Bletchley railway station

Bletchley is a railway station that serves the southern districts 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 station for Stadium mk, the home of Milton Keynes Dons F.C., at present about 30 minutes walk.

There are ticket barriers controlling access to the platforms.

History
The London and Birmingham Railway, now part of the "West Coast Main Line", was officially opened from Euston to 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 inter-city services stop at Bletchley.

The eastbound route (to Bedford) opened in 1846, when the first station at Bletchley was built. The westbound route (to Buckingham) opened in 1850. This east/west route subsequently became the Oxford to Cambridge "Varsity Line".

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. The line beyond Bletchley through Winslow to Bicester is closed to passenger traffic at present, 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") over the WCML at Bletchley remains in place and in occasional use. There is a campaign to re-open the line to passenger traffic at least as far as Bicester and ideally rebuild it from Oxford right through to Cambridge. In 2001, the Strategic Rail Authority considered but rejected the option to reopen the line between Bicester and Bletchley. The track has been lifted back to Swanbourne and from there to Claydon Junction the track is overgrown. The remaining section from Bicester remains open for traffic to Oxford. (The future of this route is more fully described at the Varsity Line article).

Development plans 2006 to 2010
In May 2006, the Department for Transport announced specific plans for Bletchley station:
 * maintenance of the new Desiro trains to be moved to a new depot at Northampton by the end of June 2006; Northampton will also take over the maintenance of all other Silverlink trains by December 2006;
 * closure of Bletchley TMD for regular train maintenance;
 * construction of a new high-level platform to replace the current low-level platform used for Bletchley services; the new platform will be suitable for use by any future East-West services;
 * full resignalling and network simplification.

In addition, as part of a project to regenerate Bletchley as a whole, Milton Keynes Council 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 eastern entrance will open out into a new station square and transport interchange where an at-grade pedestrian crossing across Saxon Street would give access to the town centre. In the longer-term, it was hoped to construct an underground concourse to link the eastern and western station entrances.

The Bletchley TMD ceased to be a full service maintenance depot on 30 May 2008, with most services being transferred to Northampton or Birmingham. The Bedford-Bletchley Rail Users' Association believed that the closure could result in delays on the Marston Vale Line, since the line is worked by diesel services (unlike London Midland's adjoining routes which are electrified) and maintenance staff and new units would now have to travel from Tyseley.

, work on the high-level platform or the Saxon Street entrance had yet to begin.

Development to 2017
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 2017. It is unclear if a new high level station will be built at the station (the existing east-west line crosses the WCML via a bridge that is close to the existing station).

Services
Southbound, London Midland operate services between Bletchley and London Euston, as well as east to Bedford. Additionally, Southern operate services between Bletchley and South Croydon. Northbound, both operators run services to Milton Keynes Central, with London Midland continuing on to Northampton and stations to Birmingham New Street.