Passenger numbers on the Bittern line from Norwich to Cromer and Sheringham have tripled in the seven years since privatisation
In 1997 there were just 200,000 passenger journeys but this has nearly tripled to 585,000 in the year to March 2005, train operator One announced on 13 June 2005.
The line now has a regular-pattern timetable and its best ever service: 17 hourly return trains each weekday, including two late–night trains.
Passenger growth is partly caused by increasing road congestion, but much of the Bittern line increase is due to the strong promotion of the line by its Community Rail Partnership.
Railfuture supports the community railway initiatives and strongly believes there is potential for passenger services on freight-only and disused railway lines. However, the consultants who evaluate the viability of reopened lines fail to take account of the success of existing lines.
Two mothballed freight-only lines, which once carried passengers, are threatened with conversion to concrete-kerbed guided busways.
One would serve Dunstable, one of the largest towns in England without a railway station.
The other is along in the middle of the Stansted-Cambridge-Peterborough growth corridor.
Railfuture East Anglia has long campaigned for the mothballed Cambridge to St Ives (Cambs) line to be reopened with a frequent passenger service.
However, in 2000 the government-sponsored multi-modal study dismissed rail as less viable than buses, failing to recognise that trains offer a superior journey experience and therefore attract other types of passengers.
The Community Rail Partnerships, like the one supporting the Bittern line, has proved that sustained promotion by locals who really want something to succeed, can increase patronage to previously unimaginable levels.
In late 2005 Transport Secretary Alistair Darling will be announcing whether the guided busway schemes will be allowed to destroy two much-needed railway corridors.
It's time that transport consultants, national and local politicians open their eyes and see what rail can achieve.
The author of this article is a founding executive of the Cambridge and St Ives Railway Organisation (CAST.IRON) which seeks to operate a rail passenger service.
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Rural rail success
Author: Jerry Alderson - Published Fri 15 of Jul, 2005 21:37 BST - (8068 Reads)
The Strategic Rail Authority has designated 56 rural lines as community railways in an attempt to increase their popularity. At least one line has seen phenomenal passenger growth after earlier being proposed for closure.