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Best line reopenings - poll (select 2)

Which rail LINE re-openings have been the best since the Beeching Axe?

  • Bathgate to Airdrie

    Votes: 15 12.1%
  • Tweedbank to Edinburgh

    Votes: 36 29.0%
  • Alloa to Stirling

    Votes: 4 3.2%
  • Maesteg to Bridgend

    Votes: 3 2.4%
  • Aberdare to Abercynon

    Votes: 3 2.4%
  • Ebbw Vale

    Votes: 20 16.1%
  • Barry to Bridgend

    Votes: 5 4.0%
  • Blackfriars to Farringdon

    Votes: 42 33.9%
  • Kettering to Corby and Oakham

    Votes: 9 7.3%
  • Larkhall to Hamilton

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Romsey to Eastleigh

    Votes: 1 0.8%
  • Oxford to Bicester

    Votes: 21 16.9%
  • Yeovil Pen Mill to Yeovil Town

    Votes: 3 2.4%
  • Peterborough to Spalding

    Votes: 1 0.8%
  • Birmingham Moor Street to Smethwick Galton Bridge

    Votes: 32 25.8%
  • Walsall to Rugeley

    Votes: 4 3.2%
  • Coventry to Nuneaton

    Votes: 10 8.1%
  • Nottingham to Mansfield and Worksop

    Votes: 21 16.9%
  • Rutherglen to Glasgow Central Low Level

    Votes: 7 5.6%
  • Manchester to East Didsbury (tramlink)

    Votes: 7 5.6%

  • Total voters
    124
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backontrack

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Which lines have been the best re-openings (so no HS1 or Doncaster-York) since the Beeching Axe? You are allowed to pick 2 per person.
 
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Harbornite

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Waverley, can't think of any others just yet. Do lines reopened for heritage count?
 
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kevconnor

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i sometimes think smaller alterations can have greater overall benefit, such as Windsor link. but of the beeching era cuts my votes would be the line into birmingham snow hill and the robin hood line.
 

Bald Rick

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A definition of best might be helpful.

In my view it is number of passengers per £cost of reopening.
 

Harbornite

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i sometimes think smaller alterations can have greater overall benefit, such as Windsor link. but of the beeching era cuts my votes would be the line into birmingham snow hill and the robin hood line.

I completely forgot about Snow Hill and the Jewellery Line. Good call.
 

The Ham

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A definition of best might be helpful.

In my view it is number of passengers per £cost of reopening.

That's easy to define, the one that benefits me the most! (Although that changes depending on who is voting)
 

DynamicSpirit

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A definition of best might be helpful.

In my view it is number of passengers per £cost of reopening.

I guess any hard definition of 'best' turns the question into something that would have a definite, analytic, identifiably correct, answer, and therefore not something suitable for a poll.

Having said that, my logic runs close to yours. Except that I'd somewhat deemphasize cost of re-opening. If scheme A is a massive scheme benefitting - say 100M passengers/year, and scheme B is a very small local scheme that benefits only 1M passengers/year, I'd probably still choose scheme A over B even if A had a slightly higher cost per passenger - because of it's bigger overall impact.

Personally I'd thought the obvious best answers would be two of: Blackfriars to Farringdon, Moor Street to Galton Bridge, and Rutherglen to Glasgow Central - because these all are (or soon will be) very well used schemes in the middle of huge cities, that - by allowing people to cross the cities easily by rail and freeing up capacity at neighbouring terminals, have a big impact on both capacity and connectivity (and therefore, hopefully, usage) right where most people live.
 

Harbornite

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Didnt Coventry Leamington lose its passenger service under Beeching?


Technically it still doesn't have a passenger service, unless non-stop XC traffic is counted. Obviously it will have a service once Kenilworth gets its station back.
 

AJM580

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Had to go for the Vale of Glamorgan line as it passes through the village where my Dad lived.
 

steamybrian

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Technically it still doesn't have a passenger service, unless non-stop XC traffic is counted..............
It closed in 1965. Since it reopened XC trains stop at both Coventry and Leamington so I cannot see any reason to doubt.

My top choice has to be Blackfriars to Farringdon (reopened in 1986) now carrying millions of passengers per year. Now being heavily rebuilt with a multi-multi- million pound investment to increase capacity
 

me123

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Surprised that Larkhall is still on 0.

I wanted to vote for Larkhall, but ended up choosing Rutherglen to Central LL instead, since the former would have likely been impossible without the latter. In a similar vain, my second choice was Blackfriars to Farringdon. Both of these created vital additional capacity that has ultimately benefited many more people than a single branch line could have.

In terms of branches, I'd say Larkhall and Waverley have been the best.
 

47802

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I would have to say Tweedbank as it involved an extensive rebuild and reopening of a significant distance of closed line while for most of the other reopening's the line still existed, and also it brings a Rail Service back to a significant area of the country without, and obviously this line will be looked at very closely with regard to the viability of other re-openings.
 
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Old Yard Dog

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You've forgotten Bradford & Halifax to Huddersfield via Brighouse. This is not a particularly direct route and it suffers badly from long stops at Halifax due to poor path allocation.
 

Altnabreac

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You have failed to include probably the single most successful post Beeching line reopening on your list - Bathgate to Edinburgh.

Reopened in 1986 as a single track DMU branch.

Now it is a double track, electrified, 4tph through intercity route serving a town of more than 50,000 people and with 2 of the fastest growing station usage figures at Bathgate and Livingston North with 1.1m entries and exits apiece and Uphall at 550,000 as well.
 

steamybrian

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You have failed to include probably the single most successful post Beeching line reopening on your list - Bathgate to Edinburgh.

Reopened in 1986 as a single track DMU branch.

Now it is a double track, electrified, 4tph through intercity route serving a town of more than 50,000 people and with 2 of the fastest growing station usage figures at Bathgate and Livingston North with 1.1m entries and exits apiece and Uphall at 550,000 as well.

In my opinion (as previously stated) Blackfriars to Farringdon remains the most successful reopening now carrying multi millions of passengers per annum and when the upgrading works are completed will operate up to 24 trains per hour.
Other successful reopened stations include Birmingham Snow Hill 4.5 million and Dalston Junction with 3.7 million entries/exits.
 
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Altnabreac

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In my opinion (as previously stated) Blackfriars to Farringdon remains the most successful reopening now carrying multi millions of passengers per annum and when the upgrading works are completed will operate up to 24 trains per hour.
Other successful reopened stations include Dalston Junction with 3.7 million entries/exits.

I agree in one way although both Thameslink and Dalston Junction are at least partially entirely new lines rather than reopenings of old infrastructure. Not just reopening an old service in the same format.
 

backontrack

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You have failed to include probably the single most successful post Beeching line reopening on your list - Bathgate to Edinburgh.

Reopened in 1986 as a single track DMU branch.

Now it is a double track, electrified, 4tph through intercity route serving a town of more than 50,000 people and with 2 of the fastest growing station usage figures at Bathgate and Livingston North with 1.1m entries and exits apiece and Uphall at 550,000 as well.

I meant to put Edinburgh-Airdrie. :oops:
 

Bald Rick

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I agree in one way although both Thameslink and Dalston Junction are at least partially entirely new lines rather than reopenings of old infrastructure. Not just reopening an old service in the same format.

How is Thameslink a new line? New service, yes, but not a new line.
 

steamybrian

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How is Thameslink a new line? New service, yes, but not a new line.

Partly right and partly wrong.
When it was reopened in 1988 it used the original tunnels and track bed of the line closed in the 1960s.
In 1990 the railway was closed for several months whilst a new route between Farringdon and Blackfriars was built on a different alignment. This involved the closure of Holborn Viaduct station and opening of the new station at City Thameslink.

As mentioned earlier Dalston Junction was rebuilt and reopened on the same site as the station closed in 1986 the route southwards instead of terminating at Broad Street now follows a new route onto the East London Line.
 

DynamicSpirit

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Partly right and partly wrong.
When it was reopened in 1988 it used the original tunnels and track bed of the line closed in the 1960s.
In 1990 the railway was closed for several months whilst a new route between Farringdon and Blackfriars was built on a different alignment. This involved the closure of Holborn Viaduct station and opening of the new station at City Thameslink.

Out of interest, what was wrong with the old alignment?
 

steamybrian

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Out of interest, what was wrong with the old alignment?

I am not sure of all the reasons but strong possibilities were..
Tight clearances.
Insufficient headroom in the tunnels for any possible overhead electrification.
I believe Holborn Viaduct station platforms could only handle 8 coaches and could not be lengthened within the confined space available. (The new City Thameslink station can hold 12 coaches)
 
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