Reopenings

[MidnightFlyer]

Can anyone think of some less-obvious staions and lines that should be reopened?

 

[robert2000]

was there a station in bishops castle

 

[MidnightFlyer]

was there a station in bishops castle

That the one near Craven Arms that closed in the late 1930s?

 

[robert2000]

yes thts right, its not far from there

 

[LE Greys]

Yaxley, where massive housing estates are growing south of Peterborough. They are London dormitories, so give them a link to London and get a few cars off the A1M. Trouble is, you probably need an extension to the slow lines.

 

[Oliver]

was there a station in Bishops Castle

You can't get much "less obvious" than that.

 

[Failed Unit]

Yaxley, where massive housing estates are growing south of Peterborough. They are London dormitories, so give them a link to London and get a few cars off the A1M. Trouble is, you probably need an extension to the slow lines.

It needs doing anyway. However a cheaper option would be to just build a loop off the mainline. I know capacity would be lost as the train slows down to hit the loop but at least trains could pass by. The new station here should be a no brainer shame it isn't.

I think March - Spalding would be useful as well. Keep traffic off the ecml and it would probably not slow a felixstow - Doncaster train that much.

 

[Crossforth]

Whetherby?

 

[TheExmoorBeast]

Whetherby, any use or not I don't know!

[Sorry, couldn't help it]

Glastonbury, with all of the festival goers each year, any profits made then would help pay for the deficit outside of the festival period.

 

[LE Greys]

Aldeborough
Not very far from Leiston, where the Sizewell Branch terminates. OK, it's not very big, but near enough for a shortish spur. It would have made a great heritage route, but could still be useful to run a two-hourly diesel service as an extension of London-Ipswich.

Bodmin-Padstow
An extension of the Bodmin and Wenford.

Braintree-Dunmow-(divert to) Stansted
Useful as an eastern connection for Stansted and to allow XC to extend to Colchester (needs a northern curve at Whitham)

Dunblane-Callander-Creinlarich
It currently takes 4 1/2 hours to get from Perth to Oban and 7 hours from Inverness to Fort William. This could cut two hours from that time.

Hunstanton
It might not cover its costs for most of the year, but would be very busy in summer. Also useful for the Royal Train.

 

[route:oxford]

Dunblane-Callander-Creinlarich
It currently takes 4 1/2 hours to get from Perth to Oban and 7 hours from Inverness to Fort William. This could cut two hours from that time.

The trackbed was near completely built over at the Dunblane end over 25 years ago. The only way to do it would be to build a brand new spur North of Dunblane looping back round (or extensive tunnelling) - neither of which would be cheap.

I could understand the closure of the line between Callander & Oban... But often wonder if the closure of the route between Callander and Dunblane was pushed through for the sake of it rather than any particular financial reason - it probably saved having to provide an extensive Sunday service from Glasgow to the popular Callander. The daytime peaks were probably full of half fares at around 8am and 4pm when Dunblane children took the train to Callander for McLaren High - easily served by the cheaper bus.

For services to be reopened...

Go for Alloa to Dunfermline - it's being considered at the moment... It's also a service that is likely equal or beat the equivalent car journey - There is no such thing as a bypass or even dual carriageway in that part of Clackmanananananshire or West Fife.

 

[Kernowfem]

Matlock-Buxton. The traffic in summer trying to get into Bakewell and the surrounding areas such as Millersdale etc is awful. However i think it was recently surveyed only to be discounted.

In a 'fantasy world' id like to see some Lincolnshire lines re opened. The East lincs and mablethorpe loop. Although im not sure of its viability (except for the mablethorp holiday goers during summer)

 

[cuccir]

Foxfield-Coniston, would be extremely scenic, knocking the pants off most existing lines. Lakes tourists would make this profitable I'd have thought if you were to extend the TransPennine services from Manchester.

 

[northwichcat]

Matlock-Buxton. The traffic in summer trying to get into Bakewell and the surrounding areas such as Millersdale etc is awful. However i think it was recently surveyed only to be discounted.

I think that's a very good suggestion. Buxton has road problems in winter and has a train service to Manchester that is well used by commuters.

The only one that I can think of off the top of my head is:
* Northwich to Sandbach, which will take the traffic from the Mid-Cheshire line to Birmingham/London away from the already busy and less direct Stockport area as well as discouraging people from Cheshire driving to Crewe station and giving the town of Middlewich it's station back as possibly instating one at Rudheath for Gadbrook Business Park.

 

[sustainRail]

Out of all the the Railway reopening Projects in England that should go ahead the Missing link between Colne and Skipton, which links both the East and West Coast Main Line and the City regions of Manchester and Leeds, Hull and Liverpool, as part of the Trans European Transport Network.

It is noted that out of all the rail links, this transpennine link would be the most economic to run, due to the facts that it has the lowest gradient, no tunnels, and no deep embankments.

It is also noted that this line once reopened could be Electrified between Skipton and Preston and Skipton and Manchester.


SELRAP, the campaign group setup to reopen this link, sees the link being reopened by 2016.


Further details can be found via the SELRAP website at:
http://www.selrap.org.uk

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

Babminton. Admittedly it wouldnt be heavily used most of the year road (though the area around it is getting increasingly built up), but it would prove very useful when the horse trials are held very year.

Tidworth. Its becoming a major garrison town, and the line as far as the connection to Andover still exists. It would also be viable to lay down track as far as the GW line at the old Marlborough junction, which might help with train pathing.

Mangotsfield? It would be a great transport interchange with the bypass nearby, and they could convert the old LMS line into Bristol either into a guided bus route (snicker) or in the longer term, it might just encourage them to put a tramway in.

 

[Domeyhead]

Totally agree about SELRAP - a model of how to go about campaigning sensibly for a rail reopening using sound economic and strategic benefits and making sound business cases using the government's own cost /benefit rules
Second to this would be Uckfield to Lewes.

 

[CCF23]

Whole of the Isle of Wight's former network was 55 miles of line now only 8 and a half

 

[WatcherZero]

Sunday working on the Atherton line restarted last weekend, after a gap of 41 years and 8 months!

 

[jopsuk]

Whole of the Isle of Wight's former network was 55 miles of line now only 8 and a half

All of it? Can you really justify a fifty five mile network to serve 100,000 people (plus tourists/commuters from the mainland)?
Perhaps as a light rail/tram network?

 

[Chris125]

All of it? Can you really justify a fifty five mile network to serve 100,000 people (plus tourists/commuters from the mainland)?
Perhaps as a light rail/tram network?

It would almost certainly come back as a light rail system, although extending the existing Island Line to Ventnor wouldnt be a bad idea. The problem is the huge cost of reinstatement, likewise with reinstating Cowes-Newport-Ryde - that also would do well considering how bad traffic has become even in winter and the growing sucess of the bus service along there.

Chris

 

[Firestarter]

How about the electrifaction of the dudding hill line. Trains could be diverted away from central london if required and run via olympia. This would deal with the core blocks and also create a link up with the routes to Heathrow, meaning we could have a triangular service between Gatwick - Heathrow - Luton airport as well as taking in St Pancras and the Eurostar connections.

 

[stut]

Some eejit's been going around pouring concrete into the fens, all along the Great Ouse valley, and even down to Addenbrookes. Once they finally manage to get it dry and stable, it'd be a good idea to stick some rails on top of it and run some trains down, I reckon.

 

[LE Greys]

Some eejit's been going around pouring concrete into the fens, all along the Great Ouse valley, and even down to Addenbrookes. Once they finally manage to get it dry and stable, it'd be a good idea to stick some rails on top of it and run some trains down, I reckon.

Even just putting up wires and running trolleybuses would be better than nothing. It's pathetic! :-x

 

[GNER 373]

This one has been on the cards for as long as i can remember, nice to see some action been taken.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/nort...castle-rail-line-all-on-track-72703-20835709/

Anyone who lives near here knows what a nice area (apart from Blyth itself) is so travelling to here will be a good experience! I for one will be visiting soon!

 

[northwichcat]

Found this which may be of use: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_towns_with_no_railway_station

Out of the towns I know about that haven't already been mentioned I think Skelmersdale, Rawtenstall, Holmfirth, Market Drayton, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Leek should all be able to get enough passengers to justify to having their own stations.

 

[tbtc]

Out of all the the Railway reopening Projects in England that should go ahead the Missing link between Colne and Skipton, which links both the East and West Coast Main Line and the City regions of Manchester and Leeds, Hull and Liverpool,

That wouldn't be in my top hundred - despite you claiming it links the "ECML/ WCML and the city regions of Liverpool/ Manchester/ Leeds/ Hull" the Skipton Colne line doesn't serve anywhere of any size

It is noted that out of all the rail links, this transpennine link would be the most economic to run, due to the facts that it has the lowest gradient, no tunnels, and no deep embankments.

...it's a smooth route through the hills (compared to crossing further north or further south), but not actually on the route to/ between anywhere big. At least Woodhead (Sheffield to Manchester) and Matlock/ Buxton (Nottingham - Manchester) would mean improving services between large population areas

 

[43106]

Foxfield-Coniston, would be extremely scenic, knocking the pants off most existing lines.

I can JUST remember this line when the rails were still down. Although passenger services were withdrawn in 1958, I can recall going over the level crossing at Broughton-in-Furness a few times in the early 1960's.

I never understood why they closed the line from Sellafield to Corkickle via Beckermet, Egremont and Moor Row (on/near the Cumbrian Coast) and used the line via Nethertown, Braystones and St. Bees instead. Both lines were predominantly single, but Egremont was, by far, the largest 'town' in the area. Unfortunately, there is no chance of this line EVER reopening, as a viaduct just south of the site of Beckermet station has been knocked down, and most of the trackbed on and south of Egremont station has got the Egremont by-pass built on it. A pity.

 

[yorksrob]

Sunday working on the Atherton line restarted last weekend, after a gap of 41 years and 8 months!

Hooray, would've made my life easier over the last couple of years !

 

[Spaceflower]

tyne-tees via leamside and stillington

borders route via hawick and galashiels

dumfries - stranraer

pickering - malton

ecml - leeds via ripon
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
consett/stanley reconnected, poss metro or other light rail to tyneside/wearside