Bletchley railway station

Bletchley
Location
Place	West Bletchley
Local authority	Borough of Milton Keynes
Grid reference	SP868337
Operations
Station code	BLY
Managed by	London Midland
Number of platforms	6
DfT category	C2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2002/03	0.669 million
2004/05	0.677 million
2005/06	0.682 million
2006/07	0.688 million
2007/08	0.732 million
2008/09	0.725 million
2009/10	0.715 million
2010/11	0.808 million
2011/12	0.849 million
- Interchange	74,673
2012/13	0.881 million
- Interchange	75,916
2013/14	0.928 million
- Interchange	80,126
History
Key dates	Opened 1846 (1846)
Original company	London and Birmingham Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bletchley from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Southward view of platforms.

Station front in 1962

Bletchley is a railway station that serves the southern parts of Milton Keynes, England (especially Bletchley itself), and the north-eastern parts of the Buckinghamshire district of Aylesbury Vale.

It includes a junction of the West Coast Main Line with the Bletchley-Bedford Marston Vale Line.

This is one of the five railway stations serving Milton Keynes. The others are Milton Keynes Central, Wolverton, Fenny Stratford and Bow Brickhill.

It is the nearest main line station for Bletchley Park, the WW2 codebreaking centre, and for Stadium mk, the home of Milton Keynes Dons F.C., at present about 30 minutes' walk. Fenny Stratford is closer, on the Marston Vale Line.

There are ticket barriers controlling access to the platforms.

History

Main articles: West Coast Main Line, Marston Vale Line, and Varsity Line

The London and Birmingham Railway, now part of the "West Coast Main Line", was officially opened from London Euston as far as Denbigh Hall (approximately one mile north of Bletchley station) on 9 April 1838, where a temporary station was built. The line was fully opened in September 1838, and there seemed no apparent need for a station in the Bletchley area at all. It was not until 1847 that Bletchley station was built following the opening of the line from Bedford. Originally a major intercity station, that role passed to Milton Keynes Central in 1982 when the latter was built, long after the east–west route had been downgraded, taking Bletchley's importance as a junction with it. Today, no Virgin Trains stop at Bletchley.

The eastward route (to Bedford St Johns) opened in 1846, when the first station at Bletchley was built. The westward route (to Buckingham) opened in 1850. This east–west route subsequently became the Oxford – Cambridge "Varsity Line".

Up freight on West Coast Main Line at Bletchley in 1964

A local train for Banbury leaves Bletchley Station in 1948

Accidents and incidents

• On 14 October 1939, an express passenger train was in a collision with another train. Five people were killed and more than 30 were injured.

Community Rail Partnership

Bletchley, in common with other stations on the Marston Vale line, is covered by the Marston Vale Community Rail Partnership. The Partnership aims to increase use of the line by getting local people involved with their local line.

Future

The Marston Vale Line is the passenger carrying remnant of the Varsity Line. As of 2014, the line beyond Bletchley through Winslow to Bicester Town is closed to passenger traffic, with goods traffic going only as far as Newton Longville sidings for the waste disposal site there. The high level crossing (officially named the "The Bletchley Flyover" - built in 1959 as part of the Modernisation Plan, with 7 x 56 ft (17 m) spans and then expected to be used by 80 trains a day) over the WCML at Bletchley remains in place and in occasional use. There is a funded plan to re-open the line to passenger traffic via Bicester to Oxford by 2019 and an unfunded desire to rebuild it from Oxford right through to Cambridge. A key element of the plan is to build a Bletchley high level station so that passengers may transfer between the lines. (Note that there is no corresponding east to north route).

Proposed entrance from Saxon Street

As part of a project to regenerate Bletchley as a whole, Milton Keynes Council has proposed the creation of a new eastern pedestrian access to the station by extending the existing platform overbridge across the tracks to reach Saxon Street. The proposed eastern entrance is to open out into a new station square and a transport interchange where an at-grade pedestrian crossing across Saxon Street would give access to the town centre and bus station. In the longer term it is planned to construct an underground concourse to link the eastern and western station entrances.

Development to 2019

Following approval on 29 November 2011 of the western section of the East West Rail Link between Oxford, Milton Keynes Central and Bedford, the route is due be open in 2019. Unless Bletchley is bypassed, a new high level station will need be built at the station (the existing line crosses [and also connects with] the WCML via a bridge that is close to the existing station but which currently (May 2014) does not have access to the existing station for trains between Oxford and Milton Keynes Central without reversing).

At the end of 2010, work on the high-level platform or the Saxon Street entrance had yet to begin. As of May 2014, this remains the case. However, on 7 July 2014, the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership announced that the Government had allocated £64.6M funding for various projects that includes a £1.5M contribution towards the cost of this work.

Ticket office opening hours

In mid September 2012, the Transport Minister Norman Baker announced in a 'written answer' that the Government has approved London Midland's request to reduce the opening hours of the ticket office, so that the station will close at 21:00 on Mondays and 20:00 on Tuesdays to Fridays. Defending the Government's decision to reduce the opening hours here and at Wolverton, local MPs Iain Stewart and Mark Lancaster said that most passengers use ticket machines to buy or retrieve their tickets. Speaking for the opposition Cooperative and Labour Party, prospective parliamentary candidate Andrew Pakes called it the "thin end of the wedge", that it would put into question the opening hours of the station toilets and waiting room.

Services

Southwards, London Midland operate services to London Euston. Also, Southern runs trains to South Croydon. Northwards, both operators run services to Milton Keynes Central, with London Midland continuing on to Northampton, Rugby and Birmingham New Street. There is also one train to and from Crewe on weekdays. Additional London Midland services to/from Euston start and terminate here during the rush hour.

Services also operate between Bletchley and Bedford on the Marston Vale Line on Monday to Saturday only.

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Milton Keynes Central		London Midland West Coast Main Line		Leighton Buzzard
Milton Keynes Central		Southern Milton Keynes-South Croydon		Leighton Buzzard
Terminus		London Midland Marston Vale Line		Fenny Stratford
	Future services
Milton Keynes Central		East West Rail Link Milton Keynes Central  – Oxford and Reading		Winslow towards Oxford
Fenny Stratford or Woburn Sands towards Bedford		East West Rail Link Bedford to Oxford		Winslow towards Oxford
Milton Keynes Central		East West Rail Link, London - Aylesbury Milton Keynes Central – London Marylebone		Winslow towards Aylesbury
Historical railways
Swanbourne Line and station closed		London Midland Region of British Railways Varsity Line Oxford  – Cambridge		Fenny Stratford Line and station open

See also

• Bletchley Traction Maintenance Depot

External links

• Train times and station information for Bletchley railway station from National Rail
• High resolution aerial photography from MKWEB