East West rail, Bletchley to oxford line

[1E BoY]

The consultation paper gives two options - one with the retention of the local all stations service which would require the building of loops near Ridgmont to allow the faster services to overtake the all stations services.

 

The second involves the building of five new relocated stations to replace the current ones. These are

 

Woburn Sands (relocated)

Ridgmont (relocated)

Lidlington (relocated)

Stewartby (relocated)

Bedford St Johns (relocated)

 

For example Woburn Sands would move to a new site to the west which would enable it to serve the SE corner of MK.

 

This will involve the building of new access roads, car parking and public transport interchange options. 

 

All details are found in the consultation documents which are available on line at https://eastwestrail-production.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/public/Consultation-Document.pdf  . Consulation ends on the 9th June 2021.

 

Which option is adopted remains to be seen.

 

Edited June 23, 2021 by 1E BoY
Website added

[Nearholmer]

Looks like a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea!

 

The "five new ones" would probably work if the local "last mile" infrastructure in terms of walking, cycling, and feeder-buses was good, but it isn't, and without that it could heavily damage the function of the line for local, short trips.

[1E BoY]

Two pictures taken this afternoon of the Buckingham Road works in Bletchley. 

 

The second section now has all 12 beams in place and safety fencing was in the process of being installed.

 

The former wooden hoarding that protected the Duncombe Street site was being removed in readiness for this weekends installation of the beams across the dual carriageway of Buckingham Road. The whole area including both carriageways is now behind metal safety fencing leaving just one footpath open for pedestrians. This will be closed on both Friday and Saturday to allow the cranes to lift the beams across the carriageway to be installed.

[1E BoY]

Today has seen the first beams installed across the dual carriageway at Buckingham Road, Bletchley.

 

The first two pictures were taken looking east towards the town centre. There is a queue of lorries with beams on them waiting to move forward (this is some production line!). 

 

The second image shows the first beam across in the background.

 

The bus is providing a courtesy service from the station steps to the bus station which involves a considerable detour via the V4 (Watling Street).

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by 1E BoY
Bus details added

[1E BoY]

The first picture shows the view at the end of Duncombe Street. The Park public house is on the right.

 

The second shows the first section in place and the second on the first lorry on the production line.

[1E BoY]

The first beam I understand proved a bit of a challenge. The second was much easier.

 

Picture one shows it being removed from the lorry and the second being manouvered into place.

 

It was placed at the back of the first beam (west Bletchley side) on the WCML side.

[1E BoY]

One of the lorries containing the last beam. There seemed to be six lorries in the queue.

Edited June 26, 2021 by 1E BoY

[VarsityJim]

1 hour ago, 1E BoY said:

The first beam I understand proved a bit of a challenge. The second was much easier.

 

Picture one shows it being removed from the lorry and the second being manouvered into place.

 

It was placed at the back of the first beam (west Bletchley side) on the WCML side.

Good to see that the original pillars are being used!

[1E BoY]

Taken around 1030 this morning the flyover now stretches across Buckingham Road.

 

The footpath to the station and west Bletchley has reopened via the zebra crossing in the pictures.

 

Next stage will be to install safety fences before moving on to the next section.

[1E BoY]

The next challenge awaits!

[Ryde-on-time]

A couple more pictures taken today. Firstly showing the new bridge near Mursley with the walls now looking complete. Secondly a shot showing work on a pipeline behind one of the wall and which will be under the re-routed road once complete

 

[VarsityJim]

3 hours ago, Ryde-on-time said:

A couple more pictures taken today. Firstly showing the new bridge near Mursley with the walls now looking complete. Secondly a shot showing work on a pipeline behind one of the wall and which will be under the re-routed road once complete

 

Great pics. Will the existing bridge at Mursley be demolished? If yes, why can’t it be re-used like many of the other bridges in the area?

[Davexoc]

22 hours ago, VarsityJim said:

Great pics. Will the existing bridge at Mursley be demolished? If yes, why can’t it be re-used like many of the other bridges in the area?

 

That is not to replace the Whaddon Road bridge, it is near Salden Farm on what was Weasel Lane. Judging by the size of the new one, I do wonder if in the longer term Mursley - Whaddon road will get diverted over this and on to Bottle Dump roundabout, thus onto the MK grid.

It would probably please the Whaddon residents, as it would divert away from the Thrift Farm roundabout, which is currently used a 'rat run' into MK by those that know, despite the signs saying otherwise.....

[melmerby]

It's interesting to see how the construction of bridge spans has changed in the intervening 60 years, with separate multiple beams rather than one piece decks now the order of the day

[1E BoY]

A visit to Woburn Sands revealed a number of posters in shop windows etc. alerting the residents to the plans to move the station and close the level crossing as part of the options in the consultation document.

 

Appears that the locals are not in favour of either proposal.

[Ray H]

One wonders how grumpy they might get if the proposal was for a motorway instead of a railway.

[kryten65]

On 25/06/2021 at 18:03, 1E BoY said:

The first picture shows the view at the end of Duncombe Street. The Park public house is on the right.

 

The second shows the first section in place and the second on the first lorry on the production line.

Landing the first one was a pain, as there are no reference marks after that it was a case of putting a 20mm piece of plywood between them, the biggest issue was waiting for the bloody crane to get set up....might of been a minor issue due to the crane pad being set out wrong...

 and in the end we ran out of time to get them all installed on the friday so we had to carry on saturday morning

 

 

and I seem to have dodged being in your pictures!

[Zomboid]

According to the local press on Google, closing the Woburn Sands level crossing and replacing it with a bypass and a footbridge will "effectively destroy" the town.

 

I don't know Woburn Sands at all, but that seems a little melodramatic.

[Pannier Tank]

8 hours ago, Zomboid said:

According to the local press on Google, closing the Woburn Sands level crossing and replacing it with a bypass and a footbridge will "effectively destroy" the town.

Not to mention moving the station halfway to Bow Brickhill! 

Edited July 6, 2021 by Pannier Tank

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, Zomboid said:

According to the local press on Google, closing the Woburn Sands level crossing and replacing it with a bypass and a footbridge will "effectively destroy" the town.

 

I don't know Woburn Sands at all, but that seems a little melodramatic.

It's a good thing they don't live in Thorpe south of Leeds.  It was cut into 3 pieces by the M62, with a subway and a footbridge to connect the two outlying parts to the main village. The village seems to have done OK in the ladt 50 years, despite 2 of it's streets being named after dire tors of the Great Northetn Railway.

 

Jamie

Edited July 6, 2021 by jamie92208

[corneliuslundie]

So just leave the level crossing, open about ten minutes in the hour between trains.

I am sure they would be happy then.

J

[Tony Teague]

5 hours ago, Zomboid said:

According to the local press on Google, closing the Woburn Sands level crossing and replacing it with a bypass and a footbridge will "effectively destroy" the town.

 

I don't know Woburn Sands at all, but that seems a little melodramatic.

 

Indeed it does; one wonders how many of them use the railway - the line is grossly under-used (by passengers).

[chris p bacon]

IIRC the most passengers from Woburn Sands are children attending the private Harpur Trust Schools in Bedford, so most traffic is morning and late afternoon with little at other times.

[kryten65]

On 03/07/2021 at 20:03, Ryde-on-time said:

A couple more pictures taken today. Firstly showing the new bridge near Mursley with the walls now looking complete. Secondly a shot showing work on a pipeline behind one of the wall and which will be under the re-routed road once complete

 

Middle of next month for the beams to be installed here, according to the last plan i saw

[Northmoor]

2 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

 

Indeed it does; one wonders how many of them use the railway - the line is grossly under-used (by passengers).

To be fair they don't claim to.  They don't want the level crossing closed because they'll have to drive slightly further if it is.  It is difficult to see how EWR can achieve its aims if there's an all-stations DMU in the way every hour.