Introduction I write the independent Bedford Rail blog (https://bedfordrail.wordpress.com), and have been following the development of the East West Rail scheme closely. This consultation response will comment on aspects of the consultation that have a bearing on Bedford as a whole, the service that the railway will offer, and the conduct of the consultation itself.… Read More Response to the 2021 East West Rail consultation
There are still a couple of weeks to respond to the EWR consultation. Please do so, if you have any view on the proposals and what they might mean for you or for Bedford more widely. Hopefully the articles on this site will be useful in getting an overview of the issues. For instance: Anyone… Read More East West Rail 2021 consultation: how to respond
This is the final article in the series looking at the East West Rail 2021 consultation. Since the exercise was launched, the picture has been a fast-moving one in some ways. Both Bedford Borough Council and EWR have been holding public meetings, with attendant publicity on social media, while new information and analysis has emerged,… Read More East West Rail 2021 consultation: wrap-up
The East West Rail consultation proposes a major revival for the second of Bedford’s railway stations, Bedford St Johns. However, there are options for what form it will take. The available options are shaped by the available spaces for new infrastructure, which in turn are dictated by the history of Bedford’s railways in that part… Read More East West Rail 2021 consultation: Bedford St Johns station
For the second article looking at what East West Rail might mean for Bedford, we turn from the controversy surrounding the tracks north of Bedford station, to the station itself. It’s here that the wider benefits to Bedford of East West Rail really start to come into focus. Bedford station is unable to accommodate current… Read More East West Rail 2021 consultation: a new Bedford station
Introduction This is the first in a series of articles looking at the proposals in East West Rail’s current consultation exercise, and what they might mean for Bedford. This blog will particularly look at sections B, C and D of the project, as the consultation calls them: that’s the Marston Vale line, the stretch of… Read More East West Rail 2021 consultation: plans for the Poets
So, we now have sight of the next consultation on East West Rail. It contains an abundance of information about emerging plans for the railway and the different options under consideration. It also includes a shocking new proposal to demolish around 50 homes in the Poets area, and impinge on the gardens or parking areas… Read More The East West Rail consultation
This article summarises the various arguments put forward against the proposed route of the East West Rail link from Bedford to Cambridge – ‘Route E’, as it was designated in the consultation that ran from January to March 2019 – and considers whether they stack up. It focuses on the arguments relating to the railway,… Read More The case against East West Rail ‘Route E’ – is there anything in it?
Last year, concluding this article analysing the selection of ‘Route E’ for the central section of East West Rail, going through Bedford and looping around the town to the north, Bedford Rail wrote: “The exact route has yet to be laid out on the ground, so expect a lot of local bunfights over exactly where… Read More The campaign against East West Rail ‘Route E’ – who, what, and why?
This is a much simpler article than it would have been a couple of months ago. Prior to the announcement of East West Rail’s route, there were two possible new stations just south of Bedford in the offing. Plenty of people confused them, but they were in fact entirely separate proposals. East West Rail’s possible… Read More The road to Wixams station
Bedford Rail 