Network Rail - not good news for Duxford, some news...sort of...at Foxton

I went to two meetings with Network Rail: one in London chaired by our MP, Heidi Allen, and one at Foxton Village Hall, which was a public consultation. There is disappointing and quite frankly very frustrating news regarding the proposals for a pathway enabling Duxford residents to access the train station at Whittlesford without crossing the busy A505. Network Rail will not allow further exploration of the proposals for access using the platform that comes out on the other side of the A505. I understand the safety challenges, but we first met them in 2015, and were given encouragement that this could be a possibility. The next step will be to see if any improvement work on the A505 could incorporate any access to the rail station. At the meeting in London we also heard more about the proposals for access across the railway at Foxton. Anyone who has sat in traffic on the A10 waiting for the gates to lift knows this is a major bit of infrastructure that needs addressing. Network Rail are proposing not the full English breakfast of a road bridge or tunnel, which would cost £20m, but some small scale improvements to assist cyclists and pedestrians, which will mean narrowing the A10 in this area. One of the reasons for wanting to do this, it appears, is the problems with the crossing gates at Foxton. My concern is that this small scale project, which may be welcomed, could see the real issues at Foxton crossing delays kicked into the long grass.