Tempsford railway station explained

Tempsford
Status:Disused
Borough:Tempsford, Central Bedfordshire
Country:England
Grid Name:Grid reference
Platforms:4
Original:Great Northern Railway
Pregroup:Great Northern Railway
Postgroup:London and North Eastern Railway
Events:Opened
Years1:5 November 1956
Events1:Closed for passengers
Years2:1 March 1965
Events2:closed for freight
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Zoom:13

Tempsford railway station was a railway station built by the Great Northern Railway to serve the village of Tempsford in Bedfordshire, England.

History

The Great Northern Railway main line from London to had opened in 1850 including stations at and . A station between these, named Tempsford, was opened on 1 January 1863. It was located 47miles from .

The station closed on 5 November 1956.

Planned reopening

In January 2019, the East West Railway Company announced a number of options for a new route for the BedfordCambridge sector of their planned OxfordCambridge railway line.[1] In January 2020, the company announced that it had selected a route that would cross the ECML "in the Tempsford area", bypassing both Sandy railway station and St Neots railway station. The company did not formally decide at that point if East West Rail would use the old location or a new site,[2] However, in March 2021, the East West Railway Company opened an 'informal consultation' on proposals for the central section’s route alignment and thus the location of this station. Two sites were connsidered, one just north of the original station and the other, "St Neots South", a mile or so north of it: at that stage, the latter was its preference.[3]

In May 2023, the EWRC announced Tempsford as the preferred location for the new interchange station and dismissed the "St Neots South" option.[4] [5] The indicative location for the station is about north of the original station.[6]

References

52.1739°N -0.2751°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Have your say. eastwestrail.co.uk.
  2. Web site: Bedford to Cambridge: The Preferred Route Option . East West Rail Ltd . 30 January 2020. 19 February 2020.
  3. Web site: Consultation Technical Report . 371 . March 2021 . East West Rail Co..
  4. News: East-West Rail: Route for £5bn Bedford to Cambridge link announced . BBC News . 26 May 2023 . Pete . Cooper . Ben . Schofield.
  5. Web site: East West Rail Route Update Report. East West Rail. May 2023. 26 May 2023. 100-103 (51-52).
  6. Alignments 1 & 9 – Tempsford variant . East West Rail Co. . 26 May 2023.