9 replies to this topic

[hyposmurf]

http://www.buckingha...82398-31395379/

It's intended to provide an outer orbital railway to the north of London, linking the Great Western Main Line, Oxford, Bicester, Aylesbury, Milton Keynes, Bedford, Cambridge, Ipswich and Norwich for both passenger and freight traffic. It uses the route of the former Varsity Line, parts of which are currently disused.

http://en.wikipedia...._West_Rail_Link

So that would mean you could travel to Oxford or Milton Keynes by train from Amersham,via Aylesbury.Oxford is currently a pig to travel to by public transport from Amersham.This is the kind of proposed rail development that I'd favour over HS2.Alot cheaper and and collectively all the projects could effect far more people.

[David P]

Yes, that will be great for us residents of Amersham who will benefit from faster access to Oxford, Cambridge etc. But what about the noise, disruption, extra traffic, loss of amenity, etc. for the residents along the line?

[Bawbag]

Yes, that will be great for us residents of Amersham who will benefit from faster access to Oxford, Cambridge etc. But what about the noise, disruption, extra traffic, loss of amenity, etc. for the residents along the line?

And not forgetting all those inconvenienced newts...

[Matthew (MPJ/Admin)]

I fear it will still be difficult to get to Oxford from here. The services north of Aylesbury are going to connect with the Wycombe line. So any route to Oxford will involve going back to Risborough from Aylesbury or changing somewhere on the line to Milton Keynes and going back to Oxford, so not that direct for us Hopefully it will give a decent connection to MK and points north. Also connection to Bedford and north from there. I think it will still be quicker to go into and London and out again for many destinations unless the new line has a frequent fast service with not too many stops. And of course this won't all happen for quite a few years.

Much of the line already exists and so for the residents near it it could be argued they should not complain as much as if it was a new build. The proposals to re open the east west line have been around for ages. It is also reported that some towns such as Buckingham and Winslow will welcome the re opened line

[PeterC]

Yes, that will be great for us residents of Amersham who will benefit from faster access to Oxford,

75 minutes from Aylesbury to Carfax on a 280 bus isn't brilliant but with three buses per hour it will still beat taking the hourly-ish train to Risborough to travel via Bicester plus the walk from the station to the city centre.

I get a bit fed up with the rather sentimental attachment to an Oxford to Cambridge service but MK and Bedford are major destinations which will be better served.

[hyposmurf]

Yes, that will be great for us residents of Amersham who will benefit from faster access to Oxford, Cambridge etc. But what about the noise, disruption, extra traffic, loss of amenity, etc. for the residents along the line?

Wouldnt they be from that stereotypical group of people who don't want anything being built locally?
Seriously though, this initial section is using existing lines, so there should be less upheaval than a completely new line.There are likely to be some residents upset by the proposal, but at the moment it's still early days,as theres very little new info on the proposal.

I did find this interesting ink:

East-West rail line could intersect with high speed line and Justine Greening sends rail message to HS2 opponents

http://www.buckshera...nents-1-3276413

[Matthew (MPJ/Admin)]

Some joined up thinking may have put a new waste transfer site by the Chiltern line, which with the improvements north of Aylesbury for the connection to the new east west line would allow more waste trains to go that way. Already the line takes two waste trains from London each day, the extra capacity would allow more waste trains from a new waste site.

[PeterC]

Some joined up thinking may have put a new waste transfer site by the Chiltern line,

Green field site near Gerrards Cross or Beaconsfield? - you would get even more complaints than for the current proposal.

[hyposmurf]

Some joined up thinking may have put a new waste transfer site by the Chiltern line, which with the improvements north of Aylesbury for the connection to the new east west line would allow more waste trains to go that way. Already the line takes two waste trains from London each day, the extra capacity would allow more waste trains from a new waste site.

I like the idea of moving more of the waste via train, than road,clogging up less of the already busy road networks.Surely they could move more via train to?

[echinosum]

Edit: (I see no evidence anyone has ever thought it would be sensible to reopen the line beyond Fleet Marston Aylesbury Vale Parkway to Claydon or Verney Jct, I don't think that is part of the scheme, so no easy route to Oxford via Aylesbury in the offing.) On further research I'm wrong, apparently a connection to Aylesbury is part of the scheme, but the idea is to run London-Wycombe-Aylesbury-Milton Keynes services.

A direct connection from the Wycombe line to Oxford is already under preparation and should open late next year or something, so it will already become much quicker to get from Amersham to Oxford by public transport, by the simple expedient of taking the bus to Beaconsfield or Wycombe and taking the train from there. (As things stand, personally I already find it quicker to get to Oxford via Slough than via Aylesbury, though the buses to Slough don't run late and not at all on Sundays.)

At the end of the day this is money promised for a period beyond the next election, and so is not really money committed at all, and I wouldn't believe it until a new government is elected and has decided it still wants to do this. I don't believe the whole program will survive a more careful re-examination later, and Oxford-MK does not have the look of a standout good investment, I think it would be easier to find much better uses of the money on the rail system..