A transport campaign group has asked Universal to support reinstating the old Bedford–Northampton railway to serve Universal United Kingdom Resort. The Department for Transport, responding to the BBC, said it has no plans to consider reopening the line.
The British Regional Transport Association’s letter was reported by the Northampton Chronicle on 10 November 2026 and by the BBC on 12 November 2026. It sets out a 20-mile (32km) route that closed in 1962, running between Bedford, a parkway station at Olney in Buckinghamshire, and Brackmills on the edge of Northampton.
This is a campaign proposal, not a Universal or government project. The reopening is not confirmed, and the Department for Transport told the BBC that, at this point, it has no plans to consider it.
What the campaigners want
The British Regional Transport Association supports the resort, but worries that current transport planning may not cope if the park is more successful than forecast. The BBC’s report uses the widely quoted first-year figure of 8.5 million visitors, which is generally treated as a Universal estimate.
“We are concerned that current transport planning may not adequately provide for the possibility that the resort proves significantly more successful than current forecasts anticipate,” the group told the BBC. It argues that rail access from London is comparatively strong through Thameslink, but that links from Northampton and the wider Midlands remain “indirect and relatively unattractive”.
In the letter reported by the Chronicle, BRTA said Universal is “creating a destination of national significance” and that if attendance exceeds expectations, “the surrounding highway network could face increasing pressure despite planned road improvements.” It wants Universal to help safeguard the former route, including against a proposed housing scheme north of Bromham, and has called for an independent assessment of better rail links between Northampton, Bedford and Cambridge. A modern connection, it says, could offer direct services from Northampton, Birmingham and the Midlands to the resort via Wixams station.
What is already planned
The government pointed the BBC to work it has already funded: the new station at Wixams and three new slip roads from the A421, “boosting connectivity and resilience”. A larger, four-platform Wixams station is CONFIRMED as a project, with main work not expected to restart until 2027 and the opening date still TBC, according to Network Rail. A421 upgrades are part of the same £474 million Department for Transport package announced on 3 June 2026. East West Rail has proposed a new Stewartby station for the early 2030s, subject to a consent application planned for 2027.
None of that is a Bedford–Northampton railway. For a fuller picture of what’s funded and what’s only proposed, see our guide to getting to Universal Studios UK.
What hasn’t been said yet
Universal, Bedford Borough Council, West Northamptonshire Council and Northampton South MP Mike Reader have all been approached by the BBC for comment. No responses appear in that report. The BBC also notes that Reader has separately called for travellers to use the freight line from Northampton Gateway onto the West Coast Main Line. That is a different idea from BRTA’s reopening, and it isn’t a confirmed plan either.
Until Universal, the Department for Transport or Network Rail adopts a Bedford–Northampton scheme, it remains a campaigners’ proposal. For the wider picture of the 2031 resort, see our Universal Studios UK hub.
Image: Universal Destinations & Experiences. Rail and air connections map, from the official Universal UK Project information pack (April 2024).
