Letters: Campaign of misinformation around East West Rail route

Dear editor,

Over the past few weeks there has been a growing campaign of misinformation surrounding the proposed route of East – West Rail Bedford to Cambridge section and Brickhill Parish Councils support for the route.

I suspect this is being orchestrated by Tory voting NIMBYs residing in Ravensden and Renhold. If they are so concerned about the proposals why didn’t they voice their opposition 11 months ago when the decision on the preferred outline route was finalized?

Is it a coincidence that we are now entering the campaigning window for the local elections?

If they are so concerned about diesel freight trains why aren’t they lobbying the Ministry of Transport for extra funding to electrify the whole route from day one?

Another point concerning this campaign is their flagrant disregard for the lockdown restrictions as they wander around the streets of Brickhill pushing home printed leaflets through peoples letter boxes (who is funding these?).

Richard Pill’s proposal to reuse the original route is a non starter. Surely he is aware of the amount of the trackbed that has been built on and infrastructure that has been removed.

It would be extremely expensive and time consuming to construct the necessary deviations.

As for the Wixams station fiasco, why haven’t the developers carried this out or made the required/promised funds available?

This is a major infrastructure project requiring a long lead time and short term closure of the MML to allow for the tracks to be slewed to accommodate the platforms.

As for the inadequacies of Bedford Midland station, that’s a whole story in itself…

Personally I welcome the restoration of this vital link, which should never have been severed in the first place and wasn’t on the notorious Dr Beeching’s list for closure.

Regards
Peter Lamswood
Brickhill
Bedford

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