Help Cambridge, St. Ives, Huntington Railway Line!
ekes | 09.03.2004 12:32 | Ecology | Cambridge
The campaign to reopen the Cambridge - Huntington line, Britain's First Community Commuter Railway, requests help...
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* One train every 15 minutes is equivalent to a guided bus every 3¾ minutes.
* The rails are there - CAST.IRON can deliver.
* A train last traversed The Cambridge to St Ives Railway Line in 1992. The rails are still in place. A rail service could begin in just two years.
* Cambridgeshire County Council does NOT own the railway route, nor does it have any right to use the route. Even if the guided bus plan went through without objection, the first service cannot possibly run until 2007.
* Arthur Henderson, the inventor of the guided bus who has been working on it for forty years, says "The guided bus is unsuitable for long or short term solutions for Cambridge-Huntingdon".
* And finally - we ALL know that in terms of mass rapid transit, rail is the answer. For non-urban applications, that means heavy rail, electrified and linked to the national network.
Object...
We need you to do one very important thing before 2nd April. Please object to Cambridgeshire County Council's application to destroy our railway line to build a concrete guided busway. We are convinced that we can defeat their daft scheme (a similar one in Luton has just been abandoned), but we need your help NOW.
Write a letter
Please write a letter of objection urgently.
Letters should be headed "Cambridgeshire Guided Bus Scheme, Transport and Works Act Application" and sent to:
Secretary of State for Transport
Department for Transport
TWA Orders Unit, Zone 3/11
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DR
Letters must be received at the Department of Transport by 2nd April.
We need to show that the busway offers little benefits for £100m, and bus services on existing roads could be improved for much less. The railway line is needed for regional and national travel, not just for local bus journeys, especially since Stansted Airport is growing from 59 million to 72M passengers per year, and Alconbury railfreight distribution centre, near the end of our line, has been authorised.
More information about objecting.
What Next?
You will get a response from them within about 10 days. You will be asked if you would like to appear at a public inquiry. You must reply within 2 weeks saying yes, otherwise you will be deemed to have said no. Please say YES. This is very important.
There is no obligation upon you to do anything by saying yes. It means that they will write to you again: you will be kept informed and may get invited to speak at the public inquiry. If this happens you can always turn it down. There's no cost to you.
If you get invited to present your case in public, then please contact CAST.IRON executives.
We can appear as your representative if you so wish. Or we will help you with your case if you wish.
ekes
Comments
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Do it !
09.03.2004 13:22
Also be aware that there is no track left between St Ives and Huntingdon, and that part of the old rail route has been 'reused' by the A14 as it crosses the Ouse by Castle Hill in Huntingdon. Because of that and the amount of flood plain around Huntingdon, finding a new route that will join up with the main east coast line (which must be done to make it usable) might be a tad tricky.
Speaking as someone who lived in and around Huntingdon for 25 years or so, it has always been a bit of a joke that there is no rail line between H'don and Cambridge, and the evening bus service leaves a lot to be desired !
Paul