See A Strategic Network | Metro services | Isolated towns | Chords | Guidance for promoters | Route protection | Coming soon | Links success
Railfuture campaigns for railway lines to be opened or reopened, in alliance with other groups throughout Britain, have been a success. Over the past half-century more than 500 miles of route have been added to the network, gaining tremendous popular support. Clearly there is no prospect of reopening all the lines closed by British Railways, but in some places - where the economic factors that brought about their closure have changed - there is a need for new or reopened lines to meet the increasing demand for rail transport. Our new guide (endorsed by and published jointly with the Department for Transport) Expanding the Railways will help stakeholders and campaigners navigate the process of gaining agreement to a new railway.
Railfuture focuses on schemes which we believe will most support economic (housing / productivity) growth, and therefore offer the greatest chance of success. This potential for growth can be monetised using Land Value Capture to help finance these rail schemes. Guidance for promoters is below.
NEWS ALERT - JULY 2024
On Monday 29th July 2024 the new Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves made an oral statement in the House of Commons on Public Spending: Inheritance and in particular said this:
"The previous government also made a series of commitments on transport.
Promises that people expected to be delivered.
(Redacted political content)
We have seen from the National Audit Office the chaos that the previous government presided over.
Projects over budget and delayed again and again.
The spending audit has revealed nearly £800m of unfunded transport projects that have been committed next year.
So my RHF the Transport Secretary will undertake a thorough review of all these commitments.
As part of that work, she has agreed not to move forwards with projects that the previous government refused to publicly cancel, despite knowing full well they were unaffordable.
That includes proposed work on the A303 and the A27…
… and my RHF will also cancel projects in the “Restoring our Railways” programme which have not yet commenced.
If we cannot afford it, we cannot do it."
For completeness, the full passage from Hansard (column 1037) is this:
"The previous Government also made a series of commitments on transport, promises that people expected to be delivered and promises that many Members across this House campaigned on in good faith, but the Conservative party has failed them. We have seen from the National Audit Office the chaos that the previous Government presided over, with projects over budget and delayed again and again. The spending audit has revealed £1 billion of unfunded transport projects that have been committed to next year, so my right hon. Friend the Transport Secretary will undertake a thorough review of these commitments. As part of that work, she has agreed not to move forwards with projects that the previous Government refused to publicly cancel, despite knowing full well that they were unaffordable. That includes proposed work on the A303 and the A27, and my right hon. Friend will also cancel the restoring your railway programme, saving £85 million next year, with individual projects to be assessed through her review. If we cannot afford it, we cannot do it."
As round 3 of the New Stations Fund was part of the Restoring Your Railway programme, there is also a dark cloud hanging over the fate of at least some of the stations which it and subsequent government announcements supported with funding, until the results of the Transport Secretary's review are known.
Transpennine routes are becoming congested, so additional capacity will be needed to meet demand. Network Rail are being funded to press on with the Transpennine Route Upgrade between York and Manchester via Leeds and Huddersfield, while further work is required to determine which option best meets that long-term demand:
Ely grade separation. Ely North Junction is a major bottleneck on the strategic F2N freight route. The need in the Ely area is to enable freight on the east-west alignment (which has no business at Ely station) to have an uninterrupted journey, maintaining efficient line-speed and minimising journey-time, between the Bury St. Edmunds line and the Peterborough line. A grade-separated Ely area would also minimise impacts on passenger services especially on the north-south alignment. Railfuture's proposal is illustrated here.
Uckfield - Lewes Railfuture is campaigning to support economic growth in East Sussex and Kent and reconnect communities by linking the East Coastway and Wealden lines via Uckfield and Lewes. This could support sustainable housing growth to help meet Brighton's unmet housing needs. It would promote economic growth in East Sussex by providing access between the Weald and employment opportunities in Brighton, help regenerate Newhaven, create additional peak capacity between the South Coast and London to complement the Brighton Main Line, and help maintain Brighton's visitor economy by providing an alternative, diversionary route between the Sussex coast and London.
Stratford-on-Avon - Honeybourne. The Avon Rail Link will reinstate six miles of single track along the former track-bed between Stratford-upon-Avon station and Long Marston, to join an existing three-mile freight branch from Honeybourne. This will reconnect Stratford-on-Avon with Oxford and Worcester, generating tourism benefits. A GRIP 3 study by Ove Arup was completed in April 2019. The scheme is promoted locally by Stratford Rail Transport Group, in alliance of the Cotswold Line Promotion Group, Shakespeare Line Promotion Group, Solihull & Leamington Rail Users Association and Railfuture, winning support from the DfT Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund in November 2020 to take it forward. However in a Written Statement to Parliament on 20 June 2022 Rail Minister Wendy Morton confirmed through publication of a Restoring Your Railway Fund update that the scheme was one of eight which would not progress beyond the Strategic Outline Business Case which had been produced with support from the Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund.
Heathrow southern and western rail access. London Borough of Wandsworth and Surrey County Council's rail strategy both call for direct access from Surrey and south-west London to Heathrow. Various proposals including Airtrack and Airtrack Lite have been put forward but failed. The DfT identified southern access as one of the first Never-never railways in their drive for market-led proposals. On 4 April 2021 it was reported that in summer 2021 DfT would invite private partners to fund the southern rail link. Heathrow Southern Railway is a prime contender for this initiative. Railfuture advocate extending Heathrow Connect to Staines as a first step, followed by extension of Heathrow Express services to Woking, and Guildford when grade separation of the junction at Woking creates more capacity on the South West Main Line. Meanwhile a western rail link with Reading via Langley may be stalled officially but in 2024 Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Group are among those seeking to revive it.
Okehampton route. Due to unstable cliffs and extreme weather on the coastal route serving Plymouth and Cornwall, via Dawlish, the first priority for the South-West must be route resilience to ensure that connectivity by rail is maintained at all times - see Peninsula Rail Task Force (February 2014). The alternative Okehampton route from Exeter to Plymouth could be reopened, eventually, but in the meantime every £10million invested in enhancing the resilience of the coastal route may be taking £10million off the value of the benefits of any alternative route. A first step has been taken by restoring regular Exeter-Okehampton services to The Dartmoor Line in late-2021 (official opening 17 November, public opening 20 November, frequency doubled to hourly from 15 May 2022) using the existing track. The reinstatement of regular passenger services between Plymouth and Tavistock (pop.13k) would complement this (see TavyRail - a group including rail professionals, academics & stakeholders focused on providing objective information for the Northern and Southern Dartmoor Rail Route debate). In May 2023 recent and possible progress was considered in this video: "Which lines could return on the former West Devon railway network?" Note especially Devon County Council's Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport, Cllr. Andrea Davis, at 01:42-02:41. (The bid mentioned at 02:00-02:25 was successful, with a Strategic Outline Business Case for Tavistock-Plymouth submitted to the DfT in autumn 2022, and its approval given by Rail Minister Huw Merriman on 4th October 2023.)
Finally, HS2 would if completed provide a step change in strategic network capacity, relieving the West Coast Main Line to enable better passenger services at intermediate stations - and additional freight services.
Bristol MetroWest Railfuture supports MetroWest proposals: more frequent services, reopened stations, and reinstatement of passenger services on the Portishead branch. These will ease congestion around Bristol by attracting commuters with quicker and more reliable journeys. In April 2019 came news that the Transport Secretary committed over £31million to the project, which then appeared at step 3 of 5 in his Department's Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline that October. Application for a Development Consent Order was submitted the following month and formally accepted in December 2019, but delayed by the pandemic and environmental concerns. In July 2022 North Somerset Council, WECA and DfT committed extra funding to cover the cost escalation caused by the delay. The government finally approved the Development Consent Order in November 2022. North Somerset Council could award the contract for construction works, which may not be complete until 2026; meanwhile Network Rail appointed the primary contractor in February 2023 to complete detailed design and Full Business Case. In January 2024 North Somerset Council voted unanimously to give Council leader Mike Bell the authority to submit the full business case for the long-awaited scheme to the Department for Transport, expected to happen in February. Elsewhere, in December 2022 came news that a new station at Ashley Down was due to start construction in early-2023 and be ready for use by the end of 2024; in January 2023 planning permission for North Filton station was granted. Before then, Portway Park & Ride station opened on 1st August 2023.
Oxford Metro, included in Modern Railways' September 2020 description of Project Speed thus: "Oxford includes ambitions for remodelling, provision of additional platforms, and introduction of metro-style services in the area around the city."
It comprises 1) upgrading the freight-only Cowley branch line in the south-east for passenger use and adding new stations at Oxford Littlemore and Oxford Cowley (detailed design and feasibility funding recommended by Oxford City Council Cabinet in December 2022, agreed by Full Council in January 2023), 2) a new station on the Great Western Main Line at Grove (previously Wantage Road) to serve major housing development, 3) a new line connecting over 50,000 people, RAF Brize Norton and the new Salt Cross garden village in the Eynsham-Witney-Carterton corridor, which was a bid (unsuccessful) in round 3 of government's Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund. However, the new County Council administration instead funded, and in 2023 published, the Strategic Outline Business Case, first a summary in May and then in November in full, and 4) a new station at Begbroke/Kidlington for north Oxford tech businesses.
Cambridge: capacity and connectivity for continued, and lo-carbon, growth. Cambridge Connect, based around the vision of an 'Isaac Newton line', is the Railfuture East Anglia-supported choice to resolve the conundrum. Although the recently-elected Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has halted the proposed bus-based Cambridge Autonomous Metro (CAM), he intends to ‘reinvent’ the Local Transport Plan to incorporate knowledge on new technologies, zero-carbon journeys and modal shift which had been gained as part of the CAM programme.
Devon Metro was launched in April 2011 as part of the County Council's 15-year Local Transport Plan 3. Two new Devon Metro stations opened in 2015, Cranbrook and Newcourt. Others to come include Marsh Barton, Cullompton, and Edginswell, as well as Tavistock at the end of the Plymouth-Tavistock link which is to be re-opened from Bere Alston. Not yet part of the network but a strong potential candidate is the proposed extension of the Tarka Line to restore a rail link to Bideford. See North Devon MP Selaine Saxby speaking in Westminster Hall Restoring Your Railway Fund debate on 24th January 2023. The third new station to be added to the Devon Metro network, at Marsh Barton on the south side of Exeter, was opened officially on Monday 3rd July 2023. Passenger services started the following day. On 4th October 2023 The DfT's Network North said this: "We will deliver rail improvements in the South West. We will reopen stations and reintroduce rail passenger services to Wellington and Cullompton, reinstate five miles of track and a new station at Tavistock to connect it with Plymouth." (Cullompton and Tavistock are both on the Devon Metro network).
Mid-Cornwall Metro Initially a successful bid to the DfT's Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund, subsequently funded by the former Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. May 2025 to see doubled service frequency for Newquay with hourly trains, then through services between Newquay-Par-St. Austell-Truro-Falmouth in 2026. See also Mid Cornwall Metro project moves forward.
Medway Metro The new Hoo Peninsula Railway - based on an upgrade of the currently freight-only Grain Branch, with a new Hoo St. Werburgh station serving an area in the spotlight for up to c.15k new homes over the next 15 years or so, plus a new east-south Higham chord to connect with the Medway Towns and with the Medway Valley Line, via Strood.
West London Orbital A new London Overground link around west London which Transport for London are developing, running between Hendon and West Hampstead, Harlesden and Hounslow, via an interchange with HS2 at Old Oak Common.
Cross-London links Further cross-London links (and extensions to Crossrail, such as to Ebbsfleet garden city) will be required after the Thameslink upgrade and Crossrail to provide the capacity required to meet the longer-term increase in demand for rail travel and support economic growth. Crossrail 2 is proposed to link South Western and West Anglia inner suburban services by tunnel between Wimbledon and Hackney, supported by London First, with implementation expected in the 2030's. East London and Essex authorities particularly advocate an East London Riverside Route. In the longer term, with implementation needed for the 2040's, Railfuture also advocate Thameslink 2 on a north - south axis via Docklands (the eastern expansion of central London) to connect northeast with southeast London and Gatwick Airport, relieve congestion at London Bridge and release capacity on the East London line, Jubilee line and Brighton Main Line.
The Northumberland Line. Railfuture supports the SENRUG campaign to re-introduce passenger services on part of the Ashington Blyth and Tyne freight network, which will bring around 100,000 people in an area of high unemployment and poor transport links within reach of jobs and education in Newcastle. The business case is supported by robust Market Appraisal, Demand Assessment reports and a GRIP-2 Feasibility Study commissioned by Northumberland County Council. On 11th October 2016 Northumberland County Council agreed to proceed to GRIP-3. There were encouraging words from the then Transport Secretary during a visit in February 2019, leading to inclusion at stage 2 'Develop' in DfT's new Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP). In January 2020 Transport Secretary Grant Shapps allocated £1.5m for development of the project when launching the new Restoring Your Railway Fund. Following NCC's commitment of £10m two major consultancies started development in May 2020 and survey works began the next month. From mid-November 2020 Northumberland County Council held a month-long public consultation on reintroduction of a rail passenger service. The Northumberland Line received a major boost in January 2021, and in May 2021 came news of an application being submitted for an Order under the Transport & Works Act. A special train for official stakeholders ran in August 2021. In July 2023 contracts were confirmed to build three of the new stations. Passenger services are will start on 15 December 2024. Photo by John Brierley.
Wisbech. The 7 miles of railway from March to Wisbech closed to passenger services in 1968 and to freight in 2000. Reopening this mothballed line into the town would connect the 30,000 people living in the area with jobs in Cambridge. Our 2008 proposals led to a petition with 3784 signatures, encouraging Cambridgeshire County Council to fund a business study and North East Cambridgeshire MP Steve Barclay to host a Rail Summit of key stakeholders in 2014. The business study showed a BCR of 3.0 justifying funding for the following engineering study. In 2018 Railfuture joined with local people, rail planning experts and influential local business leaders to progress Wisbechrail through a new Wisbech Consultative Group. In 2020 the Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority approved the conclusions of the full business case for restoring the link.
Skelmersdale - Kirkby. The West Lancashire Master Plan (p.29) includes re-connecting Skelmersdale (pop. c.40k) to the rail network with a new rail station and bus interchange in the town centre. The development is in the package of twelve rail priorities which make up the Liverpool City Region Long Term Rail Strategy published by Merseytravel in 2014. A GRIP 3A study for both a new station at Headbolt Lane in the Northwood area of Kirkby, and for a new railway branch line from Rainford into Skelmersdale town centre, is expected to conclude late in 2020. In March 2020 West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper received assurances from the DfT that Restoring Your Railway funding could be used to accelerate schemes such as Skelmersdale. In June 2020 Lancashire County Council confirmed acquisition of the site of the former Glenburn Sports College, and approved £2 million to demolish the buildings on the site and prepare the area for the construction of a rail station. Merseytravel electric services will be extended beyond Kirkby to Skelmersdale, where they will connect with Northern services from Wigan diverted from Kirkby. In August 2020 it was reported that work on the scheme could be “accelerated” under a new funding application. In December 2020 it was reported that Lancashire County Council is expected to present its business case for a new Skelmersdale rail station in the first few months of 2021.
Washington. Proposals for reintroducing rail services to Washington were submitted to the Ideas Fund of the Restoring Your Railway fund were unsuccessful, but in November 2022 Transport NorthEast submitted a business case for the Washington Metro Loop to the North East Joint Transport Committee as a step forward to re-opening of the Leamside Line. Washington - current pop. c.67k - bore witness to the first Beeching station closure when it lost its passenger services on 9 September 1963, while Ernest Marples was Minister of Transport. Designation as a New Town followed on 24 July 1964. The station closed to goods on 7 December 1964. Meanwhile the nearby A1(M) was being built between junctions 56-65, and opened in stages from 1965-70.
St. Andrews in Fife has a resident population of 17,000 but is now six miles from the nearest railway station at Leuchars since its own station and connecting line closed in 1969. It is home to the University of St. Andrews, as well as being synonymous with golf. Two grants from Transport Scotland's Local Rail Development Fund, first in August 2018 and again, after the Fund was re-launched in February 2019, in August 2019 have enabled detailed appraisal work to progress, 50 years after the town lost its rail service.
Hythe and Fawley in the Hampshire District of New Forest have a population of over 20,000, and thousands of new homes are planned for the Waterside area. These communities are currently dependent on increasingly heavily-congested roads since rail passenger services last ran in 1966, whilst the ferry service between Hythe and Southampton Port has been threatened with closure as passenger numbers have declined due to its unreliability. A rail service between Fawley, Hythe and Southampton, via Totton, on the existing freight branch would offer a much shorter journey time to the city centre than either the bus or the ferry. On 23 May 2020 the Transport Secretary announced that Hampshire County Council's bid for the Waterside line is one of the first 10 bids to the first round of the Ideas Fund to be selected to receive shares of the £500k Restoring Your Railway fund. On 28 July SWR ran a special train along the branch carrying a high-level delegation. The 2021 Autumn Statement (para 4.69) announced £7 million development funding from 2021-22 to 2024-25 to reopen passenger services. In August-September 2022 Network Rail ran a public consultation, including a short film, and Three Rivers Rail Partnership issued a promotional video.
Bere Alston - Tavistock. Seen as part of Devon Metro, an example of a local authority - Devon County Council - taking the initiative, supported by the local population, to reopen a railway line to meet a local transport need. The County Council worked with Kilbride Group to raise funding from developers of new housing at Tavistock (pop. 13k +), and progressed the business case and technical investigation of the route's structures for GRIP stages 2 and 3. In July 2014 the council agreed to progress the detailed design and in September 2014 approved outline planning permission for the 750 home development to help fund the rail link. A report commissioned by the Campaign to Protect Rural England Rural reconnections: the social benefits of rail reopening, published in June 2015, had used Exeter-Okehampton-Tavistock-Plymouth as its case study. With high-profile support in early-2019, and despite rising costs reported that autumn, it had been hoped that the scheme would make accelerated progress in 2020 through the DfT's new Restoring Your Railway Fund in view of the large amount of work already undertaken. Tavistock to Plymouth Rail Reinstatement was included in the full list of bids to the Ideas Fund first published 8 September 2020, updated 12 May 2021 and again on 27 October 2021, meanwhile on 15 June 2021 confirmed by Devon CC. On 27 October 2021 the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Autumn Budget included the project as one of the 13 winners in round 3 of the DfT's Ideas Fund. Renewed signs of optimism before and during a meeting on 6 April 2022. On 14 November Devon CC announced publication of the latest Strategic Outline Business Case. On 4th October 2023 the local MP received this letter and the following day Devon CC issued this press release.
Bideford together with Appledore, Westward Ho! and Northam make up the largest single population grouping in Devon, c.31k people, without direct access to a passenger rail service. The nearest railhead is Barnstaple, about 8 miles away and with just an hourly service which takes over an hour to reach Exeter only 40 miles away, failing to compete on time with the road alternative. The year 2021 saw revived stirrings of active local interest, strongly supported by Railfuture and other independent advice, in developing a case for reconnecting 'Greater Bideford' to the rail network and offering a more attractive service with competitive journey times to and from the county's capital city to boost local economic fortunes. See ACE Rail
Haverhill in the District of West Suffolk has grown five fold to a population of nearly 30,000 since the railway was closed, and the town is still growing. Roads and bus services to Cambridge are congested at peak times. Local group Rail Haverhill has started a petition to reinstate the 12-mile rail link from Cambridge, and distributed leaflets part-funded by Railfuture to publicise it. Greater Cambridge City Deal commissioned and recently published a Cambridge to Haverhill Corridor viability report giving an early, very pessimistic, estimate of the Benefit to Cost Ratio which Railfuture believe can be improved.
Ripon - this expanding North Yorkshire cathedral City of 16,700 people (2011 Census), including 1300 homes planned for former MoD land, lost its passenger rail services on 6 March 1967. In March 2021 a bid to the DfT's Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund was submitted, believed to have been sponsored by Kevin Hollinrake, the MP for Thirsk and Malton, for restoration of the whole Harrogate-Northallerton route part of which passes through his constituency. On 12 May 2021 an updated list of bids described the project as '(Leeds) Cross Gates-Wetherby-Harrogate-Ripon-Northallerton'.
Railfuture campaigns for railway lines to be opened or reopened, in alliance with other groups throughout Britain, have been a success. Over the past half-century more than 500 miles of route have been added to the network, gaining tremendous popular support. Clearly there is no prospect of reopening all the lines closed by British Railways, but in some places - where the economic factors that brought about their closure have changed - there is a need for new or reopened lines to meet the increasing demand for rail transport. Our new guide (endorsed by and published jointly with the Department for Transport) Expanding the Railways will help stakeholders and campaigners navigate the process of gaining agreement to a new railway.
Railfuture focuses on schemes which we believe will most support economic (housing / productivity) growth, and therefore offer the greatest chance of success. This potential for growth can be monetised using Land Value Capture to help finance these rail schemes. Guidance for promoters is below.
NEWS ALERT - JULY 2024
On Monday 29th July 2024 the new Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves made an oral statement in the House of Commons on Public Spending: Inheritance and in particular said this:
"The previous government also made a series of commitments on transport.
Promises that people expected to be delivered.
(Redacted political content)
We have seen from the National Audit Office the chaos that the previous government presided over.
Projects over budget and delayed again and again.
The spending audit has revealed nearly £800m of unfunded transport projects that have been committed next year.
So my RHF the Transport Secretary will undertake a thorough review of all these commitments.
As part of that work, she has agreed not to move forwards with projects that the previous government refused to publicly cancel, despite knowing full well they were unaffordable.
That includes proposed work on the A303 and the A27…
… and my RHF will also cancel projects in the “Restoring our Railways” programme which have not yet commenced.
If we cannot afford it, we cannot do it."
For completeness, the full passage from Hansard (column 1037) is this:
"The previous Government also made a series of commitments on transport, promises that people expected to be delivered and promises that many Members across this House campaigned on in good faith, but the Conservative party has failed them. We have seen from the National Audit Office the chaos that the previous Government presided over, with projects over budget and delayed again and again. The spending audit has revealed £1 billion of unfunded transport projects that have been committed to next year, so my right hon. Friend the Transport Secretary will undertake a thorough review of these commitments. As part of that work, she has agreed not to move forwards with projects that the previous Government refused to publicly cancel, despite knowing full well that they were unaffordable. That includes proposed work on the A303 and the A27, and my right hon. Friend will also cancel the restoring your railway programme, saving £85 million next year, with individual projects to be assessed through her review. If we cannot afford it, we cannot do it."
As round 3 of the New Stations Fund was part of the Restoring Your Railway programme, there is also a dark cloud hanging over the fate of at least some of the stations which it and subsequent government announcements supported with funding, until the results of the Transport Secretary's review are known.
A Strategic Network
Alternative routes between major economic centres are needed to create additional capacity and resilience in the strategic network. The risk of single points of failure in the rail network was cruelly exposed by the damage in 2014 to the sea wall at Dawlish, which cut off south west England from the rail network for two months.Transpennine routes are becoming congested, so additional capacity will be needed to meet demand. Network Rail are being funded to press on with the Transpennine Route Upgrade between York and Manchester via Leeds and Huddersfield, while further work is required to determine which option best meets that long-term demand:
- The Peaks and Dales Railway is leading the effort to fund and deliver the Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) for the full reinstatement and upgrade of the former mainline railway between Ambergate and Chinley, with the support of Manchester and East Midlands Rail Action Partnership. Originally the Midland Main Line to Manchester, part is now the Peak Rail heritage line. The one-man Campaign for the Peak Line has since come on the scene.
- Skipton - Colne The campaign group SELRAP propose the reopening of the Skipton - Colne line to connect the relatively depressed areas of Burnley and Colne via Skipton to Leeds and the Aire Valley and drive economic regeneration. Six local authorities, including Lancashire County Council, have formed an Outputs Definition Group to promote the proposal. On 3 February 2018 the Transport Secretary announced a feasibility study into the value of reopening the line and in October 2019 the scheme was included, at stage 1 Determine (of 5), in the DfT's Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline.
- On 23rd June 2014 George Osborne proposed the concept of a high-speed line linking Leeds and Manchester, using existing rail routes, to help create a 'northern global powerhouse'.
- The Woodhead Tunnel, once on the Great Central main line to Manchester until closure in 1981 between Hadfield and Penistone, is now used for National Grid electricity cables. No bids to re-open the route which includes it were received in any of the three rounds of the DfT's Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund which were launched between January 2020 and January 2021.
Ely grade separation. Ely North Junction is a major bottleneck on the strategic F2N freight route. The need in the Ely area is to enable freight on the east-west alignment (which has no business at Ely station) to have an uninterrupted journey, maintaining efficient line-speed and minimising journey-time, between the Bury St. Edmunds line and the Peterborough line. A grade-separated Ely area would also minimise impacts on passenger services especially on the north-south alignment. Railfuture's proposal is illustrated here.
Uckfield - Lewes Railfuture is campaigning to support economic growth in East Sussex and Kent and reconnect communities by linking the East Coastway and Wealden lines via Uckfield and Lewes. This could support sustainable housing growth to help meet Brighton's unmet housing needs. It would promote economic growth in East Sussex by providing access between the Weald and employment opportunities in Brighton, help regenerate Newhaven, create additional peak capacity between the South Coast and London to complement the Brighton Main Line, and help maintain Brighton's visitor economy by providing an alternative, diversionary route between the Sussex coast and London.
Stratford-on-Avon - Honeybourne. The Avon Rail Link will reinstate six miles of single track along the former track-bed between Stratford-upon-Avon station and Long Marston, to join an existing three-mile freight branch from Honeybourne. This will reconnect Stratford-on-Avon with Oxford and Worcester, generating tourism benefits. A GRIP 3 study by Ove Arup was completed in April 2019. The scheme is promoted locally by Stratford Rail Transport Group, in alliance of the Cotswold Line Promotion Group, Shakespeare Line Promotion Group, Solihull & Leamington Rail Users Association and Railfuture, winning support from the DfT Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund in November 2020 to take it forward. However in a Written Statement to Parliament on 20 June 2022 Rail Minister Wendy Morton confirmed through publication of a Restoring Your Railway Fund update that the scheme was one of eight which would not progress beyond the Strategic Outline Business Case which had been produced with support from the Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund.
Heathrow southern and western rail access. London Borough of Wandsworth and Surrey County Council's rail strategy both call for direct access from Surrey and south-west London to Heathrow. Various proposals including Airtrack and Airtrack Lite have been put forward but failed. The DfT identified southern access as one of the first Never-never railways in their drive for market-led proposals. On 4 April 2021 it was reported that in summer 2021 DfT would invite private partners to fund the southern rail link. Heathrow Southern Railway is a prime contender for this initiative. Railfuture advocate extending Heathrow Connect to Staines as a first step, followed by extension of Heathrow Express services to Woking, and Guildford when grade separation of the junction at Woking creates more capacity on the South West Main Line. Meanwhile a western rail link with Reading via Langley may be stalled officially but in 2024 Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Group are among those seeking to revive it.
Okehampton route. Due to unstable cliffs and extreme weather on the coastal route serving Plymouth and Cornwall, via Dawlish, the first priority for the South-West must be route resilience to ensure that connectivity by rail is maintained at all times - see Peninsula Rail Task Force (February 2014). The alternative Okehampton route from Exeter to Plymouth could be reopened, eventually, but in the meantime every £10million invested in enhancing the resilience of the coastal route may be taking £10million off the value of the benefits of any alternative route. A first step has been taken by restoring regular Exeter-Okehampton services to The Dartmoor Line in late-2021 (official opening 17 November, public opening 20 November, frequency doubled to hourly from 15 May 2022) using the existing track. The reinstatement of regular passenger services between Plymouth and Tavistock (pop.13k) would complement this (see TavyRail - a group including rail professionals, academics & stakeholders focused on providing objective information for the Northern and Southern Dartmoor Rail Route debate). In May 2023 recent and possible progress was considered in this video: "Which lines could return on the former West Devon railway network?" Note especially Devon County Council's Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment and Transport, Cllr. Andrea Davis, at 01:42-02:41. (The bid mentioned at 02:00-02:25 was successful, with a Strategic Outline Business Case for Tavistock-Plymouth submitted to the DfT in autumn 2022, and its approval given by Rail Minister Huw Merriman on 4th October 2023.)
Finally, HS2 would if completed provide a step change in strategic network capacity, relieving the West Coast Main Line to enable better passenger services at intermediate stations - and additional freight services.
Metro services
As our cities grow, so there is a need for more capacity in their metro networks.Bristol MetroWest Railfuture supports MetroWest proposals: more frequent services, reopened stations, and reinstatement of passenger services on the Portishead branch. These will ease congestion around Bristol by attracting commuters with quicker and more reliable journeys. In April 2019 came news that the Transport Secretary committed over £31million to the project, which then appeared at step 3 of 5 in his Department's Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline that October. Application for a Development Consent Order was submitted the following month and formally accepted in December 2019, but delayed by the pandemic and environmental concerns. In July 2022 North Somerset Council, WECA and DfT committed extra funding to cover the cost escalation caused by the delay. The government finally approved the Development Consent Order in November 2022. North Somerset Council could award the contract for construction works, which may not be complete until 2026; meanwhile Network Rail appointed the primary contractor in February 2023 to complete detailed design and Full Business Case. In January 2024 North Somerset Council voted unanimously to give Council leader Mike Bell the authority to submit the full business case for the long-awaited scheme to the Department for Transport, expected to happen in February. Elsewhere, in December 2022 came news that a new station at Ashley Down was due to start construction in early-2023 and be ready for use by the end of 2024; in January 2023 planning permission for North Filton station was granted. Before then, Portway Park & Ride station opened on 1st August 2023.
Oxford Metro, included in Modern Railways' September 2020 description of Project Speed thus: "Oxford includes ambitions for remodelling, provision of additional platforms, and introduction of metro-style services in the area around the city."
It comprises 1) upgrading the freight-only Cowley branch line in the south-east for passenger use and adding new stations at Oxford Littlemore and Oxford Cowley (detailed design and feasibility funding recommended by Oxford City Council Cabinet in December 2022, agreed by Full Council in January 2023), 2) a new station on the Great Western Main Line at Grove (previously Wantage Road) to serve major housing development, 3) a new line connecting over 50,000 people, RAF Brize Norton and the new Salt Cross garden village in the Eynsham-Witney-Carterton corridor, which was a bid (unsuccessful) in round 3 of government's Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund. However, the new County Council administration instead funded, and in 2023 published, the Strategic Outline Business Case, first a summary in May and then in November in full, and 4) a new station at Begbroke/Kidlington for north Oxford tech businesses.
Cambridge: capacity and connectivity for continued, and lo-carbon, growth. Cambridge Connect, based around the vision of an 'Isaac Newton line', is the Railfuture East Anglia-supported choice to resolve the conundrum. Although the recently-elected Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has halted the proposed bus-based Cambridge Autonomous Metro (CAM), he intends to ‘reinvent’ the Local Transport Plan to incorporate knowledge on new technologies, zero-carbon journeys and modal shift which had been gained as part of the CAM programme.
Devon Metro was launched in April 2011 as part of the County Council's 15-year Local Transport Plan 3. Two new Devon Metro stations opened in 2015, Cranbrook and Newcourt. Others to come include Marsh Barton, Cullompton, and Edginswell, as well as Tavistock at the end of the Plymouth-Tavistock link which is to be re-opened from Bere Alston. Not yet part of the network but a strong potential candidate is the proposed extension of the Tarka Line to restore a rail link to Bideford. See North Devon MP Selaine Saxby speaking in Westminster Hall Restoring Your Railway Fund debate on 24th January 2023. The third new station to be added to the Devon Metro network, at Marsh Barton on the south side of Exeter, was opened officially on Monday 3rd July 2023. Passenger services started the following day. On 4th October 2023 The DfT's Network North said this: "We will deliver rail improvements in the South West. We will reopen stations and reintroduce rail passenger services to Wellington and Cullompton, reinstate five miles of track and a new station at Tavistock to connect it with Plymouth." (Cullompton and Tavistock are both on the Devon Metro network).
Mid-Cornwall Metro Initially a successful bid to the DfT's Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund, subsequently funded by the former Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. May 2025 to see doubled service frequency for Newquay with hourly trains, then through services between Newquay-Par-St. Austell-Truro-Falmouth in 2026. See also Mid Cornwall Metro project moves forward.
Medway Metro The new Hoo Peninsula Railway - based on an upgrade of the currently freight-only Grain Branch, with a new Hoo St. Werburgh station serving an area in the spotlight for up to c.15k new homes over the next 15 years or so, plus a new east-south Higham chord to connect with the Medway Towns and with the Medway Valley Line, via Strood.
West London Orbital A new London Overground link around west London which Transport for London are developing, running between Hendon and West Hampstead, Harlesden and Hounslow, via an interchange with HS2 at Old Oak Common.
Cross-London links Further cross-London links (and extensions to Crossrail, such as to Ebbsfleet garden city) will be required after the Thameslink upgrade and Crossrail to provide the capacity required to meet the longer-term increase in demand for rail travel and support economic growth. Crossrail 2 is proposed to link South Western and West Anglia inner suburban services by tunnel between Wimbledon and Hackney, supported by London First, with implementation expected in the 2030's. East London and Essex authorities particularly advocate an East London Riverside Route. In the longer term, with implementation needed for the 2040's, Railfuture also advocate Thameslink 2 on a north - south axis via Docklands (the eastern expansion of central London) to connect northeast with southeast London and Gatwick Airport, relieve congestion at London Bridge and release capacity on the East London line, Jubilee line and Brighton Main Line.
Isolated towns
Growing towns which are isolated from the rail network can be hit particularly hard in an economic downturn; reinstating a rail link can promote economic recovery, and when the population is 25,000 or more a good business case can be made. Read Reconnecting left-behind towns.The Northumberland Line. Railfuture supports the SENRUG campaign to re-introduce passenger services on part of the Ashington Blyth and Tyne freight network, which will bring around 100,000 people in an area of high unemployment and poor transport links within reach of jobs and education in Newcastle. The business case is supported by robust Market Appraisal, Demand Assessment reports and a GRIP-2 Feasibility Study commissioned by Northumberland County Council. On 11th October 2016 Northumberland County Council agreed to proceed to GRIP-3. There were encouraging words from the then Transport Secretary during a visit in February 2019, leading to inclusion at stage 2 'Develop' in DfT's new Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP). In January 2020 Transport Secretary Grant Shapps allocated £1.5m for development of the project when launching the new Restoring Your Railway Fund. Following NCC's commitment of £10m two major consultancies started development in May 2020 and survey works began the next month. From mid-November 2020 Northumberland County Council held a month-long public consultation on reintroduction of a rail passenger service. The Northumberland Line received a major boost in January 2021, and in May 2021 came news of an application being submitted for an Order under the Transport & Works Act. A special train for official stakeholders ran in August 2021. In July 2023 contracts were confirmed to build three of the new stations. Passenger services are will start on 15 December 2024. Photo by John Brierley.
Wisbech. The 7 miles of railway from March to Wisbech closed to passenger services in 1968 and to freight in 2000. Reopening this mothballed line into the town would connect the 30,000 people living in the area with jobs in Cambridge. Our 2008 proposals led to a petition with 3784 signatures, encouraging Cambridgeshire County Council to fund a business study and North East Cambridgeshire MP Steve Barclay to host a Rail Summit of key stakeholders in 2014. The business study showed a BCR of 3.0 justifying funding for the following engineering study. In 2018 Railfuture joined with local people, rail planning experts and influential local business leaders to progress Wisbechrail through a new Wisbech Consultative Group. In 2020 the Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority approved the conclusions of the full business case for restoring the link.
Skelmersdale - Kirkby. The West Lancashire Master Plan (p.29) includes re-connecting Skelmersdale (pop. c.40k) to the rail network with a new rail station and bus interchange in the town centre. The development is in the package of twelve rail priorities which make up the Liverpool City Region Long Term Rail Strategy published by Merseytravel in 2014. A GRIP 3A study for both a new station at Headbolt Lane in the Northwood area of Kirkby, and for a new railway branch line from Rainford into Skelmersdale town centre, is expected to conclude late in 2020. In March 2020 West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper received assurances from the DfT that Restoring Your Railway funding could be used to accelerate schemes such as Skelmersdale. In June 2020 Lancashire County Council confirmed acquisition of the site of the former Glenburn Sports College, and approved £2 million to demolish the buildings on the site and prepare the area for the construction of a rail station. Merseytravel electric services will be extended beyond Kirkby to Skelmersdale, where they will connect with Northern services from Wigan diverted from Kirkby. In August 2020 it was reported that work on the scheme could be “accelerated” under a new funding application. In December 2020 it was reported that Lancashire County Council is expected to present its business case for a new Skelmersdale rail station in the first few months of 2021.
Washington. Proposals for reintroducing rail services to Washington were submitted to the Ideas Fund of the Restoring Your Railway fund were unsuccessful, but in November 2022 Transport NorthEast submitted a business case for the Washington Metro Loop to the North East Joint Transport Committee as a step forward to re-opening of the Leamside Line. Washington - current pop. c.67k - bore witness to the first Beeching station closure when it lost its passenger services on 9 September 1963, while Ernest Marples was Minister of Transport. Designation as a New Town followed on 24 July 1964. The station closed to goods on 7 December 1964. Meanwhile the nearby A1(M) was being built between junctions 56-65, and opened in stages from 1965-70.
St. Andrews in Fife has a resident population of 17,000 but is now six miles from the nearest railway station at Leuchars since its own station and connecting line closed in 1969. It is home to the University of St. Andrews, as well as being synonymous with golf. Two grants from Transport Scotland's Local Rail Development Fund, first in August 2018 and again, after the Fund was re-launched in February 2019, in August 2019 have enabled detailed appraisal work to progress, 50 years after the town lost its rail service.
Hythe and Fawley in the Hampshire District of New Forest have a population of over 20,000, and thousands of new homes are planned for the Waterside area. These communities are currently dependent on increasingly heavily-congested roads since rail passenger services last ran in 1966, whilst the ferry service between Hythe and Southampton Port has been threatened with closure as passenger numbers have declined due to its unreliability. A rail service between Fawley, Hythe and Southampton, via Totton, on the existing freight branch would offer a much shorter journey time to the city centre than either the bus or the ferry. On 23 May 2020 the Transport Secretary announced that Hampshire County Council's bid for the Waterside line is one of the first 10 bids to the first round of the Ideas Fund to be selected to receive shares of the £500k Restoring Your Railway fund. On 28 July SWR ran a special train along the branch carrying a high-level delegation. The 2021 Autumn Statement (para 4.69) announced £7 million development funding from 2021-22 to 2024-25 to reopen passenger services. In August-September 2022 Network Rail ran a public consultation, including a short film, and Three Rivers Rail Partnership issued a promotional video.
Bere Alston - Tavistock. Seen as part of Devon Metro, an example of a local authority - Devon County Council - taking the initiative, supported by the local population, to reopen a railway line to meet a local transport need. The County Council worked with Kilbride Group to raise funding from developers of new housing at Tavistock (pop. 13k +), and progressed the business case and technical investigation of the route's structures for GRIP stages 2 and 3. In July 2014 the council agreed to progress the detailed design and in September 2014 approved outline planning permission for the 750 home development to help fund the rail link. A report commissioned by the Campaign to Protect Rural England Rural reconnections: the social benefits of rail reopening, published in June 2015, had used Exeter-Okehampton-Tavistock-Plymouth as its case study. With high-profile support in early-2019, and despite rising costs reported that autumn, it had been hoped that the scheme would make accelerated progress in 2020 through the DfT's new Restoring Your Railway Fund in view of the large amount of work already undertaken. Tavistock to Plymouth Rail Reinstatement was included in the full list of bids to the Ideas Fund first published 8 September 2020, updated 12 May 2021 and again on 27 October 2021, meanwhile on 15 June 2021 confirmed by Devon CC. On 27 October 2021 the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Autumn Budget included the project as one of the 13 winners in round 3 of the DfT's Ideas Fund. Renewed signs of optimism before and during a meeting on 6 April 2022. On 14 November Devon CC announced publication of the latest Strategic Outline Business Case. On 4th October 2023 the local MP received this letter and the following day Devon CC issued this press release.
Bideford together with Appledore, Westward Ho! and Northam make up the largest single population grouping in Devon, c.31k people, without direct access to a passenger rail service. The nearest railhead is Barnstaple, about 8 miles away and with just an hourly service which takes over an hour to reach Exeter only 40 miles away, failing to compete on time with the road alternative. The year 2021 saw revived stirrings of active local interest, strongly supported by Railfuture and other independent advice, in developing a case for reconnecting 'Greater Bideford' to the rail network and offering a more attractive service with competitive journey times to and from the county's capital city to boost local economic fortunes. See ACE Rail
Haverhill in the District of West Suffolk has grown five fold to a population of nearly 30,000 since the railway was closed, and the town is still growing. Roads and bus services to Cambridge are congested at peak times. Local group Rail Haverhill has started a petition to reinstate the 12-mile rail link from Cambridge, and distributed leaflets part-funded by Railfuture to publicise it. Greater Cambridge City Deal commissioned and recently published a Cambridge to Haverhill Corridor viability report giving an early, very pessimistic, estimate of the Benefit to Cost Ratio which Railfuture believe can be improved.
Ripon - this expanding North Yorkshire cathedral City of 16,700 people (2011 Census), including 1300 homes planned for former MoD land, lost its passenger rail services on 6 March 1967. In March 2021 a bid to the DfT's Restoring Your Railway Ideas Fund was submitted, believed to have been sponsored by Kevin Hollinrake, the MP for Thirsk and Malton, for restoration of the whole Harrogate-Northallerton route part of which passes through his constituency. On 12 May 2021 an updated list of bids described the project as '(Leeds) Cross Gates-Wetherby-Harrogate-Ripon-Northallerton'.
Chords
Often reinstating or creating a new chord can create opportunities for new services which meet a latent transport demand.- Adswood curve would provide an alternative route to Trafford Park freight terminal and a new freight terminal, relieving the Castlefield corridor
- Almond Chord. Construction would give a connection from Edinburgh Airport to the west. The chord would also make it possible for a new Winchburgh station to support the proposed £1Bn Winchburgh Village development.
- Crigglestone chord would enable quicker direct passenger services between Sheffield, Barnsley and Huddersfield.
- Cuxton Chord would link the Medway Valley and Chatham Main lines, passing under the M2 Medway bridge, to enable direct orbital rail services to connect the Medway Towns with Gatwick Airport. See Railfuture's response to the draft Kent Rail Strategy 2021 and the County Council's consultation report and revised strategy in Cabinet papers as at 15 January 2021.
- Hall Farm curve for direct Stratford-Walthamstow-Chingford services.
- Hoo-Higham chord as an integral part of Hoo Peninsula Railway would enable existing freight and new passenger services to access both the Medway Towns and the Medway Valley line directly, via Strood.
- Nuneaton diveunder beneath the WCML would enable a through Leicester-Coventry service which would capture for rail some of the 97% of journeys on this route currently made by road.
Guidance for promoters
- Our DfT-approved guide Expanding the Railways - How to develop and deliver a proposal (or click to download it) - the process of gaining agreement to a new railway line or station and a must-read.
- Make use of the cross-industry Better Value Rail toolkit - Delivering better outcomes faster.
- A DfT-approved SOBC - see DfT guidance - is the essential pre-requisite to enter the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (published March 2018). Schemes have then been shown at different stages of progress; see RNEP update (published October 2019).
- E-Rail's Land Value Capture model can monetise the added value of rail-connected growth to help finance rail schemes.
- Connecting Communities - Expanding Access to the Rail Network published in June 2009 by the former Association of Train Operating Companies
- Beeching in reverse – the case for a programme of line and station re-openings by Paul Salveson of the Transport Research & Information Network, published September 2001. Part-sponsored by Railfuture.
- Branching Out: Railways for Rural Communities - A good practice guide by Paul Salveson of the Transport Research & Information Network, published June 2000. Part-sponsored by the Railway Development Society.“
- The Social Consequences of Rail Closures by Mayer Hillman and Anne Whalley for the Policy Studies Institute, no. 587, published April 1980.
Route protection
Transport schemes take a long time to develop. Rail reopenings, as enhancements to the rail network, now need to work their way into and through the DfT's 5-stage Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline. Like most rail projects, they also have to go through Network Rail's 8-stage Governance for Railway Investment Projects process, GRIP. This too can be both long and slow. Without protection with the legal force of a Local Plan these linear assets can all too easily be destroyed by redevelopment. Therefore Railfuture consider that planning authorities should protect potentially valuable routes for which a business case has not yet been established and in 2001 published a leaflet For want of a Rail..... Characteristics which justify protection for a closed route include the following:- Short lines which link growing towns to the network
- Duplicate lines linking major cities, which may be required to provide additional capacity in future
- Lines which fill gaps in the network
- Lines with one of the characteristics above but currently operated as a heritage railway, where public transport (rather than leisure) services could be offered with the agreement of the heritage operator - see preserved lines as public transport..
Coming soon
Schemes in progress include:- Northumberland Line in autumn 2024.
- Midland Metro extensions to Wolverhampton rail station, to Digbeth High Street, Deritend via Curzon Street, and from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill.
- HS2. See also DfT-HS2.
Links success
Railfuture campaigns have helped to put over 100 links and 500 miles of route (and more than 400 stations) on the map in the last 60 years. Buy the sixth edition of Railfuture's A-Z guide to line and station reopenings since 1960, Britain's Growing Railway, published in 2017, here.- Blackpool North mainline station gained a connection with Blackpool Tramway from 16 June 2024 with services T2 (North station to and from Starr Gate) and T3 (North station to and from Fleetwood) ie NOT service T1.
- Levenmouth Rail Link opened to passengers on Sunday 2 June 2024.
- Ebbw Vale - Newport services commenced on 1 February 2024, after a break of 60 years and 16 years after Ebbw Vale was re-connected to the national network with Cardiff services.
- Edinburgh Trams extension to Newhaven opened on Wednesday 7 June 2023.
- The Barking Riverside extension of the Gospel Oak - Barking London Overground service opened through to a new station at Barking Riverside on 18 July 2022.
- London's own 'east west rail' Crossrail / TfL Rail became the Elizabeth line on 24 May 2022 with the opening of Abbey Wood-Canary Wharf-Paddington services, adding existing London Underground or Docklands Light Railway stations Bond Street (on 24 October), Tottenham Court Road, Canary Wharf, and Custom House to the national rail network (Whitechapel already a national rail station since becoming part of London Overground).
- Exeter to Okehampton: regular alternate-hourly services were restored to the newly-named Dartmoor line from Saturday 20 November 2021, as part of the Devon Metro and the first reopening to be completed by the Restoring Your Railway initiative. The service became hourly from May 2022.
- London Underground services on the Northern Line extension from Kennington on the Southwark/Lambeth boundary via Nine Elms to Battersea Power Station in Wandsworth started on 20 September 2021.
- Peterborough bypass aka Werrington dive-under: Railfuture campaigned for grade separation at Werrington as part of the East Coast Upgrade, which now completes a strategic eastern spine route for freight, relieving the East Coast Main Line. Network Rail proposals in June 2014 included alternatives of a flyover or a dive-under. Start of work on the Werrington Grade Separation project was delayed from early 2017 to autumn 2018 and completion from early 2019 to 2021. The concrete box structure was pushed under the ECML between 16-24 January 2021, the signalling commissioned in September 2021, and the official opening of the new tunnel took place on 9 December 2021.