Luton - Dunstable Line over M1.

[james60059]

Couple weeks ago, I went down the M1 to see my Dad, and noticed work seems to be taking place on the abandoned bridge over the M1 motorway.

http://goo.gl/maps/9ZNO8 The railway line can be seen between the A505 and Bradley Road.

I'm assuming this is prep work for the guided busway that was proposed some time ago :roll:

Regards and Best Wishes

James

 

[ole man]

Work was started there last year, but never went as far as the bridge, something to do with the roadworks that was there at the time.

 

[DarloRich]

There is always an on going liability associated with the maintenance of redundant structures.

 

[GoByThameslink]

http://goo.gl/maps/9ZNO8 The railway line can be seen between the A505 and Bradley Road.

I'm assuming this is prep work for the guided busway that was proposed some time ago :roll:

Regards and Best Wishes

James

Yes, it definitely is work for the Guided Busway. According to the BBC it is £11m over budget ()http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-18364078. Originally due for completion this year, however, I can't find an opening date on either the Council site or the Busway site. Hope it isn't going to be as late or as overbudget as the Cambridge one.

 

[asylumxl]

Yes, it definitely is work for the Guided Busway. According to the BBC it is £11m over budget ()http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-18364078. Originally due for completion this year, however, I can't find an opening date on either the Council site or the Busway site. Hope it isn't going to be as late or as overbudget as the Cambridge one.

They closed Hitchin Road at the town centre end in Luton, and the date for reopening keeps going up and up. After the initial 4 weeks, it become 8 from that date, and is now at 10!

 

[Bedpan]

I rather hope it is late and overbudget, if that means that in future they will be more likely to reopen closed railway lines to trains trains rather than misguidedly (IMO) spending millions on converting them to a busway. In the case of the Dunstable branch, most of the track was still in situ and had to be taken up when they started work.

 

[Trog]

A lot of the track on the Dunstable branch was relaid in the 1980's when Hatters Way was built then hardly used.

 

[ole man]

Is the Station at Dunstable still there?, i know that connecting the line at Luton would be very hard with student flats there now and a car park.

Didn't this line go somewhere else after Luton?

 

[Eagle]

Didn't this line go somewhere else after Luton?

Welwyn. (And heading west they continued to Leighton Buzzard.)

 

[fsmr]

We lived in Houghton Regis in the mid 80s when the Blue circle cement works was still there and freight trains ran. I remember a temporary platform built in Dunstable for passenger charters. Real shame as the way that money is now being thrown at reopening lines such as the Varsity, maybe even putting the line back all the way to Leighton Buzzard would have made a fantastic diversion route.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

Is the mess outside Luton station to do with this as well ?

 

[ole man]

Have they replaced the footbridge and renewed the lifts?