Reversing Beeching

[Chris116]

16 hours ago, melmerby said:

No clever smartphone app is any good in those circumstances.

The PIS provides the same info you would get on a phone, another instance of numpties believing everything is better on a phone.

 

In my experience around Wimbledon the PIS boards show incorrect information from about midnight until 12.30am. The TfL website shows the correct information during this time so some of us numpties use our phones! 

[phil-b259]

On 23/05/2019 at 06:09, Fenman said:

 

There’s a nice example in planning for Crossrail 2. The proposed route goes close to the vast Chelsea & Westminster hospital which, though well-served by busses, is relatively remote from the tube system (0.7 miles from Fulham Broadway, over a mile from Earl’s Court). A proposed station nearby has been attacked by some local residents and, at least the last time I checked, had been removed from the proposals in the face of a PR onslaught against it. 

 

Paul

 

The issue here is not the hospital - its the wealthy and rather snobbish inhabitants of that bit of Chelsea do not want the area (or the 'village' feel as they put it) 'spoiled' by lots of poorer and less cultured types 'lowering the tone' so to speak. At present they like not being on the tube system - it keeps the riff-raff away and the locals have no problem affording taxis or luxury cars to take them places.

 

 

 

[Fenman]

58 minutes ago, phil-b259 said:

 

The issue here is not the hospital - its the wealthy and rather snobbish inhabitants of that bit of Chelsea do not want the area (or the 'village' feel as they put it) 'spoiled' by lots of poorer and less cultured types 'lowering the tone' so to speak. At present they like not being on the tube system - it keeps the riff-raff away and the locals have no problem affording taxis or luxury cars to take them places.

 

There's certainly some of that. But let's not be too stereotypical - parts of the Borough are pretty miserably impoverished (including bits of World's End, next to the C&W), and those people would significantly benefit from better connections to the Underground. But you're right, that it was a small group of extremely wealthy people who formed the local pressure group to campaign against any Underground station in their midst; despite appearances to the contrary (exacerbated by their fantastic media connections) they just don't represent everyone.

 

Paul

[Mike Storey]

1 hour ago, phil-b259 said:

 

The issue here is not the hospital - its the wealthy and rather snobbish inhabitants of that bit of Chelsea do not want the area (or the 'village' feel as they put it) 'spoiled' by lots of poorer and less cultured types 'lowering the tone' so to speak. At present they like not being on the tube system - it keeps the riff-raff away and the locals have no problem affording taxis or luxury cars to take them places.

 

 

 

 

On reading the limited current info available (because they are working up to getting more funding approved in the Autumn statement), it would appear that the Kings Road stop is still being shown, although they are exploring one alternative. Apparently, despite the majority of consultation respondents being against the proposal, they received a petition in support (size not found) and a large petition against.

 

Personally, having lived there some decades ago, at the Edith Grove end, and still visiting the area regularly due to relations nearby, I would have thought the station site would have been better placed further west, but I have no idea of what issues that presented.

 

[ejstubbs]

22 hours ago, melmerby said:

The PIS provides the same info you would get on a phone, another instance of numpties believing everything is better on a phone.

 

If there is no PIS at the stop, for reasons as I outlined previously, who is then the numpty?

 

Service disruption sufficient seriously to delay the next bus in the five minutes between checking the PIS web site and getting to the bus stop is what we in the industry call an "edge case" i.e. a rare occurrence, and not in any way a valid reason to dismiss the entire system out of hand.

[ess1uk]

Five extra bids added to shortlist of abandoned railways that could be restored | New Civil Engineer

http://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/five-extra-bids-added-to-shortlist-of-abandoned-railways-that-could-be-restored-18-05-2021/?tkn=1

[Chris116]

25 minutes ago, ess1uk said:

Five extra bids added to shortlist of abandoned railways that could be restored | New Civil Engineer

http://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/five-extra-bids-added-to-shortlist-of-abandoned-railways-that-could-be-restored-18-05-2021/?tkn=1

I just wish that New Civil Engineer would let me read their article. They claim I have already read one in the last 30 days so I have to open an account to see any more of them. 

[Richard E]

The article isn't that forthcoming but this is the full text for those who seem to be locked out:

 

Quote

Five last-minute bids have been added to the list of projects bidding for funding under the third and final round of the Restoring Your Railways ideas fund.

 

The Department for Transport (DfT) revealed the 85 rail schemes competing for investment in March, but an updated list of 89 schemes has now been published, with one of the original 85 schemes removed from the shortlist.

 

Three of the new schemes are in the North West - a new station in Coppull, the Salford to Warrington to Stockport Tram and Tram Train, and the UK Light Rail Tram Tracker.

 

The fourth is reconfiguration of the Ascot to Ash Vale line (South East) and the fifth is reinstatement of the Ironbridge to Bridgnorth line (West Midlands).

 

Meanwhile, the West Midlands Telford Central scheme has been removed.

 

Overall, the bids are dominated by schemes in the South West, which has 23 proposals under consideration. Schemes include the Lynton to Barnstaple Railway, reinstating the Radstock Railway and various stations including Carn Brea, Wilton Junction and Corsham.

 

The West Midlands has 13 proposed schemes, while the North West has 12 (full list below). The bids also cover the East Midlands, East of England, North East, South East, Wales and Yorkshire & Humberside.

 

Led by the DfT, successful proposals will be awarded up to £50,000 each to progress plans to reinstate stations and restore passenger services closed during the 1960s Beeching cuts.

 

Successful bids will be announced this summer.

 

In the last funding round, backers of 15 proposals were awarded cash to develop their business cases. Ten schemes won backing in the first round.

 

The DfT has said that the aim of the funding is to level up the country and improve connectivity for communities.

 

A DfT brief states that any “bid for funding should focus on making the strategic and economic case for the scheme, as well as setting out any recognised challenges”.

 

Successful bidders will work with DfT officials to agree the scope of the proposal to be investigated and to develop the project’s business case for receiving more substantial development funding.

 

[ess1uk]

So of the first ten, which is likely to be the first to return?

[Flittersnoop]

The way Covid is keeping this country guessing about even the near future, instead of Reversing Beeching we will be Extending Beeching.

[ess1uk]

On 05/06/2021 at 21:00, Flittersnoop said:

The way Covid is keeping this country guessing about even the near future, instead of Reversing Beeching we will be Extending Beeching.

i'm not so sure.

it is popular to rebuild railways at the moment so i think it will carry on as long as politicians think it will help win them votes.

[Suzie]

I saw what looked like a vehicle from a 5-WES on the back of a lorry, so it looks like some areas are planning for service reduction rather than expansion.

[zarniwhoop]

3 hours ago, Suzie said:

I saw what looked like a vehicle from a 5-WES on the back of a lorry, so it looks like some areas are planning for service reduction rather than expansion.

Hi Suzie - they are being scrapped. ISTR reading somewhere that there were issues of route availability, but I might be mistaken.

 

Best link I can find for the moment is bloodandcustard

 

ĸen

[ess1uk]

found this from last year, pre lockdowns

The Beeching Axe: The lost railways of Devon and Cornwall - Devon Live

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/beeching-axe-lost-railways-devon-3797665

 

[Northmoor]

It's been interesting reading in HR about some of the schemes getting funding for the feasibility studies. 

The Weardale Railway hardly serves a centre of population beyond Bishop Auckland as was an early closure to passengers, like a lot of rural lines in NE England. 

The Southern end of the former mainline through Lincolnshire is one of those that was probably a regretted closure because it was so late after Beeching, not closing until 1970.  The problem is than once again, the proposed route to Mablethorpe doesn't really serve enough population to justify rebuilding a railway.

Like a number of routes at that time, it could have survived with investment, especially in modernising well over 20 level crossings between Firsby and Grimsby, but after BR had blown the budget for a decade on new rolling stock for services it was about to withdraw, the government probably wasn't keen on handing over much more cash. 

[ess1uk]

So with Okehampton reopening only a couple of weeks away, which line is likely to be next?

 

[Northmoor]

37 minutes ago, ess1uk said:

So with Okehampton reopening only a couple of weeks away, which line is likely to be next?

 

Ashington probably, preparatory work is already underway.

[ess1uk]

Restoring Your Railway Fund - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/re-opening-beeching-era-lines-and-stations/re-opening-beeching-era-lines-and-stations

[ess1uk]

MP campaigns to extend train services for Melton borough | Melton Times

https://www.meltontimes.co.uk/lifestyle/travel/mp-campaigns-extend-train-services-melton-borough-2892390

[ess1uk]

Restoring Your Railway: new winners announced, as government returns lost railway connections to level up communities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/restoring-your-railway-new-winners-announced-as-government-returns-lost-railway-connections-to-level-up-communities

[Shed]

On 05/06/2021 at 17:58, ess1uk said:

So of the first ten, which is likely to be the first to return?

Okehampton then up Northumberland 

[Northmoor]

49 minutes ago, ess1uk said:

Restoring Your Railway: new winners announced, as government returns lost railway connections to level up communities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/restoring-your-railway-new-winners-announced-as-government-returns-lost-railway-connections-to-level-up-communities

To be expected I suppose, but with each tranche, I can see more examples that look unlikely to deliver any reasonable business case.  There's a few there that fall into the, "There's already a railway there so it should have a passenger service on it".   

 

Some of those extending regular services onto preserved lines, I think fall into the trap of thinking that all those people will want to travel on regular services.  Counterintuitively, they are only travelling on the line because it's an expensive, heritage train service operating on heritage infrastructure; modernising that infrastructure to accommodate regular services as well risks deterring people paying the premium fares that subsidises the operation of the scheduled service.  However, on some lines such as the Wareham-Swanage, there could well be a market for a scheduled service, running in the shoulders of the SR timetable. 

 

If/when Peak rail extends to Rowsley proper - in fact it could do it now - there could well be a market for an EMR Matlock service extending to Rowsley around 10am on Saturdays and Sundays (so it is clear of the line by the start of the PR timetable) and another at about 5pm.  This would deliver the walkers to the National Park boundary at the start of the day and be there to take them home at the end.

[pete_mcfarlane]

3 hours ago, ess1uk said:

MP campaigns to extend train services for Melton borough | Melton Times

https://www.meltontimes.co.uk/lifestyle/travel/mp-campaigns-extend-train-services-melton-borough-2892390

Surely the fund is for new services and reopening closed railways, not stopping a few more trains at Bottesford (which would presumably happen anyway if the passenger numbers warranted it)?

 

 

Edited October 28, 2021 by pete_mcfarlane

[Zomboid]

Now I live in the area, I'm a little surprised that there doesn't seem to be much action on an Oxford - Witney line. I don't think the original section of the Fairford line will be a winner, but a new line broadly following the A40 would go a long way to easing traffic on a truly dreadful road.

[Flittersnoop]

4 hours ago, Zomboid said:

Now I live in the area, I'm a little surprised that there doesn't seem to be much action on an Oxford - Witney line. I don't think the original section of the Fairford line will be a winner, but a new line broadly following the A40 would go a long way to easing traffic on a truly dreadful road.

Extended to Cheltenham (via Cirencester), to eliminate the ludicrous ramble in and out of Gloucester on the way to London, or possibly even to Ross on Wye and Hereford.

 

Ah, well, we can dream...