Press Release 22-02-2018

22 February 2018

Press Release

ERTA is a voluntary pro-public transport group which started originally in Bedfordshire in 1997 and has grown in reach and range to apply principles on coherent networks and foster conditions of access and service to suite a wide and diverse range of customers.

We advocate passenger and freight by rail, unblocking our roads and improving the air quality we all have to breathe! ERTA is a voluntary membership-based association seeking to restore strategic missing rail links and improve the environment as a result.

We’re seeking to grow our membership and team reach and range, to optimise chances of success. A new and growing team of dedicated individuals are required to find means and ways to deliver our projects including a railway station for the Kempston Retail Park, reopening a Bedford-Northampton rail link and ensuring the East-West Rail link serves Bedford from the East and West and is compatible for sending more freight by rail.

ERTA spokesperson Richard Pill say “The growth of development will put more traffic onto our roads and there is a crying need to bring rail access and services back to where people live and cut the journey time for commuting elsewhere.”

End of Press Release

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

Northampton-Bedford Rail Link Committee - All Welcome

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The Bedford-Northampton rail link if restored beit East-West Rail compliment and/or Midland Main Line passenger and freight contributor and relief to current trains going into, across and out of London via MK Central Station, relieving paths for other trains. It is a mystery as to the hard sell some make on the contribution HS2 will enable. 

Will it be a clincial self contained railway with dedicated High Speed Trains going 180 mph or will it allow other trains onto it's tracks which may have 125 mph capability all mixed together - varying trains, varying speeds? This is unclear and I suspect HS will not want other trains. So it could be a shift of seats from West Coast and Midland Main Lines to HS - will there be any extra costs associated with gains of time end to end journeys? This again seems unsure. 

Hard sells and realities may differ but Bedford-Northampton could deliver real results. See letter from Hutchinson Ports for evidence on what it could offer - benefits for Bedford, Milton Keynes, London and Northampton. So this is why we desperately need a halt to expansion north of Olney, for a route alignment to be protected and set aside as greenbelt and for formal professional interest and support to grow. For this we need a growing team of helpers and volunteers, friends and networking to grow and influence organisations like East-West Rail, Railfuture, English Economic Heartlands, Dft, Chris Grayling, the media and others to take some interest and see the strategic rail opportunity here and give support, insist development be tailored to retain the rail link option and forge cross local government boundary collaboration. 

Our Council at Bedford for example may not have funds to commission a study as to the benefits and contribution the railway could make, but what does it cost to convene a round table and grow a network of support?

Join ERTA to help improve Northampton’s rail connections and give more options in transport choice. The bus link to Bedford take 1.5 hours to do 21.5 miles and this holds back the trade and job commute options our towns could be sharing with each other.

Northampton – Bedford Rail Reopenings Committee Saturday, 12th May at Friends Meeting House (Quakers) School Room, Wellington Street, Northampton NN1 3AS. 1.30pm Contact/Enquiries/Offers of help and support via: Mr Simon Barber
T. 0208 940 4399, E. simon4barber@gmail.com

https://ertarailvolunteer.blogspot.co.uk/

I look forward to seeing you there. Please feel free to invite others. People can make free-will donations to ERTA via PayPal on our website: https://ertarail.com/donate/  All donations help with our costs and informing front line flyers which reach out into communities. 

Our membership and workload expands and so together we can make a critical difference. Be part of that, as what we sow today or not, will be the issues of tomorrow. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pill

ERTA Officer.

Volunteer Opportunity

ERTA is seeking a keen, capable and enthuiastic person/s to a. maintain our existing website b. develop a website dedicated to growing membership, donations and support for our Cobbler Line project - reopening a Bedford-Northampton rail link and c. helping trouble shoot IT issues as they may arise. Most of our team are not into technology much and need ideally younger people brought up in such cultures who know it like the back of their hand. If interested contact Mr Simon Barber: T. 0208 940 4399, E. simon4barber@gmail.com

https://ertarail.com/membership/

Swings and Roundabouts do not help get inclusively ALL people from a to b or c!

Saw a senior representative of Network Rail at their HQ in MK yesterday. He was nice as can be but could not commit to what we wanted. Bedford-Northampton has no backers of big people or organisations and the values and priorities are such that at every turn we're last or second in any queue. Olney has ambitions to double in size and no regard for any railway course, so a direct conflict. On the other hand most of the rest of the route, even the NR man said was 'there'. Sandy spread blocking the old Bedford-Cambridge rail route and now East-West Rail want a brand new creation route. Into the mix for the railway they talk of a new East-West Road 'Super Highway' and development across the arc the size of Birmingham. With Brexit, I feel we're in a kind of free-fall and lack a sense of joined-up-ness. See attached for evidence the Bedford-Northampton railway could make a contribution - but it is translating that to lead support = the big issue. We at ERTA are too small and lay-people. Today is Pancake Day - something which puts Olney on the map!

11th Hour Appeal for support to salvage a proper route around Olney and reopen the line.

This letter shows that Bedford-Northampton whether via MML from London or East-West from Cambridge and East Anglia could free up paths into, across and out through London for other services and enable Milton Keynes Central to handle more trains including making Southern from West London x2 per hour instead of x1 with benefits to contra commuters for example. Please write to Milton Keynes, Northampton and Olney Councils and join our efforts for a viable re-routing around Olney to be recoverable, as we're facing expansion ambitions and piecemeal developments and nil respect for the railway and the contribution it could make. Thank you. If you want more info or to be on our loop please email richard.erta@gmail.com Thank you.

Kempston Area Rep ERTA Voluntary Appeal wanted 07-02-2018

The Retail Park Kempston has grown to three sites since inception in the early 1980’s. Today it commands a considerable patronage, the majority of which come by road to work, shop and enjoy leisure at the site. There was a view to develop a station but for some reason the idea was dropped, it was resurrected in about 2004 but a handful of objections led to it being shelved. Since then the Retail Buildings have screened off residential Kempston and shrubbery on the residential side has been allowed to grow considerably.

           

The Railway which runs adjacent to the original site is that of the Bedford-Bletchley alias Marston Vale Railway. This line has seen remarkable growth in patronage over recent years but still remains busier during peak periods am/pm and less-well-used during off peak times – the lion’s share of the day.

Ampthill Road (A6) feeds the majority of the traffic into the B530 which served the Retail Park sites. These roads and those arteries to and from them radially, get bunged up with traffic, most of which is due to the popularity and success of the Retail Park, as a wide range of traffic from about 15-mile radius seeks to access the venue. The demand for parking outstrips supply, so congestion, tail backs and some frustration is keenly felt. Standing traffic emits fumes and exhaust and residential areas have to breathe that standing traffic’s air.

The Solution to alleviate the problem of success is to provide more and better options for more people from more diverse reaches and ranges to use the Retail Park and access it. ERTA calls for and has long called for, the provision of a station adjacent to the Retail Park on the Marston Vale Railway with a footbridge cum cycle-bridge over the two tracks to enable Kempston residents to walk and cycle to the Retail Park, freeing up parking spaces.

The railway is due to be incorporated into the East-West Rail project which means the audience to the Retail Park would increase considerably and use sustainable transport to get to and from it and the surrounding area. Oxford-Bletchley-Bedford is a population catchment of some considerable numbers of people given connections at Bletchley, Bicester and Oxford let alone from the Bedford direction. In other words, the railway station would quickly pay for itself and the benefits on and off the railway would be keenly felt.

Public and Community Call to Action

Only by a growing membership can ERTA’s voice be stronger and exercise influence to get local politicians to support this station initiative. Please add your voice by joining ERTA today and get involved in helping to take this campaign forward, building a team of local people who care and want to make a difference.

Join ERTA and help us realise this essential piece of local infrastructure to help communities thrive and cope better amidst the clamour of development and its wider impact. See https://ertarail.com/ And let the journey begin!

 See our dedicated web-page: https://ertarail.com/retail-park-station-bedford-bletchley-railway-kempston/ and vote with your feet – join ERTA!

Key Benefits of Pursuing the Station

·       More customers for the Retail Park

·       Greater reach and range of shoppers

·       Easier access for work and shopping

·       More parking spaces for others to use

·       Integrated East-West Rail reaches and ranges

·       Both sides bus and rail integration: No. 42 south-side, No.1 Orchard Street Parade.

·       Boost Access to Kempston Town Population of over 19, 000 people according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kempston.

·       Benefit by bridging the two-way transport access with Bedford Town Centre

·       Cutting queues of congestion around the Ampthill Road/B530 Junction, helping everyone live, move and breathe easier.

·       Choice with more joined up networks and integrated links, putting people first.

How you can help

Join ERTA! Every member helps to make our voice stronger. When we can quote a large number of people willing to join, it adds to the representational role we are playing in advocating an asset that the communities it will be based in want. So, if you want the railway, by joining you help us help you.

Write to the following expressing your support and why the rail link station should be built:

1. Mr Mohammad Yasin M.P., (Bedford and Kempston), c/o House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA

2. Councillor Charles Roydon, Portfolio Holder for Transport and the Environment, Bedford Borough Council, Borough Hall, Cauldwell Street, Bedford, MK42 9AP

3. The Owners, c/o Property Management Office

Edgerley Simpson Howe LLP, 30 Anyards Road

Cobham, Surrey, KT11 2LA

4. Mr Keith Skeoch Chief Executive Officer, Standard Life plc, 1 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 2LL

5. Mr Nicholas Bewes, CEO, The Howard Group, 93 Regent Street, Cambridge, CB2 1AW

6. Clerk and Council, Kempston Town Council,

104 Bedford Road, Kempston, Bedford MK42 8BG

7. Join or donate to ERTA: https://ertarail.com/donate/

Worthy of Support! Re-Rail Woodhead and Burscough Curves!

It is jobs, it is environmentally friendly, it is efficiency, it is what the Northern Powerhouse should be about in support and delivery terms, not roads! Give them your support too please. GB Plc needs re-railing Mr Grayling please! Burscough Curves should be enabled to be put back as a part of planned routine maintenance, not a special condition taking decades amidst competing schemes. The framework and system of the railways, private or public, should allow reinstatement to be done as part of routine maintenance and engineering by Network Rail or other agency and income can be accrued from track access charges or auctioning of paths by passenger and/or freight users potentially. 

The builder should also be allowed to make common cause with operators to ensure usage takes place and optimally. Alas where's the rail media when you need it, where is the getting down to grassroots and shouting the case for it not drowing out on main line and cone nosed trains proliferations and handing back the keys thereof! The Northern Power House must put rail expansion and reopenings top of its priorities. It is jobs, it is environment, it is efficiency, it is transport choice, it is re-railed Britain - the long standing deficit and fragmentation which is holding potential back and locking in road-pollution-congestion-oil dependency mainia costing the earth and many human lives one way or another. What can give, what can take? 

To reform the framework to enable people just to get on with it would be a open door step in the right direction surely? Instead it is heavy going getting tracks back and many an arm chair critic, stifling the small people, proud in their status as pontificators - it is a misplaced pride. Small and incremental is the grassroots renaissance this country needs - you establish the principle or model and block replicate with local adjustments of fit and relevance. Peak Rail, Woodhead, Harrogate-Ripon-Northallerton, Keswick, York-Beverley, East Lincs Main Line and a number of others. Toll motorways and trunk roads if you need to inform a pot of money, encourage and nurture modal shift, get freight back on the rails. Hull-Liverpool land bridge Europe/North Sea - Atlantic/The World! Brexit or not, these curves would play a key role in unlocking more journeys by rail and boosting local communities in footfall and spend minus the cars and urban parking demand argie-bargie many towns and shoppers face for example. Worthy of support!

http://www.grandnorthern.co.uk/#

https://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/news/southport-news/burscough-curves-not-reinstated-west-6599184

Write to your local MP c/o House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA.

Support Coop Rail - a strategic service and link if given half a chance!

http://www.go-op.coop/train/