Development Plans 2006 To 2010
In May 2006, the Department for Transport announced specific plans for Bletchley station:
- maintenance of the new Desiro trains to be moved to a new depot at Northampton by the end of June 2006; Northampton will also take over the maintenance of all other Silverlink trains by December 2006;
- closure of Bletchley TMD for regular train maintenance;
- construction of a new high-level platform to replace the current low-level platform used for Bletchley services; the new platform will be suitable for use by any future East-West services;
- full resignalling and network simplification.
In addition, as part of a project to regenerate Bletchley as a whole, Milton Keynes Council proposed the creation of a new eastern pedestrian access to the station by extending the existing platform overbridge across the tracks to reach Saxon Street. The eastern entrance will open out into a new station square and transport interchange where an at-grade pedestrian crossing across Saxon Street would give access to the town centre. In the longer-term, it was hoped to construct an underground concourse to link the eastern and western station entrances.
The Bletchley TMD ceased to be a full service maintenance depot on 30 May 2008, with most services being transferred to Northampton or Birmingham. The Bedford-Bletchley Rail Users' Association believed that the closure could result in delays on the Marston Vale Line, since the line is worked by diesel services (unlike London Midland's adjoining routes which are electrified) and maintenance staff and new units would now have to travel from Tyseley.
As of October 2010, work on the high-level platform or the Saxon Street entrance had yet to begin.
Read more about this topic: Bletchley Railway Station, Future
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