So reports the BBC:
The Liberal Democrats have set out plans to reopen thousands of miles of railway tracks and stations.
The scheme would be funded by cutting capital spending on roads by £3bn.
Its new Rail Expansion Fund would lead to the biggest expansion of the rail network since the Victorian era, the party claims.
Motorists’ group the RAC Foundation said it would be a waste of taxpayers’ money when only 7% of UK journeys were made by train, compared to 90% by car.
However, Lib Dem transport spokesman Norman Baker said the plan would “make our railway great again”…
Although exact decisions on which services could be expanded would not be made until bids were received, the Lib Dems have drawn up a list of schemes which could be suitable for early delivery.
These include the electrification of lines from Manchester to Liverpool, Leeds and Preston; from Birmingham to Bristol and Basingstoke; and between Leeds and York.
New or reopened stations could be funded in Ilkeston, Kidlington, Wantage, Corsham, Tavistock, Middlewich, Ashington, Blyth, Washington and Skelmersdale.
New lines could link Southport with Preston, Bournemouth with Ringwood and the Midlands main line with the Birmingham-Derby route.
And track could be reopened between Exeter and Okehampton; Tavistock and Plymouth; Penrith and Keswick; and Galashiels and Carlisle.
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26 Comments
Does that mean we’re going to start campaigning FOR pot holes?
Letterman, it gives our glum councillors something to stand around, thus creating community spaces where people can interact with local politicians! It’s a winner!
So what about Colne-Skipton and the Todmorden curve, Norman???
Tony Greaves
Re-opening the rail lines from Southport-Preston and Southport-Ormskirk only involves re-instating the rails along a few hundres yards of trackbed at the ‘Burscough Curves’. A large benefit for several communities at a low cost.
With their devolved power how would this affect Wales and most of Scotland. ?
I think you’ll find the line to Okehampton & Meldon quarry is still there, with weekend passenger services operated by the Dartmoor Railway. The line to Tavistock is to reopen as a developer-funded planning requirement for the 700 new houses to be built in Tavistock.
The part that needs to be reopened is the Meldon – Tavistock link.
Roger, I think Wales would still fall under this, but not in Scotland – talk of the HSR line extends as far as Sheffield/Birmingham/wherever.
A winning idea! Definitely worth further investigation work.
How about other lines in the West Country which where slowly eroded away over time? Are they only a maybe or a definitely? There is a lack of joined up transport in that part of the country.
Make sure you get the details right. Give the section of line that actuaLLY NEEDS REBUILDING, THEN THE SERVICE THAT WOULD RUN OVER IT.
EG REBUIL;D THE BURSCOUGH NORTH CURVE TO RUN A SOUTHPORT-PRESTON SERVICE OR
REBUILD THE TODMORDEN WEST CURVE TO RUN A MANCHESTER-BURNLEY SERVICE
IF YOU GET DETAILS WRONG, YOU LOSE CREDIBILITY
We could do with relaying the line from Guildford to Cranleigh in Surrey. It was a mistake to rip it out. It now acts as a cycle path, but restoring it to railway would help ease congestion in the morning and evening peak periods.
“Re-opening the rail lines from Southport-Preston and Southport-Ormskirk only involves re-instating the rails along a few hundres yards of trackbed at the ‘Burscough Curves’. A large benefit for several communities at a low cost.”
This is the point of the Tod curve which is a well-advanced scheme. Is it on our list?
Tony Greaves
I’m sure whining about whether specific things are on a list of examples for a scheme is very productive, compared to going out and getting Lib Dem MPs elected so this scheme has a chance of happening!
Tony: The Todmordon Curve is on our list – I have forwarded to you the party press release with a detailed appendix.
All of these ‘missing link’ schemes should be on our list, as should Tony’s Todmorden curve and the Burscough curves.
All of these projects reuse abandoned infrastructure, are cheap and provide important new routes for passengers & freight. None are more than 25Km in length, some just a few hundred metres.
Colne – Skipton
Hadfield – Penistone – Sheffield (Additional transpennine route Manchester – Sheffield)
Matlock – Buxton
High Marnham – Lincoln (Mansfield – Warsop – Lincoln)
Stratford – Long Marston
Uckfield – Lewes, Tunbridge Wells W – Tunbridge Wells
Meldon – Tavistock (gives all-weather Exeter – Plymouth route)
There are plenty of other proposals for branch line reopenings as well, I noted a few in the BBC story. Is there a map that can go in leaflets?
CAPITAL IDEA. Small schemes can make a difference but the main priority is more electrification…!
The first problem is that while roads are profitable to the Treasury once built – fuel duty is high, after all, almost all railways are loss making. So while you can cut road spending and build more railways, you then have to fund the running of them. Does Norman have a pot of money from that? Or is this an unfunded spending promise, of the sort I thought we had given up?
It also seems quite hard to believe that “Our plans will reopen thousands of miles of track “. £3bn divided by 2,000 is only £1,500 per mile. With the best will in the world, there are not thousands of miles of track sitting around in good condition waiting to be reopened for £1,500 a mile. The remodelling of Reading station, with a graded crossover, so that trains to Oxford don’t have to cross the trains coming from Bristol is going to cost c. £400m.
The High Speed line is about £250m a mile. Let’s say £25m per mile for this sort of thing, and you have about 150 miles of new track. That will help here and there, but this is bypass money, not a new railway system.
Tony: The Todmordon Curve is on our list – I have forwarded to you the party press release with a detailed appendix.
Thanks. Why could I not find the full list on the party website?
Tony Greaves
Sorry if I seem downbeat, but have we made provision anywhere for the REVENUE costs of such schemes?
To take a for instance, Southport-Preston : provision of rolling stock, provision of traincrew. And the income side?
Tim Leunig.
Any project run by Network Rail is ALWAYS ridiculously overpriced. For example, Merseytravel want to electrify Wrexham – Bidston, which they cost at £60million. Network Rail say £200million, which is clearly nonsense. Schemes in this country cost 2 – 4 times what comparable schemes cost per route kilometre elsewhere in Europe.
Tony’s point is an important one. No-one in this area had a clue what was in or out of this package and that information is still not publically available
A bit difficult to capitalise on a policy announcement when you don’t have an answer to the first question any journalist in your area is going to ask you.
Tony’s point is an irrelevant one. Nothing is in or out of this package. The policy is to create a fund that will take bids for rail investment projects.
But then we gave a long list of schemes for early delivery. The first question any journalist here would ask is is Tod Curve on your list for early delivery (they aren’t really going to be that bothered about Tavistock (with all respect to Tavistock). Yes I could guess that it is – but I don’t thank campaigners guessing at party policy is the greatest of ideas.
The point is that it IS on that list but the communication was so non-existant that no-one could find that out.
It’s not a long list of schemes for early delivery. It’s a list of examples of the kind of projects which could be suitable.
@Tim Leunig
£3bn divided by 2,000 is only £1,500 per mile.
Have I misunderstood or is £3,000,000,000 / 2,000 miles = £1,500,000/mile ?
“The High Speed line is about £250m a mile. Let’s say £25m per mile for this sort of thing, and you have about 150 miles of new track.”
You’re saying that the party is underestimating the initial capital expenditure by at least factor of ten, and not allowing anything at all for subsequent running costs?
I was appalled listening to Today on Radio 4 recently where they interviewed a transport expert who slagged off the idea, and there was no one from the Lib Dems to answer back.
What happened there?
Personally I am not sure that expanding the network is the top priority. The main problem with the railways is that they are too expensive. People on low incomes simply cannot afford to use them. The priority must surely be to make rail affordable to more people? Then we can look at expanding the network.
From the perspective of reducing carbon emissions, it makes sense to prioritise rail over road, but the trains need to be used as well. It does concern me that this radical policy has simply appeared from nowhere with no debate.
On the other hand, it is good to see rail been given a high priority.