MK’s missed opportunities

Ian Wray suggests the Milton Keynes Development Corporation approach to development is the model for future new town schemes ( Open Access, RAIL 825).

It should be noted that the Varsity Line closed as a through route just as Milton Keynes was begun. Even Beeching saw a future for the route, if smaller stations closed.

The NUR described it as “a national fraud”, and believed that with de-staffing of stations, crossing and signalling modernisation, and better timetabling and utilisation of the diesel multiple units, the £100,000 per annum losses could be cut and the line saved to cope with the population growth.

The Corporation failed to secure the future of the line, and missed reopening opportunities following the reopening of Oxford-Bicester and BR’s £10 million proposal for a Peterborough-Swindon service in the 1990s.

The so-called ‘mothballing’ in 1993 led to the route falling into disrepair, and it now needs rebuilding at enormous cost. It was left to the councils to promote the case until former BR boss Sir Bob Reid came into the area and was amazed at the lack of progress, and secured some funding to upgrade MK Central.

The record of the New Towns Commission and successor bodies on rail was mixed: Peterlee, Washington, Skelmersdale have still not regained rail links; Corby only recently regained passengers services; Peterborough, Northampton, Stevenage/Welwyn/ Hatfield all lost cross-country routes despite their projected growth. In a recent study, the latter was even seen as part of a viable potential East West Rail route.

The excellent work of the East West Rail Consortium has been pressing the case since 1996. MPs along the line also continue to

press the case.

The case for reopening the Milton Keynes-Oxford line has long been established, with a Benefit:Cost Ratio of 11:1, but reopening timescales keep slipping - from 2017 to 2019 to 2022 or later.

This hardly suggests Milton Keynes Development Corporation left a great legacy for rail.

Chris Wright, Caister