Marston Vale Line

The Marston Vale Line (Network Rail route MD 140) is the railway line from Bletchley to Bedford in England. It is one of two surviving passenger-carrying sections of the "Varsity Line" between Oxford and Cambridge.

It was designated by the Department for Transport as a community rail line in November 2006.

Operations
The line is part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 18, SRS 18.12 and is classified as a Rural line.

Silverlink (1996 to 2007)
Silverlink operated the link from privatisation in 1996 until the franchise renewal in 2007. Services were initially in the hands of a mixture of heritage slam-door diesel multiple units formed of 2-car Class 117 and single-car Class 121 units until replacement with Class 150/1 trains inherited from Central Trains.

London Midland (From November 2007)
Passenger services are operated by London Midland, using Class 153 single-car diesel multiple units and two-car class 150 unit. An hourly service operates in each direction Monday-Saturday.

Infrastructure
Apart from a short length of single track at both ends, the line is double track, and is not electrified (barring short lengths at either end). It has a loading gauge of W8 and a line speed of 60 mph. The line's Signalling Centre is at Ridgmont.

Community Rail Partnership
The Marston Vale Line is one of a number of British Railways that is covered by a Community Rail Partnership, known as the Marston Vale Community Rail Partnership. Like other Community Rail Partnerships around the country, the Partnership aims to increase use of the line by getting local people involved with their local line. They do this by various means, such as holding community events, running special train services, and publicising the line locally.

Re-opening campaign
There is a campaign to recreate a high quality east-west rail link connecting Oxford, Aylesbury, Milton Keynes and Bedford in the west with Cambridge, Norwich, Ipswich and the port of Felixstowe in the east. The Marston Vale Line is one of the last remaining parts still in use and the campaign's current work concentrates on the section between Bletchley and Oxford. The present status of the line is: from Oxford to Bicester, it is open and in use; from Bicester through Winslow to Bletchley, it is closed but could be reinstated; from Bletchley to Bedford, it is open and in use; and from Bedford to Cambridge, a new route will be required. (see main article for details).

Extension to Milton Keynes Central
In June 2005, Silverlink announced their intent to extend their Marston Vale service to Milton Keynes Central (via the West Coast Main Line), where a new platform with associated track would be built (alongside the slow mainline "up" track). On 4 December 2006, work began at Milton Keynes Central to prepare for a service connection from the Marston Vale line. The platform was ready for use in January 2009 but services (now operated by London Midland) have yet to commence.

A further increase in service frequency seems likely if the National institute for research into aquatic habitats succeeds in its bid to build the world's largest freshwater aquarium in Stewartby. Additionally, in 2008 Marston Vale made the shortlist of 15 potential locations for the building of 10 new Eco-towns in England. If this goes ahead, it will involve the construction of 15,000 new homes in the vale, in addition to the several thousand already authorised. As of January 2009, neither of these projects appears to have momentum.