Reversing Beeching

[Zomboid]

I'd take anything to make the A40 less dreadful. They are doing some stuff now, but nothing that'll do as much good as a railway line that basically parallels the A40 from Witney - Eynsham - Wolvercote.

 

But that doesn't seem to be in the list of schemes.

[ess1uk]

so York to Beverly is only line to get funding in the third round

[MarkC]

20 hours ago, ess1uk said:

so York to Beverly is only line to get funding in the third round

Indeed so - but I'm still not convinced that it will be rebuilt. 2 big reasons come to mind - Stamford Bridge & Pocklington. Both have both had the alignments built on - houses at Stamford Bridge & new roads at Pocklington (and the fact that the station itself has been sold). So, you'd need new alignments, bypassing the towns. Whilst these in themselves are not a huge problem, the fact that the stations would not be totally convenient will possibly put many folk off using the train.

 

It should never have closed, of course, but it did.

[Zomboid]

Looks like it would need a lot of demolition in every settlement of any size in the route, expect possibly Beverly.

 

A new railway between York and Beverly might well be useful, but as with all these things, being a slave to the old alignment is unhelpful. It's possible that some of it could be reused, but that shouldn't be what drives a project.

 

I also wouldn't rule out having stations on the edge of town (if it's expected to be more of a source then a destination, which those places mostly will be). Even if it were in the centre most people wouldn't walk there, so put it a little way outside with decent car parking and a bus stop and it'll probably do just as well as if it were central. I doubt that driving into York or Hull is huge fun, so having what would essentially be a park & ride isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[MarkC]

4 hours ago, Zomboid said:

Looks like it would need a lot of demolition in every settlement of any size in the route, expect possibly Beverly.

 

A new railway between York and Beverly might well be useful, but as with all these things, being a slave to the old alignment is unhelpful. It's possible that some of it could be reused, but that shouldn't be what drives a project.

 

I also wouldn't rule out having stations on the edge of town (if it's expected to be more of a source then a destination, which those places mostly will be). Even if it were in the centre most people wouldn't walk there, so put it a little way outside with decent car parking and a bus stop and it'll probably do just as well as if it were central. I doubt that driving into York or Hull is huge fun, so having what would essentially be a park & ride isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Oh, driving into both those cities is not pleasant, but folk can be funny about driving to park & then take the train, as we know (or even take a bus to the station).

 

The other problem is that the more you go off the original route, the more potential issues you can have with landowners, as well as even more costs.

 

It seems to me that the most likely routes for a return of passenger trains are those which are still extant for freight. Yes, we got the Borders line reopened, but that involved a lot of political involvement - indeed, some of it might even have been a bit of a pee-ing contest. Since then, very little has happened.

Edited November 16, 2021 by MarkC

[rodent279]

Screenshot from Google Maps of the Portishead line, a mile or so from Portishead. Would this make reopening difficult?

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4805985,-2.7429536,3a,15y,108.87h,84.78t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sUfhMdLB9Vpr49HzZLZLCfw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DUfhMdLB9Vpr49HzZLZLCfw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D229.16924%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

 

[Northmoor]

2 minutes ago, rodent279 said:

Screenshot from Google Maps of the Portishead line, a mile or so from Portishead. Would this make reopening difficult?

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4805985,-2.7429536,3a,15y,108.87h,84.78t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sUfhMdLB9Vpr49HzZLZLCfw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DUfhMdLB9Vpr49HzZLZLCfw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D229.16924%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

 

That just looks like a temporary access road to a construction site, probably necessary to avoid site vehicles crossing the road bridge which has a 17t weight restriction.  Go to the junction of Sheepway with the A369 and you can see the signs.

[Michael Hodgson]

On 16/11/2021 at 15:59, MarkC said:

Oh, driving into both those cities is not pleasant, but folk can be funny about driving to park & then take the train, as we know (or even take a bus to the station).

 

 

If you rely on more than one bus or rail service to get to work, every change means a delay and a greater risk of the whole journey taking longer than usual because there's more chance of things going wrong - that will jeopardise your ability to get to work on time. 

 

When I was commuting to Richmond (not the one in North Yorkshire) I had a choice of 17 possible routes by train/tube - but it meant at least 3 trains or two trains and two tubes as I had to cross London.  I ended up driving, and found that my journey time was consistently 2 hours - even when there was a bad traffic jam at one junction, the roads were clear elsewhere.  I had expected problems with on-street parking, but it turned out that I could always find a space as somebody always pulled out from where he had been parked overnight to go to work himself.

[Michael Hodgson]

7 hours ago, rodent279 said:

Screenshot from Google Maps of the Portishead line, a mile or so from Portishead. Would this make reopening difficult?

 

 

i was given to understand that they had built a supermarket on the site of the station, so reopening the line will mean a station somewhere slightly closer to Bristol.

[phil-b259]

On 16/11/2021 at 11:43, Zomboid said:

. I doubt that driving into York or Hull is huge fun, so having what would essentially be a park & ride isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

Yes - and thats why York has several P&R schemes already!

 

I really don't see why someone would drive to say Pocklington Parkway station to get to York when they could just as easily use the Grimston Bar P&R facility at York instead. The only real advantage over the current situation is if someone was planning on getting another train from York station to continue their journey.

[phil-b259]

43 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

i was given to understand that they had built a supermarket on the site of the station, so reopening the line will mean a station somewhere slightly closer to Bristol.

 

They have [built a Supermarket] BUT the REAL reason for shortening the line was to avoid an expansive road bridge as installing new level crossings on the national rail network has to all intents and purposes been banned by the ORR.