A protest is being planned on Saturday 12 January 2008 against a new threat to a key rail link, closed by Mrs Thatcher's government 26 years ago.
The protest is being staged at the west end of Woodhead tunnel from 13.00 to 15.00. Click here for a map.
Plans to reopen Woodhead tunnel along with 20 miles of track to provide a new 35-minute service from Sheffield to Manchester via Barnsley, Penistone and Guide Bridge are at risk because of a short-sighted plan to use the tunnel for electricity cables which would effectively halt any plans for rail reopening.
It has been estimated that if the Woodhead route between Sheffield and Manchester was reopened for rail use it could save 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year by transferring freight from road to rail.
The rail route could be carbon neutral if regenerative braking is used, as is now common on many parts of the rail network.
Much of the track infrastructure still exists so the estimated costs are a very modest £139 million. (Widening just 1.2 miles of the M1 motorway between junctions 30 and 31 will cost £178million)
Six years ago there were plans to use new 125mph trains and to reopen Woodhead tunnel.
The four-trains-an-hour scheme - which would have included park and ride and freight - should have been in operation this year if the then Strategic Rail Authority had agreed to £200million investment programme.
But now, against the wishes of the Peak District National Park and local MPs, National Grid is proposing to run its power lines through the (new) 1954 Woodhead tunnel.
For information on the protest: savethewoodheadtunnel.blogspot.com
Campaigners are also urged to ask their MPs to sign Early Day Motion 459 (proposed by Graham Stringer) which calls upon the Government to investigate and intervene on this issue as a matter of urgency to prevent this strategic rail route being lost forever.
The EDM reads: "That this House believes that, at a time when the Government Rail White Paper endorses the strategic freight network and forecasts rail usage doubling over 30 years, National Grid's proposal to embark upon a cabling project through the Woodhead Tunnel between Manchester and Sheffield would mean an irrevocable loss of rail capacity; and therefore calls upon the Government to investigate and intervene on this issue as a matter of urgency to prevent this strategic rail route being lost forever."
One proposal is to avoid constructing damaging new roads by reopening the railway as a "rolling road". Details: www.stopmottrambypass.org/impact.htm
Info from Graham Collett graham at collettgh.plus.com