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The Northampton Rapid Transit Project May 2012 In response to the HS2 plans, that being a bold plan to link London and Birmingham with an entirely new track passing, probably, close to Brackley, NCC have voiced their concern that Northampton will not benefit from the new track and that a new station should be established on the (old) main line at Blisworth to provide at least 4 trains each day offering access to London within about 40 minutes. It has been noted that Castle Station, Northampton has little prospect of improvement. As any further stations placed on the main line will generally slow down all the services, maybe a better plan would be to establish a new town near Brackley where those workers, keen to commute to London, could establish their homes. 1994 - 1999 In 1994 the transport company RTI (Rapid Transport International plc) reported on a survey of the needs of many Midlands towns. Northampton was the subject of a proposed major network based on limited pathway buses (similar to the 2011 scheme eventually put into commission for Cambridge and north Cambridgeshire). These limited pathways need either to run alongside the conventional car and lorry roadways or run in dedicated new roadways. Phase II of the scheme showed the new bus network extending to all outer regions of the town based on the specialised buses using ordinary roads. Phase I concentrated on renewing James Way and building new connections across Cotton End. To the southwest of that "circuit" (see blue/white in the diagram below - a new limited pathway) there was proposed further limited access pathway around the end of Hunsbury Hill crossing the M1 at the point where the new A43 made the crossing in 2000 (Junction 15A) and terminating at the disused Blisworth Station area. A brand new station there would serve also as a freight terminal and the area between Blisworth Arm and Rothersthorpe would become a densely populated industry and warehouse area. There would need to be a large car-parking area to the north of the tracks perhaps just where the Blisworth Marina was established some 12 years later.
One felt at the time that the idea was stimulated by the financial failure of Arm Farm at Blisworth Arm with the consequent passing of the farm land into the hands of a bank. Such an asset would require development, would it not? The concern of the Blisworth residents was based on increase vehicular traffic from the south to the Freight Terminal and a few residents who lived very near the proposed station were concerned with the noise and loss of amenity. Blisworth need not have worried because it rapidly became evident that the railways companies could not cope with the express schedules (the 110mph through trains) alongside of the slowly starting and stopping freight trains - there simply was not room enough the accommodate more "alongside slow loops", especially on the embankment and the bridge. Meanwhile a very worried Northampton Borough council wondered how the scheme might be phased in without total gridlock in a town hitherto deprived of good through roads. The following extract from a leaflet explains to "Joe Public" just what was promised: FACT SHEET Northampton International Parkway Station, Blisworth 1. The Parkway Station creates the potential of taking 3,000 cars each day from the road network. 2 Access to the station will be from a single point from the A43 dual carriageway by means of a grade separated junction. 3. There will be no access by car to the station from either Towcester Road or Station Road. 4. The Parkway Station will be an addition to the current commuter service available from Castle Station. 5. The improvement of public transport infrastructure is an essential feature of sustainable development, and is in full accord with the statutory planning framework at national, regional, County and District scales. 6. The community in Greater Northampton need, and will take great benefit from improved access to InterCity West Coast rail services. 7. The proposed International Parkway Station at Blisworth would also become the County's "Gateway to Europe" by providing access to European Passenger Services. 8. The proposal is technically feasible and will enable Northamptonshire to benefit from the modernisation of the West Coast Main Line over the next ten years. 9. The new station would be linked to park and ride facilities being designed as part of the emerging Northampton Rapid Transit System. 10. The proposal reinstates Blisworth as an important location on the West Coast Main Line - the proposal is on the site of the former Blisworth Junction station which closed in 1960. Evidently the councillors were reassured because RTI with its grand scheme lived on. On October 14, 1997 it was announced that the scheme had been approved only to be followed on the very next day with the verdict of planners who rejected the plan. See the following newspaper clip:
At this stage (July 2011) it will probably help to contact Northampton Borough to ask of the whereabouts of RTI - does it still live? The fact that, in 2010, the Borough announced a complex multi-phase scheme, taking two decades to execute, to improve access to the town from the point of view of pedestrians, cyclists, bus users, delivery companies and public cars etc. seems to indicate that the RTI or anything like it is in fact dead. That plan includes the 2009/10 improvements near the entrance to the railways station and on the outer Weedon Road. It was put out in 2010 for public comments. As yet, there have been no revisions announced. The plan did not extend far outside the Borough boundaries and so the future of the shaded area near Blisworth is still in the lap of the Gods (ie. bankers).
This
article was written in July 2011. |
Still the scheme was not abandonned. In June 1999 the papers carried
broad plans to enhance the railways links as evidenced by the inset plan
shown here. The new A43 bypass for Blisworth is incorporated in the
plan and, as we know, that bypass was completed approximately two years
later.