PROPOSED 'BLETCHLEY WEST TMD' ON LAND NORTH OF THE RAILWAY LINE AND WEST OF WHADDON ROAD

On Tuesday 20/01/2026 the parish council was told by East West Rail (EWR) that Newton Longville was their preferred location for a Train Maintenance Depot (TMD) for the fleet of twenty 5-carriage discontinuous electric trains planned to operate the Oxford to Cambridge passenger services. Buckinghamshire Council, Milton Keynes City Council, our MP Callum Anderson, the landowners and Taylor Wimpey had only been advised the day before.

EWR had apparently started with 36 potential sites, reducing that down to a short list of 5. From that list, Newton Longville came out as the preferred option for the train maintenance depot with the name chosen as 'Bletchley West TMD'. Buckinghamshire Council and Newton Longville Parish Council have been provided with the report which explains the methodology used and the relative scores for the short-listed options.

The layout for the site has still to be confirmed but the allocated area, which is north of the railway line to the west of Whaddon Road, appears to fall 60% within the Newton Longville parish boundary and 40% within Mursley. At the Whaddon Road end it would be just over the other side of the road from the Salden Place development and around 800 metres from the start of the 30mph speed limit zone coming into the village.

So far EWR have provided two possible layouts for the TMD, but stress that there are other options within the same area so the design has still to be finalised. As below, Layout 1 puts the majority of the facilities close to Whaddon Road with the access track coming in from the west (Winslow end). Layout 2 is almost a mirror image, with the depot building and sidings at the Mursley end and the access from the east (Bletchley end).

The TMD would be used for the servicing, cleaning and stabling of the 120 metre-long trains. As described in the EWR fact sheet below, the main depot building is anticipated to be 200 metres long x 50 metres wide x 10 metres high. There would be facilities to do heavy maintenance, including a wheel shop. Other facilities include train wash equipment, a traction power substation, office accommodation and car parking, plus a security gate house.


The plans also include two passing loops (one eastbound and one westbound) for diesel-hauled freight trains. These passing loops will allow faster services on the line to pass the slower moving freight trains.

EWR are saying that they foresee 100 jobs being linked to this depot, but it is unclear how many of these would be new positions and how many would be transfers in frim other locations (e.g. the current Bletchley TMD which is designated to maintain the diesel passenger trains which are initially going to be running passenger services along the line).

As stated in the EWR information sheet above, approval for this development will come from the Secretary of State for Transport in the form of a Development Consent Order (DCO), and that process is expected to take three years. The Government's Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 has changed the way major projects like EWR engage with the public during the planning process. What that exactly looks like has still to be confirmed, but we understand that EWR will still be putting their plans through a formal public consultation process.

What EWR referred to as 'Design Update' sessions took place in Bletchley on the 28th and 31st of January. They have committed to providing an event in Newton Longville over the coming few weeks. This won't be the usual drop-in session, we have asked EWR to do a presentation and actually explain the what, why, where, when and how before we have a group Q&A. We will let you know via the usual channels (this website, the Pump/a leaflet, Facebook, email and notice boards) when we have the date and time. In the meantime, please consider coming to the Free Church (Bletchley Road) parish council drop-in (Thursday 5th February from 5-7pm) and the next parish council meeting (Monday 16th February 7-9pm) if you have a question or would like to let us know your views about this proposal.

Newton Longville Parish Council is working with Buckinghamshire Council to try to ensure that the interests of residents are taken into account with this rail depot proposal. We are in touch with neighbouring parish councils and also with the developers on Salden Place. We are interested in talking to landowners and others who think they will be impacted should this proposal go ahead, so if that applies to you then please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.