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East West Rail has launched another consolation in 2026 ahead of the submission of the application of the Development Consent Order needed to upgrade the Marston Vale Line and build a new railway between Bedford and Cambridge. This video provides details of the proposed upgrades of the Marston Vale Line.
#EastWestRail #MarstonValeLine #universalstudios
27 Comments
I can somewhat understand the stations that are to close to be relocated but why are the existing stations to permanently close when I thought we were opening and reopening others (in the rest of the country for example) it seems a bit backwards in my opinion, like wouldn’t it make sense to keep them and have it on a reduced timetable at least
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Excellent as always chris!
"EWR services to Oxford."
What EWR services to Oxford? I simply cannot see the RMT giving way voluntarily or being forced to give way (as it should be) over the issue of DOO on the route. That means no services will run over it and it will be a colossal waste of money for several more years.
It's extremely unfortunate that we have such an intransigent trade union blocking things.
Most of this news is welcome and thanks for bringing it up. I think the time lines are really late though. 4 platforms at Universal Stewartby is welcome as I suspect Charter trains will use the other 2 platforms as stabling points. Although I still prefer that Forders sidings (the mothballed area) would be better served for this purpose. If you know what will happen to Forders Sidings please let us know. Not the part that was used in the last century for disposing of London rubbish, the area which can house around 10 tracks parallel to the main tracks, which I believe were used for brick trains but its a bit before my time. I would hate to see this land lost to housing. Since steam trains play a part these days, I think Universal Stewartby should have a water tower. It would be pretty neat to see one on the mainline.
Some trains would be nice 😊, however rail union dinosaurs 🦖🦕🦖 are stymying progress as usual ☹️.
I hope those car parks will be multistorey car parks.
Fenny Stratford,Bow Brickhill and Aspley Guise should remain open.
Only provision for 5 car trains looks shortsighted. To encourage rail use to Universal studios I would have thought 8 car trains as a minimum, and may well in the future require 12 car trains. Why not build the stations for at least 8 car trains, with prospective other developments along the route I think 5 car provision will soon prove inadequate.
Whats that on the High level?…… has Chiltern got stage 1 of East/West line open.
Upgrade the M.V. line like its sister line Abbey line…. electrify it.
Great video update Chris – very informative as usual! I have a few queries/ observations which you might be able to give some answers on as you seem very up on the details of the Marston Vale Line.
1)Firstly, I had thought that the bridge over the A5 was going to have a new single track two-span bridge deck installed adjacent to the existing, with the existing single track two-span bridge structure retained. Has this changed to a brand new twin track two-span structure?
2) Am I correct in thinking the existing bridge over the Grand Union Canal will be retained (already two tracks wide), presumably with some sort of refurbishment to ensure its longevity?
3) Also, I was lead to believe a while ago, that Berry Lane LC would be replaced with a new road overbridge, is this now just a closure of Berry Lane LC instead?
4) Near to the existing Ridgmont LC, the existing A507 overbridge doesn't appear to be shown on your line diagram. I assume that bridge is still being retained?
5) I had also thought that there was once a proposal for a brand new road and overbridge and new Lidlington Station to the west of existing Lidlington station and LC? I assume this idea wasn't ever taken forward though.
6) D'you know if there's a particular reason why Green Lane LC is being retained and not replaced with a new overbridge? It seems an odd decision not to replace with a new overbridge at this location as there is easily enough space to build the new approach embankments especially with the new Stewartby station being moved further north.
Would be great to hear your thoughts if you have info/ answers on my comments above. Once again many thanks for preparing and sharing this informative video update.
Why does it take so long for rail 'improvements' to actually complete in the UK?
75mph is a joke. they are just cheapskates
It's a real shame closing the current Ridgemont station and build new one past the M1 junction, quite problematic but understandable. That station is used by workers that work in the nearby warehouses in the area. Overall the proposed upgrades is something that Marston Vale Line needed for decades but it'll cause quite a bit disruption especially in Bedford.
I don't see why a maybe three times daily service stopping at the old stewartby station would be that bigger issue. (I'm a student at the college and nearly half the students at the college use the train to travel, the bus is woefully slow)
Scrap it…. Total waste of money, since 2009.
I bet they'll be wishing they put in 200m platforms in 10 years time… also always a shame to hear how many crossings are getting closed without a direct replacement bridge or underpass, one of the railway's more antisocial habits even if it does save some money.
For those (like me) not familiar with the overall plans, I think you should have mentioned the station consolidation and the reasons for it at the start of the video. I got half way through as you were getting bogged down in level crossing closures while casually mentioning station closures with no context as to why, and I had to pause the video and Google it. What I found (that you didn't mention) was that a lot of them have very low ridership, and reducing/consolidating them will allow for a "3 fold increase in services" and faster journey times. Not to mention that some of the stations are on single track sections and create bottlenecks currently. I feel like saying that up front would've made the rest of the video make way more sense.
12:01 terrible corner cut by the silver car.
It does feel like they're really shafting some of the local areas currently served by the MVL. I hope they at minimum provide an equal or better bus service to the new stations from the areas losing their train services as a result of this.
At the very least, the stations should not be demolished. Just think of all the stations we "wisely" destroyed just to rebuild a few years later after we found out the hard way that it wasn't very wise at all.
Also, 9:02 I have no sympathy for them. The Beeching cuts happened by a car-dominated culture and by politicians whose hands were deep in oil and automotive pockets, all to force us into cars. I hope you don't mind me having a bit of glee in a tiny piece of revenge. They have to suffer a percent of a percent of a percent of what we suffered from Beeching and others, but you'll never find sympathy for us from them.
I will be happy to see the East West rail line opened from Bedford to Cambridge and a new Cambridge East station to be built. And Cambridge South station that is due to open in June.
I forgot that they didn't electrify the line when rebuilding it… which really seems like a questionable decision.
Maybe only speculation, but as a resident of Kempston there was plans years ago to have a new branch line station at Kempston interchange retail park not far from the old elstow road station,
If this idea was addressed again it would be massive to the infrastructure of universal as alot of foot traffic would occur at one another's location, retail park providing alot of the off site fast food and retail shops, hopefully it happens at some point, it also means there's less of a gap between stations after stewartby and Bedford
Why is the line from Bicester to Bletchley 100mph but the next section is only 75mph? This doesn't seem very futureproofed.
How about a video on the fiasco of getting passenger trains running on the completed line between oxford and milton Keynes? Also the various groups and people trying to get the trains running.
I will be 76 in September. I am not confident that I will ever see passenger trains running between Oxford and Bletchley let alone Oxford and Cambridge in my lifetime.