Thameslink is a mainline route on the British railway network, running from Bedford, Luton, St Albans City, Peterborough, Welwyn Garden City, London Blackfriars and Cambridge via central London to Sutton, Orpington, Sevenoaks, Rainham, Horsham, Three Bridges, Brighton and East Grinstead. The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying more than 28,000 passengers in the morning peak. All the services are currently operated by Govia Thameslink Railway. Parts of the network, from Bedford to Three Bridges, run 24 hours a day, except on early Sunday mornings and during maintenance periods.
St Neots is a town and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is 18 miles (29 km) west of Cambridge. The areas of Eynesbury, Eaton Ford and Eaton Socon form part of the town.
Sandy is a town and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire, England. It lies 8 miles (13 km) to the east of Bedford, 18 miles (29 km) to the south west of Cambridge and 43 miles (69 km) north of Central London. It had a population of 12,171 at the 2021 census.
The Marston Vale line is the line between Bletchley and Bedford in England, a surviving remnant of the former Varsity Line between Oxford and Cambridge, most of which was closed in the late 1960s. The line is sponsored by the Marston Vale community rail partnership. The line is to be adopted and upgraded as part of East West Rail, a project underway to re-establish the Oxford–Cambridge route.
Elstree & Borehamwood railway station is a railway station in the town of Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England. It primarily serves Borehamwood as well as the nearby village of Elstree, 1.3 miles (2.1 km) to the south-west. The station is situated on the Midland Main Line, 12 miles 35 chains (20.0 km) down the line from London St Pancras and is situated between Mill Hill Broadway to the south and Radlett to the north. Its three-letter station code is ELS.
Bedford St Johns is one of two railway stations in Bedford in Bedfordshire, England, on the Marston Vale Line linking Bletchley and Bedford. It is unstaffed and is operated by London Northwestern Railway.
Bedford railway station is the larger of two railway stations in the town of Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. It is on the Midland Main Line from London St Pancras to the East Midlands and the terminus of the Marston Vale line from Bletchley through Bedford St Johns.
The Oxford–Cambridge Arc is a notional arc of agricultural and urban land at about 80 kilometres radius of London, in south central England. It runs between the British university cities of Oxford and Cambridge via Milton Keynes and other settlements in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire at the northern rim of the London commuter belt. It is significant only in economic geography, with little physical geography in common.
Bletchleyrailway station serves the southern parts of Milton Keynes, England, and the north-eastern parts of Aylesbury Vale. It is 47 miles (76 km) northwest of Euston, about 32 miles (51 km) east of Oxford and 17 miles (27 km) west of Bedford, and is one of the seven railway stations serving the Milton Keynes urban area.
St Neots railway station serves the town of St Neots in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located to the east of the town approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) from the town centre. It is on the East Coast Main Line, about 52 miles (83 km) from London King's Cross. The station is managed by Great Northern, although most services are operated by Thameslink.
Sandy railway station serves the town of Sandy in Bedfordshire, England. It is on the East Coast Main Line, about 44 miles (71 km) from London King's Cross. Sandy is managed by Great Northern but all train services are operated by Thameslink.
Tempsford is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of the county of Bedfordshire, England, about 7 miles (11 km) east north-east of the county town of Bedford.
Willington was a railway station on the Varsity Line which served the small village of the same name in Bedfordshire. Opened in 1903, the station was located in a rural area and saw little passenger traffic; it closed together with the line in 1968.
Offord and Buckden railway station was built by the Great Northern Railway to serve the twin villages of Offord Cluny and Offord D'Arcy in Cambridgeshire, England.
Stagecoach X5 is an inter-urban bus service linking Oxford and Bedford via Bicester, Buckingham and Milton Keynes
Wixams railway station is a planned railway station that is due to be built on the Midland Main Line for the Wixams new town development in Bedfordshire, England. It is proposed that the station be between Bedford and Flitwick.
Reston is a railway station in the small village of Reston that serves the wider rural parish of Coldingham and nearby small town of Eyemouth in the eastern Scottish Borders council area. The station is a minor stop on the East Coast Main Line and opened on 23 May 2022 after a £20 million investment. The station is owned by Network Rail and managed by ScotRail, although the latter company does not provide any services to or from the station. It is the second railway station to have been located in the village, having replaced an earlier station that closed in 1964.
Cambridge South railway station is a railway station that is under construction. Located in southern Cambridge, it is planned to serve the Cambridge Biomedical Campus and the adjacent suburb of Trumpington. The station will be on the Cambridge line and the West Anglia Main Line, and is scheduled to open in 2025.
Cambourne railway station, also called Cambourne North is a proposed new railway station to serve Cambourne in Cambridgeshire. It would be situated on the Bedford–Cambridge section of the proposed East West Rail Oxford–Cambridge line.
East West Rail is a strategic aim to establish a new main line railway between East Anglia and South Wales. The immediate plan is to build a line linking Oxford and Cambridge via Bicester, Milton Keynes and Bedford, largely using the trackbed of the former Varsity Line. Thus it provides a potential route between any or all of the Great Western, Cotswold, Chiltern, West Coast, Midland, East Coast, West Anglia and Great Eastern main lines, avoiding London. The new line will provide a route for future services between Southampton Central or Swansea and Ipswich or Norwich, using existing onward lines. The government approved the western section in November 2011, with completion of the section to Bletchley expected by 2025, and services to Bedford to run by 2030.
