Railfuture on the Marston Vale Line: Silence is not Golden
Railfuture calls upon the Department for Transport and London Northwestern Railway to continue to regularly update the travelling public on progress on restarting the train service on the Marston Vale Line between Bedford and Bletchley. Services on the line have been replaced with buses since the last train to run on 1 December 2022.
Neil Middleton, a Director of Railfuture and Convenor of the Hertfordshire & Bedfordshire Division commented “It’s pleasing to see that London Northwestern Railway are reporting positive steps to progress the restart of trains on the Marston Vale Line. We’d really like to see a commitment from London Northwestern Railway to have trains running again at the busiest times for the start of the Autumn School Term.
“We really hope that London Northwestern Railway will be able to make this commitment in good time before the end of the Summer term so parents and pupils will have the time to plan for their Autumn term journeys before the summer holidays”.
Stephen Sleight, Transport Team Leader (Rail), Marston Vale Community Rail Partnership said, “The Marston Vale Line is a lifeline for the communities along it. Many local people rely on the Marston Vale Line for access to education, work, and leisure, particularly students at Kimberley College, Bedford College and Milton Keynes College. I regret it has not been possible to reintroduce the Class 230 units, which were customised for the Line. I look forward to services resuming at the earliest possible opportunity in the Autumn”.
Based on London Northwestern Railways’ most recent update, Railfuture is of the view that:
- Timescales for the arrival of replacement rolling stock at Bletchley are now becoming clear.
- The duration of the training programme for Drivers and Conductors is reasonably clear, but that there are noticeable risks to delivery due to holidays over the school summer holiday and ongoing Industrial Action (including action short of a strike).
- Maintenance arrangements still have noticeable timing uncertainty, since, as yet, staff are still being recruited, and so both start dates and the amount of training needed are still unknowns.
Neil went on to say “Provided that maintenance can be sorted in time, it’s our preference that the focus is on returning the nine most important return services each day Monday to Friday for travellers to and from the Schools on the line and other commuters (and some leisure traffic) and that there is also a Saturday offering of around 6 trains to start to rekindle leisure use on that is now usually the busiest day on the railway.
Phil Warner, Chair of BBRUA (the Bedford to Bletchley Rail Users Association) commented “We were annoyed by the decision to withdraw the Class 230s which are continuing to be used by other operators. I am greatly concerned by the continued lack of a definitive timescale presented by London Northwestern for re-introduction of trains; there has already been slippage as an autumn return of trains was mentioned but now a full service is not expected until the New Year. We really need at least peak time trains to return to the Marston Vale in time for the Autumn School Term at the start of September otherwise its use by large numbers of school students may be a lost for ever.”
Notes to editors:
London Northwestern’s updates: https://www.londonnorthwesternrailway.co.uk/travel-information/service-disruptions/marston-vale-line-buses-replace-trains-until-autumn-2023
Railfuture’s Press Release of 16 February (has context on why Class 230s no longer operate): https://railfuture.org.uk/Press-release-16th-February-2023
The CRP’s website is at www.marstonvalecommunityrail.org.uk and the Bedford to Bletchley Rail Users Association’s at www.bbrua.org.uk.
Railfuture is the UK's leading independent organisation campaigning for better rail services for both passengers and freight.
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For further information and comment please contact: Neil Middleton – neil.middleton@railfuture.org.uk.