Towcester to Northampton, but never got the go-ahead; indeed, no Bill was ever presented to Parliament. Nevertheless, the branch platform was commenced anyway, but never got beyond the stage shown. Its position is a puzzle also in that it appears to be located on the "wrong side" of the station, since Northampton-bound trains would have had to cross the main running lines in order to access the branch. Brackley Viaduct A little way to the south the ground level fell away rapidly so that the line found itself on a high embankment leading to Brackley Viaduct. This impressive structure, which spanned the Ouse Valley, was in length, high and started out with 22 blue brick arches each of . However, due to movement of clay beds beneath the south end of the structure when it was almost complete, cracks were noticed in the southernmost two arches, and so these were replaced by two girder spans each of , while the third arch was filled with bricks to provide a massive buttress. Meanwhile, the third arch from the north end was walled up to provide extra bracing there. Today Today the entrance building at road level still stands and is occupied by a cafe called Brackley Central. Down in the cutting the platform and its buildings have gone, replaced by a range of industrial units. Improvements to the A43 following the line's closure meant that the bridge carrying the road over the line was demolished and the cutting partially filled in at that point. To the south, the viaduct was demolished in sections in the spring and summer of 1978, the rubble being reused as hardcore beneath new roads in Milton Keynes. Future Chiltern Railways, the rail operator between London and Aylesbury, has suggested that its long-term ambition is to open up the GCML beyond Rugby. This ambition is incorporated into Chiltern's franchise agreement, which identifies the reopening of the GCML between Aylesbury (or in the event that the Varsity Line is partially reopened) and Leicester is a "secondary aspiration" of Chiltern's franchise. This would include a new parkway station at Brackley and near the intersection of the M1 and M6 motorways north of Rugby. In January 2008, Secretary of State for Transport Ruth Kelly confirmed in a statement to the House of Commons that she had an "open mind" as to whether, during the second control period from 2014, "a