Bourne end to High wycombe 2019 reopening study

[simon b]

The idea of reopening of the Bourne end to High wycombe line seems to pop up every few years, and when it does it is often mentioned that Wycombe Council commissioned a study to see if it was worth doing. I'd never seen the outcome of this or heard anymore about it, until a link to it popped up on Facebook recently.

 

Enjoy: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/qyvQqXn1Eu3bXezr/

Edited February 11 by simon b

[Dagworth]

Direct link without Facebook

 

https://mmpa.org.uk/forms/feasibility.pdf

 

 

[Darius43]

There’s an awful lot of boilerplate padding in these reports.  Section 4.1 on the implications on actually constructing the new route, i.e. knocking down buildings and actually realigning away from the original route is particularly short considering the acres of pages devoted to non specific statistics.

 

I followed the route on Google Maps and the thing that struck me was the extent to which the trackbed has been built over.  Took three minutes to form the conclusion that this project is a non-starter.

 

The cost section also illustrates why this is extremely unlikely to happen.

 

Still, that’s more public money for Atkins to produce a spectacularly padded-out report rather than spent for the direct benefit of the Council’s constituents.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

Edited February 12 by Darius43

[simon b]

4 hours ago, Darius43 said:

There’s an awful lot of boilerplate padding in these reports.  Section 4.1 on the implications on actually constructing the new route, i.e. knocking down buildings and actually realigning away from the original route is particularly short considering the acres of pages devoted to non specific statistics.

 

I followed the route on Google Maps and the thing that struck me was the extent to which the trackbed has been built over.  Took three minutes to form the conclusion that this project is a non-starter.

 

The cost section also illustrates why this is extremely unlikely to happen.

 

Still, that’s more public money for Atkins to produce a spectacularly padded-out report rather than spent for the direct benefit of the Council’s constituents.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

 

I thought the same about the lack of detail. The part about the suggested new route was very vague, you would think that was the part that needed the most effort. A couple of things that I did learn from it was the way in which they decide if a scheme is worth it or not, and the amount of unnecessary spending they budget for.   

 

They did mention that to use it as a through route the Aylesbury branch may need to be doubled in places, I don't think it does but there is now provision for that with the new bridge they have built. And an extra platform at Bourne end and High Wycombe isnt really needed either. Surely just build the line and extend the existing service to Wycombe would be enough.

Edited February 12 by simon b

[Mike_Walker]

On 12/02/2024 at 05:41, Darius43 said:

There’s an awful lot of boilerplate padding in these reports.  Section 4.1 on the implications on actually constructing the new route, i.e. knocking down buildings and actually realigning away from the original route is particularly short considering the acres of pages devoted to non specific statistics.

 

I followed the route on Google Maps and the thing that struck me was the extent to which the trackbed has been built over.  Took three minutes to form the conclusion that this project is a non-starter.

 

The cost section also illustrates why this is extremely unlikely to happen.

 

Still, that’s more public money for Atkins to produce a spectacularly padded-out report rather than spent for the direct benefit of the Council’s constituents.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

Couldn't agree more.  Although there are a small number of locals who make a lot of noise over this it is never going to happen simply too much of the original track bed has been lost.  Also, Wycombe District Council is no more having been replaced by the new unitary Council for  Buckinghamshire which displays little interest in transport matters particularly public transport.

 

The tragedy is that the line was closed in the first place.  It was deliberately run down by BR who first divided the Maidenhead - HW service into two at Bourne End forcing through passengers to change trains then recasting the timetable to make this impossible without very long waits so patronage collapsed and closure was "justified".  It was indications that a similar policy was being imposed on the remaining Maidenhead - Marlow section that led to the formation of the MMPA which successfully fought to turn the line's fortunes around.

 

Incidentally, one member of the MMPA committee around 1980 was quite youthful (still at school) who went on to carve quite a name for himself in the industry which is why it is said today that the Marlow Branch is the most important part of the GWR network.  After all, the trains show the "route number" 01 on the front!