It might help some to understand the situation back in
1963 when Beeching produced his report (it makes interesting reading), and subsequently as passenger numbers continued to spiral downwards until the
Serpell Report of 1982.
This was a period of almost freefall, at a time when passenger railways in the USA all but died. The car was king and we all had to have one. Rows of terraced houses near stations and bus routes were left behind as many aspired to new houses built in the leafy outskirts with gardens, away from stations and frequent buses. Factories were being built on new sites unconnected to rail for passengers or freight. There was a lot more to it than motorways.
Abandoned railway trackbeds, station yards and strategic bridges were lost to local and regional road schemes and all sorts of retail and housing developments.
We now know that when Serpell wrote his 1982 report the downward plunge had about stopped. He wasn't to know that then. See the figures and you may understand the panic in government. The birth of the Pacer generations of units.
(My local interest is the singling in 1985 of the tracks through Dore & Totley, justifiable when the total of passenger services across that section had been reduced to 3 tph.)
We are in a different age and can't put the clock back. Reopening facilities closed 60 years ago can only work in a few places where subsequent development has changed the original rationale for closure AND there is clear space to build new facilities and tracks at justifiable cost.
The following figures are extracted from
ORR Passenger Rail Usage showing relatively stable passenger numbers into the 1960s when things went rapidly downhill,
"Passenger journeys by year - Table 12.5
Number of franchised passenger journeys made (millions)
Great Britain
Annual data (calendar year): 1950 to 1984
Annual data (financial year): 1985-86 to 2018-19
Financial year Total passenger journeys
1950 1,010.0
1951 1,030.0
1952 1,017.0
1953 1,015.0
1954 1,020.0
1955 994.0
1956 1,029.0
1957 1,101.0
1958 1,090.0
1959 1,069.0
1960 1,037.0
1961 1,025.0
1962 965.0
1963 938.0
1964 928.0
1965 865.0
1966 835.0
1967 837.0
1968 831.0
1969 806.0
1970 824.0
1971 816.0
1972 754.0
1973 728.0
1974 733.0
1975 730.0
1976 702.0
1977 702.0
1978 724.0
1979 748.0
1980 760.0
1981 719.0
1982 630.0
1983 694.0
1984 702.0
1985-86 686.0
1986-87 738.0
1987-88 798.0
1988-89 822.0
1989-90 812.0
1990-91 810.0
1991-92 792.0
1992-93 770.0
1993-94 740.0
1994-95 735.1
1995-96 761.2
1996-97 800.2
1997-98 845.7
1998-99 891.9
1999-00 931.0
2000-01 956.6
2001-02 959.6
2002-03 975.5
2003-04 1,011.7
2004-05 1,039.5
2005-06 1,076.5
2006-07 1,145.0
2007-08 1,218.1
2008-09 1,266.5
2009-10 1,257.9
2010-11 1,353.8
2011-12 1,460.0
2012-13 1,500.9
2013-14 1,586.5
2014-15 1,653.7
2015-16 1,715.9
2016-17 1,729.1
2017-18 1,705.5
2018-19 1,756.3
Source(s): LENNON ticketing and revenue database, Train Operating Companies (TOCs), Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and Department for Transport (DfT)"