Aylesbury Vale Parkway

There are still areas to the North of Aylesbury that will hopefully benefit, Quarrendon for example. I'm not sure about the traffic offerings North of Aylesbury, Quainton has some commuters, and Winslow maybe too.

Chiltern are thinking of constructing a chord to reach Bicester Town, only £200m!

So they can provide an Oxford-London service. But that will have more effect on the Chiltern Main Line rather than London-Aylesbury tbh.

They can't be serious about reopening that much of the old Varsity line though can they? It's been closed for so long, even though some of the track is still in place it will have degraded so much that the cost will be astronomical, and more so the longer it's left. Also as you say the trackbed has been built across at many points.

Look at the Robin Hood Line; tunnel buried with waste and allsorts, cuttings filled in, houses built over the site [unknown to developers]. Those houses had to be demolished, waste extracted etc. Proves it is possible, though at a cost! And look at the Bluebell Railways plans... It might take 20 years, but I think it is possible for at least part of the old Varsity Line to be reopened. I respect your being sceptical about the plan, but if they are determined to see it come to fruition, they will acheive that... It's just finding the funding and foresight from respective parties that are the hurdles to overcome, not to mention current landowners where the trackbed has been reclaimed...

I agree entirely,and I'm not sceptical,just a bit depressed by the snail's pace of English rail development.
Apparently local authorities can designate disused railway lines as "future rail use" for planning purposes at very little cost,and then re-opening can take place on an as-and-when basis.
What upsets me is when a local authority refuses to do this,even on a line with such proven strategic value as the Varsity Line,meaning more delay,more costwhen the job comes to be done.

To quote the Chiltern website "Situated on the A41, Aylesbury Vale Parkway removes the need to drive into Aylesbury itself for those passengers from areas north-west of the town."

They are also running a free (for season ticket holders) bus from Quainton, Waddesdon etc. so I doubt they are expecting many passengers to arrive on foot.

Hmm, joined up thinking eh? The trouble is, we have the rather insane 'policy' of having to consult everyone and everything about the slightest change. Take the High Speed Rail Link for example... Yes environmental concerns are important. Look at France, Japan and Germany and how they sort out their railways. Being polite, I think we just need to get on with rebuilding the railway and battle out the doubters in the courts! Thats what happened in the mid 19th Century with obstinate landowners. Brunel and his difficult sub-contractors; he just sacked them all and got his own working on the projects!

Rail in the UK has effectively been starved of investment for some FIFTY YEARS, and now were are beginning to see the bad effect that has had.

Perhaps now we are having, or are starting, Railway Mania 2, 1840 - 1860 all over again!

There are a few pics on Railway Stations UK, linky, for you at; therailwaystationgallery.fotopic.net/

Possibly... given that a railway line , was talked about being reopened, but plans were scuppered after a rare breed of newts/snails were found in a particularly damp section of cutting.

The most hopeful reopening I head of, was the rebuilding of Belah Viaduct. Well, thats some dream, but... you never know!!! www.forgottenrelics.co.uk/bridges/belah.html

I'm not so sure that the exact structure would be replicated if it ever were to happen, but?

Maybe they could do something about linking Marylebone and Baker Street directly, could be an opportunity to improve Marylebone's (currently dire it has to be said) underground links. Was thinking about that the other day, the distance can't be any greater than the distance between Bank and Monument. We're probably getting a bit ahead of ourselves though.

Rail has reported it (re-instatement to Rugby) as a long-term aspiration of Adrian Shooter, and in the shorter-term that Chiltern wish to run a service North from Aylesbury to Milton Keynes via Calvert and the re-laid East-West line, in conjunction with the other East-West proposals. It was also mentioned in Edwina Currie's Dr Beeching documentary.

I think the suggested service pattern was for 2tph Oxford to Milton Keynes or Bedford and 2tph Aylesbury to Milton Keynes. Plus of course Chiltern's 2tph Oxford to Marylebone via the new chord at Bicester and High Wycombe. Signalling for the reinstated East-West line was IIRC proposed to allow 8tph each way so that there is room for freight and possible use by Cross-Country. IIRC the CBR was lower for the Aylesbury route than for the Oxford-MK route but both were positive.

This diagram may be of interest -
www.eastwestrail.org.uk/downloads/Maps/schematic_milton_keynes_south_mid.pdf

Also, there was some suggestion that various HS2 proposals (eg Greengauge) would use parts of the GCR alignment, which was built to continental gauge and still runs largely through open countryside.

UPDATE: Modern Railways July 2008 quotes Adrian Shooter suggesting a 2012 opening for Aylesbury-MK and also states that Aylesbury Vale Parkway has been built to allow it to act as an island platform for future through services.

Maybe a very distant solution to a possible overcrowding solution at Marylebone could be a crossrail link between there and Fenchurch Street? The route would be a nice inbetween corridor of the Met and Jubilee.

I do so hope though that Chiltern keep on having dreams about what they want for the future. The country need more infrastructure, and a lot of it seems to be on or connected to the former GCR

Amen to that. Even so I do think there are some obstacles that simply can't be overcome with the GCR. Cost mainly.

I saw one the other day too. Considering that I had to think before working out what it meant what hope have the general public?

Is it that important? I thought Chiltern had announcements on the stations, and if passengers hear an announcement that the next train is going to Aylesbury Vale Parkway, a lot of them wouldn't even look at the front of the train, and also, it only takes a day or to to get used to it, so it isn't a problem for people who use the line often.