Rail campaigners are hoping the plan to rip up the Luton-Dunstable railway and replace it with a guided busway may still be scrapped.
They hoped the busway scheme would be axed immediately by the new Government but Luton Council drove a bus and a crane on to the line on Tuesday 1 June 2010 as part of a “groundbreaking” ceremony to mark the start of work on the busway.
Councillor Roy Davis wielded a spade on the track, just three weeks after the general election.
Cynics said it was a publicity stunt to show some support for the scheme just as the Government prepares to wield the axe.
Rail campaigners were surprised to see that the ceremony was attended by normally pro-rail MP Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North).
By contrast, Tory MP Andrew Selous wants to see the busway scheme axed and the rail link restored to Dunstable which “would be a great asset to the area”.
He said: “It strikes me as a huge irony that you were able to get a train from Dunstable to London in 1859 when Dunstable had a population of 3,500 and you cannot take one today when Dunstable has a population of around 37,000.”
He has been told a contract was signed on 17 May, just 11 days after the general election. The Department for Transport has said it would take that contract into account “as part of the re-examination of the approval given for this scheme.”
A rail campaigner commented: “A town in the Pas-de-Calais with a total population of 37,000 has just attracted two new rail schemes, while Luton-Dunstable, which is six or seven times bigger, is unable to attract anything better than a busway, crucial bits of which will run on plain highway.
“The Luton guided busway is an abomination. It should be cancelled outright.”
Shortly after the ceremony a rail campaigner checked the site to find one rail length had been removed but the yellow-jacketed entourage had left along with the Arriva bus and the crane.
Arriva was taken over in April by DB. Chiltern Railways, also owned by DB, has a credible plan to run trains on the existing Luton-Dunstable line but was ignored by Luton Council.
DB has experience of tram-train operation – as at and Karlsruhe – and Dunstable could be an ideal test-bed for tram-trains in Britain. particularly diesel tram-trains which DB operates at Kassel.
Luton Council, however, It is pushing ahead with the £89 million bus scheme even though it is expected to attract only 1% of car users and has a cost-benefit ratio of less than 1. It is certainly not value for money. Thousands of rail schemes are better rated than that!
The contractor, BAM Nuttall, has become famous for building the Cambridge-St Ives busway which is still not operational, more than a year after it was expected to open.
On 10 June, the Government announced a freeze on approving transport schemes while it reviews spending on transport.
Campaigners could help the cause by writing to Andrew Selous MP and to Transport Minister Norman Baker at the House of Commons, SW1A 0AA.
Mr Selous is MP for South West Bedfordshire and Mr Baker is MP for Lewes but also a Transport Minister responsible for regional and local transport and has, in the past, been very supportive of rail.
Transport schemes have been scrapped in the past even when contracts have been let. Politicians do take notice of letters, especially when they support the MP’s view!