BREAKING THE TRANSLINK DEADLOCK

Kelvin Hopkins MP for Luton North has proposed a way forward to break the deadlock between Luton Borough Council and South Beds District Council over the Translink project. South Beds want a railway and Luton want a busway and Kelvin Hopkins has proposed the obvious solution, a combined tramway and guided busway system.

Speaking to Luton North Constituency Labour Party on Thursday, Kelvin Hopkins said: “Some two years ago I suggested that Translink should form part of a super tram system linking Milton Keynes, Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable, Luton and possibly going on beyond Luton to the Hitchin/Baldock conurbation. Luton Borough Council has been convinced that a guided busway, with buses able to use Translink and existing roads in Luton, was essential for Luton's future transport needs. The obvious solution is to have both running on the same track.

“I have checked with transport engineers and it is perfectly feasible, because the axle width for buses is wider than that for trams so the concrete track for buses would run either side of the tram rails and we could have the best of both worlds. It would also mean much more intensive use of the Translink corridor and thus make it commercially more viable.

“The tramway would operate at high speed between towns, with closer stations/stops within towns. The guided busway would serve just the Luton conurbation, joining the Translink corridor at Skimpot Lane and Chaul End Lane at the west of the town, linked to the town centre and the mainline railway station, then travelling onwards to Luton Parkway up past Vauxhalls and into the heart of the Airport.

“The major advantage of a super tramway system, linking Milton Keynes and Luton, is that it would provide a fast, fixed commuter link between the two major towns, taking thousands of cars off the M1 through Luton. This would reduce congestion and pollution in the town and have many other advantages. A super tram system could be extended to the Hitchin/Baldock conurbation, and possibly down to Stevenage, with another link perhaps being built eventually to Welwyn and Hatfield and even Hertford.

“Such a system would put Luton at the hub of an economic sub-region with east west commuter links and at the same time provide for significant improvements in Luton's own local transport system.

“I have never been convinced of the heavy rail option for a number of reasons. The Translink corridor is too narrow to permit two tracks for travel in each direction and heavy rail could not cope with the gradients that trams take in their stride. Trams could get up the hill to the Airport, whereas heavy rail would merely join the existing mainline railway and bring little benefit to Luton.

“I have visited the Croydon super tram system with a parliamentary group, and that is now operating well. There are tram systems in many major cities across Europe, and I believe a super tramway into the heart of Luton would bring an enormous boost to the town in so many ways.

“I think we have to be adventurous, think big and persuade other towns in the area, as well as Government, to back the scheme. It is possible that the guided bus system for Luton could be cheaper and more commercially viable if combined with a tramway drawing on other sources of external finance. This scheme is in my view so important that we should demand government involvement and financial support and possibly a purely public sector solution.

“I am now putting forward my suggestion to Luton Borough Council, to all the other local authorities which would be linked by the tramway and to government. It is now time to start lobbying and I would ask everyone in Luton to support the idea.”