This is part of their £500 Million Visual Impact Provision which
intends to remove pylons which have stood for over 50 years and have
long since been accepted as a feature of our rural landscape and
reminder of our industrial heritage.

You will no doubt be aware that Grand Northern are developing a proposal
to re-open the Woodhead line as a Zero Emissions Electrified Railway
combining rolling freight highway and a fast pax rail link over the
Pennines, between the conurbations of Greater Manchester and Sheffield
see www.grandnorthern.co.uk. Clearly, since the route has already been
excavated, planning consent will be infinitely easier than if entirely
new trans-Pennine infrastructure were to be constructed.

Details of the plans are given below. I hope that I can count on you to
register your objection to this obscene waste of public money by
responding accordingly to Barnsley Council Development Control &
Development Management <DevelopmentControl@barnsley.gov.uk>

Best regards


Julian Newton BEng(HONS)
Chief Executive Officer
Grand Northern Group Limited
www.grandnorthern.co.uk

South Northants District Council area needs re-railing

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

ERTA has opposed HS2 as it is in our view the wrong type of railway. It, as a high speed design and construe will not have any intermediate stations between Old Oak Common (part of West London) and Solihull (West Midlands). However, like the M40, such nodic corridors attract development and sprawl and that in turn will have to go on already congested local roads and rails. Boris Johnson seems to be u-turning on it, whereas hitherto he was against, now is lauding it? If Birmingham wants another rail link to London for speed or capacity, you don't need the cost and intrusion of a 'high speed' rail link. A conventional railway design with inclusive intermediate stations at places like near Southam and the interception of the A43 and A421 could be done, more in-keeping and less speed, 125 mph is quite adequate, 180 mph is excessive and costly and given shorter distances than the minimum efficient distance of 127 miles between Paris and Lille, will never be reached in such short and confined distances. So at £100 billion when for the last 8 years austerity has been meted out - the crisis in social care being one aspect - seems imprudent to say the least. IF there was a toning down to a conventional design, THEN a Great Central rail link could be joined to it around the Calvert area and serve outlying places like Brackley/A43/Silverstone areas (with bus links), Woodford Halse (a growth area) and a shared station on the A425 half way between Daventry and Southam (both not served by a railway and growing areas). 

South Northants is growing like it or not. Warehouses attract lorries which pound local roads fuelling demand for more maintenance costs and adding to congestion and blight. The area boasts one of the few if single local authority area without any railway station. How can that be sustainable? The total reliance on the car - even with electric conversion coming on stream, still aggregates to demand for parking in places like Northampton, Milton Keynes and elsewhere which cannot be serviced and costs creep in. Moreover an ageing population means more may not wish to drive and may have a tough decision to move to a bus route or urban area leaving rural tranquillity behind for others or face rural isolation. 

ERTA calls for a study to be commissioned to look at a new build corridor recovery of the former Great Central corridor with a link to the existing railway at Rugby. Likewise we call for a study to look at stations at Castlethorpe and Roade. Both growing areas and driving to Milton Keynes takes more than 10 minutes and parking is at a premium. The presumption and hypothecation of isolationism cannot go on. Yes, not every inch of the former route of the Great Central may be used, some realignments/new build like getting around Brackley will need to be looked at and a new route found. Unless we study it now and protect options, sprawl will lock-in a roads only solution and that harms old and young people as well as missing out on commuting options both direct to Aylesbury, London and Heathrow on the one side, and Bicester and Oxford on the other and vice-versa - footfall and spend keeping small businesses open. If you agree please add your voice and make it heard to the powers that be by writing to:

a. your local MP Andrea Leadsom c/o 4a, 138 Watling Street East, Towcester, Northamptonshire, NN12 6BT

b. South Northants District Council (Planning until unitary comes into being): The Forum, Moat Lane, Towcester NN12 6AD

c. Northamptonshire County Council (transport policy) c/o One Angel Square, Angel Street, Northampton, NN1 1ED

d. Mr Chris Heaton-Harris, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA (Daventry Constituency)

You are not powerless, together we can make a difference over time and the single step today can be delivery in 5 or 10 years time. The worst outcome is inaction with development creeping in, congestion and parking issues and spiralling costs and no rail alternative options. For the sake of your off-spring, don't let that be your legacy for family, community and ultimately (as the model repeats) country.

ERTA has and is working hard to nurture rail choice including a Bedford-Northampton rail link (extension of Thameslink to Northampton giving more choices) and land needs protecting around Great Houghton to let the railway get through. It would serve Brackmills, a main employment and congestion hot spot commanding its own bus services and the new Waterside University Campus, Delapre Abbey and South Northampton generally giving direct access to and from Bedford, but also Luton Airport, St Pancras International Eurostar and Gatwick Airport and the South Coast. 

Milton Keynes has a capacity problem on and off the rails and so other options are necessary. However HS2 won't cater for it. We need dedicated people to join us in the fight and support our causes please. I attach I attach a diagram which can be enlightening. HS2 will not parallel the M1 or the M40, so as far as choice to congested roads go, will be useless, and whose money is paying the £billions anyway? If the Chinese or overseas others, they will want a slice of real estate, power and wider influence and yet one just has to see the intense surveillance and lack of democracy, human rights and punity of some of these countries which may be otherwise affluent and oil-rich, a solitary lesson that less can be gain in some cases, whilst adequacy is also a legitimate test to see whether areas like South Northants, geographically central, pass it.

Details of our Forums can be found via our website: https://ertarail.com/events/ and inparticular you may wish to pass on to colleagues the following: 

Northampton Heritage Fair – Saturday 14 September

11am – 4pm, Abington Park Museum, Park Avenue South, Northampton, NN1 5LW

Aylesbury Forum – Saturday 21 September,  2:00pm – Food and Social; 3:00 – 5:00pm – Business, The Bell, 40 Market Square, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP20 1TX and 

Northampton Forum – Tuesday 8 October, 2:00pm – Venue tba. For more details please contact my colleague Mr Simon Barber: 

T. 0208 940 4399, E. simon4barber@gmail.com All welcome.

Thank you for listening. Apologies for any duplication, however informed.  

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pill

ERTA Chairman

Press Release: Guildford-Horsham-Shoreham Rail Reopenings Group, 2pm Saturday 7th September 2019 at the Unitarian Church Hall, adjacent to Bus Station, Worthing Road, Horsham, West Sussex RH121SL

09 September 2019

Press Release

Guildford-Horsham-Shoreham Rail Reopenings Group, 2pm Saturday 7^th September 2019 at the Unitarian Church Hall, adjacent to Bus Station, Worthing Road, Horsham, West Sussex RH121SL

Some 20 people attended the ERTA public meeting and most seemed supportive of the bid to progress the chances of rebuilding the former rail link between Guildford-Horsham and Shoreham with modest realignments where blockages may exist. Discussion centred on how to take it forward and the Executive Committee of the ERTA would be looking at the next steps. Clearly getting local authorities on board was crucial and them then seeking to pool time and talent to inform studies to work up the business and other cases. It all costs money and campaigners are tasked with planting ideas and pointing to the obvious merits in pursuit of the rebuild.

Spokesperson Richard Pill said after the meeting “People are rightly concerned that development across the location is going in without any new rail infrastructure. The impact of this deficit is to send more traffic to already congested roads fuelling demand for greater land take of road upgrading. What we need is for Westminster to support a rolling programme of railway reopenings and rebuilds to give people more choice of transport and enable more options for courting work and mobility for the benefit of all.”

Next meeting will be in Guildford on 5^th October at a venue yet to be announced. Enquiries welcome.

End Press Release

Further comment: Mr Richard Pill ERTA Media Spokesperson 01234 330090 / richard.erta@gmail.com

Seeking Westminster Support for a Rolling Programme of Local Line Rebuilds and Reopenings

Please: 1 Write to your MP and give support

2. PDF free copy of the pamphlet via richard.erta@gmail.com

3. Modal shift and environmental protection are just 2 items which this exercise seeks to address.

https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/

Cambridge Forum Notes – Saturday 17 August

Cambridge Forum Notes – Saturday 17 August 2:00pm – Food and Social; 3:00 – 5:00pm – Business, Prince Regent Pub, 91 Regent Street, Cambridge, CB2 1AW

Present: Richard Pill, David Ferguson, Simon Barber, Mike Cockerill, Leonard Lean

1. Chairman’s welcome: Simon chaired the meeting

2. Apologies: Tony Bush, Colin Crawford, Cllr James Palmer, Cllr Ian Murray.

3. Bedford-Sandy-Cambridge: We remain open minded. The new route is expected to be announced in the end of the year but we are working up a number of alternatives with the traditional route being one such candidate, the route to Shepreth another and still a third northern arc via St Neots was discussed. None are problem free. However, all have their own unique selling points. Whoever takes the lead Government-wise needs arcing authority and power to make tough decisions on what gives, moves or takes.

Actions: David to contact RSPB and Wimpole Hall, Simon to contact John O’ Gaunts Golf Course and sound them out whether a cut and cover tunnel could be an option. The old route into Potton is blocked beyond reasonable recovery. Gamlingay on layman’s inspection can be bypassed with a new P&R Station the two towns could share. Richard to do a list on what he needs on Bedford-Cambridge and the principles can be applicable to every rebuild scheme we/others entertain.

4. Cambridge-Haverhill-Sudbury-Colchester: There is a group advocating this, but like some other routes it is being peppered with development and encroachment threats. A new orbital route to the south of Haverhill would be required, ditto new stations for Sheldon and Linton for example. Simon to contact the group and offer collaboration.

5. March-Spalding: It needs more volunteers and there is a view we need to hang in there and be faithful to former route albeit with modest deviations like around sprawling Cowbit. David to notify Simon of a date for his Forum at Peterborough and March now for 2020 listing. Google to find relevant Wetherspoon and go for 2pm start with 3-5 pm business to avoid lunchtime crowds.

6. Cambridge Congestion/what should be done? Park and Ride is well used, new sites further out offering fast and meandering services may be one idea. X5 coach well used, but subject to traffic delays. Rail developments needed like the 3 schemes we discussed today. Soham Station is being progressed and hopefully a new curve onto the Newmarket-Cambridge line for alternative route commute south of Ely for example. Roads alone solutions can’t cope!

7. AOB: Guided Busway collapsing at Dry Drayton due to Fenland Marshes and soft ground with heavy pounding vibrations. Re-railing Cambridge-St Ives/Huntingdon would be a boost.

Meeting finished 4.20pm

richard.erta@gmail.com 

English Regional Transport Association (ERTA) believes the expected rise in rail fares is unwarranted