Sign the Petition please!

Dear Friends,

I just signed the petition "Cut their profits, not our ticket offices!"
and wanted to ask if you could add your name too.

This campaign means a lot to me and the more support we can get behind
it, the better chance we have of succeeding. You can read more and sign
the petition here:

https://www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/cut-their-profits-not-our-ticket-offices?share=73dafe16-cc80-42bc-878b-bdf155710ff9&source=email-share-button&utm_source=email

Thank you!

P.S. Can you also take a moment to share the petition with others? It's
really easy – all you need to do is forward this email or share this
link on Facebook or Twitter:

https://www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/cut-their-profits-not-our-ticket-offices?share=73dafe16-cc80-42bc-878b-bdf155710ff9&source=email-share-button&utm_source=email

East-West Rail Link, East of Bedford conundrum

19-08-2022

ERTA has put an alternative rail route to Northern Route E for a rail link between Bedford-Oxford corridor and both the East Coast Main Line (ECML) in the Tempsford area with physical linkage and East Anglia via a new-build cross-country rail link to connect with radial rails at the Ely area for Norwich, Ipswich/Felixstowe and Cambridge/Stansted direct. Action and support in principle and plans are needed now to ensure land is saved for it to be done and a push from Government to be done. Government finds money for road building, but rail is stalling and told no money! https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/green-light-given-new-10-24803114 The irony is not lost on us and the protection of land and environment with what rail could offer to cut emissions and congestion now and medium term, should not be lost on us. Roads only upgrades are a false economy as traffic builds to fill new capacity resulting in a worsening situation which folly then thinks 'we need more roads' and so self-perpetuates. Time and resources are running out, we do need the rail alternative fast.

The attached diagrams (below) can be used when discussing east-west rail links to show a quicker, cheaper and faster option than that of the ill-fated Northern Route E. 

It is not perfect but gives enough of a flavour to show how our option could be done. Key is to support the principle, gather a coalition, push for what you want in unity. Route E is flawed and with freight and extra longer trains, bays, platforms and track access will need reform at Bedford Midland in any case. 

That we have yet to see a diagram or plan for that station reform, shows how daft and synthetic the whole consultation process has been. I'm happy to discuss and explore with any other agent beit Borough, EWRCo, DfT or whosoever. 

Problems need to be overcome, but unity around a focus which does not demand housing be knocked down, surely has the credentials which deserve special dispensations to enable the rail link to take place. Lose this window of opportunity, block it or make it harder and Bedford stands to lose out big time. But we must get it right. It needs support now. Rt Hon Grant Shapps could come down on our side and usher the parties to work it up, list what is required and then consult giving people this alternative option. 

On Tempsford and getting that right, north of Stevenage, East Bedfordshire, south of Peterborough and the arm from north-east for south of Huntingdon-Cambourne, Addenbrookes and Cambridge arm would be a public transport boost. But a new railway from the ECML to Ely for links to Cambridge, Stansted, Norwich, Kings Lynn and Ipswich via Soham also needs to be considered. If the Cambridge arm did passengers and this new link regional passenger and freight, that could free up capacity and help solve the Cambridge conundrum more.

Unless we protect these routes and endeavour to deliver now, 10 years of pontification will mean no east-west rail centred on Bedford.

We need optimal railway connectivity, physical links at Tempsford, north or south of Station Road. That is why there's an urgent need to turn the ship around now and get behind this shorter strategic rail idea. Important as Cambridge is, it was always like Sandy, a nodal point of reference; whereas getting this rail network right, informs the whole of East Anglia to the Oxford rail corridor via the prism of the Bedford area.

Whatever you do, it will cost, but they found the money and support for dualling the A421, upgrading other east-west roads and congestion blight is a very real issue from social, economic and environmental/public health points of view. Business as usual is not an option. Media seems partisan and makes its excuses, whereas 1980's media suggested roads and bypasses would reduce congestion, alas, pure fantasy!

re: https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/east-west-rail-branded-unachievable-by-ipa-25-07-2022/

This is a sign the system whilst checking and balancing, is not working at the design-delivery stage. Wrong design in fundamentally flawed 2019 Consultation has worked out to raise many objections. The original route which the former East West Rail Consortium supported for over 20 years, was abruptly junked.

However ERTA believe that Bedford St John's to the Willington area could be rebuilt on the original route/trackbed and be much easier with no demolition of houses required. Likewise, new build to Tempsford as Sandy is obliterated land-wise, could be done much easier than via the flawed Northern Route E.

The fact this article does not name the responsible Civil Servant and no-one else does, means lay people don't know who to contact to make their views known except focused representatives in-the-know. Personally, I wish the DfT would ring me and discuss the relevant issues to find constructive common ground and look at maps together and come up with a revised Bedford-ECML link and then Phase 2, Tempsford area to Cambridge and/or new link across to Ely for Greater East Anglia and portal links for example. From Ely trains can head south for Cambridge and Stansted as well as go onto Norwich and Ipswich via Soham.

If we dither 10 years, development blight blocks these options as per the old route at various places Sandy-Cambridge.

Please give us your support:

1. Encourage those involved to listen and work with Richard Pill, Campaigns Coordinator of ERTA, who's been on the case for 35 years!

2. Write to your local MP and those involved and lend support to the ERTA views.

3. Make a donation to ERTA to help us with our work and associated costs: https://ertarail.co.uk/ Any problems making a payment to ERTA of whatever kind, please let our Treasurer Colin Crawford know: 

Mobile 07836-693977

E: colin.crawford1@btconnect.com

We are doing all we can, but need David A. Devenish, Cllr Michael Headley, Mayor Dave of Bedford, Bedford Borough Council, East-West Rail Company, Department for Transport and others, to be willing to meet with Richard, sit down, look at maps, discuss issues and find solutions and re-consult again. Thanks very much.

Great Central Corridor New Rail Appeal

Notes from 09-07-2022 Meeting:

ERTA Notes of Rugby Forum – Saturday 9 July 2pm food, 3pm -5pm business Rupert Brooke, 8-10 Castle Street, Rugby, Warks. CV21 2TP https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pubs/all-pubs/england/warwickshire/rupert-brooke-rugby

Present: Cllr Peter James, David Ferguson, Simon Barber, Richard Pill

Apologies: Cllr Tim Douglas, Cllr David Bill, Adrian Carter, Richard Cooper

Preamble: We had a loose interpretation of the agenda, to discuss the way forward and the issues and plan accordingly. It was agreed that the two schemes of Northampton-Market Harborough (MH) and that of the Great Central (GC) should be dealt with under one meeting, especially as North of Northampton and Rugby are concerned as are both glaring gaps linking two principal main lines. If we are serious about modal shift, we need these lines back in some form and order to enable that rails to take more of the lion’s share of what business is on offer. ERTA and colleagues would seek to do both under one meeting.

 

1.                 The two schemes are:

a.                 Northampton-Market Harborough and

b.                 Great Central corridor new build from Old Oak Common-Narborough (where it would link to the existing Nuneaton-Leicester lines. ’b’ can be broken down to a Phase 1 focus of Rugby-Leicester/Nuneaton and the re-railing of Lutterworth and Magna Park – one of the largest industrial depot complexes in Europe with no rail connection (a planning oversight!). and ‘c’ south of Rugby to Calvert for connectivity to east-west rail (Oxford, Bristol and Southampton arcingly) and those audiences – people and goods to Leicester/East Midlands. That is more capacity (road and rail). Bletchley-Northampton on West Coast Main Line (WCML) is premium and with extra traffic from Oxford-Milton Keynes – East Croydon-MK Central has been scaled back to Watford due to capacity constraints and Bedford-Bletchley also is vying for access – then the GC re-railing idea makes more sense and is more direct.

2.                 Northampton-Market Harborough (MH) is shorter, has a road scheme being placed slap bang on it by West Northants Unitary Council, which is a huge problem and set back. Likewise, a new deviation south of MH is needed to link physically with the Midland Main Line (MML). This link could:

a.                 Bring freight in by rail to Brackmills Industrial Estate, Northampton new rail-linked depot and with a north-west curve, link direct into DIRFT.

b.                 Enable Southampton, Bristol and Oxford arc and all in between to Milton Keynes, Northampton and Leicester/East Midlands and Felixstowe by rail and all in between

c.                  Boost both locations and have an intermediate station to serve Brixworth on the A508, it would also provide rail-based competition to M1 and associated traffic relief both ends and intermediate places.

3.                 ERTA: we are still relatively small, have upwards of 40 members scattered across the English Regions and have many projects of a similar nature at varying stages to deal with and are meagrely resourced. That means at best we can:

a.                 Plant ideas

b.                 Work with others to develop flyers and feed into meetings

c.                  Need able-others to lead, help head up and make contacts who can invest in these ideas and take them further, growing in such wake, a consortium for delivery.

 

4.                 Action Stations and taking these projects forward:

It was decided that Cllr Peter James from Harborough District Council would set up a meeting at MH to bring people together and inform a regular meeting to:

a.                 Appoint a head-up advocate team or set of individuals

b.                 Aim to get councils and agencies of Midlands Connect and England’s Economic Heartlands (EEH) on board

c.                  Invite a speaker of relevance for first 20 minutes with Q&A to draw them in for support like Gazeleys, Maritime and others who may be willing to invest in the projects, studies, enablement.

d.                 ERTA can help promote these meetings as ‘open to all’ but with a clear message, we expect people to offer to help and be useful to advancing these projects.

e.                 Richard to draft potential diagrams and send to Cllr James for him to help find a willing volunteer to work them up for possible deployment on a flyer. Likewise, the flyer, once notified of the details of date, time, place of meeting in MH, would provide a flyer using what is available and Cllr James would help inform distributor volunteers. Every meeting could have a donations bucket and that could help fund printing costs and hall hire. Light refreshments would be provided. The meeting may concentrate to volunteers only committee style and lay foundations as a consortium.

5.                 Other Actions:

a.                 David to carry on leafleting on a regular basis whilst weather clement of Brackley, Woodford and Hinton, Willoughby, Hillmorton and Braunston and Barby and finally Rugby.

b.                 Richard to notify Lutterworth T.C. of the future Methodist Hall Meeting when Cllr James notifies him of said details.

 

There being no other business, the forum ended at 15.25pm

 

Notes: Please encourage any interested people or organisations to email richard.erta@gmail.com to join our loop and/or see our website for joining details/fill in a flyer. Membership and considering what people are reliably willing to do is welcome.

The Executive Committee cannot be responsible to do it majoritively, to work, it must come from local people. EEH Website is: https://www.englandseconomicheartland.com/

I attach the Rugby Forum Agenda. Simon to please bring spare copies. Please encourage others if you can to attend and make common cause with us/help take a lead.

ERTA is not about reinstating a literal old GC corridor railway, but a new railway along a similar corridor with new build where old has gone to link London, Southampton and Bristol with West Coast Main Line/WCML, Leicester and East Midlands and vice versa and all in between. 

We, as a small association of upwards 40 members, are in the business of planting ideas. Pushing all traffic through the Bletchley-Northampton WCML portal is not going to work with Oxford-Bletchley, as the WCML is congested and so more capacity is required. 

Northampton-WCML-Leicester via Market Harborough is under attack from a roundabout junction being placed on it by West Northants Unitary Authority as a scheme over from the County Council days. It is a setback, but we need an authority to hold it to account to ensure a railway can be rebuilt.

Similarly, Rugby-Lutterworth-Narborough needs route option identification and moves towards advancing and making the case in delivery candidacy terms.

ERTA does not have the resources, so we need to court with our ideas, bigger professional bodies from councils, agencies and developers, who may be interested and willing to invest to see what is in it for them. Any help with sending contacts, ideas, suggestions, people and helpers to us, would be gratefully appreciated. 

Our website: https://ertarail.co.uk/events/ lists opportunities to meet and engage with us and if we get demand, a zoom meeting can be arranged. But we need others to take an interest please.

Any questions feel free to ask, but we look towards you to help inform the upwards of £50k for commissioning studies to look at 'how to...' and 'business case' and 'environmental impact' and 'demand' etc. Local Councils could do more to protect remaining route and infrastructure and ask HS2 to support a domestic line and new alignment from Calvert-Claydon-Brackley East-northwards to Rugby Central (possible Parkway Station) and options for onwards to Lutterworth via new viaducts and/or via  a new construction to the Northampton Loop Line for accessing WCML into existing Rugby and/or arcing around with connection to DIRFT and onwards to Lutterworth-Narborough etc. These things need to be looked at, but if we want a modal shift, planning them, determining them and courting investors, is exactly what we need now please.

Join our free loop via requests to richard.erta@gmail.com

More freight by rail - small can be beautiful and a railway can always be upgraded!

24-10-2022

Below is an attempt to map out key areas we at ERTA would welcome more rail investment/go-aheads and progression towards delivery. 

1. Liverpool-Tees/Humber certainly for my money Woodhead and Harrogate-Northallerton could help

2. East Midlands: Northampton-Market Harborough key link for Southampton-Bristol-Oxford 'triangle' to/from Milton Keynes/Bedford via East-West Rail for East Midlands and back. Bletchley-MK-Northampton a WCML pinch point requires a certain speed for capacity. HS2 may ease and create more paths, but some way off, we need it now. Also East Midlands, Derby-Manchester via Matlock, Bakewell and Buxton/Chinley has to be hands-down a winner if allowed.

3. Thames/London: growth by rail in my view depends on capacity - loads going on beit in, across and out of London as well as London centric freight and deporting and that of Channel Tunnel, across London and circumvention. Northampton-MH frees more via Peterborough-Leicester to serve potentially Brackmills Industrial Estate, Northampton Depot (from the north 'not via London'); from East Coast or anywhere else and Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal/DIRFT via a new north-west curve. 

4. A key issue is the government refusal to grant the Ely Rail Bypass currently, which like Bristol-Portishead is being held up and that is incurring cost (Bristol) and delay (Ely) to increase what capacity and rail can offer. That in turn puts pressure to go by road (A14/A45/A43/A34 = Felixstowe-Northampton-Oxford-Southampton arcing with continuums from each of these roads to places like West Midlands (A14/Lutterworth to M1/M6) and/or London (M25 and radials) which cascades.

5. In Scotland, long overdue is Dumfries - Kirkcudbright/Stranraer - does it make any sense for A75 to be upgraded continually while there's zero rail alternative? Kirkcudbight has Deep Sea Portal, mainly dominated by the Royal Navy, but maybe some access/shared facility or new could be negotiated to bring freight into Northern areas from the North more than long-haul Southampton?

6. I would add that we need a more diverse freight by rail mix and match such as parcels - pallets - post and in France we see wagonload remergent and we used to have Speedlink which although judged unviable, was building smaller flows to larger trainloads incrementally. Charterail had curtain sided wagons for pallet loads to be forklifted and loaded for example.

7. I hear also that connecting to the railway is tedious, expensive and laborious such as to make lorry loading easier, more versatile and well, life is too short! So we used to have a Section 108 Sidings Grant which assisted with connecting costs, unsure status or translation now if any, but maybe such a thing could be revived and broadened with a credit attached in grant terms for environmental contribution for sending more by rail than road for example. 

https://www.railfreight.com/policy/2022/10/18/commission-injects-nearly-half-a-billion-into-french-single-wagonload-transport/

17-10-2022

Laudable to have more freight by rail! However, it is ERTA's view that we need to a. grow the local rail network, examples like Northampton-Market Harborough for example, would create significant capacity, open new flow by rail opportunities currently lost to road and compliment the current east-west rail Oxford-Milton Keynes. b. Government could tip the balance or level up from £40 billion new roads to make Rail Reopenings equitable, not a mere £500 million. c. Things like restoring the Section 108 freight sidings grant with a modern and pragmatic flexibility and slimming down proceedures to aquire rail network connectivity. d. a more flexible and versatile approach to 'what fits' in landscape design and whether tunnel, bridge, duck-under or a level crossing with a community education programme? Straight jacket fixations, when public abuse is more the issue of level crossings, must take into account urban landscapes for example do not lend to new bridges or whatever per se. Why should reopenings or connectivity by rail for speed, efficieincy and the environment be held back? Sadly, this is a problem and we think not only of Brackmills Industrial Park, Magna Park and Forders Sidings on the A421 A1-M1 paralell where there's loads of capacity, but zero rail-based use of assets. It has idled for decades and could inform part of a recycling and waste in/out depot for example - cars, glass, other recylables to rail, processing and finished products by rail. In addition, post, parcels and pallets by rail, not just block train containers. I suspect not looking for new money, but costs could be saved by slimming down bureaucracy and switching priority from roads to local rail recovery and growth - people and goods, a line-plan for every railway, not just whim and winds of market expediency. Bring back Speedlink for example!

https://www.globalrailwayreview.com/news/135533/the-gbrtt-launch-call-for-evidence-to-increase-rail-freight/

18-08-22

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/161-million-to-transform-oxford-station-bringing-faster-journeys-to-thousands Still leaves the Basingstoke-Reading-Oxford bottleneck and the need for more alternative routes radial to and from Southampton. If we consider majority of freight going beyond West Midlands to the North, orbital routes to core route is exactly what we need to be studying, not building more roads?

11-07-2022:

https://www.railfreight.com/railfreight/2022/07/11/uk-government-freight-strategy-questioned/

Worth a read, get inspired and join ERTA/donate: https://ertarail.co.uk/

Northampton-Market Harborough would bring freight by rail to Brackmills, Northampton Depot and with a north-west curve, direct running into DIRFT. 

The scope is East Midlands, traffic off the M1 and A508 respectively and arcing to Oxford via Milton Keynes and beyond - Southampton and Bristol and all in between. So we need support going forward and a perusal of our Blogspot can help bring everyone up-to-date.

We hope to have a meeting at Market Harborough and inform a steering committee to focus on taking the Harborough link forward as well as the Rugby-Narborough flank bringing Lutterworth and Magna Park back on track!

04-07-2022

re: https://www.railfreight.com/policy/2022/07/04/uk-government-sets-out-a-future-of-freight/

The government sets out a rail freight strategy. However, what we need is:

1. Grants not loans for pieces of rail infrastructure to boost rail-connectivity to the wider rail network, like the Brackmills Industrial Estate to the main line at Northampton Castle Station.

2. To see strategic missing links and inform policy, planning and tailoring of development to keep a rail re-connection 'open', not built on and blocked? Northampton-Market Harborough to enable East Midlands-Oxford and Felixstowe to DIRFT, Northampton Depot and more by rail aggregately than can happen without it.

3. To have a triple pronged approach to Rail and volumes, shapes and sizes more by rail:

a. give incentives and legal requirements for all freight over 50 miles to explore using rail and incentives for all carriers like DPD and others including DHL, The Post Office/Royal Mail, UPS, FedEx,

to all consider rail more. Many images of the 10% freight by rail are of containers, bulky materials like aggregates and long trains, when small can be beautiful like parcels, pallets and post by rail more. Perishables another. Amazon also. Without government carrot and stick frameworks, incentives, development for rails, depots, access and joined-up-networks, this cannot begin to be realistic. Extol the benefits of rail, equip operators to do more and incentivise. The savings is less road wear and tear, lowering congestion blight and delays (cost), less emissions x whatever rail haulage is used aggregately and freeing up of land otherwise used for road vehicles and parking, for other things like housing, employment, conservation and farming. 

b. Does rolling stock design, availability, price, stewardship and access inform a versatility and flexibility and availability needed for customer demand balanced with what rail can offer now and going forward. 

c. Government needs to be working with partners for putting tracks back (rebuilds/reinstatements/new select pieces of versatile local, conventional railways for people and goods to use and access - a post office for every station upwards of 20, 000 population within 10 miles and where that population exists like Louth in Lincolnshire, for those tracks to be put back or rebuilt alongside the A16 or equivalent roads as may be the case.

d. On larger block train consignments - pallets to containers, why not look at a rebuild of Woodhead for capacity, relief to the A628 trunk road - through a National Park being upgraded is outrageous, when rail could, if put back, take a lion's share of people and goods over the Pennines and using Hull and Liverpool more for ship to shore freight, Woodhead is just the ticket for such endeavours and should be seen in the round, ditto Harrogate-Ripon-Northallerton to enable more by rail and declutter the York/ECML bottlenecks. Government needs to join these things up more and have a block replication system which can go anywhere, fund anywhere and enable anywhere with savings in such wakes. The problem of loans is they have to be paid back, being a nation of debtors is a bad thing on a number of fronts and with uncertainty as an underlying platform of engagement, if environmental, social and economic meet and say 'yes' to rail more, then the moral thing is to do, lead and enable rail. New money may not be so incumbent, as per top-slicing the £30 billion new roads budget for rail more and cascading policy and grants from road schemes to rail schemes as a step in the right direction.

Please engage positively for rail. 2050 is too little, too late for modal choice for modal shift in a climate emergency. 2030 is the cut off date for irreversible climate change. We need plans hitting the ground now, not laying up cushy numbers for an uncertain future.

Failure of the current system and the love affair with roads whilst highlighting costs and problems of rail relative to perceived or actual 'demand' results in this being played out in Lincolnshire, where road building is rife, land lost for rail like March-Spalding is lost and locks-in an unsustainable scenario which if repeated nationwide, leaves us in an untidy mess, which Government must lead us out of.

https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/news/article/1125/traffic-management-details-for-spalding-relief-road-works-announced

Dear Friends, Colleagues and Elected Representatives,

See also: https://www.railway-technology.com/news/siemens-mobility-mireo-plus-h-trains-to-neb/

Above: Siemens’ first hydrogen trains ordered for Berlin-Brandenburg region, reopenings need this sort of innovation in UK as well.

Is it so hard to imagine such a service linking Northampton Castle Station with University/Delapre, Brackmills and Great Houghton? Translation is the challenge, but think and weigh benefits with problems and cons? I believe it can be done and traffic and growth means must be done? Please help us get there and give support to ERTA, its events and offer to come aboard via membership and help us practically. 

https://ertarail.co.uk/become-a-member/

Interestingly enough, now some logistics companies have bases at Brackmills, will have at Northampton Depot emergent, DIRFT operational inputs and that of East Midlands Depots, the missing link to enable more and some joined-up rail-based thinking is:

a. the re-railing of the Brackmills Branch and

b. the rebuilding of a Northampton-Market Harborough Rail Link.

These offer optimal flexibility, congestion reduction, time efficiencies, choice and much more. Weigh that of the cons. 

There is a trade-off to be done. Bigger organisations can help and loosely work with us to help push it through and save the day on a joined-up rail network fit for 21st C modal shift back to rail for reducing emissions and keeping the wheels turning sustainably more?

We need nationwide policy, plans, agendas, but that feed, can also come from local aspiration upwards as well. Realism is where they can meet and put in context, be moved towards delivery. We can only plant ideas, we need other players to work together and nurture towards that goal. See and respond to this: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-of-freight-plan

Offers for speakers at future events, welcome to entertain. As long as it is all voluntary, you bring your own equipment and can also include hand-outs/brochures, we welcome sponsors and collaboration towards more success. A web link can be provided as a thank you for willing speakers at future events, informing more public viewing and interest. Thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Pill

ERTA Chairman

Transport for The South East Transport Plan - please ask them to include our rail suggestions!

re: https://transportforthesoutheast.org.uk/our-work/transport-strategy/

ERTA calls to support and help with informing 

1. Rebuild/with realignment spaces, a new Polegate-Stone Cross avoiding line. This would shave 20 minutes off end-to-end Brighton-Ashford services along the south coast by rail. That would improve rail's relevance, competitiveness and court more diverse usage of rail. A27 is perpetually being upgraded and widened and yet its usage is synthetically driven by the long, slow, tortuous rail-based alternative. 

Our suggestion could rectify this. In addition, far from downgrading Eastbourne Station calling, you keep the slow stopper service but add a semi-fast non-stop. Eastbourne Station needs investment and to retain sidings and track, which currently are under-used. Scope and explore small to medium to other freight by rail like parcels and pallets. Scope and explore freight along a more joined-up south coast rail system which enables more. Also look at a better marketed specific London-Gatwick-Eastbourne (Capital-Airport-Resort) direct, semi fast, limited stop, top speed service which brings in and takes out based on specific quality trains, service and marketing. The sluggish 'survivor' current system and train service is not geared for this and so we need to wake up and see agencies and councils with MP's lead from the front, make the case, talk to industry and pepp up these windows of opportunity, not throw away in the name of development with a station but keeping the 'everything in and out of Eastbourne' rail problem, whilst principal roads bypass and do more?

2. Rebuild a Guildford-Horsham-Shoreham rail link with a new connecting 'direct link' to inform a Reading-Brighton direct semi-fast 'not via London' regional service, local stopper services based on Horsham interchange and also linking Old Oak Common Interchange with Heathrow, Guildford, Horsham, Crawley and Gatwick from the south. This would create capacity on other lines, free up local roads, bring Cranleigh back onto the rail network and cut all the bads associated with congestion, pollution, land-use parking demand and wasted time for domestic and business needs. It needs:

a. route protection with realignment spaces

b. an audit of what's there and what is needed

c. studies to make the wider regional travel business case and associated demands for wider and governmental consideration

d. get industry on board. 

e. court public awareness and support.

f. slew walk-way cum cycle paths for rail, land exists for all to be catered for with a little flexibility.

3. Electrify Third Rail the Redhill-Guildford-Reading line to include as part of the Thameslink scope network with East Croydon-Guildford for example as a semi fast on top of the existing stopper services. It is a third rail area, it makes sense to use existing, clean technology and rolling stock to save time, broaden dynamic appeal for wider audiences and fill more trains, declutter local roads and delays changing informs with a degree of inconvenience in needing to change trains and platforms for example.

A study is needed. New thinking is required. Talk to us, offer to lead and help us. 

Our role as a small voluntary association is to plant ideas, we need employed agencies and funded tiers of governance to lead and progress to mutual, wider public and environmental benefit. Otherwise more congestion is the order of the day. Previous studies only looked at Cranleigh as a terminal branch off Guildford than a through link between the south coast, Gatwick and Horsham and Reading/Heathrow for example. It is time to broaden horizons and give modal shift a chance from road to rail more. You can only do that if the rail joined-up infrastructure is delivered and progressing toward that goal included as discerned goals in plans now. Any absence is an oversight and must be rectified if any new development is to be sustainable and the effects properly managed.