Marlborough Rail Link

Marlborough Rail Link: In 2013, we worked with colleagues in the Bedwyn Trains Passenger Group to campaign for the electrification of the London Paddington Line to be extended beyond Newbury and up to Bedwyn. This also offers the opportunity to restore and electrify the line between Bedwyn and Marlborough, since the land opposite Marlborough's Business Park could offer much better terminus facilities for the new electrified service than would be possible at Bedwyn. You can read our outline feasibility study, here... and a pictorial guide to the preferred old Great Western route is here...

Between the beginning of June and the end of July, 2014, 1,017 people signed up in support of this proposal . We are grateful for all your extremely persuasive comments. Some of these comments have been copied and pasted into a report which has been forwarded to Claire Perry M.P. with a request for her support for an official feasibility study.

You can now down-load this 15 page report here:

Restoring the Line to Marlborough - An analysis of comments made by 1,017 local residents in support of our proposal to restore and electrify the railway line between Bedwyn and Marlborough

Since then we have:

• Met with the Crown Estates to request that road access between the Salisbury Road and the proposed site of the new station is maintained.
• Met with Wilts Councillor Horace Prickett to request funding for a feasibility study.
• Met with Isobel Brown, the Director of Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership and Wilts Councillor Nick Fogg, to discuss the proceedure for getting this project into Network Rail's plan for 'Control Period 6' i.e. 2019 to 2024.

The outcome of these meetings have confirmed that Wiltshire Council has sufficient funds for a feasibility study, and the SWLEP has sufficient government funding to support the project, so we now need to increase our level of engagement with these bodies to continue to argue that the Marlborough Rail Link is a priority for the Marlborough Area.

Please get in touch with us via transport at transitionmarlborough.org if you would like more information.

A leaflet with the schematic above can be downloaded here.

Sustainable Transport Projects listing:

• Marlborough Rail Link
• Marlborough Cycle Network
  • Marlborough Cycle Network map
• Improving our bus services