Dates for your diary coming up - join us!

 https://brtarail.com/events/ Is the guide for forth-coming events nearer to where you may live. But all our events are open to all and all are welcome to come along and get involved. 

Some events you may also be interested in are:

1. British Regional Transport Association (BRTA)

~ A voluntary association seeking more and better public transport and environment for all. ~

BRTA Bedford Area Forum Wednesday 11th 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/

2. 

Come to our Annual General Meeting in Guildford

Saturday 12 July 2025 2-5PM Business 

Venue: Guildford United Reformed Church, 83 Portsmouth Road, 

Guildford, GU2 4VS

Venue Website: guildfordurc.org.uk Phone: 07410-950207 (mobile)

All welcome.

Guest Speaker: Trevor Garrod,

"Improving the rail network – Lessons from recent experiences” 

See https://brtarail.com/events/

What you can do…
1.       Join/Donate to BRTA (see details below).
2.       Write/email your local MP on the local rail link being rebuilt to a modern railway standard for quick transport to main centres. See: https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons
3.      

Write/email to your local councillors, parish, and town councils too.

4.       Write/email local media outlets and support BRTA’s call.
5.       Peruse our excellent website: https://brtarail.com/  and blogspot: https://brtarailvolunteer.blogspot.com/
Membership Payment can also be done on-line. Scan QR Code or direct to our bank with a note.

Details are Sort Code: 40-45-27 Account Number: 92086808 

https://brtarail.com/become-a-member/

Pollution is affecting lives and costing people and planet!

re: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/14/early-air-pollution-exposure-affects-health-in-adolescence-study-finds?utm_medium=paid&utm_source=fb&utm_id=6806222135299&utm_content=6806222135099&utm_term=6806222134899&utm_campaign=6806222135299

Air pollution is a problem. It is invisible, but for many an ever-present reality. People are being used as filters and are left exposed daily to toxins and particulates they breathe in and these have numerous, all ages, detrimental effects urban and rural. 

Vehicle dependency has been mainstream with us for about 100 years. 60 years ago, the alternative to road proliferation to cater for ever-more road-based vehicles was taken out and disabled with closures of local lines and informing an industry and network infrastructure inadequate to respond to growing people, places, demand-supply chains and court new audiences too. So it has gone to the roads, large land takes, rubber on hard surfaces beit fossil fuel supplied or battery or any other power, likewise fossil fuel exhausts add to the mix people inhale. 

In response, BRTA calls to 'bring back our tracks and trains', but we also need more new railway pieces, duplicate relief lines and more funding directed to 'getting started' local rail infrastructure and capacity enhancements on existing rails, to give more of an alternative to road dependency and ensure fair pricing to give lifestyle choices. For example, those 18+ to retirement and under a certain income, say £25, 000 p.a. should be given a free bus-rail pass to offset transport costs and the cost of private car ownership or multiple car ownership per household. Congestion exacerbates pollution and high sided High Streets canyonise/trap pollution, intensifying what people have to engage with as they go about their business.

Locally to Bedford, we want:

1. Rail Links east of Bedford via St John's

2. A new-build route Bedford-Northampton Arm

3. A new station on the Bedford-Bletchley Railway for the Retail Park at Kempston

4. Redesign of Bedford Midland principal railway station with linking regular buses linking it with the town centre as part of over-all routes.

5. Stations north of Bedford at Oakley and Sharnbrook to give choice and reduce congestion down the A6 into Bedford and enable more capacity in urban cordons for things like parking using existing facilities.

We stand ready to meet with like-minds and work to bring these about. In your own areas, think of your wish list and how feasible it is. Join BRTA, offer to serve, build us up and we can nationwide aspire to do more. If you want positive news on rail restoration and new-builds, we need you to join and make that news, make that transition and be part of the answer to make re-railing happen. It has to be measured, disciplined and properly evaluated for feasibility. For example, we also need a level playing field whereby HS2 can say "here's the cheque, move please", other local conventional rail projects cannot/do not have that power. On the other hand, the Office for Road and Rail (ORR) needs reform to be more responsive and have a more flexible approach to level crossings, reducing cost and enabling more local rail reopening solutions to take place. 

Likewise, blockages over a 10 year planning time frame can be massaged down with relocation packages, slight amendments, deviations or complete new-builds. Over time from the launch of Bedford-ECML/Sandy rail campaign in 1987, we were constantly told for 9 years 1. no demand (but would not invest in a study to find out) by power and 2. blockages exist, so cannot be done. Now we have a new route, wanting 60 houses demolished, let alone rural areas and many other problems making our calls look fairly modest by comparison. Elsewhere other examples exist - see: https://brtarail.com/our-campaigns/

BRTA advises people to email their local MP as power needs to hear of these concerns, issues and matters and be persuaded policy must change, government must switch and give real rail alternatives and that means wagon-load, Speedlink Mark 2 or just more by rail x whatever, so beit, that environmentally, is the way to go and the jobs, the skills and outcomes will be more positive than the status quo bloating NHS waiting lists, disabilities, costs and premature deaths or under-development. 

Please liaise with us and let's make a difference.

Please email your local MP: https://members.parliament.uk/members/commons

Transport for the North - Get on the right lines!

Join our Sheffield Forum Public Meeting and engage more!

BRTA Sheffield Forum Public Meeting

 Saturday 19 July 2025 2-4pm business

Venue: 

Farm Road Sports & Social Club, Farm Road, Sheffield S2 2TP

1.  Welcome by Chair-of-the-Meeting Mr Chris Hyomes

2.  Speaker: 

Chris Bell, on Don Valley Rail Project to Stocksbridge

http://donvalleyrailway.org/

3.  Speaker Roy Begg, Technical Officer of the 

Minsters Rail Link Campaign https://www.minstersrail.com/

4.  Others speakers at the Chairperson’s discretion.

5.  Question and Answer (Q&A) Panel

6.  Any Other Business 7. Sales and Mingle

All welcome, admission free.

BRTA Website: https://brtarail.com/events/

Blogspot: https://brtarailvolunteer.blogspot.com/

Updated news 16-05-25

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c331458ke42or

Please support the BRTA calls below and make your voice heard. Join our loop via ceo@brtarail.com

e: https://www.transportforthenorth.com/reports/strategic-transport-plan-transforming-the-north-2024/

What the North like the rest of Great Britain needs is a year-on-year programme of local rail reopenings, select new-builds, capacity enhancements and local rail solutions why? For more modal shift from road reliance to more by rail - people and goods. One critic of BRTA said "that would mean going to wagonload Richard" but if that is what is required, if demand for it can be found, then like Varamis Rail https://www.varamis.co.uk/ you start off small and grow as far and wide as your demand-supply chain can reach. Ideally, all would be government sponsored even around the start-up edges and infrastructure, to enable this transition back to rail with local road deliveries where necessary, but lion's share by rail for example. It is not rocket science, but needs the Department for Transport and associated others (Scotland and Wales) to collaborate. So a top few for the North:

1. Modern railway standard rebuild Woodhead for people and goods including a new Woodhead Station for access by rail to the northern arc of the Peak District National Park and Pennine Way for example, churlishness masked as 'realism' means we ignore calls for Woodhead reopening, with media journalists playing down demand, when other routes are at capacity and we're spending avarice upgrading roads due to congestion, when the rail could be taking the heavy load and enabling more with a better environmental footprint?

2. Burscough Curves, a small project but would enable more versatility and diversity of rail service capability.

3. Colne-Skipton, a well fought campaign, deserves approval. Like Bristol-Portishead, the money needs to be found and a better appreciation of it by power and resources agencies to ensure 10 years max for ribbon cutting on any scheme. 2050 will be too little, too late for many and much.

4. Minsters Rail (York-Beverley) much needed.

5. Harrogate-Ripon and new-build ideally to Northallerton.

6. Peak Rail (Derby-Manchester via Bakewell.

7. Scarborough-Whitby via Robin Hoods Bay - no time for pontification, here's the cheque move please with compensation from those authorities who allowed development encroachment on old rail routes, knowing demand probably existed.

8. Finish off the Borders Rail to Carlisle for through route potential.

9. Keswick, clear demand, needs pushing through with strong leadership at all levels including public support.

10. Scoping studies for more of the same and a Traffic Reduction Strategy for every area mandated by Government, which is not exactly showing the necessary environmental, people and places care and diligence, to ensure cleaner, more equal access and affordability to better public transport. Gentrification does not mean more town centre spending on staples, affordable access to rail and bus networks can.

Please add your voice in support. Thank you.

Our Public Meeting Forum in Sheffield is open to all, 

BRTA SHEFFIELD FORUM

Saturday 19 July 2025 1pm lunch 2-4pm business

Venue: Farm Road Sports & Social Club, Farm Road, Sheffield S2 2TP

Please see our website for more: https://brtarail.com/events/

Have we got the cycle, pedestrian and re-railing communities balances right?

See also this useful report, which adds to the discussion: https://www.transportforqualityoflife.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Vision-led-planning-v1.5.pdf

In Lewes, East Sussex they have a new cycle-footpath alongside the A27, as these audiences wish to go the same way and be segregated from a busy and dangerous road, underscored by the under-parr local South Coast Railway between Brighton and Ashford, which needs upgrading with re-doubling throughout, electrification and a new direct avoiding line at Eastbourne between Polegate and Stone Cross. Our beef is that rather than put these dedicated cycle-pedestrian-ways on old railway formations wanted for reopening, why not a nationwide scheme for every trunk and motorway to be mandated to have a segregated cycle-footpath alongside?

See: 

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 override if they do not.We desperately need a 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 are 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!

BRTA Newsletter is available via our loop to ceo@brtarail.com 

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/