A response to Beyond HS2 – a plan for a National Rail Strategy

See: http://www.greengauge21.net/publications/beyond-hs2-a-plan-for-a-national-rail-strategy/#more-3362

1. Bedford-Northampton, would link West Midlands/West Coast Main Line south of Rugby with Thameslink/Midland Main Line and East-West Rail Central Section and vice versa. That's potentially Felixstowe-Cambridge-Bedford-Northampton via Brackmills, DIRFT to Rugby and yonder, clearing 35 paths per day into, across and out of London on existing lines. Just 50 miles of new build conventional rail for passenger and freight (Cambridge-Bedford-Northampton) would allow this. Whilst East-West Rail Company deals with the Bedford-Cambridge section, we are desperate for courting support for / backers to see the strategic benefit of a new modern Bedford-Northampton rebuild and would appeal to you to help us via whatever offices you may consider reasonable in the objective interest please as with development threats abounds, especially around Olney, the theatre is diminishing year on year. We're talking £500 million at 2008 sort of prices.

2. A14-Rugby - a HS line for fast passenger and freight alongside the A14 corridor with links with ECML (Huntingdon), Kettering (MML) and Rugby (WCML) - a key market un-tapped. 

3. Heathrow. We want the curve from the Tonbridge-Redhill line to link with the Brighton Main Line into Gatwick (expand, not tunnel) and reopen Guildford-Horsham-Brighton for Brighton ML relief, Brighton-Oxford via Guildford and Reading, Brighton-Heathrow via Guildford and Woking and on the back enables access to Gatwick from the south via Three Bridges. Cheaper than HS, could foster an external M25 oribital freight route as well as extensive passenger operations. Could there be some compromise there? It is vital that any and all rails from the Guildford-Waterloo platform line link into Heathrow subsurface station and go on to link/tunnel also with old Oak Common and the Chiltern Main Line. Otherwise a gap exists and again, we must cater for freight and it's renaissance - start up costs/outlay and nurture more - not necessarily more of the same but regional recycling centres by rail in and out, Piggyback north-south/east-west and much more. We must have small load ability to grow to block load, rather than one size will be the limit of what rail endeavours to provide and serve.

4. Taunton-North Devon, London-Newquay direct commute/Atlantic Coast trajectory, could link with your HS from West Midlands to South West.

5. Woodhead - Hull-Liverpool land bridge.

6. Dumfries-Stranraer for Northern Ireland Brexit or not

7. The Thames Tunnel idea is laudable but you need portal to inland rail links cross country to link to existing lines and inland ports and hubs. So Bedford-Cambridge, A14 paralel railway, Hull-Liverpool via Woodhead (new tunnel + Piggyback spinal routes), March-Spalding for Doncaster-East Anglia (new), maybe a new East Lincs with tunnel under the Humber for new Eastern flank link targeting York/Wensleydale/Carlisle for example. Whilst Thames Tunnel links Chunnel-Kent-East Anglia to US air bases converted to freight hubs, you still need the east-west radial routes for passenger and freight.

8. Great Central Calvert-Leicester/Nuneaton link with link to WCML, for passenger corridor - new commutes to London, Old Oak Common, Heathrow from Leicester. Also feeds to/from East-West Rail so Oxford link. All depends if we can identify a portal to link with EWRL and the Aylesbury line at Calvert - can HS crew assist please in design terms? These cases need working up, but freight could use the corridor and via Knighton-Burton for Derby, Derby-Buxton/Chinley for the North West and bring Brackley/A43/Silverstone orbit, Daventry/Southam and Willoughby areas onto the rail commuting passenger map.

richard.erta@gmail.com

A New Chapter for the Marston Vale Line with Vivarail! by Mr Stephen Sleight

ERTA Newsletter Article – May 2018

A New Chapter for the Marston Vale Line with Vivarail!

As many readers will no doubt be aware, the new West Midlands franchise began on 10^th December 2017 and is due to continue until 2026, with provisions in place for further extension under various criteria.

The company name is West Midlands Trains operating under two brands:

·         London Northwestern Railway (LNR, which includes the Marston Vale services)

·         West Midlands Railway.

The franchise will deliver about £1 billion in investment, with the main Marston Vale benefits being the introduction of Class 230 trains and the introduction of Bank Holiday services in 2018 and Sunday services by May 2021.

Vivarail has purchased a number of 230 ‘D-train’ units formerly operated by London Underground on the District Line.

West Midlands Trains are the first Train Operating Company to place an order; this is for 3 x 2 car units for the Marston Line to replace the current 150s and 153s. Units will be stabled and maintained at the Bletchley Train Maintenance Depot by Vivarail. The units will be completely overhauled with just the bodyshell and bogeys remaining from the original. The new trains will come into service in December 2018.

Marston Vale Community Rail Partnership (MVCRP) has been working closely with London Northwestern Railway over the specification. This includes:

·         Forward facing seating, some around full-sized tables

·         Fully accessible toilet

·         Dedicated cycle & buggy space

·         LED lighting

·         Automatic announcements on arrival at each station, which can be customised for local attractions, such as Ridgmont Station Heritage Centre

·         Passenger Information Display system, which can also be customised for local attractions 

·         Map of local attractions

They will initially diesel powered but there is scope to convert to battery operation in future. Further information is available at http://vivarail.co.uk

Stop Press! Special Services for Bedford River Festival – 14^th & 15^th July 2018

MVCRP is delighted to announce that we have special services for the Bedford River Festival again this year!

Highlights include:

• Late evening ‘Fireworks Flyer’ leaving Bedford at 11:10pm on the Saturday night
• Hourly Sunday service

The timetable will be published shortly.

There have been no late evening or Sunday services on the Marston Vale Line since the last Bedford River Festival in July 2016 so it’s important that these trains are as well patronised as possible. Please do travel if you possibly can and spread the word!

MVCRP hopes to have a stand in the Heritage Village (situated in St. Mary’s Gardens) at the Festival. Please pop in and say hello!

Don’t fancy the River Festival? Why not take the opportunity to use the special Sunday service for other great days out on the Marston Vale Line including:

•          Ridgmont Station Heritage Centre – special Sunday opening for the River Festival

•          Forest Centre & Millennium Country Park – a pleasant walk or cycle ride from Millbrook Station.

•          Bletchley Park – 2 for 1 entry for rail passengers

 

For further information on any aspect of MVCRP please visit www.marstonvalecommunityrail.org.uk or contact Stephen Sleight on 01234 832645 or e-mail stephens@bedsrcc.org.uk.

Find us on Facebook! www.facebook.com/marstonvalecrp

Follow us on Twitter! @marstonvalecrp 

Great Central Main Line Recovery Map of Intent 28-04-2018

Join us and help be the answer as to whether it could happen and give the chance the benefit of the doubt. Join ERTA: https://ertarail.com/membership/, join our free no obligation email loop richard.erta@gmail.com or contact Mr Simon Barber and tap into one of our networking Forums: 

Chief Officer and Coordinator responsible for (Finance, Delegated Meetings, Recruitment and Administration): Mr Simon Barber, 20 Fitzherbert House, Kingsmead, Richmond, Surrey, TW10 6HT T. 0208 940 4399, E. simon4barber@gmail.com

Press Release 28-04-2018

ERTA Calls for Route Protection for Great Central Creation Corridor to Re-Rail!

ERTA seeks backers and policy protection support at Local Government levels for a possible phased incrementation approach to a new rail link utilising parts of the former Great Central Main Line corridor from Calvert (North Bucks) to Brackley to Rugby LNW main current railway station and a further phased incrementation to join the Leicester-Nuneaton line for Southeastern-East Midlands corridor and capacity creation and welcome your kind interest and support please.

ERTA is willing to meet with any congenial parties who may be interested or supportive and willing to seek backers for the project and help be instrumental in advocating it. The benefits are numerous, re-railing communities brings inward investment, footfall and spend but also new commuting, employment and betterment opportunities which being cut off except for a 10 mile plus drive, prohibits and stifles.

The current arteries road and rail beit  M1/M40 and West Coast Main Line need relief and extra capacity options for getting more passenger and freight off trunk and motoroways and onto rails. HS2 will not cater for more freight by rail, at best it creates more seats at cost on end to end services, but does not reflect a transfer of trains to alternative routes or new compatible trains to multiple applications. In short HS2 is no panacea for growth and sustainable development, whereas this corridor re-railed could be.

ERTA is willing to send a delegated team to meet with any group or individuals supportive to this project being given support and for Local Councils to adopt supportive policies which does mean tailoring development to ensure a recoverable railway route and realignments/deviations and new build can be done to correct the fragmented mistakes of the past, the over-zeallous closure plans of the 1960's and the deficit void which exists requiring rectification.

East-West Rail: This is no distraction, rather the latter informs a platform and mutual feed between the two allowing broader usage of exact same tracks by passenger and freight, leading to the question who needs a Super Highway anyway when all east-west traffic growth and problems has been bourne to deficit of a lack of any comprehensive east-west railway for 100 miles north of London anyway? Restore the full railway and the rest falls into some kind of objective balance/equilibriaum surely? So we expect and encourage the two projects to collaborate and cross-reference and for planners to ensure access to other rails at Calvert and Rugby ensure a joined up railway system which can absorbe sustainable development, preserve the countryside and land use balances on the whole. Without the rails, we are in a crisis as all development, even in the wake of a brown field creation default of HS2 without a station in 100 miles between Old Oak Common and the West Midlands means all new development is flung to existing roads and rails which are saturated. This is the worse possible outcome and we must gather the resolve to both challenge and stem it by ensuring these local, community, conventional rail links are planned and pipelined for timely delivery. Thank you.

Calvert-Rugby-Leicester Phased Incremental Approach to Rail Linkages Boost

Great Central Link to give new opportunities and create more relief routes south of Rugby to London and beyond/orbital.

Phase 1: Could an operator be it Chiltern, East West Rail Company or an-other/third party open to the proposition of rebuilding a new line from the Calvert area (links to) along former GC trackbed corridor to a Park and Ride (P&R) Station at Brackley which would act as a rail interchange head off the A43 corridor (Northampton-Bicester/M40/Oxford)? It would require lowering at gradient to the floor of the A43 which runs in a valley but at sufficient height (embankment) to bridge the A43 at the eastern side portal to re-join old GC alignment for Phase 2 to Rugby. Phase 1 would enable:

1.      Brackley to be rail served. Expanding town and industrial estate/logistics area and A43 strategic corridor and Silverstone circuit satellite area.

2.      Commute to and from London.

3.      Could also integrate with East-West Rail for passenger services to Milton Keynes, Bedford and Oxford

4.      Offer freight by rail to London or Oxford-Reading-Guildford-Cranleigh-Horsham-Gatwick-(new curve) onto the Tonbridge -Ashford-Channel Tunnel line direct/London orbital options and also from Oxford to Southampton and South West and vice versa audiences including footfall and spend boosts to numerous local economies.

Phase 2. Rebuilding from Brackley to Rugby West Coast Station would require realignment at Woodford Halse and from south of Willoughby to Barby (new station maybe shared with Barby and Kilsby and likewise further south Willoughby and Braunston). The new line would leave old GCML south of Willoughby and cross over the WCML fast lines to either run down at gradient to twin tracks alongside WCML and link into the Rugby WCML Station for integration (passenger and freight access) or link onto or alongside the Northampton Loop lines and have a direct link to the DIRFT complex.

The benefits would be:

1.      Second London Rugby route and West Coast Main Line and M1/M40 relief, capacity creation.

2.      New commuter flows a new Park and Ride Station on the intersection of the A425 roughly half way between Southam and Daventry both of which are growing towns but have no direct rail access.

3.      Rugby-Oxford, Aylesbury, Marylebone, Old Oak Common and integration for East-West Rail feed and London orbital freight between Midlands and Channel Tunnel and all in between.

Phase 3 to join the Leicester-Nuneaton lines requires new construction with a new curve from the old Midland Line to the GC alongside M1 new build/rebuild and gradient slope to join the Leicester-Nuneaton lines. Freight can get to Derby and vice versa via Knighton Junction, Burton and passenger services to Leicester and Nottingham and Derby via Leicester. Benefits:

1.      Chiltern/South Midlands to East Midlands Airport and vice versa direct by rail to a plethora of connectives and outlets.

2.      Relief to motorways and trunk roads and urban commuting congestion, cleaner air and better balances.

3.      Saving countryside, ensuring massive logistics warehouses can be located rail connected more and thus giving more impetus for more freight by rail including possible new flows/market share.

4.      4. Expanding populations means we need to restore/new build some conventional lines. HS lines don’t cater for large swathes of the heart of England and don’t cater for more freight by rail as existing lines will want more passenger operations – freight gets squeezed out/is assumed to go by roads – observe M1/M6 and A14 for example.

Conclusion:

1.      Do we support a phased approach or an ‘full on’ all-in approach or a mixture for ERTA?

2.      Whatever you may wish for has to be balanced with what can give/take and the lie of the land on the ground with creeping development, weak planning and lack lustre local government will to put strategic rail corridors first in tailoring development and protection terms, yes, they and we are under pressure – time, resource, competition and so forth.

3.      Whatever we decide, without major player backers we will not get very far, so that must be a delegated meeting focus and endeavour. Organisations must take on, join, donate or offer to resource/do/support or else it may not happen.

4.      What else?

R.B. Pill 23-04-2018

richard.erta@gmail.com

Application 17/03232/OUT AT Land at Corner of Lavendon Road And Warrington Road Olney, ERTA has grave concerns for implications.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

ERTA has made sterling efforts to rally objections amidst tireless waves of re-submission albeit reconfigured planning applications for piecemeal and parochial considerations which cross and conflict with the railway which whilst having local credentials and benefits, is also a strategic consideration. If these application at Northampton and Olney go ahead, there are wider strategic ramifications scuppering the railway as we go forward into an uncertain future. If unsure please ask. But the numerous letters to local papers about NIMBYISM should show that development without infrastructure is unsustainable and driving into urban areas requires endless lands for parking allocation which is an unviable demand to service and fixing costs to manage demand is unfair but a necessary evil? 

You can support ERTA by joining, offering time and talent and/or donating to our cause via PayPal on our website: https://ertarail.com/donate/

We are having meetings with influential people but they take time. If these applications are thrown out it gives us a stay of execution, if they are approved, it is a major set back to the railway aspiration and whilst we never say never, none-the-less will deny local communities a possible lifeline which otherwise they may have benefited from.

Thank you for your support and indulgence, even as we seek to serve the public interest.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pill

ERTA Media Spokesperson.