RAIL REOPENING SCHEMES
EVER since Britain’s passenger railway network began to shrink as a consequence of 1964’s infamous report entitled ‘Reshaping of Britain’s Railways (aka Beeching), there have been numerous calls for lines to be reinstated. While some campaigns have been successful (the Borders Railway, between Edinburgh and Tweedbank in 2016 being the longest to be reopened), there hasn’t been a sustained momentum to the delivery of railway renaissance.
However, with significant population growth in a number of areas, roads becoming ever more crowded and pressure mounting on local councils to come up with ‘green’transport solutions, could there be a better time to prove the worth of restoring rail links?
The Department for Transport’s Restoring Your Railway Fund was set up to act as a catalyst for proposals in England and Wales. Mid-March was the deadline for the first round of applications. The £500million scheme will provide three separate streams of funding for refining ideas into more detailed business cases; accelerating the development and delivery of schemes that already have a business case and proposals for new or restored stations.
Brighton Main Line 2
Maria Caulfield, MP for Lewes in East Sussex, submitted an application on behalf of the Wealden Line Campaign for the Sussex and Kent phases of its Brighton Main Line 2 (BML2) project. BML2 ultimately aims to provide an additional route between the South Coast and London, providing extra capacity and relieving pressure on existing corridors.
For campaigner and BML2 project manager Brian Hart it marks the latest stage
