The Future
Even though
it is only 16 miles long, the Marston Vale Line serves a wide
variety of destinations with their own fascinating histories and
facts. The future plans for the service, however, go beyond serving
the current destinations, and hope to secure the Marston Vale
Line’s future not only as a community railway, but also as a
key strategic public transport route through the Marston
Vale.
The first plans for the future are to extend the existing service
onward from Bletchley to Milton Keynes Central. Despite
having a reputation for roundabouts and Concrete Cows (just off
Monk’s Way, if you are interested!), Milton Keynes, or MK as
it is known locally, is a thriving modern city. MK has facilities
of both local and regional importance, such as shopping at
thecentre:MK, the National Hockey Stadium, Milton Keynes Bowl, and
the Xscape leisure complex. By extending the service to Milton
Keynes Central, we hope to not only take advantage of these
facilities, but will also provide Marston Vale residents with a
direct connection onto Virgin intercity services to Birmingham,
Manchester, Liverpool, and Scotland. Under the new franchise,
London Midland priced this option, however funding is yet to be
forthcoming.
The second major plan is the partial re-introduction of the former
Oxford to Cambridge railway between Bedford and Oxford, known as East
West Rail. This could see trains running between Bedford,
Bletchley, and Milton Keynes Central to Aylesbury, Bicester, and
Oxford. Potentially, this means either the existing service could
be extended, or Marston Vale trains could be overlapped by express
services running on the line, significantly benefiting passengers.
In the long term, there are plans to extend such services further
east to Sandy, Cambridge, and possibly Norwich. More details can be
found by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page
There are also
plans to significantly develop stations on the line. There are
plans to move the site of Bedford station further south, providing
more capacity at the station, and better interchange facilities.
There are also plans to redevelop Bletchley station, while Milton
Keynes Central is currently being redeveloped to provide a bay
platform, potentially to be used by Marston Vale trains.
Bedfordshire County Council is also promoting the provision of a
new station at Kempston Interchange Retail Park, meaning that
Marston Vale residents have a rail connection to this key shopping
facility.
All in all, the Marston Vale Line, both through the Community Rail
Partnership and through significant investment, has a promising
future ahead of it.
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