Bletchley Eastern entrance UPDATEs

[WolvertonWorks]

My apologies, and mods please delete or move this if so, if there is already a more appropriate thread somewhere - it didn't quite fit with E-W rail updates or consultation as it is about an existing station - but is it worth having a thread for updates on the new eastern entrance to Bletchley?

The local MP for Bletchley, Callum Anderson, is pressing for the new entrance to be built:

Yesterday at Transport Questions, Heidi Alexander, Secretary of State for Transport, confirmed that she and Lord Hendy, Minister for Rail, will meet with Callum, MP for Buckingham and Bletchley, to discuss delivering a modern gateway for local people and for visitors to access Bletchley Park.

Although the existing entrance is better located for the short walk across to the entrance to Bletchley Park.

 

[Starmill]

The local bus interchange is quite poor at Bletchley unfortunately. Something on that side would be better.

I assume nothing would change about the pick up / drop off, car parks and access to the main road towards Bletchley Park. The ticket office and crew facilities are down there anyway.

 

[Magdalia]

it didn't quite fit with E-W rail updates or consultation as it is about an existing station

Bletchley eastern entrance is part of East West Rail consultation see here:

How we’ve updated our design proposals Following further analysis of future passenger demand at Bletchley station and taking account of the consultation feedback, we’ve developed our design proposals to improve the station and increase its capacity. The proposed station upgrade now includes: • A new accessible footbridge at the south end of the station, with lifts and stairs to all platforms. • Extended platforms and improved emergency exits for platforms 6, 7 and 8. • An expanded western ticket hall and gate line, along with upgrades to the station forecourt. In addition to these improvements, we’re now considering including an eastern entrance to the station within our design, although the construction of this entrance would be subject to securing third-party funding. If delivered, the eastern entrance would benefit users of the station and the wider area, especially travellers accessing the station from the town centre. It would support a longstanding priority for Milton Keynes City Council and the wider community.

The EWR You Said We Did document is here:

https://assets.eastwestrail.co.uk/public/ListsBlockMedia/1c39bc5c2b/EWR-YSWD-Autumn-Update-2025-FOR-SCREEN-v3.pdf

You Said, We Did Autumn Update How feedback from NSC3 is helping inform design decisions, where we’ve been able to make key progress and outlining our next steps.

Here is a picture:

Figure 7: Aerial visualisation of Bletchley station

I don't see how Bletchley eastern entrance is any different from Cambridge eastern entrance with regard to discussion here, and we don't have a separate discussion for Cambridge eastern entrance.

 

[eastdyke]

Bletchley eastern entrance is part of East West Rail consultation see here:



The EWR You Said We Did document is here:

https://assets.eastwestrail.co.uk/public/ListsBlockMedia/1c39bc5c2b/EWR-YSWD-Autumn-Update-2025-FOR-SCREEN-v3.pdf

Here is a picture:



I don't see how Bletchley eastern entrance is any different from Cambridge eastern entrance with regard to discussion here, and we don't have a separate discussion for Cambridge eastern entrance.

Except:
That this [Bletchley] has also been in the news and that the EWR Consultation thread is locked!

As a matter of interest who is in the frame for third party funding of the new Bletchley entrance?

 

[DarloRich]

The local MP for Bletchley, Callum Anderson, is pressing for the new entrance to be built:

We are all pressing for it to be built - it should have been done when the high level platforms were built - if only he would press to keep the rest of the stations in his constituency open.........................

As a matter of interest who is in the frame for third party funding of the new Bletchley entrance?

Council/Government and/or developers

 

[MichaelDono]

I saw in an old document about having a subway to lead to the eastern entrance - somewhat difficult to tell from the plans here if it would be at grade to the access roads to the cement site, or if it would indeed come out at the level of the roadabout on Saxon Street.

For what it’s worth, I think a subway could provide a nicer passenger experience rather than what Low Level to westbound EWR will be - up, across, down, under the EWR tracks and back up again!

 

[DarloRich]

I think a subway could provide a nicer passenger experience rather than what Low Level to westbound EWR will be - up, across, down, under the EWR tracks and back up again!

it is an odd one!

However on day one the fire escape at the bottom of the high level underbridge will be popped open creating a nice eastern entrance

 

[WolvertonWorks]

Callum Anderson has now started a petition to get the new entrance built.

Callum Anderson MP has launched a new public petition calling for the delivery of a long-awaited eastern entrance at Bletchley Railway Station.

It is a move that he says would be “truly transformational” for residents, businesses and visitors alike.

Callum Anderson MP calls for new eastern entrance at train station serving Milton Keynes

Callum Anderson MP has launched a new public petition calling for the delivery of a long-awaited eastern entrance at Bletchley Railway Station.

www.mkfm.com

 

[zwk500]

Will this include making Platform 6 accessible as well? That was another thing that should have been done when the footbridge was altered for P7/8.

 

[DarloRich]

Callum Anderson has now started a petition to get the new entrance built.

Good - i have been pressing him on this.

Will this include making Platform 6 accessible as well? That was another thing that should have been done when the footbridge was altered for P7/8.

The argument is that P6 isnt used now ( it is!) and wont be used in the future when the MV service is murdered!

( it is a complete joke that this platform has no lift but, hey, its only Marston Vale passengers struggling up the stairs with buggies and cases and they arent worth a bucket of spit so all good ;- )

 

[Bletchleyite]

The argument is that P6 isnt used now ( it is!) and wont be used in the future when the MV service is murdered!

( it is a complete joke that this platform has no lift but, hey, its only Marston Vale passengers struggling up the stairs with buggies and cases and they arent worth a bucket of spit so all good ;- )

I believe the present situation is that if you book assistance they will put it into 5, but it can't be just put into 5 by default because freights need to go through and it's also used for getting units in and out of the depot.

That of course is only useful for wheelchair users, not those with prams etc.

 

[zwk500]

The argument is that P6 isnt used now ( it is!) and wont be used in the future when the MV service is murdered!

That argument doesn't wash it's face though, as P5 is used routinely for movements on/off Bletchley CS and in disruption to terminate trains or run them via the Bletchley Relief No.2

(But I know I'm preaching to the choir on that one).

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I believe the present situation is that if you book assistance they will put it into 5, but it can't be just put into 5 by default because freights need to go through and it's also used for getting units in and out of the depot.

This goes back to making accessibility 'a thing' though.

 

[DarloRich]

That argument doesn't wash it's face though, as P5 is used routinely for movements on/off Bletchley CS and in disruption to terminate trains or run them via the Bletchley Relief No.2

The good news is that peak MV trains are now routinely (but not always) accommodated in P5 which is really helpful.

Regardless P6 needs a lift. It should have one. it is 2026 afterall!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I've created a new thread to get into stations with lifts not at all platforms as it's an interesting tangent:

Stations with lifts but not to all platforms

On this thread: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/bletchley-eastern-entrance-updates.295181/#post-7700343 ...it's pointed out that Bletchley has lifts to all platforms except 6 for the Marston Vale. I suspect the reasons for this are twofold - one, that BR expected at the time the lifts...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[RGM654]

If it isn't too far off topic, can I ask why the station was apparently originally built with the entrance on the other side from what little settlement existed at the time?

 

[Bletchleyite]

If it isn't too far off topic, can I ask why the station was apparently originally built with the entrance on the other side from what little settlement existed at the time?

It was largely in the middle of a field distant from settlement generally - think Cheddington as to what it might have looked like. Probably built for railway convenience more than anything else, though there was settlement on the side the entrance is on - the crossroads by the Three Trees was one of the former village centres, the other one being Fenny which had its own station presumably planned at the time as it opened only a few (6-7 depending on records) years later. All of the housing etc surrounding it now (bar a few isolated old houses on the Buckingham Road) is more recent.

Perhaps because it faced the Park for its rich owner to use it (before it went into Government use)?

This map (linked rather than embedded as it's quite big) nicely shows there being more "stuff" on the side where it is than the other side aside from Fenny itself:

https://maps.francisfrith.com/rnc/bletchley-1898-1901_rnc644169_large.png

 

[zwk500]

If it isn't too far off topic, can I ask why the station was apparently originally built with the entrance on the other side from what little settlement existed at the time?

When the line was built, the settlement of Bletchley was west of the line. I expect the actual reason for building the station on the side it is was more for the railway's convenience (Parcels platforms or loading docks), but it did face where Bletchley was then.

 

[DarloRich]

If it isn't too far off topic, can I ask why the station was apparently originally built with the entrance on the other side from what little settlement existed at the time?

The entrance faced the settlement around Bletchley Park and village at the time of construction. The development on the other side of the staiton towards the much older settlement of Fenny Stratford ( ) & water Eaton came after the first world war and the centre of the town moved to the area of what is now Queensway.

EDIT - Basically that roughly square shaped space to the right of the station is now the town centre and associated terraced housing while the area to the left is basically 70/80's barrat developments

 

[MK Tom]

I'd really love to see a footbridge run from the EWR platforms right over Saxon Street to the bus station, but sadly the current MK Council administration is hell-bent on downgrading roads and forcing pedestrians onto them.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Mar 2026 ==

View attachment 199547
When the line was built, the settlement of Bletchley was west of the line. I expect the actual reason for building the station on the side it is was more for the railway's convenience (Parcels platforms or loading docks), but it did face where Bletchley was then.

Thanks for posting this. I knew the village of Bletchley was historically around the St. Mary's Church area, but I hadn't realised that the larger portion of it was around the Newton Road / Buckingham Road junction.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'd really love to see a footbridge run from the EWR platforms right over Saxon Street to the bus station, but sadly the current MK Council administration is hell-bent on downgrading roads and forcing pedestrians onto them.

New speculative thread to discuss how it should look:

Bletchley Eastern entrance - how should it look?

From https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/bletchley-eastern-entrance-updates.295181/#post-7700446: I'd really love to see a footbridge run from the EWR platforms right over Saxon Street to the bus station, but sadly the current MK Council administration is hell-bent on downgrading roads and...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[al green]

That argument doesn't wash it's face though, as P5 is used routinely for movements on/off Bletchley CS and in disruption to terminate trains or run them via the Bletchley Relief No.2

(But I know I'm preaching to the choir on that one).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Mar 2026 ==


This goes back to making accessibility 'a thing' though.

If the trailing crossover at the north end of p5 and 6 was re-instated (only removed about 10 years ago) then MV services could always go into p5 and trains heading to/from Carr sidings or BR2 could pass through p6.

 

[Magdalia]

As a matter of interest who is in the frame for third party funding of the new Bletchley entrance?

BBC are reporting that Milton Keynes Council could contribute up to £5m.

'Transformative' Bletchley station improvements get closer

A council agrees to give between £3m and £5m towards the project.

www.bbc.co.uk

Plans to create a "transformative" new entrance at a station on the East-West Rail route have taken a step forward.
Milton Keynes City Council's cabinet has agreed to contribute up to £5m to the project in Bletchley.
Developers of the East-West Rail line, between Oxford and Cambridge, will have to find the rest.
The council said the new entrance would increase the viability of new houses and shops.
At the moment, the entrance to Bletchley station is on the western side, opposite Milton Keynes College.
Passengers alighting at the station and heading to the town centre face a long walk under a wide bridge and they have to cross a busy road.
The proposed new entrance would be built on Saxon Street, on the other side of the station. The existing entrance would still remain.
The council said the project had "transformative potential".

 

[Bletchleyite]

Given that Bletchley is more of an origin than a destination, and this is not likely to change outside of football matches and gigs at the stadium (for which this will shorten the walk via the most obvious route slightly), I think "transformative" is slightly overtalking it, but it's certainly necessary particularly if Fenny is to close, so good that it's progressing.

 

[eastdyke]

BBC are reporting that Milton Keynes Council could contribute up to £5m.

'Transformative' Bletchley station improvements get closer

A council agrees to give between £3m and £5m towards the project.

www.bbc.co.uk

Thank you for sharing.

The cabinet agreed that the money should only be provided if East-West Rail can get funding to cover the rest of the cost of the entrance.
The latest estimate is being kept confidential by the council.

Do we have a 'ball park' idea of the total?

"It's easier to walk straight out and straight on to the crossing, straight into town, [and] they've got the bus station directly opposite ready to go to Aylesbury or wherever they want to go."

LOL.

 

[D1511]

£17m for Bletchley Eastern entrance confirmed today.

The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has today announced Government funding to support the construction of a new eastern entrance at Bletchley station which will be delivered as part of the East West Rail project.

Link to EWR press release confirming £17m of Govt funding from the Growth Mission Fund for Bletchley station eastern entrance

Well done to everyone involved for getting this over the line. A real joint effort by NR, MKCC, EWR, LNR and Callum Anderson MP.

 

[zwk500]

£17m for Bletchley Eastern entrance confirmed today

Presumably not including a lift to platform 6, because that'd be far too sensible.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Presumably not including a lift to platform 6, because that'd be far too sensible.

Presumably P6 will fall out of regular use when the Marston Vale stopping service is withdrawn.

That said the design I've seen is quite extravagant and involves a whole new bridge - so as long as that even went to P6 it would have to.

 

[fishwomp]

Presumably not including a lift to platform 6, because that'd be far too sensible.

They'd be worried about who would open the doors..

 

[WolvertonWorks]

Local MP Callum Anderson saying this is a huge result for Bletchley as up to £17million funding confirmed for the new entrance.

The government has put forward £17m to support construction of an eastern access to Bletchley station, on top of a commitment of up to £5m from Milton Keynes City Council.

Millions of pounds of funding has been confirmed to create a new entrance at a railway station on the East West Rail route.
The government has put forward £17m to support construction of an eastern access to Bletchley station, on top of a commitment of up to £5m from Milton Keynes City Council.
It will create a direct gateway between the station and Bletchley's main high street, improving access for passengers and supporting businesses.
Labour MP for Buckingham and Bletchley, Callum Anderson, said: "This is a huge moment for Bletchley as it has never made sense that our station has turned its back on the town centre, making it harder for residents, commuters and visitors to access Queensway."
At the moment, the station entrance is on the western side, opposite Milton Keynes College.
Passengers alighting at the station and heading to the town centre face a long walk under a bridge, and they have to cross a busy road.
The proposed new entrance would be built on Saxon Street, on the other side, with the existing entrance also due to remain open.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Interestingly it does look to be the expensive proposal involving a wholly new footbridge that seems to have been approved, which strikes me as overkill given that most traffic is to/from housing on the other side.

Hopefully it will mean a P6 lift though, unless that platform is not going to be used for the EWR Bletchley terminators and will fall out of use in favour of reversing them in the high level platforms.

Edit: yes, a P6 lift is included.